| Being aware of the historical reason for some everyday idiosyncrasies often can allow one to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings. Having learned as much as possible about the traditions and beliefs of the country with which you hope to do business, remember to show respect, especially in your advertising and promotional campaigns for that particular culture’s holidays, ceremonies, and the meanings of symbols, numbers, and colors. Red, for example, connotes good luck in China but signifies bad luck to many Koreans. In western societies, black is the color of mourning yet Asians traditionally wear white at funerals because it is the color of sadness. From a more practical standpoint it is always worth checking for local festivals and celebrations before planning a business trip. Visiting Hong Kong during Chinese New Year may seem like a good idea, to witness the spectacular harbor fireworks and other festivities. However, as many businesses shut down for the owner’s annual pilgrimage to ancestral villages in mainland China, business conducted during that period is usually minimal. Furthermore, the mass exodus of people from Hong Kong to China and beyond causes chaos on all forms of transportation, so this really is a time to avoid all but essential travel. Careful translation of English into the local language is an obvious requirement for successful communication; however, even where literal translation is accurate the meaning easily can differ from what was intended. “A rolling stone gathers no moss” is a well-known saying implying that if you are not moving on and up in your life you are gathering the moss of lethargy and passivity. |
In Japan, there is a similar saying which is interpreted as meaning that if you are constantly moving from one thing to another, you fail to accumulate the moss of connections, commitment, and experience! Accuracy problems are exacerbated when there is a lack of familiarity with Chinese script. Playboy magazine, well known for its rabbit-eared logo, once ran a full page newspaper ad, wishing its Chinese-American readers a happy “Year of the Rabbit.” Unfortunately the Chinese characters were out of order and made no sense. Although there are cultural similarities between the different countries that make up Asia there also are many rivalries which may not be obvious to an unsuspecting foreign company more concerned with its own relationship with the individual countries. A large insurance company ran an ad in a Korean magazine several years ago showing a family in what they thought was traditional Asian dress. Unfortunately, the style of dress chosen by their ad agency was Chinese, not Korean and caused the whole advertising campaign to fail. QUALCOMM, a San Diego company, experienced a similar problem when they tried to market their Korean-made telephones in China. Although the delegation of Koreans and Americans was warmly received by the Chinese, in follow-up discussions between the American sales team and the Chinese, it was made very clear that purchasing Korean-made goods was not an acceptable proposition. (continued on next page) Page 3 of 4 Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
