Cultural Materialism and the Relationship Between Culture, Trade and Business

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may be starkly contrasted to the more paternalistic forms of state involvement in the material lives of the citizenry today, for instance, in the Scandinavian nations today of Europe, to take only one cultural example, where a higher level of taxation is tolerated by the citizens as a culture, in exchange for a greater level of security and equity in the matters of health care and pensions.
Of course, this aspect of European as well as American culture is in flux, given the changing nature of Europe and the homogenizing influence of the European Union. But one, as an American, a business negotiator, and a participant in the commerce of international trade must always acknowledge the material and historical circumstances that give birth to the cultural assumptions of the citizenry when perceptively evaluating and visiting a culture, particularly when one is considering doing business with a foreign culture. Even when no generalizations can be made, one cannot operate upon ...

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'yes.' But in some American semantic use, 'No!' can mean 'you're pulling my leg," or "I don't believe you.' In Japanese, however, 'Maybe' in terms of its basic usage does not mean 'well, yes and no,' or 'it might happen later on,' but a very emphatic 'no.'
Conversely, a friendly 'no' of disbelief in American syntax is never uttered in Japan, where frequently 'maybe' in actual semantic use is a definite 'no.' In Greece, in contrast, disagreement is often an expression of communality, however, showing that the speaker in this confrontational and debate-loving culture, is comfortable enough with the individual he or she is relating to, to be able to disagree with him or her. (Tannen, ...

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