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When it comes to interacting with people, France and the United States differ greatly. The people of France tend not to smile or have an expression when meeting new people. In the United States, we tend to smile and greet people as we have known them for a very long time. Edward MacNeal talks about growing up in a bicultural environment and noticing the differences between French and American interactions. He states in his journal French-American Misunderstandings, “…the French don’t smile at people they don’t know. They think it’s hypocritical” (2003). This nature is why many Americans view French people to be rude or snobbish. MacNeal also says that the American assumption is that we are all friends and the French assumption is that we are all strangers. This very assumption could hinder interaction between people of the two nations. So with that being said, when doing business with

A culture is an idealized pattern of meanings, values, and norms differentially shared by the members of a society, which can be inferred from the non-instinctive behavior of the group and from the symbolic products of their actions, including material a artifacts, language, and social institutions.

Culture is what defines a specific group of people. The customs, beliefs, arts, and social institutions of a race or specific group shape the perspective of a person in that group. Culture is what is known of a group of people. This how to differentiate different people from one another other than race and ethnicity.

Body language such as hand gestures and facial expressions is very important while talking to the French (especially in the South). Exaggerated expressions and movements help convey the reality of a story or explanation. Gestures in France and America are quite similar. Shrugging your shoulders means that you don’t know or you don’t care. Putting up both of your hands with your palms up illustrates helplessness or anger. And making a circle with your thumb and forefinger stands for saying that something is okay or even perfect.

My research is focused on the problems associated with cross-cultural communication and how awareness of culture, language, tradition, and business practices can increase the advantages to globalization. This report will be field specific in

A culture is the characteristics that relate and reflect on a particular group of people. This may include language, religion, music/arts, beliefs, values, and, overall, their way of life.

This paper shows cultural differences between Iranians, Chinese and Indians in business negotiations based on interviews with three businessmen: an American citizen who set up a general trading company in China, an Iranian Canadian citizen who has a trading company in Iran, and an Indian America who set up a business in India. The interview questions focused on cultural elements based on Hofstede’s research: power distance, low-high context, and general business behavior in these countries.

In France greeting seems to be a really big deal among the culture, one of the greeting is called fair la bise. Which is the kissing of the cheek which is really just cheeks touching and kissing in the air but,

Culture is defined as “The ideas, attitudes, customs, beliefs, values and social behaviour of a particular group of people or society that are passed on from generation to generation” (Brentnall, A., n.d.).

Sign Post: Now that we have learned a little bit about our own traditions, let’s take a look at the traditions of another well-known country, France.

Culture can be defined as “the sum total of the beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artifacts that characterize human populations” or “the collective programming of the mind.

The definition of culture offered in one textbook is “That complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man person as a member of society.”

Culture can be defined in many ways due to the fact that everyone can have their own distinct and traditional beliefs and values. “ Culture is fluid, it is not a static entity which one takes out of the box on occasion. It is with us daily” (Cultural Handout). Someone’s culture is set as the characteristics of the group practices in language, religion, types of food, social traits and habits, and the distinct arts and music. There are a variety of different cultures for example, Western Culture, Eastern Culture, Latin Culture, Middle Eastern Culture, and African Culture. All of these different cultures have their own ideas, values, and individualism, laws that are implied, civil rights, and even technology. In our, “ Culture Handout” culture is defined as the tool of the mind, “ it is an individual’s way seeing and interacting within the world. It encompasses one’s values systems, beliefs, and perceptions of the world around them. Race, socio-economic class gender, sexual orientation, ability, geographic location, age, religion language, etc. all impact the formation of culture, but these various context are not culture” (Cultural Handout).

Kroeber and Kluckhohn (1962) identify over 150 scientific definitions of the concept of culture. Indeed, many authors have tried to define culture and this is why there are so many definitions and that a unique one is hard to find. First of all, Kroeber and Kluckholn (1952) assume that culture is a suite of patterns, implicit and explicit, “of and for behaviour acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiments in artefacts” (p.47). Later, Hofstede adds that culture is “the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1991, p.51). This definition is the most widely accepted one amongst practitioners. For Winthrop (1991), culture is the distinctive models of thoughts, actions and values that composed members of a society or a social group. In other words,

'Culture is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one category of people from another.' (Hofstede, 1991)