Linda Beamer (San Gabriel, CA) is a professor at CaliforniaState University at Los Angeles.

CHAPTER 1: Culture and Communication

The Importance of Learning about Cultures

Onstage and Backstage Elements of Culture

Transactional Cultures

Culture: The Operating Environment or Windows of the Mind

Understanding Culture

Culture is Coherent

Culture is Learned

Culture is the Shared View of a Group of People

Culture Ranks What Is Important

Culture Furnishes Attitudes

Culture Dictates How to Behave

Responses to Other Cultures

Diversity at Home

Diversity Abroad

Culture Shock

The Question of Change in Cultures

Typical Reactions to Unfamiliar Cultures

The Importance of Self-Knowledge

Communication and Culture

High-Context and Low-Context Cultures

Perception and Communication

A Schema Model for Intercultural Communication

Multilevel Messages

Pattern Recognition

CHAPTER 2: The Role of Language in Intercultural Business Communication

The Language Barrier and Its Consequences: Real and Perceived

The Relationship between Language and Culture

Language as a Reflection of the Environment

Language as a Reflection of Values

The Meaning of Words

Changes in Language

Acronyms

Implications of the Language Barrier

Selection of the Right Language

Linguistic Considerations

Business Considerations

Political Considerations

Appropriate Level of Fluency

The Company Language

Choosing a Company Language

Using Additional Foreign Language Expertise

The Role of the Interpreter

The Importance of Choosing a Good Interpreter

The Effective Use of an Interpreter--Some Guidelines

Communication with Nonnative Speakers

Effective Face-to-Face Communication

Effective Written Communication

The Impact of Technology on Oral and Written Communication

Some Guidelines for Communicating with Businesspeople from DifferentCultures

Communication with a Multicultural Workforce

CHAPTER 3: Getting to Know Another Culture

Asking Questions

Theories about Understanding an Unfamiliar Culture

Where Can Information about Cultures Be Found?

Are Generalizations Productive or Perilous?

Category 1: Thinking and Knowing

Does Knowing Come from Concepts or Experience?

Does Learning Come from Asking Questions or Mastering Received Wisdom?

Does Knowledge Have Limits?

How Do People Reason?

Category 2: Doing and Achieving

Is Doing Important or Is Being Important?

Are Tasks Done Sequentially or Simultaneously?

Do Results or Relationships Take Priority?

Is Uncertainty Avoided or Tolerated?

Is Luck an Essential Factor or an Irrelevance?

Are Rules to Be Followed or Bent?

Category 3: The Big Picture

Do Humans Dominate Nature or Does Nature Dominate Humans?

Are Divine Powers or Humans at the Center of Events?

Major Global Belief Systems

How is Time Understood, Measured, and Kept?

Is Change Positive or Negative?

Is Death the End of Life or Part of Life?

CHAPTER 4: Individuals and Groups in Business Culture

Category 4: The Self

The Basic Unit of Society: The Individual or the Collective?

Obligation and Indebtedness: Burdens or Benefits?