TOP TEN CULTURE CLUES FOR DOING BUSINESS IN LATIN AMERICA.

Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba…the 20+ countries of Latin-America are all different, but share cultural similarities that non-Latin-Americans need to know about.

Working abroad is different. In different cultures, the food is different. People dress differently. People behave and even think differently. So why shouldn’t the way they do business in different cultures also be different? In many ways, it is, and you need to know before you go. Especially true if your competition knows the cultural rules, and you don’t. In the new “global world”, crossing borders is easy; crossing cultures is hard. So here are some important top ten CultureClues for successful work in Latin America:

#10: If you’re from the USA, you are NOT an “American”; instead, refer to yourself as someone from “Chicago”, or from the United States (Estados Unidos, in Spanish); remember, everyone living in the Americas is an American, and many Latin Americans do not appreciate when US-Americans claim the term “American” as their own. Your goal is to make friends, not alienate people.

#9: Never travel to Latin America without pictures of your family! Inquiring about the health and happiness of the family is one of the first…