Today I came across a refreshingly humorous but very useful account of how language and culture play into communication problems for Western managers (and investors) in the Chinese workplace. The account, by William R. Dodson, is called Stupid is as Stupid Does: How Chinese Respond to Language Barriers and it begins with the story of how a native Chinese speaking, speaking English at the time, used the word "stupid" repeatedly in a conversation before realizing that he probably should have found a different English word to use in the context of a conversation with an English-speaking friend.




Dodson's piece is insightful and relays clearly some of the problems we encounter with communication in the workplace when we take Western cultural ideas into a Chinese work environment. It's definitely worth reading. So take at look at Stupid is as Stupid Does: How Chinese Respond to Language Barriers...