Culture Smart provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships. Culture Smart offers illuminating insights into the culture and society...
Culture Smart provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination ...
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with an internal market of 150 million people and an economy growing at around 8 percent a year, is potentially Africa's next powerhouse. It is nearly one and a half times the size of Texas, with a landmass varying from sandy beaches and tropical jungles, to plains, mountains, and desert. This important West African nation is made up of 250 culturally distinct ethno-linguistic groups. The largest communities are the Hausa in the north, rooted in the Islamic city-states of the famed trans-Saharan trade routes; the Yoruba of the southwest, where...
Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa with an internal market of 150 million people and an economy growing at around 8 percent a year, is poten...
Serbia, a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, covers the southern part of the Pannonian plain and the central part of the Balkans. The dominant power in the former Yugoslavia, it has had a bad press in the West. However, the truth is much more nuanced and interesting than that portrayed by the media. Serbia is a country with wonderful scenery, architectural riches, and a vibrant arts scene, waiting to be discovered by Westerners. Serbs are proud, passionate, and generous people with an independent streak. They have always had to fight for survival, first...
Serbia, a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, covers the southern part of the Pannonian plain and the central par...
This revised and updated edition of Culture Smart Ukraine reveals a country in the throes of change. The euphoria of the famous Orange Revolution has vanished. The momentum for reform has been checked and the forces of authoritarianism have returned. Even so, modernization continues apace and people are eager to be seen as European. The recent political instability highlights the contradictions of Ukrainian society. Ukrainians are proud of their roots, and reticent about the traumas of their past; the country participates in international space programs and produces the world s...
This revised and updated edition of Culture Smart Ukraine reveals a country in the throes of change. The euphoria of the famous Orange Revolut...
Costa Rica is renowned for its tropical beauty, the warmth and charm of the Ticos its people s own name for themselves and its political stability. This Switzerland of the Americas is widely regarded as an oasis of democracy in turbulent Central America. Since the first edition of Culture Smart Costa Rica was published in 2005, however, there have been some important changes and, with rapid economic development, some growing pains. Over the past few years there has been a movement of population to the towns of the Central Valley. Higher education is now the norm for young Ticos, and...
Costa Rica is renowned for its tropical beauty, the warmth and charm of the Ticos its people s own name for themselves and its political stability. Th...
This revised and updated edition of Culture Smart Egypt reveals a country in the throes of change. The largely secular revolution that started in Cairo s Tahrir Square in January 2011 became the flagship of the Arab Spring revolts. The uprising resulted in a political effervescence, with new parties, movements, and groups all jostling for space in the new political landscape. But the situation remains fluid. Free elections produced a parliament dominated by Islamists and the country s political and social identity has yet to be defined. Egypt s heady spirit of change is both rooted in...
This revised and updated edition of Culture Smart Egypt reveals a country in the throes of change. The largely secular revolution that started...
Bangladesh is a lush, green country situated on the fertile Ganges delta, adjacent to the Indian state of West Bengal. Although there are hilly areas in the northeast, this densely populated country is mostly flat, and criss-crossed by many rivers. Much of its coastline forms part of the world s largest mangrove forests, the Sundarbans, home to the Royal Bengal tiger and many other flora and fauna. Bangladesh is young country with an ancient history. The province of Bengal was divided when India became independent in 1947, and its mainly Muslim eastern part became East Pakistan. This was...
Bangladesh is a lush, green country situated on the fertile Ganges delta, adjacent to the Indian state of West Bengal. Although there are hilly areas ...
Mongolia is landlocked between its neighbors China and Russia in the heart of Asia. For centuries after the disintegration of Genghis Khan s empire it was ruled by one or the other, but in 1990 the Mongols embraced democracy. Now, after two centuries of Manchu stagnation and seventy years of Soviet communism, they are rebuilding their national heritage. Rarely in the news but making progress toward a market economy, this resource-rich but infrastructure-poor country is a land of pioneers, and its greatest asset is the Mongol people, who are friendly, cooperative, ambitious, and well educated....
Mongolia is landlocked between its neighbors China and Russia in the heart of Asia. For centuries after the disintegration of Genghis Khan s empire it...
Cuba is a land of contradictions that is easy to enjoy but difficult for first-time visitors to decipher. The largest island in the Caribbean, it is a tropical paradise that Christopher Columbus called the most beautiful land that human eyes have ever seen. It is famous for the romantic charm of its crumbling colonial cities, the beauty of its white sand beaches, and its irresistible Afro-Cuban dance beats. But it is also a land of shortages and tight government control, which has been in a sixty-year political standoff with its superpower neighbor, the USA. The homegrown version of...
Cuba is a land of contradictions that is easy to enjoy but difficult for first-time visitors to decipher. The largest island in the Caribbean, it is a...
Culture Smart Uzbekistan will take you beyond the standard descriptions of minarets, kebabs with vodka, embroidered skullcaps, and Soviet-style bureaucracy. It will make you aware of the value systems, attitudes, and behaviors of the different cultural groups in the country, and offer an insider's view of Uzbekistan's fascinating history, national traditions, various cuisines, and cultural scene. It will tell you what the peoples of Uzbekistan are like at home, at play, and in business, and give practical advice on how to behave in different situations so as to make the most out of...
Culture Smart Uzbekistan will take you beyond the standard descriptions of minarets, kebabs with vodka, embroidered skullcaps, and Soviet-styl...