YOUR TOP TEN CULTURE TIPS FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH SOUTH KOREA.
Congratulations! You're Working with Dynamic South Korea. Here's a Quick Guide to the Main Cultural Concerns You Need to Know!
How did you do on this week’s Korea CultureQuiz? Hard? Easy? No matter how you did, everyone can use some help navigating the unique aspects of Korean culture (for our purposes, when we refer to “Korea” as a country, we are referring to South Korea), so here are your Top Ten Tips for this week…on Korean culture!
Greet your Korean associate with a typical Western-style handshake, but avoid a tight grip: in many Asian cultures, Korea included, the traditional handshake is “soft”. Make eye contact, and a slight lowering of the head as you shake hands is a welcome sign of humility (no need for a formal bow). Unique to Korea, when you extend your hand, support the elbow of the arm that you extend with your other hand as an expression of sincerity.
Speaking of eye contact, NUNCHI (literally, “eye-measuring”) is an important
Korean non-verbal way of communicating, and becoming comfortable and experienced with moments of nunchi is important, especially for westerners who may be more comfortable communicating directly with words to express their thoughts and feelings. Nunchi is a way of listening, of sizing up the individual who is speaking, assessing their sincerity, their character, truthfulness, trustworthiness, etc. This silent evaluation of your words takes place, often accompanied by intense eye-contact. It is a way of sensing out who you are and the intent behind your words, and can come at any time during a conversation; in a nunchi moment, try to relax and silently communicate sincerity and mutual concern in response.
Never write anything with red ink. This is especially important when signing …
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Dean Foster Global Cultures to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.