Many Anglos are both excited and nervous to venture into what is quite literally foreign territory. Here are some myths and realities about doing business abroad
Illustration: Dov Ber Cohen
Myth: Americans expect everyone to speak English.
Reality: According to Brooklyn-based David Grosser, who has served as a consultant for businesses involved in import-export business with Europe for many years, the myth of the Ugly American — the one who never learns the local language, who expects the natives to accommodate his habits — is now a misconception.
“It used to be true about 30 to 40 years ago,” he admits. “My father traveled all over the world, and the joke was that the American is the one who gets off a plane, and as soon as his foot hits the ground, he yells out, ‘Who speaks English here?’ ”
Ari Siegel, a Chicago-based entrepreneur and business broker with experience in China, says learning even a few words of a foreign language goes a long way toward establishing camaraderie. One businessman he knows charmed a group of Chinese executives when he was able to sing a Communist revolutionary song from the 1950s they’d all grown up with.
“In most factories today, there’s a person on staff who speaks English,” he says. “You used to need a middleman, but today, many people have some rudimentary English.”
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