Brazilians are gracious, friendly, fun-loving people, which makes their country a very inviting place to visit for pleasure or business. So great is their cordiality that Brazilians will say "yes" to almost any request--even when they actually mean "no"--which can be quite confusing for U.S. visitors who are used to a more direct style of communication. In fact, as Americans spend time in Brazil, they discover a number of cultural differences that can hamper their communication with Brazilians. To overcome these barriers, this book analyzes Brazilian culture and modes of communication and compares them with their American counterparts to help Americans learn to communicate successfully with Brazilians and vice versa. To aid Americans in understanding the Brazilian perspective, Tracy Novinger presents a portrait of Brazil's history, racial fusion, economy, and contemporary lifestyles. She focuses in on many aspects of Brazilian culture, such as social organization and ranking systems; preconceptions, worldviews, and values; sexual behaviors and eating customs; thought patterns; nonverbal communication such as the use of time, space, gestures, touch, eye contact, rituals, etc.; and differences in Brazilian and American point-making styles when negotiating, persuading, and conversing. For quick reference, she concludes the book with a summary and checklist of the leading Brazilian cultural characteristics, as well as eight recommendations for enhancing intercultural communication.
Crossing cultures is the story of my life... I learned through successes and mishaps that one must "speak a culture" as well as its language in order to effectively communicate. I wrote my first book on communication to explain the process to myself.
Three generations of my family lived on the island of Aruba, when it was a place of burros and trade winds, before the advent of tourism. This small island is where I was born. When I was ten years old we moved to Brazil where I attended schools taught in Portuguese. When the time for university studies came, my father sent me to the U.S. because he thought my English was "very strange." After a B.A. degree in the United States, I lived for nine years in Tahiti and later obtained an M.A. in Communications. Because of fortunate circumstances, I learned a number of languages, but best of all, I learned to step from one culture into another--like Alice through the looking glass.
