Customer Reviews

Merriam-Webster's Guide to International Business Communications, Second Edition

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When you need help figuring out how to dial a phone number in another country, what goes on which lines of an address, or how to find the physical location in a foreign city corresponding to a mailing address, this is the book to look for in the library. I wish I had read this book sooner. By the time I found it, I didn't need it, having learned its lessons by sometimes-painful and costly experience. Be sure to read the introductory chapters on "How to Get Phone Calls and Faxes Through" and "How to Make Your English More Understandable" to nonnative speakers, before you leave home. Gives detailed information on address, telephone, etc. formats only for selected countries, mostly First World, but notes correctly that, "An awareness of the terminology and practices in these countries will help you understand those in many others." I hope that future editions will expand coverage of the more populous or often-visited countries in the rest of the world. Most travelers probably won't find it worth buying, but every library and every office that ever does international business should have a copy. If yours doesn't, get them to buy it.

(from the resource guide to "The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World", by Edward Hasbrouck)

Yes, this book is a guide. But it is not a guide to international business communications. It describes how to write the international addresses very deeply. It might be a helpful book to a secretary who writes addresses to envelopes. But it won't help to any businessman at all. Merriam-Webster do not deserve this "one star" rating. The rating is there for amazon.com. Because the information about the book was quite open to misunderstand the content and I had to return the book.