Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century [Paperback]

Norine Dresser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 12, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0471684287 | ISBN-13: 978-0471684282 | Edition: Revised Edition

Both highly informative and entertaining, Multicultural Manners gives readers the understanding they need, the perfect words to say, and the correct behavior to use in a wide range of cross-cultural situations. This incisive and award-winning guide to etiquette features completely updated etiquette guidelines with special emphasis on post–September 11 culture clashes as well as a brand-new section that demystifies unfamiliar cultures in the news. Norine Dresser identifies key cross-cultural hot spots and suggests methods that foster respect for diversity. Readers will discover the dos and don’ts of successful business and social interaction, detailed tips on avoiding embarrassment in a variety of social settings, amusing firsthand accounts of cultural gaffes, a breakdown of customs, religions, languages, and ethnicities for seventy different countries, and appropriate etiquette for innumerable settings.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Your friend's mother-in-law is visiting from Korea. When greeting her, do you bow, shake hands, or kiss her on both cheeks?

The meeting with his international customers is going well for the corporate president—until he gives the thumbs-up sign. Why?

You welcome your new neighbors with a bouquet of your prizewinning daffodils. Yet your beautiful yellow blossoms are met with looks of shock and horror. Why?

Discover the answers in this incisive, award-winning guide to etiquette, now thoroughly revised to reflect today's truly multicultural society. Both highly informative and entertaining, Multicultural Manners gives you the understanding you need, the perfect words to say, and the correct behavior to use in a wide range of cross-cultural situations.

The book features completely updated etiquette guidelines with special emphasis on post–September 11 culture clashes as well as a brand-new section that demystifies unfamiliar cultures in the news. Norine Dresser identifies key cross-cultural hot spots and suggests methods that foster respect for diversity. You'll discover:

• The dos and don'ts of successful business and social interaction with people from different cultures
• Appropriate etiquette regarding body language, food, child rearing, clothing, word choices, colors, entertaining, romance, and gift giving
• Detailed tips on avoiding embarrassment at work, in the classroom, in health care settings, on business trips, at meals, at weddings, at funerals, and on vacations and holidays
• Amusing firsthand accounts of cultural gaffes that illustrate how miscues happen—and how to avoid them
• A breakdown of customs, religions, languages, and ethnicities for seventy different countries

About the Author

NORINE DRESSER is a professional consultant, speaker, folklorist, and educator. From 1993 to 2001, she wrote the award-winning "Multicultural Manners" column for the Los Angeles Times. Dresser has been interviewed on the Voice of America and numerous other radio and TV shows.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; Revised Edition edition (July 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471684287
• ISBN-13: 978-0471684282
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,301 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The most important part is just being aware that there are differences, March 7, 2006

By 

Elizabeth A. Root (Laurel, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century (Paperback)

I wish that everyone would read this book, just to be aware that different cultures have different mores, and if someone is "foreign" to you, their manners may seem very odd. It is necessary not to jump to conclusions. Of course, since so much of communication is non-verbal, it's also difficult not to.

Obviously, one cannot adopt a single set of manners that would suit all people since people often have opposite customs. I worked with one group of people that hated to have money left on the counter, and another that preferred to have money left on the counter, and it was hard to remember to switch. Dresser notes that not all people from one country have the same customs, and as people live in the US for a few generations, they may forget ethnic customs. She tells a story on herself: visiting Hmong-Americans, she insists on removing her shoes, only to find out that the family has dropped that custom. Fortunately, I think most people appreciate the attempt to be polite, even if one stumbles from time to time.

The book is told mainly in the form of anecdotes about cultural miscommunications, with explanations of customs of various societies. After this is a section listing many, although not all individual countries. This is followed by an extensive bibliography and an index.

The index is one of the weakest points of the book. If one wants to use the book to learn customs for a specific group of people, the cross-indexing is erratic. If one is looking for Iranian customs, one also needs to look up Muslim and Middle-Easterners, but there are no cross references for this, although there are for some entries.

A useful book, if one is going to be interacting with a known group of people. Otherwise, at least a reminder that customs vary.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Good Information but Poorly Arranged, October 3, 2009

By 

R. Pratt (Tulsa, OK) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century (Paperback)

I found this book to have a major flaw in it's organization. There is a useful information about the customs and mannerisms of people from various cultures, but it is arranged by subject rather than by location. For instance, information about people from Taiwan might be located in several sections throughout the book, within sections such as "Greetings", "Holidays", etc. Each of these sections contains very brief information about the topic as it pertains to people from a few (not all) different countries. I find this layout to be very problematic. If I am in need of information about a different culture, most likely because I am either travelling to a certain country or will be interacting with a person from a certain country, it would be much easer to have information organized by location. One section on "Taiwan", etc., rather than having to look in multiple places throughout the book for what ends up being a sentence or two worth of limited information.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Educational, December 20, 2007

By 

A. Brandt-Williams "ana elena" (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Multicultural Manners: Essential Rules of Etiquette for the 21st Century (Paperback)

I teach a cultural psychology class and this book is a wonderful reference for the class. I also read excerpts to the class as we discuss the various topics in their text. If you are a traveler to other countries, this book is a must.