Do's and Taboos Around The World [Paperback]

Roger E. Axtell (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Do's and Taboos Around the World | Publication Date: June 1993

The ultimate guide to international behavior.now completely updated and expanded! Do's and Taboos Around the World 3rd Edition "Roger Axtell is an international Emily Post." --The New Yorker "Can help you make friends [and] avoid travel trouble." --BusinessWeek "Helpful.fun to read." --Steve Birnbaum The first two editions of Do's and Taboos Around the World helped thousands of high-powered executives and tourists avoid the missteps and misunderstandings that plague the world traveler. This updated and expanded Third Edition provides even more facts, tips, and cautionary tales--gleaned from the experiences of more than five hundred international business travelers--as well as:
* Information on protocol, customs, and etiquette; hand gestures and body language; tipping; American jargon; and the international communications crisis
* Up-to-date advice on dealing with the monumental changes in Russia, Germany, Eastern Europe, the People's Republic of China, and other locales
* A new chapter on business gift-giving and gift-receiving customs, with country-by-country gift suggestions and precautions
* A special quick reference guide to customs and mores in 96 countries, including revisions and updates from foreign embassies and consulates

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The ultimate guide to international behavior…now completely updated and expanded! Do’s and Taboos Around the World 3rd Edition "Roger Axtell is an international Emily Post." —The New Yorker "Can help you make friends [and] avoid travel trouble." —BusinessWeek "Helpful…fun to read…" —Steve Birnbaum The first two editions of Do’s and Taboos Around the World helped thousands of high-powered executives and tourists avoid the missteps and misunderstandings that plague the world traveler. This updated and expanded Third Edition provides even more facts, tips, and cautionary tales—gleaned from the experiences of more than five hundred international business travelers—as well as:

• Information on protocol, customs, and etiquette; hand gestures and body language; tipping; American jargon; and the international communications crisis
• Up-to-date advice on dealing with the monumental changes in Russia, Germany, Eastern Europe, the People’s Republic of China, and other locales
• A new chapter on business gift-giving and gift-receiving customs, with country-by-country gift suggestions and precautions
• A special quick reference guide to customs and mores in 96 countries, including revisions and updates from foreign embassies and consulates

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 3 edition (June 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471595284
• ISBN-13: 978-0471595281
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,224 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Business & Investing > International > Exports & Imports

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars To do or not to do, May 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Do's and Taboos Around The World (Paperback)

I bought both this book and Axtell's 'Gestures' to help with research I am carrying out. I have not read either from cover to cover yet, as I have been brought to a confusing full stop. In 'Gestures' I am told that in Egypt one should eat everything on the plate, and yet in 'Do's and Taboos' I am told that it is impolite to eat everything! There is also a discrepency in the meaning of the 'two finger tap' - in 'Gestures' this means 'let's be together' but in 'Do's and Taboos' it is rude and indicates either that a couple are sleeping together or that you are being invited to sleep with the tapper! With anomolies such as these appearing just from the first country I have looked at, I feel I cannot take any of the information offered as reliable. The books are therefore, in my view, only to be considered as light reading giving a very rough overview but bearing in mind that there are errors which could lead to very embarrassing situations - and the whole reason for buying the books was to avoid such situations.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars advice for the business traveler, tourist, or EFL teacher, October 22, 2002

By 

Chris Elvin (Kanagawa, Japan) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do's and Taboos Around The World (Paperback)

Dos and Taboos Around the World was written in the mid-eighties for American businessmen who regularly traveled abroad meeting foreign clients. I bought this book to help teach culture shock to my Japanese EFL students, and, by and large, I am quite pleased that I have it on my shelf. Even though there is a lot less information about women than men, and some information, such as gift giving, appears to be specifically for business people, there is enough general information about many different countries cultures to make interesting reading. The chapter on body language and gestures appeared to be well researched, and my students were able to learn many things from teaching material that I made using the book as a reference. There may be some people who would read Dos and Taboos and say that the author has distilled a nations people to a simple stereotype, and to a point I wouldnt be able to disagree with that. However, if I ever found myself in the company of people whose culture I were ignorant of, it would be nice to be able to scan this book for dos, taboos, likes and dislikes, and give myself a reasonable introduction on what I might be likely to encounter. This book is most useful for business travelers, but it is also useful for tourists and travelers, or anyone living in a culture other than their own.

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dos and Taboos, May 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Do's and Taboos Around The World (Paperback)

This title offered so much promise. I was really looking forward to reading it and ofcourse decided to start by checking the two countries I know really well, Australia and Japan. Well disappointment just isn't strong enough. How can you trust a book that makes major errors when talking about cultures that you know? Frankly, I can not recommend this book to anyone given the inaccurate out dated infomation I found in the two countries I know really well... Surely there are better books on foreign cultures than this. If not it is not suprizing that Americans have difficulty in understanding people from other countries!