The main values in Russia, USA and UK

9. Your attitudes to travelling. What does holiday-making mean for you?

Travel means the consciousness of adventure and exploration, the sense of covering the miles, the ability to seize indefatigably upon every new or familiar source of delight. Adventure is allowing the unexpected to happen to you. Exploration is experiencing what you have not experienced before. How can there be any adventure, any exploration, if you let somebody else -- above all, a travel bureau -- arranges everything beforehand?

In our hurry to get from one place to another, we failed to see anything on the way. Air travel gives you bird's-eye views of the world -- or even less if the wing of the aircraft happens to get in your way. When you travel by car or train a blurred image of the countryside constantly smears the windows. When you travel at high speeds, the present means nothing: you live mainly in the future because you spend most of your time looking forward to arriving at some other place. But actual arrival, when it is achieved, is meaningless. You want to move on again. And as for sea travel, it hardly deserves mention. It is perfectly summed up in the words of the old song: "I joined the navy to see the world, and what did I see? I saw the sea." The traveler on foot, on the other hand, lives constantly in the present. For him travelling and arriving are one and the same thing: he arrives somewhere with every step he makes. He experiences the present moment with his eyes, his ears and the whole of his body. At the end of his journey he feels a delicious physical weariness. He knows that sound satisfying sleep will be his: the just reward of all true travelers.

One of the favorite pursuits of people travelling for pleasure is visiting the famous beauty spots. But alas, the number of such spots decreases from year to year. Lakes, rivers and seas are polluted, forests cut down, meadows littered with rubbish.

We shall now see the different reasons of people's travels and their views regarding travelling. First, there are considerably different views on travel among people of different ages. Although all age groups find travelling as being one of the most rewarding and enjoyable things one can do, the older age group (+55) does not find the idea as appealing as before. The people of the younger age show greater willingness to travel. However, people of all ages would prefer to have short weekend trips organized inland or in nearby countries in order to get away during most weekends.

Another age group of frequent travelers is those who have to take trips on business. The largest group of such travelers belongs to the middle- aged businesses. Old businesses would prefer to arrange their business issues through the telephone or through video conferencing.

Another reason of people travelling is the need to get away from everything. Here again younger people are more likely to leave their homes because they feel the need to get away from everything. Two-thirds of older people would prefer to leave their homes only if there is a real need of it (such as business, some event or holidays).

Although apparently the younger age group (18-34) seems to slightly outweigh the age group of 35-54 in their various travelling preferences, the income of the older people is much higher than the income of the young age group of 18-34. The most successful age group is middle-aged people who still feel travel is exciting and enjoyable and are able to pay for it.

What is Responsible Travel?

Responsible travel is about minimizing your impact and maximizing your connection with people and the environment. It's about making a positive contribution and having the most rewarding and inspiring travel experiences of your life.

Responsible tourism can be more-or-less defined as travel that takes into consideration the 'triple bottom line' issues of:

Environment: travel that minimizes negative environmental impacts and, where possible, makes positive contributions to the conservation of biodiversity, wilderness, natural and human heritage.

Social/Cultural: travel that respects culture and traditions and fosters authentic interaction and greater understanding between travelers and hosts. Economic: travel that has financial benefits for the host community and operates on the principles of fair trade.

Before You Leave Home:

Do as much research as you can - the more you know about a country and its people before you arrive, the quicker you get under the skin of a place. Learn a few words of the local language and make sure you know what's considered polite and what's not in terms of eating, greeting and dressing. Try to leave as much excess packaging at home (for example, film boxes, anything plastic) - so your hosts don't have to deal with your garbage. Consider your transport options: could you ride a bike rather than drive? Take a train rather than fly?

Your attitude to travelling. What does holiday-making mean for you? Modern life is impossible without travelling. Thousands of people travel every day either on business or for pleasure. The can travel by air, by rail, by see or by road. I like to travel. As for me, it's more comfortable to travel by train and by plane. But it's difficult to buy tickets for the plane. That's why we buy our tickets beforehand.

I think if we are fond of travelling we see and learn all sorts of things we can never see or learn at home. Though we may read about them in books and newspapers and see pictures of them at the cinema. The best way to study geography is to travel and the best way to get to know and understand the people is to meet them in their own houses.

10. English as an International language

There are lots of languages in the world and some of them fall into the category of international languages or languages of wider communication, such as French, English, German, Spanish, Russian, Italian and Arabic. All these languages are the official languages of the United Nations. Among all these languages English is rightly considered to be the international language of the world, though English has assumed the function of the `world language' quite recently.

It was only in the 1930 that the British Foreign Office stopped using French for all its official memoranda. Nowadays it is estimated that besides 300 millions native speakers, there are 300 millions who use English as the second language and 100 millions use it as a foreign language. It is listed as the official or co-official language of over 45 countries and is spoken extensively in other countries where it has no official status. A very marked rise is evident in the use of English for occupation purposes: English is the international language of the air, and failure to use it efficiently can endanger passenger safety. English is the language of banking and industry: many international firms, based in non-English countries conduct their entire operations throughout the world in English. Two thirds of all scientific papers are written in English. Over 70% of all mail is written and addressed in English. Most international tourism is conducted in English.

There aren't any linguistic reasons why English might be the world language, because to anyone learning English it's neither more simple nor more complex than any other language. English is easy to master to some extent, because it has a simple system of declension.

Some linguists divide the use of English into three circles. The inner circle is the traditional base of English and includes countries such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, the USA and former colonies: Australia, New Zealand and some others. English is the native language or mother tongue of most people in these countries. In the outer circle are those countries where English has official or historical importance. This means most of the Commonwealth (the former British Empire), including high-populated countries such as India and Nigeria and others under the American sphere of influence, such as the Philippines. Here English may serve as a language for mutual understanding between ethnic language groups. Higher education, the legislature and judiciary, national commerce and so on may all be carried out predominantly in English.

And the expanding circle refers to those countries where English has no official role, but nevertheless is important for certain functions, notably international business. This use of English includes most of the rest of the world.In conclusion I would like to say that the knowledge of the English language nowadays is important for career. It increases your salary by 30%.

11. The role of computers and the Internet in modern life

Nearly everything we do in this world is helped or even controlled by computers. They are used more and more often today. So it is difficult to overestimate their role and namely the Internet in our life. With the growth of computing power, computers could do more and more tasks. Increasingly more complex programs, designed for ever more powerful systems, made it possible to create on a computer everything from spreadsheets to visual art and music. The increased linkage of home computers to the Internet greatly accelerated this process. By the end of the twentieth century, the computer affected almost every aspect of human life--particularly the work of artists, architects, composers, and writers.

It's very convenient and saves our time, and time is money as we know(. For example you don't need to sit for hours in the library and rewrite the material you need, you can just find it on the Internet and print. So everything you need is at hand - any materials on any topics. It's also convenient for translators - instead of endless turning over the pages you just need to install an electronic vocabulary and time is saved! Besides vocabularies there are lots of electronic programs almost for every profession: e.g. if you have AUTOCAD you don't need sit and diligently graph. Today's architect relies on computer-aided design (CAD) programs that enable the visualization of structures in three dimensions. Musicians regularly use computers for composition and playback, acting as their own producers by changing the quality of sound and the arrangement of simulated instrumentation. Visual artists use computer graphics in creating and enhancing their works, and the traditional darkroom of the professional photographer has given way to the digital camera and the PC. As for writers, their work has been affected immeasurably by a range of computer developments, from the simplest word-processing software to complex programs that assist in the writing of novels or screenplays.

The Internet is also a popular mean of communication, nowadays people tend to communicate through e-mails, icq or social networks (such as odnoklassniki). But it has pros to some extend, because you can find people who got out of contact many years ago or who live in another country.

The Internet is used extensively in the sphere of education. On-line education is becoming more and more popular. Getting an online degree from an online college or career school is one of the hottest trends in higher education today. An advantage of such distant education is its cost, it's much cheaper than full-time course of study, and you needn't to pay for travel expenses. You have your own curriculum and you can study anywhere - at home, at work, or while travelling. And you have your own tempus of education according to your abilities. Lots of Russian universities nowadays apply this method of education.

Using the Internet in the foreign language learning/teaching is becoming increasingly popular day by day. The development of the new technologies, widespread use of the global information network and the growing number of its users has greatly promoted the teaching methods based on the Internet.

The use of computers in business and industry is widespread too. The work of banks depends upon computer terminals for millions of daily operations.

It is interesting to note that computers are widely used in medicine. They became valuable medical diagnostic tools. Computers are used for optical scanning and image processing, ranging from pattern recognition to image processing. At last air traffic control is impossible without computer application. It fully depends upon computer-generated information.

Many other uses of computers that we cannot imagine at present will become commonplace in the transition from an industrial to post industrial, or information society.

Internet in daily life

More and more people nowadays are interested to be known about all events, in taking some information quickly. With the help of Interne you can make it easily.

Back in the 1960th, at the time of cold war, Pentagon needed military systems that would continue to work even the phones and radio had broken down. In 1964 Paul Baron connected 4 computers in different parts of the USA and posted a message.

You couldn't destroy Internet - if some computers will be broken down, the rest will work well. Nobody owns the Internet, and no organization controls its use. Now millions of people around the world are logging into libraries, call up satellite weather photos, download computer programs and music, take part in discussion groups. Even the Presidents have their own Internet accounts. In fact, anyone with modem connected to the phone line can enjoy Internet.

The total number of people in Russia, who get into Internet, due the Putin's statistics, is 10 million. In the modern Europe this number is much more - there are more than 200 million Internet users.

In future all techniques will be connected to the Internet. Now we can connect with Internet mobile phone, photo camera, palm computers and even alarm clock.

12. The generation gap. The problem of the young.

The most important problem of the youth is a generation gap. Every generation is unique in its experience. It has its own ideals and a system of values concerning every aspect of human life. Adults always complain that the young are not what they were. These words are repeated from generation to generation. Undoubtedly it is correct. In fact today the young are better educated. They grow up more quickly. They derive joy from more freedom. At present the young do not blindly accept the ideals of their parents. For them everything that the adults bear in mind is past history. And this is inevitable, because different generations take different directions. Moreover, the young look forward and the old people look backward. The adult always teach the young how to live. They apply old standards to the new way of life. The past is hanging over them preventing them from appreciating the things around them anew.

The young think that the adults have lost touch with everything that is important in life. They are right, because what is important to the adults is the past. The young know what they want. They prefer to make their own mistakes rather than to listen to the warnings of the adults. The past exists to help the young to avoid unnecessary blurs. But they do want to have them. The young want to live their own life.

They want to overcome their own difficulties without turning back. Unfortunately the life of the young is frequently determined by the adults. The adults start the war but the young die in it. The young and adults have different points of view concerning everything. And it generates the conflict of the generations. I think that parents will never understand their children, because every new generation is different from the one that preceded it. Today the differences are especially considerable. The adults always believe that they know best only because they have been around a bit longer. They don't want their values to be doubted.

The young on the other hand are questioning the assumptions of the adults; they suspect that the world created by their predecessors was not the best one. I think that the only way to solve this insoluble problem both the young and adults should be tolerant and patient. Despite our generation differences there are no clashes of values in our family and my parents are my best friends.

Another problem of the youth is the relationship of the young people with their friends and beloved. I believe in male friendship, and I doubt that there can be any real female friendship. I think it is impossible to have a lot of friends. A person can be on good terms with his or her classmates or university group mates but have only one or two real friends. I believe that real friends will never betray each other. They will always understand and help each other. It is true that tolerance is the pledge of friendship. It is wonderful if your school friend will remain your friend for the rest of your life. Unfortunately, when one enters a university school friends are often replaced by the new ones.

The problem of love is very important for the young.

13. Childhood and happiness

Before talking about difficult childhood, I want to say that when you are a child, life is easy!

Now when I have grown, I know that the childhood the most carefree and happy time. But the point is that children look at this question absolutely another. They consider that the childhood not the happiest time in their life and constantly wish to become more adult. Children pretend to be adults when play. And if swear at parents they shout: "I have already grown and I wish to be independent".

As regards parents, they will always look at the children as on small to advise them something or to force. Speaking of this question; why children so consider, it is possible to recollect the childhood or to look at relations of children and their parents. Childhood may certainly be fairly happy, but its greatest moments can't compare with the sheer joy of being an adult. Who ever asked a six-year-old for an opinion? Children don't have opinions, or if they do, nobody notices. Adults choose the clothes their children will wear, the books they will read and the friends they will play with. Parents decide what kind of school you are going to apply. They decide you have to learn to play the piano or you have to learn to swim. They decide you have to eat foods you do not like at all. Besides children do not have money and if they would like anything, it is necessary to ask it from parents.

It is generally agreed that every child has own fears. Nothing can equal the abject fear a child may feel in the dark, the absolute horror of childish nightmares. Adults can share their fears with other adults; children invariably face their fears alone.

It is an indisputable fact that the most painful part of childhood is the period when you begin to emerge from it: adolescence. Teenagers may rebel violently against parental authority, but this causes them great unhappiness. There is a complete lack of self-confidence during this time. Adolescents are over-conscious of their appearance and the impression they make on others.

From what has been said it follows that the adults seem to be more hostile than ever.

One has to admit that parents start to give more freedom to children during this period and a few money and teenagers think: “What a relief it is to grow up.” It all depends how one approaches this question about their freedom. Now teenagers do not have to seek constant approval for everything they do. And if on occasion they are teased, they know how to deal with it. You can simply tell other adults to go to hell: you are one yourself.

In my opinion, it is necessary to show respect. It is not necessary to limit a freedom of the child in the childhood and it is impossible to be very strict with him at teenage age. It is reflected in character of the child. Parents should understand that their child since the birth is the person who has the right to the opinion and on understanding of adults.

Some say that it is not necessary to listen to the child as he is small and does not know what is well and what is bad, but others argue that the child should receive all that he wants.

14. «The moon and sixpence”. The content, main characters of the novel. What is the main problem tacked in the book?

The novel “The moon and sixpence” by W.S. Maugham was written in 1919. The revolt of the individual against the accepted conventions of society is a theme which has always fascinated W.S. Maugham. It is the inspiration of the novel “The moon and sixpence” which makes use of some outstanding incidents in the life of Paul Gauguin (though it cannot be regarded as his biography).

The novel marks a significant stage in W.S. Maugham's literary development. The theme of “The moon and sixpence” took root in his mind as far back as W.S. Maugham's Paris days (1904-1905). W.S. Maugham's approach in the novel is that of the detached, experienced, somewhat disillusioned observer. W.S. Maugham hit upon the title of “The Moon and Sixpence” in a review of the novel “Of Human bondage”. This was what he later wrote: “The author … in his childhood was urged to make merry over the man who, looking for the moon, missed the Sixpence at his feet, but having reached years of maturity he is not so sure that this was so great an absurdity as he was bidden to believe. Let him who will pick up the sixpence, to pursue the moon seems the more amusing diversion”.“The moon and sixpence” is constructed with great care, even with a certain degree of artificiality being divided into fifty-eight sections or scenes, many of them no more than a couple of pages in length.

The main character of the novel Charles Strickland is a prosperous stockbroker. At the beginning of the book the reader sees him through the eyes of a young writer, the narrator of the novel “He looked commonplace … He was a null”.

The rest of the book shows how wrong the narrator's first impression was and the reader's attitude towards Strickland's character changes as the novel progresses … The only aim of Strickland's life was to create beauty. Not long before his terrible death of leprosy, far from his native land, on the remote island of Tahiti, Strickland realized his lifelong dream. The pictures on the walls of his dilapidated house were his masterpiece. In them “Strickland had finally put the whole expression of himself”. W.S. Maugham tries to be impartial to his characters. They are neither all good nor all bad, “There is not much to choose between men. They are all a hotchpotch of greatness and littleness, of virtue and vice, of nobility and baseness …”.

The reader despises Strickland as a human being: he is selfish, cruel, pitiless and cynical. But, on the other hand, the reader worships him as a talented artist, a creator of beauty. His passionate devotion to art arouses our admiration. Another important character of the novel, Dirk Strove, is shown as an antipode to Strickland. He was a very kind man but a bad artist, though he possessed a keen sense of beauty and was the first to appreciate Strickland's talent.

Maugham wants the reader to draw his own conclusions about the characters and events described in his novels. “I do not seek to persuade anybody. I am devoid of the pedagogic instinct and when I know a tiding, I never feel in myself the desire to impart it to others. I do not much care if people agree with me … Nor does it greatly disturb me to discover that my judgment is at variance with that of the majority (W.S. Maugham “The summing up”).

Realistic portrayal of life, keen character observation, and interesting plots coupled with beautiful, expressive language, simple and lucid style, place Somerset Maugham on a level with the greatest English writer of the XXth century.

15. Lifestyle we choose

Nowadays our life is getting more and more tense. People live under the press of different problems, such as social, ecological, economic and others. They constantly suffer from stress, noise and dust in big cities, diseases and instability. A person should be strong and healthy in order to overcome all difficulties. To achieve this aim people ought to take care of their physical and mental health. There are several ways to do it. The state of your body depends on how much time you spend doing sports. At least everybody must do morning exercises every day. The healthiest kinds of sports are swimming, running and cycling. Healthy food is also a very important factor. Overeating causes many dangerous diseases. The daily menu should include meat, fruit and vegetables, milk product, which are rich in vitamins, fat, proteins and etc. On the other hand modern diets are very popular especially among women.

Diets may be harmful, if they are used in the wrong way. To be healthy, people should get rid of their bad habits. It's necessary to stop smoking and drinking much. Everyone should remember that cigarettes, alcohol and drugs destroy both body and brain. Besides according to statistics most of crimes are committed by people under the influence of drugs and alcohol. In addition it is recommended to watch TV less, avoid anxiety and observe daily routine. Certainly it's hard to follow all these recommendations, but every person has to choose between healthy life style and numerous illnesses.

16. How to improve your English, the ways of increasing vocabulary

Strategies for Building a Winning Vocabulary using Mental Associations

Many SAT winners have successfully used one or more of the strategies below to remember 1000 word wordlists in just a few days.

- OUT OF PROPORTION - In all your images, try to distort size and shape. You can imagine things much larger than their normal size or conversely, microscopically small.

- SUBSTITUTION - You could visualise footballers kicking a television around a football pitch instead of a football, or pens growing on a tree instead of leaves. Substituting an out of place item in an image increases the probability of recall.

-EXAGGERATION - Try to picture vast quantities in your images.

- MOVEMENT - Any movement or action is always easy to remember. For example, Tutorial 1 suggested that you see yourself cutting into a sausage and gallons of ink squirting out and hitting you in the face.e.g. the word ricochet means to bounce or skip off. This word can easily be linked with Rick, you might be a person you know. Imagine your friend jumping on to a wall head on and then bouncing off from it. Think of his dazed face when he skips off the wall, imagine the vivid color of the wall.

- HUMOUR - The funnier, more absurd and zany you can make your images, the more memorable they will be.e.g. the word torpid means slow. Torpid can easily be linked to Torpedo. Imagine a Torpedo chasing away a tortoise. Imagine the tortoise trying to get away from teh torpedo and the torpedo unable to keep up with the speed of the tortoise. Imagine it happening in a small path in teh Jungle. Imagine the torpedo making a hissing sound. Make the picture as vivid as possible.You will never forget the meaning of torpid again.

Applying any combination of these five principles when forming your images will help make your mental associations truly outstanding and memorable.

At first you may find that you need to consciously apply one or more of the five principles in order to make your pictures sufficiently ludicrous. After a little practice however, you should find that applying the principles becomes an automatic and natural process

- When you learn new words, make sure you learn them in a context. It is much easier to picture a sentence rather than a word in isolation.

-Since a lot of English words are derived from Greek & Latin roots, it makes sense to be aware of these and the suffixes and prefixes commonly used.

- Pay attention to the tone of the words, whether soft or hard, harsh or mind, negative or positive

This could help you guess when in doubt, especially in the Sentence Completion section.

- Play games like scrabble & crosswords. This will make building vocabulary fun and you will not get put off after sometime.

- Perhaps the Best way to increase your vocabulary is to read, read and read. There is absolutely no substitute for that! Reading helps you learn new words from the context in which they are used, thereby making it easy to remember the new words and more importantly, how and when it is used.

17. Business documents and contracts

In my presentation I'm going to throw light on the peculiarities of making up business letters and contracts in English. First I'll speak about business correspondence, then about contracts.

Business letters may be subdivided into official and semi-official. The first kind of letters is characteristic of those people working in business: an executive, a secretary or a specialist in business and technology. But also many people may want to buy something, to accept an invitation or to congratulate somebody - this is a kind of semi-official letters. The first kind of letters may in turn be subdivided into such groups as: inquiries, offers, orders, and so on.

Official or semi-official business letters require certain accepted idioms, phrases, patterns, and grammar. Therefore certain skills must be acquired by practice, and details of writing must be carefully and thoroughly learnt.

The language of business, professional and semi-official letters is formal, courteous, tactful, concise, expressive, and to the point. A business letter must be made up according to a certain rules. It consists of several essential parts: Letterhead, Reference line, Date, Inside address, Attention line, Salutation, Subject line, Body of the letter, Complimentary clause, Signature block, Enclosure and copies notation. A neatly arranged letter will certainly make a better impression on the reader, thus good letters make good business partners.

Now I'll say some words about contracts.

Nowadays more and more agreements are made in English, for English is the nearest thing we have to a universal business language. Joint ventures, bank loans, and trademark licenses are frequently spelled out in this language even though it is not native to at least one of the contracting parties.

A good contract narrates, in an orderly sequence, that one party should do this and the other should do that, and perhaps if certain events occur, the outcome will be changed.

When striking a deal standard contracts are widely used. Standard contracts are not a must. Some articles may be altered and supplemented. Here are some of the items which are part and parcel of any contract: legal title of the contracting parties, subject of the contract, quality, price, delivery and payment terms.

Subject of the contract is the product for sale or purchase. it also indicates the unit of measure generally employed in foreign trade for specific commodities.

The quality of machines and equipment is to be in conformity with the technical specification of the contract. The quality of raw materials and foodstuffs is determined, as a rule, by standards, by sample or by description.

The price stated in the contract may be firm, fixed or sliding. Form prices are not subject to change in the course of the fulfillment of the contract. Fixed price is the price governing in the market on the day of delivery or for a given period. Sliding prices are quoted for machinery and equipment which require a long period of delivery.

Payment nowadays is usually made by a L/C (Letter of Credit) as it insures a full protection both for the Buyer and the Seller.

The majority of contracts include a so-called force-majeure clause. Force majeure is a force against which you cannot act or fight. The parties should agree what they will do in the force majeure situation.

Another clause of a contract is insurance of goods. The idea of insurance is to obtain indemnity in case of damage of loss.

And the last contract clause is called claims and sanctions. Most often the Buyer makes quality and quantity claims on the Seller. The Seller can make a claim on the Buyer in the case of non-payment and so on.

These were the essential clauses of a standard contract.

In conclusion I would like to say that in the modern world everybody who is involved in any kind of business should thoroughly study the complex science of writing business letters and contracts, so as his or her business could thrive.

Cross-Cultural Differences in Doing Business

Globalisation, the expansion of intercontinental trade, technological advances and the increase in the number of companies dealing on the international stage have brought about a dramatic change in the frequency, context and means by which people from different cultural backgrounds interact.

Cross cultural solutions to international business demands are increasingly being viewed as a valid and necessary method in enhancing communication and interaction in and between companies, between companies and customers and between colleagues.

No matter how much you read and learn about the U.S. or Great Britain, what you first of all need to become a productive citizen of the global village is awareness about your own culture as it may be perceived by people of other nationalities. Before thinking how unusually our foreign partners or customers behave, we are to try and understand our own assumptions and values which underlie our judgments and opinions.

Take for example "time" and "money" which are very often synonyms for Americans. Observing deadlines is expected from partners, tardiness is strongly frowned upon because in case you are late, you waste the company's time and hence money. In Russia with its big distances, time is not always treated as a material value which has a monetary equivalent.

Interpersonal relations in business constitute another area of cross-cultural differences. There are two so-called specific and diffuse cultures. Within the specific type of culture, personal and public spaces are separated from each other. He is the boss at work and even if you are his old friend you are likely to be reprimanded or even fired if you mess up a serious assignment. A manager within the diffuse culture can hardly separate being a boss from being a friend. Even if he has to reprimand a colleague who is his close friend, he will feel very uncomfortable about his criticism and will try to make it up to him as quickly as possible.

It is useless to argue what type of culture is "better" or even more productive. People belonging to a certain type of culture cannot and should not change overnight. As we have mentioned above, the first thing is to understand the culture you were raised in. The second thing is to become aware of cultural stereotypes and values of the people you work with.

Cross cultural consultancies are involved in aiding companies to find solutions to the challenges cross cultural differences carry. Cross cultural consultancies therefore concentrate their efforts on interpersonal communication. As one would approach a doctor for a medical diagnosis or an accountant to examine finances, cross cultural consultants offer the expertise, experience and know-how to diagnose problems and provide solutions to interpersonal cultural differences.

Within companies there are many facets in which cultural differences manifest. Some key areas which cross cultural consultants deal with include, but are not exclusive to, the following:

Cross Cultural HR: HR covers a wide range of business critical areas that need cross cultural analysis. Consultants may offer advice on a number of areas including recruitment, relocation, international assignments, staff retention and training programmes.

Cross Cultural Team-Building: in order to have a well functioning business unit within a company, communication is critical. Cross cultural consultants will provide tools and methods to promote staff integration, reduce cross cultural conflicts and build team spirit. This is essentially done through highlighting differences and building on strengths to ensure they are used positively.

Cross Cultural Synergy: international mergers, acquisitions and joint-ventures require people from different cultural backgrounds to harmonise in order to succeed. Cross cultural consultants advise on group mechanics, communication styles, norms, values and integration processes.

Cross Cultural Awareness Training: working with colleagues, customers or clients from different cultural backgrounds, with different religions, values and etiquettes can occasionally lead to problems. Cross cultural awareness training is usually a generic introduction into a culture, country, region or religion. The aim is to equip the trainee with the adequate knowledge to deal comfortably with people from different cultures, avoiding misunderstandings and mistakes.

Cross Cultural Training for Expatriate Relocation: staff that travel overseas need to understand the cultural basics of the host country or region. Knowledge of the country's history, culture, laws, traditions, business practices and social etiquettes all help to minimise the impact of culture shock and hence smooth their transition overseas.

Cross Cultural Negotiations: equipped with their knowledge of the two or more cultures that can be meeting around the negotiation table, a cross cultural consultant advises on areas such as negotiation strategies, styles, planning, closure and etiquette in order to increase the chance of a successful outcome, free from misunderstandings, suspicions and general cross cultural communication breakdown.

Cross Cultural PR Consultancy: brand image, public relations and advertising are all areas companies must be careful of when moving out of the national context. Tastes and values change dramatically from continent to continent. It is crucial to understand whether the brand name, image or advertising campaign is culturally applicable in the target country. Cross cultural consultants examine words, images, pictures, colours and symbols to ensure they fit well with the target culture.

Cross Cultural Language Training: Language training is an area where little investment is made by companies, but where the business advantages are great. Linguistic knowledge goes a long way in bridging cultural gaps and smoothing lines of communication. Cross cultural consultancies provide language training to business staff, moulding their learning to the business environment in which they work.

In conclusion, clearly the role and expertise of cross cultural communication consultants is important for today's international business.

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