Devoted to ex-pats, exploring resources, challenges, and opportunities

Matt,

First of all, welcome to KnowMoreMedia! We are glad to have you contributing!

My in-laws just moved to Mongolia and we got them all set up with Skype so we can talk using VOIP for pennies per minute instead of for dollars per minutes. This one thing will save us thousands of dollars over the next year and a half while they are there.

(Disclosure: Matt Ellsworth is my father.)

Welcome to the KMM Network, Dad! You're sure to make a positive impact in the blogosphere.

Ladies and gentlemen, my dad is an expert on translation. Dinner conversations when I was a kid would sometimes go way over my head because he would start telling me the etymology of a word or explaining why English is so problematic and mongrelized. But he really knows how to make things understandable and useful to the reader. I think you'll enjoy this blog as well as his other Know More Media blog, Translation Maven.

Now that fluffy introductions are over, let's throw him some curveballs, folks! You're on, Dad!

I am a huge fan of Skype as well, but if you are away from a computer, we've also had good experience with Ekno -- we prepaid before we traveled to New Zealand, Australia, Bali, Singapore and Thailand, and their supplied 800#s worked in each country, and we received very low per minute rates no matter where we were. Plus, the customer service was solid, and their online presence was good as well.

An update. We talked to my in-laws via skype today for Thanksgiving. We created a conference between Mongolia, Oregon, and Utah. We had some delay, and the call was dropped once, but we talked for close to an hour and it was all free!

Later we skyped-out and added in another sister via her cell phone. This only cost a few pennies a minutes. I am officially a Skype fan!

http://www.loadzajobs.ie/news_details.asp?id=1198

World of Work: Eastern promise

Many companies are now doing business with Asian countries, but it’s important professionals acquaint themselves with cultural traditions, says Elaine Larkin.

To borrow the words from an Eighties song by the Vapors, it seems that Ireland is ‘turning Japanese’ this year. Just a few weeks ago a seminar on business opportunities in Japan was held in Galway, which was organised by the Irish Exporters Association, Enterprise Ireland, Chambers Ireland and the Embassy of Japan.

There’s just a week to go until the closing date of two EU-funded Executive Training Programmes (ETPs), which are being co-ordinated here by Chambers Ireland and are specifically designed to train executives to be more effective in doing business with Japan and South Korea.

It may seem like little interest to the average worker, that is, of course, until they are asked to go to Japan and represent their company. Any phrases people picked up on when half the country went to Japan for the 2002 World Cup are most likely forgotten. Not that that matters, going to Japan means a little bit more than brushing up on how to say yes, no, please and thanks in the local language.

John Whelan, CEO of the Irish Exporters Association, explains that Japan has the most pronounced cultural system that most exporters will hit, more so than even China or India. He explains that after a decade of very sluggish growth in the Japanese market, last year and so far this year, a significant step-up in activity has been observed. “Doors that were difficult to open have suddenly become available so Irish companies are making a fresh push on the Japanese market. It is our biggest export market in Asia and it has been for some time. Despite the rapid growth in China it continues to be our biggest market.”

However, without observing the correct cultural etiquette, Irish businesspeople may find themselves on the next flight home. There are a number of things Irish executives should be aware of, he says, including how to present their business cards in the correct fashion by bowing to people. “They have a relatively slow approach to accepting a new product or service, so it does require a lot of preparation before visiting so your business case has been made before you arrive,” he explains. “If that’s not possible you’re certainly going to be into multiple visits.”

A nose for business: Sinead Griffin set up Cross Culture Training with her brother Tom

Imagine crossing the world to represent your employers and literally blowing the deal. This is exactly how one Irish businessman who blew his nose and stuffed his hanky back in his pocket lost a potential business deal in Japan, says SinÈad Griffin, co-director of Cross Culture Training, which she set up with her brother Tom. Blowing your nose in public in an Asian country is frowned upon and using a hanky instead of a disposable tissue would be considered unhygenic.

Having worked and travelled widely abroad, the siblings set up the company three years ago. The pair received financial assistance from Waterford Leader Programme and are well aware of the need for people to be aware of cultural differences before doing business abroad. “If you don’t know how to behave, what to expect and what is expected of you when you visit a country with a culture foreign to yours, it is likely you will behave in some manner that will offend,” Tom says. As a result the duo set up an e-learning tutorial for doing business in Japan for which they are currently seeking resellers and agents and have a number more tutorials for other countries in the pipeline.

The multimedia tutorial which is available from www.crossculturetraining.com takes approximately two hours to complete and can be done in an executive’s own time. It takes people from careful pre-departure preparations through to the business meeting stage, negotiations, socialising with Japanese counterparts and beyond. “Irish people’s frame of reference is different to the Japanese. In a business situation in Ireland, outspoken, confident and independent employees are looked on in a favourable light, whereas in Japan, those traits are frowned upon,” adds SinÈad.

Tom adds some westerners have an impression that by presenting their wares to the Japanese, business is going to flow. “The question is how this is done,” he says.