Cross-Cultural Dialogues: 74 Brief Encounters with Cultural Difference

This is a great companion to Figuring Foreigners Out - a practical guide by Storti - 1998 copyright. I also have cultures and organizations by Hofstede - 2010 for the third edition. This book, cross-cultural dialogues, is just a collection of dialogues. The dialogues are great to read through if you already know what you are reading for. So I recommend one of the other two books to go along with this book. The Storti book is in the same format; not surprising since it was written by the same author. The Hofstede book is essentially equivalent information but a newer copyright and more of a book format. Personally, I have all three and find all of them useful. But this is a great companion to either of these books.

Craig Storti’s updated “Cross-Cultural Dialogues” has long been known in the cross-cultural training and education world, making it a classic. It is short and simple in format, but brilliant in how it demonstrates how cultural differences can lead to a communication breakdown between people from two different countries. The content consists of 74 short, made-up dialogues where a disconnect in communication takes place between a U.S. national and a national from another region. The challenge to the reader is to identify the nature of the miscommunication and the underlying cultural assumptions that led to the breakdown. While each conversation consists of just a few lines, identifying the contrasting cultural value on each side of the dialogue is not as easy as one might initially think. But the answer key/discussion section provides a fascinating and enlightening explanation of each dialogue in clear, straightforward, non-academic language. That makes the book a joy to work with both in and out of the classroom or training room. Fascinated by the dynamics of communication, I have read “Cross-Cultural Dialogues” as both a resource for training others and a source for increasing my own cross-cultural enlightenment about various regions of the world (the dialogues are divided according to region). I recommend this creative work for anyone seeking to hone their own or others’ cross-cultural communication skills.

Good look at the ways people from different cultures interpret conversations.

It may seem that Mr. Storti's book shows other world cultures - Asian, Latin, European - through an American magnifying lens. It may be so if you are an American reader. If you're not, it gives you the chance to look at your own culture through foreign eyes. This can be a rather informative and actually liberating experience. I strongly recommend it.

This book provides very will designed cultural dialogues that cross-cultural trainers can integrate into their training workshops for effective experiential and interactive learning. The dialogues in this new edition will resonate much more with a more mature audience members that have already exposure to other cultures but need to learn about the cultural nuances that undermine good communication. This edition dialogues are much more subtle and workshop participants have to really pay attention to uncover the hidden cultural clues. Therein lies the power of cultural dialogues as a teaching/learning tool. After all these years, there is nothing like these dialogues out there. it makes sense because it takes so much experience and knowledge to develop such powerful tool. Storti's approach has been honed over decades of his experience teaching thousands of people all over the world. My workshop participants love them and I can't teach a workshop without Storti's dialogues. Stop looking for other tools and get your copy of this book today.

This book is a fun and fascinating read. Craig Storti is truly in tune with the subtleties, pitfalls and opportunities of cross-cultural dialogue. The book does not have an academic or burdensome tone; rather, it is simple to read and understand. I found it quite enjoyable, attempting to figure out (like a riddle), from each small example of a cross-cultural interaction, WHAT the "snags" or miscommunications of each scenario were. I also liked that Mr. Storti divided the book into different settings: social, workplace and business. As a student of conflict analysis and resolution, I have found (and will continue to find) this book extremely useful in my present and future work and interactions; however, anyone, from any walk of life, study, or profession should really read this book, as it would be very useful in our increasingly multi-cultural society, and our world, which is getting smaller and smaller all the time.

As president of a cross-cultural training and consulting company, I have found this text extremely useful for providing our clients, corporate managers and executives, a quick, easy-to-read overview of the types of communication challenges that can arise in daily cross-cultural conversations. Typically, the reaction we get is "That just happened to me, but I didn't know what was going on at the time." At ERUdyne, we use the text on a regular basis. We recommend it to all our clients who are new to the global business environment, and to those who want to fine tune their skills for picking up the real message behind the words.

Good condition for class, thanks

Really helpful and thoroughly analysed dialogues

The book focuses mainly, but not entirely, on business situations abroad from a US perspective. For anyone in USA doing buisiness overseas it is very enlightening. A variety of cultural contexts are explored. Even if you are not doing business-oriented travel overseas, the dialogues will give you insight on how much cultural context can be imbedded into what may seem like very innocuous conversations. I'm Canadian, and the contexts are very similar to what I have experienced after travelling extensively abroad. Analyzing the cultural contexts behind the dialogues will help to inform the reader about the importance of trying to "desconstruct" conversations through different cultural lenses. So much is happening so quickly beneath the surface in these cultural interactions that it is important to be able to develop the skills to recognize a cultural miscue or faux-pas when engaging in conversations with others from different cultural backgrounds. Raising one's sensitivity to these issues will help to improve cross-cultural communication. The book is quick, easy, and enjoyable reading. I would recommend it to anyone planning to travel or work abroad.