Cross-cultural Q&A

I am about to begin work with a Korean client who is based in London.  She has also spent some years working for a bank in Hong Kong, so may have adopted some Hong Kong customs and ways of working as well.  Do you have any useful hints and tips on my client's expectations and/or preferred way of working?

Having worked and studied abroad in several countries, I find that the most salient point about anticipating how interaction with people will go is whether they have international, cross-cultural experience.  In this case, I'm confident that your (then) imminent collaboration will be fruitful because your Singaporean client has significant cross-cultural experience, and so have you.  People who have such experience usually have objectivity about how they interact; often, they have the tendancy to jump in and ask questions openly.  Where you really have to watch out is when the situation includes people who have little experience outside their home culture.  They don't know what they don't know.  Interestingly, I find that this carries over into speaking foreign languages.  Usually, people who speak in cross-cultural situations have sensitivity about vocab choice; they speak "high" German/French/whatever and use fewer idiomatic expressions.  All of this said, if your experience doesn't include living in Japan, China, Korea, etc., I would look into some books that can give you a rundown on some basic things.  One series that's usually decent is the "Culture Shock" collection.  Realize that they are quite limited and general; however, I have found them useful for painting some vestige of a landscape.  Obviously, there are also myriad consultants that can get you up to speed very quickly as well.

In addition, I usually ask myself what are my goals for the relationship.  Americans are notorious for having the "everyone speaks American ;-) " attitude, which is increasingly true at a basic level.  However, the better question is often, "Does the person feel comfortable/intimate speaking American?"  At the risk of stating the obvious, speaking someone else's language (metaphorically this holds true for actions/customs as well) will enable you to attain a higher comfort level more quickly.  If your goal for the relationship isn't ambitious, you can depend on remaining on the "international/cross-cultural" realm; however, if you think you'll want to go deeper, your efforts to understand, literally, "where the person is coming from" will probably pay off handsomely.  I have had this experience many times, having learned to speak several languages.  Even if you don't speak as a native (again, language used metaphorically) your effort and care will certainly be rewarded; it will also give you a framework for building and transferring knowledge about that culture to other situations.