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 Cultural
Tutor
In
North America, doing
business is fairly basic -- even for a beginner. You wear a suit,
arrive early, and present your ideas. Both of you agree on the
specifics by 5 p.m.
You
and your client may grab a bite to eat while talking about the deal.
Usually, you finish in time to catch your favorite TV show.
But
if you do business the same way overseas, you could offend your hosts.
Corporations know that good communication requires planning and
understanding. They look for problems caused by cultural differences.
Global
companies used to rely on an intermediary to help staff with their
foreign clients. Today, corporations are turning to cultural tutors.
These tutors train staff on how to do business overseas.
Diana
Rowland, president of Rowland and Associates, Inc., says this type of
service is overdue. "I spent 10 years traveling and living overseas.
After I returned, I worked for a Japanese trading company. It was clear
to me that many North Americans trying to do business with this firm
were have a difficult time because of the differences in styles," she
says.
"I kept wishing that I could recommend a book
on doing
business with the Japanese, but there was nothing on the market at the
time."
Rowland went on to write a best-seller in the
early '80s
-- Japanese Business Etiquette: A Practical Guide to Success With the
Japanese. It led her to start her own business.
"I
started my
company in 1985, and it has continued to grow both in clients and
services. We now provide training on doing business with countries all
over the world," she says.
Many cultural tutors
start as foreign
exchange students. They spend a lot of time in the country they
specialize in. When they come home, their skills are in demand by
corporations with large foreign markets.
Some tutors
begin by
working as freelancers. Getting started was fairly simple for Hans
Fisher, president of Fisher International Services. "The cost of
setting up a home business was minimal -- primarily computer
equipment," he says.
If you want to be a tutor, you
can take a foreign language and culture program at a community college
or university.
Cultural tutors need certain skills
before they enter this profession:
- A
knowledge of the theory of cross-cultural communication
- Experience
working and living in at least one foreign country
- Fluency
in a foreign language
"As for
substantial growth potential for our industry, it's a matter of keeping
ahead of the game," says Marti Teems, general manager for Japan
Services, Inc.
"More and
more clients are requesting web-related work, so we're constantly
striving to master and offer new web-related services. If you can't
offer all of the services your competitors are offering, you're out of
the game."
You can't
master all the programs you may need before working in a foreign
country. That's why most tutors specialize.
You can
specialize in several areas, including:
Dong
Fang
Yuan, a Chinese interpreter and translator, charges $0.20 per word for
translating a document. For interpreting services, he bills an average
of $30 per hour, including travel expenses.
McKellar
Newsome owns the home-based Carolina Educational Services. She made
$30,000 a year as a part-time cultural tutor. She increased that to
$130,000 by running the business full time. Once
a
company goes international, it usually creates programs to understand
its diverse customer base. Cross-cultural training not only improves
business -- it better prepares employees for what they may encounter
when working in a foreign land.
A study in
Fortune Magazine shows that the big problem with globalization is
adapting to local cultures. For example, one U.S. company sent some
professionals and their families to Mexico. Over 50 percent of them
returned to the U.S. within one year.
The
Business Council for International Understanding estimates that 33 to
66 percent of people who do business abroad without cultural training
fail. Less than two percent of those who did have the training failed.
"I think
the steepest growth curve is already behind us," says Rowland. "But the
field is still growing as companies continue to become international,
multinational, and global."
 | Net
Sites
|
LearnPlus
Languages Courses
Interactive
online language courses, broken down into modules
http://www.learnplus.com/
Japanese
Online
A gathering
place for anyone who has interest in Japanese language and culture
http://www.japanese-online.com/
The American Cultural Exchange
A private, nonprofit international
education training organization
http://www.cultural.org/
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