Some years ago, I was hired by an American bank. I received a letter from the head of the Personnel Department that started, "Dear John, I am quite pleased that you have decided to join us." That "quite" saddened me. I thought he was saying "we're kind of pleased you decided to join

　　us although I wish we had hired someone else." Then I discovered that in American English "quite"sometimes means "very", while in British English it means "fairly".

　　So the first lesson about working in other countries is to learn the language and by that I don't

　　just mean the words people speak. It is body language, dress, manners, ideas and so on. The way people do things highlights many of the differences we see between cultures（文化）．

　　Some of these differences may be only on the surface一dress, food and hours of work一while others may be deeper and take longer to deal with. Mostly, it is just a question of getting used to the differences and accepting them, like the climate（气候），while getting on with business.

　　Some of the differences may be an improvement. People are more polite; the service is better; you ask for something to be done and it happens without having to ask again. However, other differences can be troubling, like punctuality（准时）．If you invite people to a party at 7 o'clock

　　your guests will consider it polite to turn up exactly on time in Germany, five minutes early in the

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