In 2008 the German weekly WIRTSCHAFTSWOCHE (Jan. 2008) published the results of a survey carried out among German managers working internationally. Answering the question "Which cultures do you find it difficult to get on with?" they listed China, France, the USA, Japan, Russia, India, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Turkey as the top ten.

You can find the complete survey here http://www.labcompany.net/de/managerpanel/topics/ 

The survey's results confirm what experts have already found to be true i.e. intercultural difficulties do not only occur when dealing with people from distant cultures, but also - and perhaps even more so - when communicating with European neighbours.

Should you be interested in reading more, we would recommend the essay "International English and the Training of Intercultural Competence", which addresses the subject in more detail and which you can download here.

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