SECTION B INTERVIEW?

M: I’m talking to Janet Holmes who has spent many years negotiating fo r several well-known national and multi-national companies. Hello, Janet.

W: Hello.?

M：Now Janet, you’ve experienced and observed the negotiation strategies used by people from different countries and speakers of different languages.  So befor e we comment on the differences, could I ask you to comment, first of all, on what such encounters have in common??

W：OK, well, I’m just going to focus on the situations where people are speakin g English in international business situations.

M: I see. Now, not every one speaks to the same degree of proficiency. Maybe tha t affects the situation.

W: Yes, perhaps. But that is not always so significant. Well, because, I mean, n egotiations between business partners from different countries normally mean we have negotiations between individuals who belong to distinct cultural traditions

M: Oh, I see.?

W: Well, every individual has a different way of performing various tasks in eve ryday life.?

M: Yes, but, but isn’t it the case that in the business negotiation, they must c ome together and work together to a certain extent. I mean, doesn’t that level up the style of, the style of differences or somewhat??

W: Oh, I am not so sure. I mean there’re people in the so-called Western World w ho say that in the course of the past 30 or 40 years, there are a lot of things that have changed a great deal globally, and that as a consequence, national differences had diminished, giving way to some sort of international Amer icanized style.?

M: Yeah, I’ve heard that. Now some people say this Americanized style has acted  as a model for local patterns.?

W: Maybe it has, maybe it hasn’t. Because on the one hand, there does appear to  be a fairly unified even uniform style of doing business with certain basic pri nciples and preferences, you know, like "time is money", that sort of thing. B ut at the same time, it is very important to remember the way all retain aspects of national characteristics. But it is the actual behaviour that we will talk a bout here. We shouldn’t be too quick to generalize that to national characteris tic and stylistic type. It doesn’t help much.?

M: Yeah.  You mentioned Americanized style. What is particular about American st yle of business bargaining or negotiating??

W: Well, I’ve noticed that, for example, when Americans negotiate with people f rom Brazil, the American negotiators make their points in a direct, sophistical way.?

M: I see.?

W: While Brazilians make their points in a more indirect way.?

M: How??

W: Let me give you an example. Brazilian importers look at people they’re talki n g to straight in the eyes a lot. They spend time on what some people thinks to b e background information. They seem to be more indirect.?

M: Then, what about the American negotiators??

W: American style of negotiating, on the other hand, is far more like that of po int-making; first point, second point, third point, and so on. Now of course, th is isn’t the only way in which one can negotiate and there’s absolutely no reason why t his should be considered as the best way to negotiate.?

M: Right. Americans seem to have a different style, say, even from the British, do n’t they??

W: Exactly, which just show how careful you must be about generalizing. I mean, how about asking you explain how the American negotiators are seen as informal, and so metimes much too open. For British eyes, Americans are too direct even blunt.?

M: Is that so??

W: Yeah, at the same time, the British too.  German negotiators can appear direc t and uncompromising in the negotiations, and yet if you experience Germans and Americans negotiating together, it often is the Americans who are too blunt for the German negotiators.?

M: Fascinating! So people from different European countries use different styles , don’t they??

W: That’s right.?

M: OK. So what about the Japanese then? I mean, is their style different from th e Americans and Europeans??

W: Oh, well, yes, of course. Many Europeans nod its extreme politeness of their Japanese counterpart, the way they avoid giving the slightest defense, you know.  They’re also very reserved to people they don’t know well. At the first meeti ng s American colleagues have difficulties in finding the right approach sometimes.  But then when you meet the Japanese negotiators again, this initial impression tends to disappear. But it is perhaps true to say the average Japanese business person does choose his or her words really very carefully.?

M: So can we say that whatever nationalities you are dealing with, you need to r emember that different nationalities negotiate in different ways??

W: Well it’s perhaps more helpful to bear in mind that different people behave i n negotiating in different ways. And you shouldn’t assume that everyone will be have in the same way that you do.?

M: Right. It is definitely a very useful tip for our businessman who often negot iate with their overseas partners, OK, Janet, thank you very much for talking wi th us.?

W: Pleasure.