How many American companies organize or support annual trips for employees? Contemporary American practice includes company sponsored picnics, execute retreats, and annual holiday parties. For the Chinese, it is not uncommon for school or district administrators to invite teachers to …
Yvonne Wolf was born in Taiwan and educated in the U.S. and Europe. She has extensive experience living and working internationally (Denmark and Japan). She is fluent in English, Mandarin, and Danish, and has studied Japanese, Spanish, and Greek. Between work and personal travel, she has visited more than 20 countries and well-traveled within the U.S. and Canada. She has worked with organizations and business executives focusing on communication strategies working with Chinese and East Asian partners. Among her many skills is mediating across cultural misunderstandings.
Is the Panda a Chinese Animal?
Geographically speaking, the panda may be uniquely Chinese. In any Chinese gift shop outside of Asia, you will surely see a plethora of products created in homage to this snugly creature so deserving of our protection. Yet, if you enter …
A Chinese Penny for Your Thought?
For over a thousand years, Chinese coins had a square hole in them for stringing together and easy carrying. A style of this coin was minted with a riddle stamped around the hole. This riddle uses the square hole in …
Are You Mr. Mike?
In American culture, we tend to introduce ourselves using first name only. We may have worked with some co-workers for years without knowing their last names. Officemates across departments may not know someone’s last name until the retirement party unless …
Your body language speaks very loudly in Chinese
We’ve all heard before that only 7% of our communication is verbal content, 55% is body language, and 38% vocal tone and infliction. For a high context language like Chinese, that 55% increases greatly. High context means that the context …
Can You Hear a Plant?
Summer banana leaf prints show up everywhere, summer attire, cocktail napkins, backyard parties, hotel wallpaper. Did you know that they have served as a percussion instrument? In Chinese culture banana leaves are famously celebrated by poets to provide meter for …
Don’t be Afraid of the Dark (meat)
If you order a chicken salad, chances are the chicken meat on the salad is breast meat. Chicken breast costs more per pound and is a highly preferred part of chicken consumption in the American context. If your favorite Chinese …
One God or None?
China is officially atheist. The Communist Party has legislated it so, but the Chinese culture is not atheist. The Chinese language is imbued with expressions that assert the existence of a higher superior being(s) that for the people who speak …
Meat Rock Rocks!
The Meat Shaped-Stone is a celebrity in Taipei’s National Palace Museum. It is a treasured piece of the illustrious Imperial collection. It is the Winged Victory (Nike) next to the Mona Lisa of Taipei’s National Palace Museum’s jadeite cabbage. This …
Wolves or Blackhawks?
Between Wolves or Blackhawks, which sports souvenir from Chicago would a Chinese tourist prefer? Culturally speaking, the most probable answer is Blackhawks. It has little to do with their current standing or their particular history, but more with what connection …