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What the British really mean when they say things — and what other people hear

Check out this brilliant anonymous chart that has been passed around for years, and then keep reading for more analysis:

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Anglo vs EU
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This chart also appears in "The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business," a 2014 bestseller by INSEAD professor Erin Meyer.

Meyer explains that what's happening can be explained by looking the evaluation spectrum, one of eight scales that explain cultural interactions:

culture map evaluating
"The Culture Map

The British are inclined toward relatively indirect negative feedback. The rest of Europe is inclined toward relatively direct negative feedback.

Similarly hilarious and/or awkward communication gaps happen any time people from different ends of those cultural scales interact with each other without being aware of their differences.

 

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