Chart of World's Cultures
A recent article on Business Insider brought to my attention research done by Richard Lewis, founder of Richard Lewis Communications, to "plot the world's cultures on a chart".
The results have something to say about language as well as culture and business.
Richard Lewis offers cross-cultural coaching and consultation.
A world traveler who speaks ten languages, British linguist Richard Lewis decided he was qualified to plot the world's cultures on a chart.
He did so while acknowledging the dangers of stereotypes.
"Determining national characteristics is treading a minefield of inaccurate assessment and surprising exception," Lewis wrote. "There is, however, such a thing as a national norm."
Many people think he nailed it, as his book "When Cultures Collide," now in its third edition, has sold more than one million copies since it was first published in 1996 and was called "an authoritative roadmap to navigating the world's economy," by the Wall Street Journal.
Lewis plots countries in relation to three categories...