Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Professional Help in Cultural Understanding
In addition to the many aspects of cultural differences and
cultural awareness considered in this topic, there are formal
psychological and linguistic approaches now being developed
to these 'invisible realities'. Both before your departure
and after you arrive in France, you will i nd experts in the
multi-disciplined i eld of cultural transition which may be of
great help.
Choosing an Intercultural Trainer
If you are planning to do business in France or coming to live in
France for any length of time, it would be well worth your while
to get some intercultural training.
L Robert Kohls offers some basic guidelines for choosing an
international trainer who, he says, should have all the following
qualii cations:
Personal knowledge of France and at least two years of living
experience there.
A positive attitude towards France and French people.
The experience of having lived through culture shock,
somewhere.
A fundamental knowledge of the basic values of your
home culture.
Experience with stand-up training and experiential
learning techniques.
Interest in both content and process training.
An image that is acceptable to the people being trained.
L Robert Kohls identii es four formal approaches to cross-
cultural preparedness: education, which provides broad
content knowledge of the subject country; training, which
focuses on performing specii c skills or meeting specii c
objectives effectively; orientation, which prepares a person
to understand and function in another culture; and briei ng,
which provides a broad overview of a culture.
Aspects of numbers the i rst, third and fourth points are
included elsewhere in this topic and refer you to a number
of resources, all included in the Bibliography. Many people
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