THANKS to all those who commented on my post about foreigners’ most common misunderstandings in Brazil, which generated some media interest here. A few pointed out that several of my observations would hold equally well elsewhere in Latin America, or indeed further afield, in particular the relaxed approach to appointments and deadlines and the physical warmth. Others mentioned within-country variations, which certainly exist. The further north you go the more spectacularly late events run. Paulistanos (residents of São Paulo) greet each other with a single air-kiss; residents of Amazonia run more to bear-hugs.

My original examples and readers’ suggestions, some of which I’ve collated below, turned out to fall naturally into three groups. The first lot stem from Brazilians’ flexible attitudes to time and location; the second from their loathing of conflict and in particular having to say “no”. Foreigners in Brazil would be well advised to give much more weight to any signs of ambivalence, whether in body language or a vagueness about details, than to seemingly positive words. The third group includes overstretched analogies, unmeant invitations and extravagant compliments, which have their origin in the high value…Continue reading

via Johnson http://www.economist.com/node/21578905?fsrc=rss