There is quite an ongoing debate on whether you still need to be so formal when communicating via email. Some think it is best to just get straight to the point in our fast-paced world and there is no necessity for courtesies anymore. However, I believe that if we continue to do so, some generations down the line will not know how to write at all anymore. Think of it as if you are going to a party. It is better to be over-dressed – you can always take the pearls off and first

I was very surprised and maybe somewhat shocked recently when I was told I should not be offended by something that was said to my husband when I shared to a friend something I had observed. Why was I surprised? Well, I was not offended in any kind of way. Why did the person think I was offended? Because the person thought I had been implying my discontent when I had merely stated what I had observed. What happened here? This is a simple but typical example of communication p

Did you know that there are over 300 kinds of bread in Germany? That there is a barbie doll modelled on Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel? That the famous Oktoberfest in Munich actually starts in September or that if a German says "halb zwei" (lit. "half two"), he/she actually means half past one (1:30) in English? Are you ready for your travels to Germany? Whether it is for business or for leisure, it is always important to know a bit about the country you are travelling to

Why is cross-cultural communication important? Why is it so necessary needing the skill of communicating cross-culturally? Communication in itself is not something that is necessarily easy in our own culture, so why do we have to even start worrying or thinking about how to communicate with other cultures? Is it not already challenging and often misleading enough with people of our ‘own kind’? Our world is becoming a smaller place. Unlike 50 years ago, it has become a very no