日本人最擅长开会？揭秘不同国家的会议文化

If you want to get your point across in a meeting in Finland, keep quiet; and let your counterparts deliberate. Of course, that won't work at all in, say, Canada.

在芬兰，如果你想在会议上让别人明白你的观点，就要学会安静，让对方思考一下。当然在加拿大，这个方法却一点儿也不适用。

As more of us do business across cultures and far-flung offices, every meeting can feel like a riddle. What do the long silences, idle chitchat and serious faces really mean in context?

现在，更多人把生意扩展到不同的文化地域，办公室遍布世界各地，每次开会都感觉像是一个谜。长时间的沉默、漫无目的的闲聊、认真严肃的表情在不同语境中究竟意味着什么呢?

It's best to prepare ahead of time so you can quickly zero in on cultural quirks before you head to the meeting table. Here are five rules of thumb for different countries to make navigating your next international meeting a little less nerve-wracking.

走向会议桌之前，你最好提前准备一下，才能很快明白不同文化的特殊习惯。这里列举出了五个针对不同国家的经验法则为你保驾护航，下一次开国际会议就不会再这么伤脑筋。

Stick to the schedule

严格遵守时间表

Where: Germany, Austria, Japan

国家：德国，奥地利，日本

We've all been to meetings that have a loose agenda, if any at all. They don't start on time and they seem to repeat as stragglers wander in. Not so in these countries. Japanese users of Do.com, an online meeting platform, are more likely to create a detailed agenda and pass out supporting documents several days prior to a meeting than meeting goers in any other country, according to founder Jason Shah.

我们开过会的人应该都参加过时间规划松散的会议。开会时间不准时，迟到的人进来，还要重复一遍之前的话。但在这些国家就不是这样。在线会议平台网站Do.com的创始人杰森•沙阿说，利用他们的平台，日本人比其它国家的会议组织者更倾向于创建详细的会议日程，开会前几天就把辅助文件分发出去。

"People [in Japan] are cognisant of how much time remains and don't go over," said Shah. It's expected that you'll understand the written materials ahead of the meeting. If a meticulously planned meeting runs over the allotted time, the gathering might be deemed uNPRoductive, he adds. Ultimately, it can lead to a negative outcome because participants may be seen as inefficient.

沙阿说，“日本人能够意识到还剩多少时间，并且不会重复已经说过的话。”他还说，你应该开会之前就对书面材料有所了解。如果精心规划的会议超出了预定时间，那么他们就会认为这次会议是低效的。最终可能会导致不好的结果，因为管理者可能会认为与会者没有效率。

Germans and Austrians have a similar sentiment, said Stuart Friedman, founder of Global Context, a cross-cultural communication firm based in Redwood City, California in the US. In the US, a well-planned gathering that exceeds its scheduled time might signal great interest or excitement over the topic, but meetings that run long in Germany are often taken to mean that the parties are not communicating efficiently, he said.

位于美国加利福尼亚雷德伍德城的“全球语境”是一家跨文化交流公司，其创始人斯图尔特•弗里德曼说，德国人和奥地利人与日本人观念相似。在美国，如果一次精心准备的会议超出了既定时间，可能说明人们对会议话题很感兴趣、很有激情。但是在德国，这样的会议通常意味着与会各方交流不畅。

Don't even think about a brainstorm

头脑风暴？想都别想

Where: China, Malaysia, Singapore

国家：中国，马来西亚，新加坡

Backtracking or debating a topic can go against the traditional Chinese concept of "saving face", which is meant to avoid any mistakes or actions that could bring embarrassment. Laughing at even an obviously amusing answer, pointing out a potential mistake or even being too straightforward in an answer can derail the entire meeting.

试图改变或争论议题不符合中国传统的“留面子”理念，“留面子”就是指他们会避免任何错误或可能引起尴尬的行为。听到一个明显可笑的回答而发笑、指出潜在的错误，甚至回答得太直接，都会打乱整个会议。

Meetings in a number of Asian countries typically have a desired outcome, without much room for taking a new direction. Knowing the meeting's outcome saves participants from any confrontation or debates, but can be an odd experience for westerners.

很多亚洲国家的会议一般都有一个预期的结果，没有太多改变方向的空间。与会者已经知道了会议结果，就不会再争论或起冲突，但西方人会觉得这样非常奇怪。

"Some people will fly to attend a meeting that they hope to be a brainstorming session, but [in China] brainstorming doesn't take place in meetings," Friedman explained.

弗里德曼解释说：“一些人本以为他们飞去参加的是一个头脑风暴会议，但是（在中国）会议中并没有头脑风暴。”

Savour the interruptions

应对干扰

Where: Italy, France, Spain

国家：意大利，法国，西班牙

When Pascal Soboll meets with clients in Italy or Spain, he's no longer offended if they duck out early or arrive late. Rather than attend the entire three-hour meeting, the managing director at innovation and design firm Daylight Design, has learned that his counterparts there — and in some parts of France — attend based on their own timetable.

如果创新设计公司“日光设计”总经理斯卡尔•索伯尔会见意大利或西班牙的客户，他就不会再因为他们迟到或早退而生气了。因为他已经认识到，他在意大利、西班牙和法国一些地方的生意伙伴们是遵照自己的时间表参加会议的，而不是开完整整三个小时的会。

"People change their schedules very spontaneously," said Soboll. "They tend to come and go."

索伯尔说：“他们会随意更改行程，他们一般都是想来就来想走就走。”

For Soboll that means tweaking his own German-based expectations of client behaviour. Rather than expecting the same group to sit through his entire presentation (often analysing the company's existing strategy) he makes it easier for people to turn up as needed. Those who have missed a portion of the presentation can then review and ask questions to avoid information lapses, he adds.

对索伯尔来说，这意味着要扭转他对客户行为的德国式看法。他允许人们视情况需要来开会，而不再期待同样的一群人听完他整个陈述（通常是分析公司当前的战略）。他补充道，那些错过了一部分陈述的人可以在之后回顾会议内容、问问题，避免信息遗漏。

Please, no small talk

请不要再聊天了

Where: Finland, Sweden

国家：芬兰，瑞典

While chitchat about everything from the weather to the latest sport scores can be good way to ease into more serious meeting discussions in North America, this type of warm-up exercise isn't acceptable in places like Finland and Sweden where non-meeting related discussions can be perceived as a way to veer away from a formally-set agenda and as a waste of other people's time.

在北美，聊一聊天气、最新的运动赛事比分等所有事情都是轻松过渡到更严肃的会议讨论的好方法。但这种热身运动在芬兰和瑞典并不为人接受，因为与会议无关的讨论都被视作偏离正式议程的行为，会浪费别人的时间。

In some countries, including Finland, there are long pauses in the conversation, which can make visitors feel like there's an awkward silence. Don't try to fill it, though, with small talk or anything else. In parts of Northern Europe business people are more comfortable with pauses that can be as long as a minute peppered throughout the conversation, explained Friedman.

在芬兰以及其它一些国家，谈话中会有长时间的停顿，来访者会觉得这样的沉默很尴尬。但是，不要试图打破沉默，闲谈什么的都不可以。弗里德曼解释说，部分北欧地区的商人更习惯谈话中时不时地来段长达一分钟的沉默。

These breaks are used as a way to process what the other person is saying without interrupting. But a clashing of customs can make it easier to distrust the other side during a meeting, so it's crucial to keep this difference in mind.

沉默是因为他们要思考一下对方说的是什么，不希望受到打扰。但是在会议中，习惯不同很容易导致对对方失去信任，因此记住这个区别至关重要。

"The Americans' insistence on breaking the silence causes [the Finnish] to not trust [them]," for instance, said Friedman. "If someone Finnish gets quiet we wonder what excuses they are contemplating."

比如，弗里德曼说：“美国人总是要打破沉默，导致（芬兰人）不信任（他们）。如果芬兰人不说话了，我们就会想他们在找什么借口。”

Decode the feedback culture

破解反馈文化

Where: South Korea, Germany

国家：韩国，德国

When Soboll visits Seoul for business meetings, he anticipates the sort of feedback he will get by first making sure he understands the relationships of those across the table from him. The most junior team member speaks first to give some initial input and the decision maker typically speaks last to make the final call. The feedback order creates a formality to the meeting that helps the participants to understand the significance of each person's input, he adds.

索伯尔去韩国进行商业洽谈的时候，他要首先确保自己了解桌子对面的人都是什么关系，据此预计会得到什么样的反馈。首先说开场白的人是最初级的团队成员，而决策者往往做最后一项陈述。他补充说，这样的发言顺序是会议的正规程序，有利于与会者理解每个人发言的重要性。

German meetings, to that end, can feel equally cool, he said. There's often no way to tell how things are going. "German clients don't applaud or jump for joy," he said. "No one is going to spontaneously say how much they love this work."

他表示，德国人开会在这方面也挺酷。你通常无法预测事情进展如何。他说：“德国客户高兴的时候不会鼓掌或跳起来。没有人会自发地说自己有多喜欢这项工作。”

Vocabulary:

zero in: 瞄准

rule of thumb: 经验法则

deliberate: 仔细考虑；商议

straggler: 落后者

savour: 品尝；享受

backtrack: 改变主意；原路返回