Are you interested in a wide variety of cultures and want to find out more about them? We'll take you on a journey from Great Britain to Italy and Russia.
Author: Anna Martha Weber, student in class 21
On December 8 and 9, we, students on the International Business Communication course, had a distinguished visitor as our guests. We exchanged ideas with our guests about different languages, cultures and economic systems in an international context.
Our first guest was Michael Sitter, Diplom language mediator and lecturer at our university. He told us about the British working world and society, which is characterized by "British understatement". This is formed by a lot of humor, a non-directness and a lot of politeness.
We also had the chance to speak with Prof. Nikitina. She is a professor at the State University of Economics and Finance, UNECON, in St. Petersburg, where she is also the head of the Russian-German Center. Through her many stays abroad, especially in Germany, she was able to show us intercultural differences in detail. In international cooperation, as well as in the labor market, Russians are particularly warm and show great interest in communication. She praised the international relationship between our university and UNECON, which also promotes student exchanges. Prof. Nikitina warmly invited us to take part in an Erasmus exchange and told us about the endless possibilities and opportunities to experience interculturality in everyday working life.
Dr. Marcellino also took the time to visit us in the seminar room. The lecturer for Italian and Spanish at our university gave us an insight into the corporate world of Italians. It was particularly exciting to see that business life seems very familiar from a German perspective. It is not unusual for a business meeting to end with a visit to a restaurant. What seems familiar to Germans, however, is unthinkable for Italians. However, professionalism and distance are always maintained.
On behalf of our entire "International Business Communication" course, we would like to thank Prof. Maćkowiak for the opportunity and efforts to give us an understanding of interculturality in everyday working life. Special thanks go to our guests, who make the topic even more tangible through their practical experience.
Have we sparked your interest in working abroad and gaining new experiences? Then find out more here!
