Jordan: Conversation
From ExecutivePlanet.com
Welcome topics of conversation
Every visitor to Jordan is soon asked, 'How do you find Jordan?' Of course the hope of the inquirer is that you will have some complimentary thing to say about your experience of life and business in Jordan. But, it also opens up the door to talk about anything in Jordan. Jordanians are proud of their knowledge of peoples and countries around the world, so if you have some thought provoking questions about the history, language, government, culture or society of Jordan it will make a good start to a relationship.
Except in formal situations, Jordanians normally mix personal conversation with business. Feel free to do the same your self; a little personal conversation will help with the relationship building.
If you are American, you will probably need to work on keeping your voice down. A loud voice can be considered domineering, or as a loss of control, and inappropriate for a guest let alone the building of mutual relationships. On the other hand, Jordanians can be very emotional in their conversation. Feel free to show some emotion but don't raise your voice when you do.
Some Jordanians are into sports, especially what Americans call soccer but Jordanians call football.
Most Jordanians like to talk about religion. If you have definite religious convictions, feel free to discuss them. However, a proselytizing or missionary approach will cause tension and damage relationships. On the other hand, you may run into some Jordanians who will try to convert you to Islam.
In Jordanian culture, it is quite normal to talk about such things as your wages, how much you pay for things like rent or clothing and how old you are. On the other hand, it is considered impolite to discuss your relationship with your spouse.
Compliment giving is like a sport--great entertainment, a source of pride, and best when played with good sportsmanship. Learning to trade compliments is an important part of relationship building.
Avoid cutting or derogatory humour--even with very close friends. Humour that is based on personal put-downs, jabs, sarcasm and such things is not well accepted. I have seen good working relationships that were abandoned by the Jordanian side for this reason alone even when every thing else was working profitably for both sides in every other area.
It might be better, during your first few years of dealing with Jordanians, to avoid making comments on current events. The perspectives of the east and the west can be very greatly divergent on such subjects as Israel, the Road Map and Palestine, Iraq, the war on terrorism, the American President, WTO, the UN and the UN Security Council, China-American relationships, etc. And, in many cases there are various strong feelings involved. To maneuver well in these areas and avoid damaging the working relationships is a challenge requiring quite some experience. If such topics do come up, listen closely, feel free to ask questions for clarification, and try to side step graciously any direct questions about your opinions. In this way, your Jordanian associate will understand from you that you do not wish to make these current events an issue in the relationship.
Read the article on Public Behaviour for more comments that relate to conversation.
Good conversational skills will bring you respect and open doors for you. Put some time, consideration and energy into it. When done well, even personal conversation can be an effective part of image building, vision sharing, confidence creation.
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