Expats brush up their India quotient

Would you be surprised if you were told that foreign executives and employees are taking up e-learning courses on Indian culture, behaviour traits and even English before visiting the country? Don't be, for that's what they are doing. Really.

Communication is often a problem foreign executives face in India. For example, Indians often find it difficult to say 'no' and are averse to declining requests.

In such cases, remarks such as "I will try" become a polite way of saying "It is not possible". An expatriate is likely to take this as a "Yes", giving rise to lot of miscommunication and blame game.

"To evade this situation, global corporations and executives are brushing up their know-how on India," says Bhavin Turakhia, Founder and amp; CEO of Directi, an Internet based solution provider. "There has been a growing demand from our clients-especially those preparing for their maiden visit to India-for help with understanding the cultural traits and differences that separate them from their Indian counterparts," says K Venkataraman, Director, Cognizant.

Cognizant Academy, the in-house training centre of Cognizant, has developed two e-learning tools to introduce expatriate clients to India and its cultural traits. Similarly, Directi Flexi Learning Program and Directi Online University, give a range of information on the corporate and people culture in India.

But why would an American need to brush up his English before visiting India? This is because of the difference between Indian and American English. For instance, in India we say "revision" and Americans say "review"; what we "prepone", actually gets "advanced" in the US and our "timing" is their "schedule".

We take the "lift" and they get into an "elevator". Foreign nationals are often at loss to understand why Indian festival holidays are not observed on a fixed day of the year and are flummoxed by Indians' perception of punctuality and assertiveness.

The reluctance of Indians to decline requests or make firm and realistic assertions about the feasibility of tasks and deadlines keeps them wondering. The e-learning programmes on India prepare learners for Indian counterparts who plunge into specifics even if they do not know the person very well, ask personal questions as a means of building rapport, give out personal information readily, tend not to contradict their bosses or escalate issues, and so on.

Some everyday habits of Indians such as eating with bare hands are also explained here. When asked to cite the most frequent and amusing question by expatriates, Venkataraman says, They often ask: "While greeting an Indian woman, should we shake hands or just say 'Namaste' with folded hands?" "It is always welcoming for existing employees to know that a new joinee, especially an expatriate, has taken the initiative of understanding the company and country culture prior to joining the company," says Turakhia.

Source : Yahoo