Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Communications - Intercultural Communication, grade: 1,3, University of applied sciences, Cologne, language: English, abstract: The purpose of this paper is to give the reader an understanding of two very contrary cultures, Germany’s and Thailand’s, in order to help preventing cultural misunderstandings when working together. At first, an explanation of the word “culture” will be given, although, so far, there has not yet been one exact definition all scientists approve of. After giving some general information about the two countries, a comparison will be drawn between Germany and Thailand based on two individual theories of so-called “Cultural Dimensions” put forward by the scientists Edward T. Hall and Fons Trompenaars. Additionally, the reader will find a brief elaboration of suggestions on how the two cultures may approach one another to lay potential differences aside. Thus, the aim of this paper is pointing out possibilities to enable business to develop further and that the people from these two countries will find it easier to cooperate in the future.

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Cultural Studies - Miscellaneous, grade: 1,7, University of Applied Sciences Essen, language: English, abstract: Whereas the process of globalisation brought wealth to many countries over the past century, others could not participate in the accelerating environment. Moreover the proceeded industrialisation dilated the gap between rich and poor countries. On the one hand industrial countries benefit as the world inexorably grows together, while on the other hand there are many countries that cannot keep up. Thus there is a shift in cultural, social, political and economic interdependencies between countries worldwide.

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject Sociology - Culture, Technology, Nations, grade: 3,0, University of applied sciences Dortmund, course: Interkulturelle Kompetenzen, language: English, abstract: Coming across the term culture it is most certain that people tend to think immediately of the picture they have already created in mind towards the other culture. Comparing east to west while talking to other people within my family and my class I got usually the same answers: “China – isn’t it the country were lots of people live like ants, drinking tea and eating almost everything, mostly rice and even your dog – with chopsticks, driving with their bicycle through the streets smiling all the time; no matter what weather they have?” Unfortunately I do not know any Chinese people but the prejudices about Germany are widely known. Germany is the country with less people than China. Germans love to grump about the weather when it is raining, they love to drink beer and eat Bavarian veal sausages. In fact the prejudices of Germany mostly deal with the Bavarian part of Germany leaving the impression within peoples mind that all Germans are wearing a Dirndl all day and are distinct individuals. Having a look at the above mentioned images, illustrating people’s usual thoughts of the other culture towards a certain topic it is more a generalized attitude towards a certain country or culture. Today people define the term culture very differently. If they are asked “What does the term culture mean?” we can hardly get exact answers. In fact culture can be expressed in different ways. It can be seen in the language of a country, in its history and art but also in food, music and education. These things are all visible for our eyes but what about cultural behavior and ways of thinking? How do different cultures express their emotions and how are they living together? All these factors in one are illustrating a certain view on a culture for us.

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Cultural Studies - Empiric Cultural Studies, grade: 1,3, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Deutsches Institut), course: G.3 Einführung in die interkulturelle Kommunikation und den Kulturvergleich, language: English, abstract: In order to explain the differences between German and Chinese culture and how these can be illustrated with the help of Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, chapter 2.1 begins with an introduction to the concept of culture and the concept of cultural standards. This is followed by a differentiation between German and Chinese cultural standards. Since Hofstede's model works with so-called cultural dimensions, Chapter 2.2 deals with the intention and problems of cultural dimensions and names other cultural studies that have experienced great resonance and impact alongside Hofstede. The actual differentiation between German and Chinese culture, which is presented here primarily in the context of the corporate and family context, takes place in Chapter 3. To build up a basic understanding of Hofstede's work, important cornerstones of his study are outlined in Chapter 3.1. In the next step, the differences between German and Chinese culture are shown in Chapter 3.2 based on Hofstede's five cultural dimensions. In Chapter 4, Hofstede's study is critically appraised, with a focus on praise received, criticism experienced and its overall relevance in comparative cultural research. The thesis concludes with a summary and outlook in Chapter 5.