Intercultural Behavior

It has been one and a half month since i came here as an exchange student.For the past time,i have gone through several times' "culture shock" and deeply experienced the interest and embarrassment because of the "Intercultural Behavior".

The following is one of the scenarios caused by the Intercultural Behaviors.

(Introduction of the main Characters in the scenario:

Ricky:an exchange student from America.
Neus:an exchange student from Spain,who is my best girl friend here.)

Ricky and Neus lived in the same block in PGP,because of Neus,Ricky and I became friends.The week before last week,he threw a "mexican food party" and invited Neus and I to join it.I was quite excited about it and was willing to go to that party.I thought he would just invite several close friends to that party and we could cook together and chat.Because in my past life in China,just when our friendship goes to certain level will we invite each other for that kind of party.

Actually,i have thought about the Intercultural thing,i thought that there might be some hidden traditions like the guests should bring something to that party,such as chips,cookies and drinks.So even though Ricky didn't ask us to do that,we still decided to bring some chips and drinks.

When we went to that party.I was really shocked by how the party turned out to be.

There were almost 20 people in the kitchen,most of them I hadnt met before.So it was not a party for close friends,because many of them was introducing themselves to each other,apparently they were strangers to each other.

When i was trying to help Ricky prepare the food,he was so busy preparing for it that he barely talked to me and taught me how to do.So it was not a party for friends to cook together and chat.
As the party went on,more and more people came,when they got there,they just started getting something to eat then began introducing themselves to each other.But for me,at first i didn't even know if it was proper to eat if not all the people had arrived.

I will skip the details of that party and directly jump to the end of my involving in that party.After about 2 hours,it seemed that all the guests had tasted the food,Ricky began to charge money for that party.Oh,then i knew that was the reason Ricky didn't ask us to bring anything.Actually i quite regretted about bringing the chips and drinks...In my opinion,if someone throws a party,he will definitely not charge money for that party,since asking for money from your friends is kind of awkward.

Hopefully,i had brought enough money with me that night,otherwise that night would be more awkward for me.

So if you want to enjoy yourself better while involving into other intercultural activities,you'd better try to know the hidden rules for those activities.

Business Correspondence Critique

Business letter's etiquette is fundamentally concerned with building relationships founded upon courtesy and politeness between business personnel. Etiquette, and especially business etiquette, is a means of maximising your potential by presenting yourself positively.

The following is a Business Letter of Apology for Bad Service.

Dear Mr. Bates,

Thank you for contacting Mail.com Member Services.

We sincerely apologize for the frustration and inconvenience that you may be experiencing due to our ongoing migration process. Technicians are currently working around the clock to develop a resolution for this issue. E-mail delivery will be back to normal as soon as possible. We will continue working until this issue is totally resolved.

Also, we are performing an upgrade on your mail system to a better infrastructure called outblaze. With this new infrastructure your folders, old mails, and address books will remain intact. You will be gaining new features such as filter to folder, autoreply, and vacation responses. We are confident that you will enjoy your Mail.com account even more with this new infrastructure. You not only will have added features, you will also experience a more reliable service with faster delivery of messages.

Sincerely,

Stephen Daffin
Mail.com

The following is my analysis of this Business Letter by adopting the 7Cs.

1.Courtesy
In the first paragraph,it is good to begin the apology with "Thank you",it will make the tone of this apology letter more polite.
When he appologizes,he adds "sincerely",which will make the reader more feel the sincerity of the apolog.

2.Correctness
Through the whole letter,i think the writer have already done a very good job in eliminating errors in punctuation,word usage,spelling,grammar etc.

3.Conciseness
"We sincerely apologize for the frustration and inconvenience that you may be experiencing due to our ongoing migration process."In just one sentence,the writer articulate the reason of sending this letter by appropriately using the nouns,verbs and conjunction.

4.Clarity
When i read this letter,i feel quite clear about the main idea of the letter,it is to apologize to the reader and also to compensate for the reader.So i think it is quite explicit.

5.Coherence and Cohesion
This letter is divided into three paragraphs.
The first one is the beginning of showing politeness.
The second is to apologize to the reader and also explaine the reason of causing the trouble for the reader.
The third is to make up for the reader by upgrading his/her email account.
So i think this letter is properly coherent.

6.Concreteness
When it refers to upgrade the reader's email account,it lists the exact new features of the the upgraded account.When the writer lays out the specific information about something,it is always easier to make the reader feel that's true.

7.Completeness
I think if the writer can add one more paragraph saying that"If you encounter any problems in the future,please feel free to contact us.We will be grateful for receiving more advice to help us perfect our email system and also provide a more convenient and intact email system for you ",the whole letter will be more complete.
At the end,the writer remembers to write down "Sincerely",which makes the whole letter ends completely and politely.