Brazilians, not famous for their punctuality, might arrive between one to two hours late for social occasions, but when doing business in Brazil, assume people will show up on time (or maybe just 15 to 20 minutes late). Regardless, even when meetings do start promptly, don’t expect Brazilians to jump right into the issue at hand—small talk, at the beginning and then at the end of meetings, is the custom and an essential component of doing business in the largest South American country. Continue reading
Monthly Archives: June 2014
The World Cup in Numbers
With only two days remaining for the start of one of the world’s largest sporting events, this is a great time to look at the numbers involved in the FIFA World Cup competition. The World Cup starts on June 12 and the final will be played on July 13 in one of the most famous soccer stadiums in the world, Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro. Continue reading
How to pronounce soccer (and other Anglicisms) in Brazilian Portuguese
In Brazil the beautiful game is called football, or futebol in Portuguese, not soccer. The sport started to be played in Brazil when the Sao Paulo-born Charles Miller brought it over, in 1895, from the English football association that was played in the UK. The Football association’s governing body is FIFA (Federation Internationale Football Association) and its main event is the World Cup, which is played every four years and will take place in just a few days in Brazil. Continue reading
Quiz: How Well Do You Know Business Etiquette Abroad?
How well do you know your business etiquette when working abroad, or even at home with foreign associates? Take our quiz and find out! Continue reading
Living Language eTutoring: Practice with a native-speaker anywhere
Often when you're learning a foreign language, the hardest thing is finding a native speaker to practice with. That's why Living Language offers sessions with our native-speaker eTutors in 15 languages (all of the languages of our online courses)? Before you try this valuable tool, you may want to know what exactly "eTutoring" means. Continue reading
For Shavuot: Our favorite Sweet Cheese Kugel recipe
Shavuot שבועות, the Festival of Weeks, is the second of the three major pilgrimage festivals with both biblical and agricultural significance (the other two are Passover פסח and Sukkot סוכות). Shavuot is celebrated for two days and occurs on the 6th of the Hebrew month of Sivan סיון, which this year falls on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 and ends at sundown on Thursday, June 5th, 2014. This holiday is the culmination of a seven-week period, counting the 49 days between the second day of Passover פסח and the first night of Shavuot שבועות. Continue reading
Must-know phrases for travelers in Greece
So, you have decided to visit the birthplace of Western civilization. Before you go, here are a few phrases we think will be useful. Continue reading
