Reflection on Differences in American/Chinese Business Personal Addressing

• In America, it’s both okay to accept a compliment and thank the giver of it or politely decline the compliment. In China and Taiwan, it’s not polite to accept a compliment. When in these places, you should always politely decline the compliment.

• The obvious answer to why the answers are different is that the cultures in China/Taiwan and America differ. In the western world, it seems that reactions to compliments took the direction of showing gratefulness towards the giver. When someone compliments you, you acknowledge their observation and directly respond that you’re happy to receive it. That being said, modesty is still something a lot of Western people have, although way too much modesty will often annoy people in America. It’s accepted that there are times to be modest and times to just accept the compliments you’re given and thank the people giving them. However in the Eastern world (at least in most Asian countries) modesty is the norm. To not be modest is to be full of yourself and possibly rude. It’s likely that these differences simply stem from different societies developing in different directions.

• In America, addressing someone by their last name and job position is simply a sign of respect of position. While “Manager xxxx” is often not used because a managerial position doesn’t mean much in name, Mr, Ms, Mrs, Dr, President, Chairman, etc. are all often used with Mr. and Ms. being the two most common used amongst a large range of company hierarchies (President xxxx  is most often heard being used for the president of the United States).

• The way Chinese address job positions probably stems from efficiency in determining one’s social rank through their job. While not all jobs are created equal, a teacher will likely not be higher up on the food chain than a district manager.

• I honestly have no preference when it comes to formal addressing. While the American way is simple, easy to remember, and often forgivable (eg: calling the president of a company “Mr.” is likely often acceptable with “President”), the Chinese way is efficient and could really give someone a sense of identity in their job position.