Calling All DUTCH friends.......

[gypsiee]

To my FLIST and anyone else who may see/ read this ....

If you are Dutch, I need your help.

I'm writing a paper on Cross Cultural Communication between Dutch & Indians using English as a common medium since English is NOT the 1st language to either of us.

The purpose of this paper is to find out exactly HOW the two cultures communicate with one another using a Second Language (not their own) and building into it various Mother Tongue or Native Influences. How do we overcome the native influences in language to build a strong cultural bridge and then basically cross it.

So here's what I need:

Imagine yourself at work ...

• Do you work? How are you at work (attitude)?
• What drives you while at work?
• Are you time conscious? (coz we Indians really really arn't) 
• Are you direct in your communications? Meaning would you tell it as you see it, or sugar coat it to make it polite?
• Do you use a lot of P's & Q's in your emails/ work place communication?
• Are you high contact/ low contact?
• Would you rather be told of an issue while it occurs, or after it has been resolved?
• How important is grammatical structure to you?
• What native influences do you have in your English usage?Eg, sentence structure/ construction; usage of fillers/ foghorns/ phrases/ false starts; direct translation from the mother tongue?

And .... Can I contact you for more details because this is a long drawn paper .....

Oh, and if you are NOT Dutch, but happen to have family, friends, colleagues who are .... please your feedback would be most appreciated as well.

Please pretty please .... Many naked Wentworths to you ...... Help me graduate.