Originally Posted by
caloso
Awesome. Do you have language skills? That can be a huge plus.
Lately I just go in and say it is English - learn English. And it sells. We (USA) think that is USA arrogance to say speak English.
The arrogance is thinking we invented English.
On a local level, and certainly showing you belong, speaking a local language helps.
I "grew up" in Kenya and found Swahili was great for letting people know you were local. I knew the basic greeting, then we all moved to English. There were about 16 languages used and all found English more useful than their own language or some British made up language. Swahili, developed by the British, was the official language of Kenya. The government did all their meetings in English.
Over 30 years ago we were selling software to the Koreans. We went through a lot of trouble to show that our software was translated. Our audience was a bit put off we assumed they didn't want it in English - the international language of business.
20 years ago I was selling my software in Kyoto, Japan - Kyocera. I was looking at some of their knives that had English on them and asked why? English was cool they said - in English.
I only presented USA English, with USA date format. They bought. My sell was "why would you waste your time on anything but English".
Now - I only show English, only USA date formats (the MSFT SQL defaults) because in business that is all anyone cares about. English is not a USA language, it is the intentional language of business.
Sure, I get trying to identify with locals, but if you are obviously not local - just tell them how it is. Learn English and make more money. That sells.