Quick guide to avoid UK/French cultural confusion in your business 

If you are a UK person working or planning to work with French people, or a French person unfamiliar with UK office culture, here are a few key pointers to help you navigate some of the more frequently encountered cultural differences.

In the UK, you’re likely to assume a business meeting is about exchanging ideas, making decisions and agreeing a way forward. If the meeting comprises mixed cultures, this assumption could be a mistake and can cause a potentially damaging misunderstanding, particularly between UK and French partners! If you are French, you’ll leave a meeting having explored alternative ideas and possible outcomes, but you won’t think you’ve made a decision or agreed to anything binding.

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A good idea? Proposed compulsory foreign languages in schools from age 7… mais oui!

It’s no secret that England isn’t really a nation of linguists. We probably shouldn’t be surprised. For many years, relatively little has been done so far across the English educational system to enhance the nation’s foreign languages skills. All too often the “We’re English, the world speaks English” (and American!) message has prevailed, potentially costing the economy millions of pounds in missed export opportunities.

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