Marcelo+Cherto+translation+1

=
There is a cultural difference that I think is fantastic, that I see as little explored, which is the question of personal space. Personal space in the United States is greater than here. That space, that physical distance that people should preserve when you are dealing with with another person, is much greater in the United States that it is in Brazil. So then, one of the things that I perceive is a tremendous discomfort in business people, American executives that do business in Brazil, is the question...we Brazilians have a mania to touch, to converse very close to one another, to assume almost immediately great intimacy with a person that we just met. This is part of the culture. That is, they should not feel offended, feel threatened, when doing business with Brazilians, when in the first 5 minutes they are already calling them by their first names, they are touching them on their arm, tapping them on their shoulder, on their stomach. This is part of our culture, our form of behaving. They should not be frightened if on the first meeting, someone they just met, a man or a woman that they just met, at the time of saying good-bye, they give a kiss on their face. This is part of the culture. =====

=
Brazilian hate to be confused with other countries, or with the inhabitants of other Latin American countries. So then, this idea, this concept of “you, you Latin Americans” is something that gets to us. It has a very negative effect. It is like to speak of a European, to treat an Italian as if might be the same as an Irishman, or the same as a Frenchman. And this is interesting because many American companies probably don’t have the same policy, the same marketing policy, for example, in Italy, Ireland, in Portugal and in Hungary. It is unusual for an American business to commit this error. However, when they come to Latin American they hope to have the same policy for Columbia, for Venezuel, for Paraguay, for Brazil. “You are all the same thing” No! We are not, or at least we don’t feel that way. =====

=
Another very important thing for an American doing business in Brazil: we speak Portugeuse here. We do not speak Spanish. Our capital is not Buenos Aires, and this is one thing that upsets us deeply. And we have other things besides Carnaval, beautiful women and soccer. OK? Basically, this is it. I think that today there are fantatastic websites, with a lot of information about Brazil. Before they might do business with Brazilians, they ought to analyze a little, at least a minimum, the culture, and afterwards this will greatly facilitate your lives. As such, I believe that Brazilians doing business in the United States also ought to take great care with generalizations, as it is very common; a New Yorker has little to do with someone from San Francisco or with someone from Miami, and much less with someone from Minnneapolis. And this is one thing that I learned a long time ago and I believe that my Brazilian colleagues should also learn as well. =====

=
I think that there is one very important point for the Brazilian that wants to do business in the United States. My experience doing business in the United States, living in the United States, studying in the United States, is that there, in the United States, there is not a Brazilian “jeitinho.” There does not exist the vision that the law applies to some people but does not apply to others. And in Brazil there is an interesting vision, that the laws are like a vaccination: some “work” and some do not. In other words, some produce an effect and others do not. No, the laws in the United States, the laws are valued. Not only in the United States, in Anglo-Saxon countries. I had the opportunity recently to pass 2 months in Australia and had the same sensation there. There is not a “get around the laws.” There is no doing things in a contrary way. So then is it much easier if people, if we Brazilians, leave behind the presumption that it is like that and look to do this correctly. By doing things correctly, things function. Any attempt to escape the rules can generate delays, complications and even make business impossible. =====