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Culture Smart! Spain: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

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The Spanish are confident, open individuals with a zest for life, and for living every moment to the max. If they invite you somewhere it is because they really want you to come. They do not want you to go home because you are all having such a good time. Who cares about tomorrow? Now is what is important. While there is a good time to be had, no one will leave quickly. People meet between 10:00 and 11:30pm for dinner, which is followed by relaxed and enjoyable conversation, coffee, and some alcoholic drinks. This is known as ‘la sobremesa‘. During the weekend, night stretches into the morning, and you have some breakfast before you go home! You need stamina in Spain, especially if it is fiesta time. If there is time, the Spanish will snatch a brief siesta to prepare themselves for the next night. Partying in Andalusia also requires some training. It never feels like the right time to have a last drink. Instead, someone will suggest ‘la penultima‘, ‘the last but one’, because nobody wants to refer to the end of the evening.

Our guides don’t include things like hotel listings or travel itineraries. After all, that kind of information is already freely available online. Instead, our guides help you get to know the people whose country you are visiting so that your time spent abroad is richer and more meaningful.

Each guide tells the story of a country and its culture, describes its customs and traditions, and is packed full of practical information to help you navigate the situations that you are likely to encounter with confidence and sensitivity. Whether on a weekend away or a longer stint abroad, travel smarter with Culture Smart!.

For more on the culture and customs of Spain, read our guide.

Book Details:

    • ISBN: 9781787028647
    • Format: Paperback
    • Page count: 200
    • Dimensions: 170 x 110 x 15mm
    • Published at: £9.99 / $12.99 / CAN $17.99

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Culture Smart! Indonesia: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

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It is practically impossible to avoid witnessing some aspect of Balinese ritual life during even a short stay in Bali. Apart from the performances put on for tourists, you may come across a procession, a celebration, or votaries offering gifts at a shrine. Hinduism on Bali is distinctly Balinese, with pre-Hindu beliefs, spirits, and rituals incorporated into it. It is also capable of embracing new deities and forms of worship so that it remains a living system of belief, in the same way that Balinese art, drama, and dance subtly adapt without losing their distinctive style or becoming outdated.

Balinese life is guided by ritual. The religious calendar and observances structure the day, the year, and life itself. The traditional Balinese house is itself a religious structure in which the family shrine to the ancestors has a central role. Family members live in pavilions around the common courtyard and share a common kitchen and the family temple, which houses the shrine to the ancestors and those to the other deities.

Balinese life is communal. Ritual is subsumed into daily living, within the home and in the village community. A village (desa) is divided into smaller cooperative neighborhood groups known as banjar, whose members are obliged to support each other during festivals, marriages, and funerals. Each banjar has a bale or communal hall, a drum tower from which meetings are called, a communal kitchen for preparing the feasts accompanying celebrations and performances, a gamelan orchestra, dance costumes, and a communal temple.

Read our guide for more on traditions and ritual life in Indonesia.

Book Details:

    • ISBN: 9781857333435
    • Author: Graham Saunders
    • Format: Paperback
    • Page count: 200
    • Dimensions: 170 x 110 x 15mm
    • Published at: £9.99 / $12.99 / CAN $17.99

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Culture Smart! Nepal: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

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In the popular imagination, Nepal is a land of eternal snow, where heroic mountaineers and Sherpas valiantly plant flags on the roof of the world, or perish in the attempt. And yet there is far more to discover in this country, not least the great variety of its cultural, ethnic, and religious weave.

Culture Smart! Nepal introduces you to the people who make up this vibrant human mosaic, nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. It seeks to explain the complexities of Nepali life, from the home, to the marketplace, to the office, and describes how the country’s geography and history have helped shaped contemporary society, and how religion has defined its social structures.

Whatever the reason for your visit, understanding the values, attitudes, and lifestyle of the people will help you to go beyond the friendly smiles and turn your visit into an enlightening and more rewarding experience. Namaste!

Excerpt from the guide:

“Age is not a cause for embarrassment in Nepal. Rather, it is a source of great respect. So valued is the attainment of age that it is reflected in the forms of address used when speaking even to complete strangers.

Adopting these forms of address while in Nepal will be received as a sign of respect by the person you are speaking to and express that you have taken time to familiarize yourself with the local customs, something that will greatly please your hosts.

If you perceive the person you are speaking to be older than you are, you can call them “Didi,” meaning older sister, or “Dai,” older brother. Or, if you perceive them to be younger than you, you can call them “Bhai” meaning younger brother, or “Bahini,” younger sister.

Similarly, when addressing someone of any age or gender who you want to show respect towards, you can attach the suffix “-jee” to the end of the person’s name. For example, Kiran-jee, or Chantin-jee.

Indeed, in Nepal it is the value of mutual respect that has allowed the many different ethnic, cultural, and religious communities to coexist here peacefully for centuries.”

Book Details:

    • ISBN: 9781787028722
    • Format: Paperback
    • Page count: 200
    • Dimensions: 170 x 110 x 15mm
    • Published at: £9.99 / $12.99 / CAN $17.99

Culture Smart! Ethiopia: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

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The taking of coffee at an Ethiopian home is an unhurried, elaborate ritual.

Every woman, and many men, is practiced at roasting coffee. On special occasions, rushes are spread about the floor and decorated with flowers. The washed green beans are roasted dry in a pan over a hot brazier. When the beans crackle, the smoke is wafted toward the guests to whet their senses, and incense is burned to mingle with the smoke. When ready, the roasted beans are taken away and pounded in a mortar.

Meanwhile, water is put to boil in a clay coffee pot (jebena) and the coffee is brewed in the same pot. It is then carefully poured into twelve small cups, representing the apostles. Sugar, and occasionally salt, are added to taste. Visitors should try to accept three pourings: the first is known as abol in Amharic, the second huletegna, and the third is the blessing, known as bereka. Roasted peanuts or barley (kollo) are handed around to accompany the coffee.

Discover the Ethiopian peoples. Take an interest in Ethiopia’s culture and history, and you will be warmly welcomed by your hosts. Find out more here: https://www.culturesmartbooks.co.uk/africa/ethiopia.php

Book Details:

    • ISBN: 9781787022645
    • Format: Paperback
    • Page count: 200
    • Dimensions: 170 x 110 x 15mm
    • Published at: £9.99 / $12.99 / CAN $17.99

Culture Smart! Vietnam: The Essential Guide to Customs and Culture

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In the second half of the twentieth century, Vietnam was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. War raged. It was hard to know if it would ever end, and harder still to understand fully the rights and wrongs of the various protagonists. First, the French tried to stem the tide of Vietnamese nationalism; then the United States pitted itself against what it thought was a puny enemy, but which turned out to be tough, resilient, and ultimately victorious. The Americans might have pondered the fact that the Vietnamese had struggled, eventually successfully, for more than a thousand years to escape the clutches of their powerful neighbor, China. Patience in adversity sums up the Vietnamese character.

Since the country was reunified in 1975, the Vietnamese have undergone many hardships. The immediate postwar years were extremely harsh for many people in South Vietnam. Some fled into exile; others underwent “rehabilitation” to make them fit to live in a Communist state. To this were added economic hardships and even starvation.

Today, however, life has improved significantly. The decision to abandon one of the main tenets of Marxism, the centrally planned economy, in favor of a “socialist market economy” was a bold step, as was the decision to throw open the doors and invite the world, including former foes, to invest in the new Vietnam. As a result, the economy is one of the world’s fastest-growing.

Visitors will find a confident, independent people, nursing few if any grudges about the sufferings caused by the war. The Vietnamese people are open and friendly, with a sense of humour and irony, and frankly curious about the outside world. Kind and generally helpful towards strangers, they are industrious, determined to improve their living standards, relatively honest, but always ready to seize any advantage that might come their way.

Culture Smart! Vietnam is aimed at the visitor who would like to learn a little more about the history, culture, traditions, sensibilities, and modern way of life of the Vietnamese. It explains deep-seated attitudes and describes some of the social, economic, and cultural changes now under way. It dispels common Western misconceptions and gives practical advice on what to expect and how to behave in unfamiliar situations. Whether you are visiting on business or for pleasure, we hope it will enable you to discover for yourself the warmth and vast potential of this fascinating country and its people.

Excerpt taken from the Introduction to Culture Smart! Vietnam, written by Geoffrey Murray. Find out more:  https://www.culturesmartbooks.co.uk/asia/vietnam.php

Book Details:

    • ISBN: 9781787028524
    • Format: Paperback
    • Page count: 200
    • Dimensions: 170 x 110 x 15mm
    • Published at: £9.99 / $12.99 / CAN $17.99

5 recent Culture Smart! books written solely by women

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International Women’s Day –  #BalanceforBetter

International Women’s Day is a day that has been celebrated worldwide since 1911. Campaigning for women’s rights was just the starting point; but the overall meaning of this day now extends to campaigning for equality in all aspects of life, as well as celebrating the numerous achievements made by women.

This International Women’s Day, we are celebrating and taking part by sharing a list of our most recent Culture Smart! titles that were written solely by women. These women have travelled widely, have become fluent in the foreign cultures they visited and lived in, and have helped us produce resourceful guides for those following in their footsteps. To find out more about each of the authors, you can follow the link to their author page by clicking on their names.

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5 things you need to know about Norwegian culture

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Norway is an ever popular destination for visitors, drawn to its dramatic fjords and rugged coastline and the stunning spectacle of the Northern Lights. Proud of their land’s pristine nature and breath-taking beauty, Norwegians will expect visitors to respect their customs. And although they are naturally reserved they are very friendly and welcoming.

To mark the publication of a new edition of Culture Smart! Norway, here are some snippets from the guide, detailing aspects of Norwegian culture that are useful to know about before you visit. If you like what you read, you can pick up the guide here and receive 25% off the RRP throughout January with the code CSNEW25!

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A mini guide to coffee culture in Greece

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Coffee houses are important centres of culture around the world, and Greece is no different. In fact, throughout modern history these temples of caffeine have continued to serve as daily meeting spaces where locals come together to sip from the black gold and debate on all matters under the sun: from world politics to local gossip.

The global influence of Greek coffee culture can also not be understated – indeed it was a Cretan who introduced to concept of a coffee house to England in 1864. In England, when coffee houses were first introduced, they sparked a major intellectual revolution and even the rise of newspapers.

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