Product Description
Introduces the geography, history, government, economy, culture, and people of the small European country of Belgium. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

good overview of the country
This book has slightly dated information. Much information is generalized. Great for understanding the history, food, and activities of the country. Yet there were several times the author claimed many facts as true when they were just his personal opinions. Best if complemented with other books or resources.

Nice
Good book, maybe a little shorter than I thought, it has 300 pages, but large letters and small pages

Not a boring country and so is the book
I like very much this series and although was intended to expatriates you may use the book for travels.This volume for Belgium was a fine complementation to the much more academic book A throne in Brussels;some bits are hilarious and you could learn very much about waloon/flemish conflict.The design of the series(first impressions;land and history,settling in,food and drink,culture,sport and travel,language,business and work and quiz to test yourself)is always efficient.You could use this for a global vision and then search in other books(some are indicated)or sites(a lot indicated)to deep down. ... Read more

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Culture Smart! provides essential information on attitudes, beliefs and behavior in different countries, ensuring that you arrive at your destination aware of basic manners, common courtesies, and sensitive issues. These concise guides tell you what to expect, how to behave, and how to establish a rapport with your hosts. This inside knowledge will enable you to steer clear of embarrassing gaffes and mistakes, feel confident in unfamiliar situations, and develop trust, friendships, and successful business relationships.

Culture Smart! offers illuminating insights into the culture and society of a particular country. It will help you to turn your visit-whether on business or for pleasure-into a memorable and enriching experience. Contents include


* customs, values, and traditions
* historical, religious, and political background
* life at home
* leisure, social, and cultural life
* eating and drinking
* dos, don'ts, and taboos
* business practices
* communication, spoken and unspoken


"Culture Smart has come to the rescue of hapless travellers." Sunday Times Travel

"... the perfect introduction to the weird, wonderful and downright odd quirks and customs of various countries." Global Travel

"...full of fascinating-as well as common-sense-tips to help you avoid embarrassing faux pas." Observer

"...as useful as they are entertaining." Easyjet Magazine

"...offer glimpses into the psyche of a faraway world." New York Times
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Customer Reviews (2)

Let's Go to Belgium
We are going to Belgum in October and this book is just what I wanted.
I know the country is divided by languages and the book advised me not to bring this up unless my guests bring it up. Also, to bring a gift when invited to someone's home and try to reciprocate.
The political parties are diverse and much more complicated than ours.
Excellent preparatory book for our visit.
Thanks
Fred T.

Helpful Introduction to a misunderstood country
Belgium is rarely on anyone's "must see" list but perhaps it should be.For a small country it has a wonderful variety of things to experience, from chocolate and fries, to lacemakers and M. le Pis, to the Grand Place in Brussells.This book does an admirable job of showcasing the obvious while also shedding a light on some of the less well known things to do in this complex and charming part of Europe.Anyone heading to Belgium would benefit from reading this short, user-friendly volume. ... Read more

Product Description
A Guide to the culture and etiquette of Belgium allowing the traveller to understand the Belgian people and enjoy theirstay in Belgian whether business or leisure. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Pretty Good
A very nice depiction of certain strands/slices of Belgium. Some funny parts, too. I recommend it if you're thinking about traveling and/or living in Belgium.

What about the Belgian coast?
This book has pleasantly surprised me by its accurateness and humor. The fact that the author was married to a Belgian was crucial in writing this book,although I must admit that he also did an enormous amount of work on the research of the history.
This book would have received a 5-star rating if he hadn't so grossly neglected a very important area: the 67 km long coast line. The West-Flemish people are a breed on their own and have a myriad of customs and culture that decidedly differs from the inland. Considering the fact that the coast population in towns like Knokke are multiplied by 10 during the summer season, should give you an inkling of the diversity these people are accustomed to. Dialects are already different in pronunciation and colloqualisms in the next town of 3-5 km apart. The Belgian coast is responsible for the greatest income of the country, and the Flemish workers (in 't zwart) are some of the most industrious people around. If the royal family found the coast important enough to own several house along it, it certainly deserves more merit in this book. It is very apparent that the author's influence was dominated by his Brussels wife.Even some of the flemish words are not pronounced correctly or spelled right because of this inland influence (i.e.:ballekes, which is a typical non-West-Flemish word. the High Flemish (Dutch) term is much closer to the West Flemish "balletjes")
A lot of the customs and habits only reflect a small part of the Belgian people, usually the ones in big cities.
Still, buy the book, you'll learn more than you evfer want to know about this quaint country. Just make sure that when you visit it, make time away from all the museums and visit the flatlands of West-Flanders, and you'll come away with a whole lot more.

True to life!
When reading this book I was really surprised by its accuracy and liveliness.The author succeeds in putting everything I would like to tell my non-Belgian friends in an extremely readable book (I finished it in one night).The point of view of the author is unique in the sense that he is a foreigner (British) but is married to a Belgian and has been living there long enough to know the small things of life.I would recommend this book to anybody remotely interested in Belgium.For those that are not, I can assure you that your interest will be certainly piqued by reading this book.For me this book is a great gift for a friend interested in my country.

Lots of fun
As Belgian myself it was funny read this book which is humorous but too much accurate about many things that we know is true in our people but surprised to read in a book!
Book is a very nice introduction to my country for people coming to live here and know about, but don't worry - not all the drivers are so bad and dangerous!

Never visited, but feel like I have
Mark Elliott has written a very entertaining - and if my Belgian friends are to be believed - accurate account of Belgian culture.Not a classic guidebook with lists of places to visit and restaurants to patronize, this book truly lives up to its title.The book contains a great deal of humor which makes the Belgians come alive for the reader.The book has definitely made me put Belgium on my list of places I wish to visit. ... Read more

Product Description
CULTURE SMART! is the series of travel guides written for the smart traveler on the go. Each volume is a quick, accurate guide to customs and etiquette. What you'll find in CULTURE SMART!:--All the essential cultural and etiquette points covered, making you confident in a variety of situations.--You'll know what to expect in each particular culture.--You'll know how to behave in specific social and business situations.--Essential attitudes and values are clearly explained.--You'll find the concise writing style makes each topic a quick, easy read.--Each has the same look, page count, and organization for reference use.--Small and light, it tucks into your pocket or purse for on-the-go use.--Culture Smart! books are written by a staff of experts who consult on world travel as a profession. ... Read more

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Belgian food and drink, often overshadowed by the those of powerhouse neighbors France and Germany, receive much deserved attention in this thorough overview, the most comprehensive available in English. Belgian waffles, chocolate, and beer are renowned, but Food Culture in Belgium opens up the entire food culture spectrum and reveals Belgian food habits today and yesterday. Students and food mavens learn about the question of Belgianness in discussions of the foodways of distinct regions of Flanders, Wallonia, and Brussels. Packed with daily life insight, consumption statistics, and trends gathered from the culinary community on the Web, this is the ultimate source for discovering what has been called the best-kept culinary secret in Europe.

Scholliers thoroughly covers the essential information in the topical chapters on history, major foods and ingredients, cooking, typical meals, special occasions, eating out, and diet and health. He is keen to illuminate how Belgium's unique food culture has developed through time. Before independence in 1830, Belgian regions had been part of the Celtic, Roman, Spanish, Austrian, French, Dutch, and German empires, and Belgium's central location has meant that it has long been a trade center for food products. Today, Brussels is the European Union administrative center and a cosmopolitan dining destination. Readers learn about the ingredients, techniques, and dishes that Belgium gave to the world, such as pommes frites, endive, and beer dishes. A timeline, glossary, selected bibliography, resource guide with websites and films, recipes, and photos complement the essays.

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This digital document is an article from Countries and Their Cultures, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 2050 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.Covers the broad range of popular religious culture of the United States at the close of the twentieth century. Beliefs, practices, symbols, traditions, movements, organizations, and leaders from the many traditions in the pluralistic American community are represented. Also includes cults and phenomena that drew followers, such as Heaven's Gale and UFOs. ... Read more

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A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette in Belgium

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Whether you're conducting business, traveling for pleasure, or even relocating abroad, one mistake with customs or etiquette can leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth. International travelers, now more than ever, are not just individuals from the United States, but ambassadors and impression makers for the country as a whole. Newly updated, redesigned, and resized for maximum shelf appeal for travelers of all ages, Culture Shock! country and city guides make up the most complete reference series for customs and etiquette you can find. These are not just travel guides; they are guides for a way of life. ... Read more

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Chapters: The Adventures of Tintin, Culture of Belgium, Sammy, Sinterklaas, La Ribambelle, Delhi Belgian Club, Kermesse, Miss Belgium, Scientology in Belgium, Les Snuls, Carnival of Binche, Gazette Van Detroit, Mazer, Palace of Academies, Grote Rivieren, Miss Belgian Beauty, Lange Wapper, Liberal Archive, Silvius Brabo, Braderie, Ufo Sightings in Belgium, Druon Antigoon. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 113. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Adventures of Tintin () is a series of comic strips created by the Belgian artist (19071983), who wrote under the pen name of Hergé. The series first appeared in French in , a children's supplement to the Belgian newspaper on 10 January 1929. The success of the series saw the serialised strips collected into a series of twenty-four albums, spun into a successful magazine and adapted for film and theatre. The series is one of the most popular European comics of the 20th century, with translations published in more than 50 languages and more than 200 million copies of the books sold to date. Set during a largely realistic 20th century, the hero of the series is Tintin, a young Belgian reporter. He is aided in his adventures from the beginning by his faithful fox terrier dog Snowy ( in French). Later, popular additions to the cast included the brash, cynical and grumpy Captain Haddock, the highly intelligent but hearing-impaired Professor Calculus () and other supporting characters such as the incompetent detectives Thomson and Thompson (). Hergé himself features in several of the comics as a background character, as do his assistants in some instances. The comic strip series has long been admired for its clean, expressive drawings in Hergé's signature style. Engaging, well-researched plots straddle a variety of genres: swashbuckling adventures ...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=31338 ... Read more

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This collection of thirteen new essays written by eminent European and American scholars examines in detail for the first time the literary, artistic, and political activities of the German Expressionistic war colony in occupied Belgium during World war I.The anthology illuminates a heretofore neglected area of artistic endeavour.In Brussels the poet Carl Einstein and the art critic Wilhelm Hausenstein were active, and Gottfried Benn was working as a medical officer; in Ostende, Henkel and Beckmann were part of the Kaesbach circle, a medical unit of artists.The studies show that Expressionism was a crisis phenomenon.Individual writers and artists responded to the moral andintellectual challenge of the War with a burst of creativity yet also with ideological indecision that had an effect on their art. ... Read more

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On the demand side, exporters and strategic planners focusing on human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts in Belgium face a number of questions. Which countries are supplying human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts to Belgium? How important is Belgium compared to others in terms of the entire global and regional market? How much do the imports of human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts vary from one country of origin to another in Belgium? On the supply side, Belgium also exports human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts. Which countries receive the most exports from Belgium? How are these exports concentrated across buyers? What is the value of these exports and which countries are the largest buyers?

This report was created for strategic planners, international marketing executives and import/export managers who are concerned with the market for human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts in Belgium. With the globalization of this market, managers can no longer be contented with a local view. Nor can managers be contented with out-of-date statistics which appear several years after the fact. I have developed a methodology, based on macroeconomic and trade models, to estimate the market for human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts for those countries serving Belgium via exports, or supplying from Belgium via imports. It does so for the current year based on a variety of key historical indicators and econometric models.

In what follows, Chapter 2 begins by summarizing where Belgium fits into the world market for imported and exported human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts. The total level of imports and exports on a worldwide basis, and those for Belgium in particular, is estimated using a model which aggregates across over 150 key country markets and projects these to the current year. From there, each country represents a percent of the world market. This market is served from a number of competitive countries of origin. Based on both demand- and supply-side dynamics, market shares by country of origin are then calculated across each country market destination. These shares lead to a volume of import and export values for each country and are aggregated to regional and world totals. In doing so, we are able to obtain maximum likelihood estimates of both the value of each market and the share that Belgium is likely to receive this year. From these figures, rankings are calculated to allow managers to prioritize Belgium compared to other major country markets. In this way, all the figures provided in this report are forecasts that can be combined with internal information sources for strategic planning purposes. ... Read more

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_Belgium_ is neither a series of essays nor a systematic text-book. Chronological sequence is preserved, and practically all important events are recorded in their appointed time, but special stress has been laid on some characteristic features of Belgian civilization and national development which are of general interest and bear on the history of Europe as a whole. ... Read more

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Chapters: Linear Pottery Culture. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 44. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Linear Pottery culture is a major archaeological horizon of the European Neolithic, flourishing ca. 55004500 BC. The heaviest concentrations are on the middle Danube, the upper and middle Elbe, and the upper and middle Rhine. The culture represents a major impulse if not the advent of agriculture into this part of the world. The pottery after which it was named consists of simple cups, bowls, vases and jugs, without handles, but in a later phase with lugs or pierced lugs, bases and necks. They were obviously designed as kitchen dishes, or for the immediate or local transport of food and liquids. Important sites include Nitra in Slovakia; Bylany in the Czech Republic; Langweiler and Zwenkau in Germany; Brunn am Gebirge in Austria; Elsloo, Sittard, Köln-Lindenthal, Aldenhoven, Flomborn and Rixheim on the Rhine; Lautereck and Hienheim on the upper Danube; Rössen and Sonderhausen on the middle Elbe. Two variants of the early Linear Pottery Culture are recognized: Middle and late phases are also defined. In the middle phase, the Early Linear Pottery Culture intruded upon the Bug-Dniester culture and began to manufacture Musical note pottery. In the late phase, the Stroked Pottery Culture moved down the Vistula and Elbe. A number of cultures ultimately replaced the Linear Pottery culture over its range, but there is no one-to-one correspondence between its variants and the replacing cultures. The culture map instead is complex. Some of the successor cultures are the Hinkelstein, Großgartach, Rössen, Lengyel, Cucuteni-Trypillian, and Boian-Maritza. Linear pottery. "The vessels are oblated globes, cut off on the top and slightly flattened on the bottom suggestive of a gourd."Frank H...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=4407586 ... Read more