Product Description
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
* do's, 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
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Quick reference before travelling
The book is small enough to carry around, quick to read, covers almost all the necessary info. It should however also include some 'less positive' facts about living in Panama for foreigners, who are unfortunately often and also quite easily taken advantage of in many ways they would not naturally think of.

A great companion to "Moon's Panama Handbook" & "Living in Panama".
From history to culture; from facts to customs; this "little book" is so well put together. Whether you're a casual tourist or someone planning to retire there, it provides valuable information to help you understand the Panamanian society. Also since it's the only one available of it's kind to date, it makes it even more valuable. Definitely a companion to books like "Moon's Panama Handbook" & "Living In Panama". Easy read & pocket size. Highly recommended!!!

Great (Quick) Cultural Primer for a Trip to Panama
I read this book on the flight down to Panama for our honeymoon.It covered all of the basics of the customs, culture, history, food, etc. for what turned out to be a very charming country.This book is a must read for anyone that is traveling to Panama and wants to go beyond the boundaries of a guided tour or 4 star hotel stay.If you prefer to get to know the people and culture of Panama choose this quick read to get you started.

You need this book if you're going to Panama
We are so glad we bought this book.Great supplement to the Bradt Travel Guide.These are the ONLY 2 books that have been published recently (our trip is November 2007) and so far don't seem so out of date.Got a lot of ideas & suggestions out of this book & well worth what little it costs. ... Read more

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High school and public libraries will find this volume a welcome addition to reference book shelves. Engagingly written, this comprehensive volume gives students an overview of contemporary life in Panama-what religions are practiced, what the cuisine is consumed on a day-to-day basis, and what people wear in urban and rural settings, among many other topics. Modern literature, media outlets, gender issues, education, visual arts, and performing arts are also covered. While the focus is on current customs and contemporary culture, readers will also gain insight into Panama's unique relationship with the United States, which has been turbulent in the past at best. Students studying international politics, anthropology, world culture, and current events will find this to be a useful resource.

This volume explores contemporary culture in Panama, a melting pot deep in the heart of Central America. Thanks to the construction of the Panama Canal and the need for laborers, Panama's culture today is teeming with influences from ethnicities from around the world, including American Indian, Chinese, West Indian, Greek, and French.High school and public libraries will find this volume a welcome addition to reference book shelves. Engagingly written, this comprehensive study gives students an overview of contemporary life in Panama-what religions are practiced, what the cuisine is consumed on a day-to-day basis, and what people wear in urban and rural settings, among many other topics. Modern literature, media outlets, gender issues, education, visual arts, and performing arts are also covered. While the focus is on current customs and contemporary culture, readers will also gain insight into Panama's unique relationship with the United States, which has been turbulent in the past at best. Students studying international politics, anthropology, world culture, and current events will find this to be a useful resource.

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Surveys the geography, history, government, customs, and people of the state of Vermont. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

A rare insight into the original residents of the Isthmus of Panama
I was preparing to give a lecture at the annual meeting of the Panama Canal Society in Orlando, Florida, and they had asked me to speak to the many cultures on the Isthmus, from its discovery by the Spanish through modern day.This little book was a tremendous find.This author was very astute in his descriptions of the Native Americans, their lifestyle, and their backgrounds.It helped in the preparation of my lecture.Very happy to have found this rare manuscript. ... Read more

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Panama has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners.This report puts these executives on the fast track.Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources).Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given. ... Read more

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The remarkable arts and culture of the Kuna of Panama are accessible as never before in this comprehensive, beautifully illustrated volume. From the familiar reverse appliquÈd molas to music, dance, and verbal arts, the Kuna live their values and bind their people together. This focus and strength has helped them to resist outside forces and maintain their culture and self-determination in the face of peoples and governments far more powerful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Incredible information & photographs
I agree that this book is an authentic documentation of one of the world's most fascinating group of Indians.

WOW!
I bought this book from the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

I have been fascinated with Native American tribes in South American for most of my life, particularly Panama and Colombia.This book is so thorough inexpressing all aspects of life for the Kuna (or Cuna) that I would almostsay this is the only book you would need to learn about the Kuna.It trulyis incredible in its information as well as its photographs.It is VERYwell done!Bravo Senorita Salvador! Espero ver mas libros de usted! ... Read more

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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 1207 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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This digital document is an article from Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History, 2nd ed., 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 1198 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.The Early Civilizations in the Americas Reference Library provides a comprehensive overview of the history of the regions of the American continents in which two of the world's first civilizations developed: Mesoamerica (the name for the lands in which ancient civilizations arose in Central America and Mexico) and the Andes Mountains region of South America (in present-day Peru and parts of Bolivia, northern Argentina, and Ecuador). In both regions, the history of civilization goes back thousands of years. ... 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 Panama 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 Panama? How important is Panama 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 Panama? On the supply side, Panama also exports human blood, prepared animal blood, toxins, cultures of micro-organisms, and similar products excluding yeasts. Which countries receive the most exports from Panama? 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 Panama. 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 Panama via exports, or supplying from Panama 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 Panama 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 Panama 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 Panama is likely to receive this year. From these figures, rankings are calculated to allow managers to prioritize Panama 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