A comparative overview of Turkmen and Belarusian Cultures “Business Rituals”

1. A comparative overview of Turkmen and Belarusian Cultures “Business Rituals”

arative overview of Turkmen and Belarusian Cultures
ss Rituals”
A comparative overview of
Turkmen and Belarusian
Cultures
“Business Rituals”

2. TURKMENISTAN 

TURKMENISTAN
THE FACTS
NAME: Turkmenistan
LOCATION: Asia
GOVERNMENT: Republic
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Turkmen 72%, Russian 12%, Uzbek 9%, other 7%.
MAJOR RELIGION(S):
Muslim 89%, Eastern Orthodox 9%, unknown 2%.
MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS:
Turkmen 85%, Uzbek 5%, Russian 4%, other 6%.

3. Basics: Greetings: Men to men

BASICS:
Greetings: Men to men

4. Women greeting Women

5. Greetings between Men greeting Women

6. Communication Style

COMMUNICATION STYLE

7. Personal Space & Touching

PERSONAL SPACE & TOUCHING

8. Eye Contact

EYE CONTACT

9. Views Of Time

VIEWS OF TIME

10. Gender Issues

GENDER ISSUES

11. Gestures

GESTURES

12. Taboos

TABOOS

13. Law & Order

LAW & ORDER

14. BUSINESS: DRESS For Men

15. For Women

16. Titles & Business Cards

TITLES & BUSINESS CARDS

17. Meetings

MEETINGS

18. Negotiations

NEGOTIATIONS

19. Gift Giving

GIFT GIVING

20. BELARUS

• THE FACTS
• NAME: Belarus
• LOCATION: Europe
• GOVERNMENT: Republic
• OFFICIAL LANGUAGE:Belarusian. Russian
• MAJOR RELIGION(S): Eastern Orthodox 80%, other (including
Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, and Muslim) 20%
• MAJOR ETHNIC GROUPS: Belarusian 81.2%, Russian 11.4%, Polish
3.9%, Ukrainian 2.4%, other 1.1%.

21. Basics: Greetings Men to men

BASICS: GREETINGS
MEN TO MEN

22. Woman greeting Woman 

Woman greeting Woman

23. Man greeting Woman 

Man greeting Woman
• This depends on the relationship between the man and the woman. If they
do not know each other, basically they do not touch. A handshake is possible
but may be seen as strange by the woman.

24. Communication Style

COMMUNICATION STYLE

25. Personal Space & Touching

PERSONAL SPACE & TOUCHING

26. Eye Contact

EYE CONTACT

27. Views Of Time

VIEWS OF TIME

28. Gender Issues

GENDER ISSUES

29. Gestures

GESTURES

30. Law & Order

LAW & ORDER
• 18 is the legal drinking age.
• Young people do drink and at 14 years of age it is not uncommon for there
to be smoking and drinking.
• There are strong penalties for drug abuse (marijuana and heavier narcotics)
for those over 16, possibly prison, but for those younger, there are only fines
and they are sent home.

31. Business Dress

32. Titles & Business Cards

TITLES & BUSINESS CARDS
• When it comes to titles there is something called "Imya Otchestvo"
which is basically that one's middle name is a variation of their
father's first (given) name. For men, the ending would be –ovich for
a man or -yevna for a woman. (Sergeiyevich if his father's name
was Sergei, or maybe Alexyeivna if her father's name was Alexei.)
• The Otchiestva is used in place of Mr. or Mrs. in all respectful social
interactions-even if people have known each othger for years, they
will call each other by their first name and Otchistva. If you were to
meet the president, you would not call him Mr. Lukashenko, but
rather you would great him by saying, exactly, Zdrastvuitye
Alexander Gregorivich.
• There is no specific protocol surrounding the giving and receiving
of business cards.

33. Meetings

MEETINGS

34. Negotiations

NEGOTIATIONS

35. Gift Giving

GIFT GIVING
• Gifts usually mean corruption so it is best to avoid any gifts at initial
meetings.

36. Thank you!