Country Profiles - Global Guide to Culture, Customs and Etiquette

Free International Etiquette Guides

Understanding other people's languages, cultures, etiquettes and taboos is of great value to the traveller or visiting business person.

Scroll down the page for information on a selected number of countries. Topics include language, useful phrases, the society, culture, business and social etiquettes. You can access Useful Phrases here or through the corresponding country.

Please feel free to share comments you may have about our guides as we are always looking to improve the quality and accuracy of information.

This information is also available as an App for the iPhone. Please click International Business Etiquette App to visit the App Store.

Etiquette, Customs and Protocol Guides

Asia:

• Afghanistan
• Azerbaijan
• Bahrain
• Bangladesh
• China
• Georgia
• India
• Iran
• Iraq
• Kazakhstan
• Kuwait
• Lebanon
• Pakistan
• Russia
• Saudi Arabia
• Sri Lanka
• Turkey

Africa:

• Algeria
• Angola
• Cameroon
• Egypt
• Ethiopia
• Ghana
• Kenya
• Libya
• Morocco
• Nigeria
• Senegal
• South Africa
• Tunisia

Europe:

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Norway
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• UK
• Ukraine

North & South America:

• Argentina
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Canada
• Chile
• Colombia
• Dominican Republic
• Ecuador
• El Salvador
• Jamaica
• Mexico
• The Bahamas
• USA
• Venezuela

East Asia & Australasia:

• Australia
• Brunei
• Cambodia
• Hong Kong
• Indonesia
• Japan
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Philippines
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• Vietnam

Warning! Culture is not static!

It is important to bear in mind that these guides act as basic and general introductions only. They are not in any way definitive. We do not intend to stereotype, pigeon-hole or try to quantify any culture or people.

Each society, country and culture will have numerous nuances that would make it irresponsible to suggest a uniform approach to understanding any country's social/business culture or etiquette. One also has to take into account the personal cultures of individuals, whether they be religious, regional, gender, corporate or otherwise. However, loose guidelines can assist in bettering understanding and avoiding offence; and these guides are meant only to achieve that.