Interesting. I have always found how different cultures "say no" to be one of the biggest acclimatisation factors when working on an international project. I'v

Interesting. I have always found how different cultures "say no" to be one of the biggest acclimatisation factors when working on an international project. I've worked with Japanese clients where they won't disagree or discuss problems explicitly. You might have your attention subtly directed at something for you to discover the problem yourself but no-one will tell you you are wrong. I compare that to some German engineers who are breathtakingly blunt and have no problem saying "You are wrong. That won't work. We will not do that." no matter how sensitive the client situation. On the scale of things, I see us Brits as fairly sensible. Put a German and Japanese person in a room and you sometimes needs a Brit to translate between the extremes. We sometimes flannel around too much in an effort to be polite but IMHO we take the effort to balance clarity and politeness.