Britisches Understatement vs. amerikanischer Direktheit
Die Briten sind konservativer als die Amerikaner, das ist allgemein bekannt. Das macht sich nicht nur in den traditionellen Bowler hats und Regenschirmen im Vereinigten Königreich bemerkbar, die keine Entsprechung in den USA finden, sondern auch im sprachlichen Umgang miteinander. Die folgende Anekdote belegt dies.
Erkennen Sie den Unterschied zwischen britischem Understatement und amerikanischer Direktheit
Derek Smith, the top authority on mergers and acquisitions in the London division of an international accounting firm, receives a phone call from Robert Jones in New York:
Jones: Hi Derek, this is Bob Jones from New York. I’ve been told you’re the expert in Britain when it comes to mergers and acquisitions.
Smith: Well, I do know a little bit about it.
Pause.
Jones: Hm. Look, could you please connect me to someone who knows a lot about it? This is concerning our most important client.
Derek Smith told me this story at a conference. He said it took him a lot of persuading to finally convince Bob Jones that he really was the person Jones needed to talk to!
What had happened? Derek made an understatement (“I do know a little bit about it”) although he was the expert, but Jones took his words literally. The result was a misunderstanding: the US caller thought that the British speaker was not the expert he needed to talk to.
If you want to avoid misunderstandings when communicating with British or American business partners, you have to be aware of these differences.
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