How to communicate with your India counterparts?

[yesthattom]

Can anyone point me at resources that explain how to communicate with people in India? I don’t understand their idioms, and I need better examples. Someone told me “Don’t ask yes/no questions” and I haven’t been successful. I think a book with examples would be helpful.

When asked, “What is the quality of [something]?” He answered “Yes”.

Comments

[whipartist.livejournal.com]

No answers, but you just reminded me of a job interview I did once.

I asked the guy questions like, "So how much do you know about (technology X)?" He would inevitabaly answer with something like, "70%."

I had no idea that it might be a cultural thing.

[petdance.livejournal.com]

In some Tom Peters book, he recommended "Riding The Waves of Culture: Understanding Diversity in Global Business" by Charles Hampden-Turner, Fons Trompenaars.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786311258/

[dr-memory.livejournal.com]

Brush up on your Urdu?

The only time it was ever an issue for me, I mostly tried to conduct as much of the business over email as possible: reading a language is much easier than speaking it, even if you're "fluent", and if I send out agenda emails (not always referred to as such) even before brief phone calls, it usually seemed to help make sure all the points got covered.

It was incredibly frustrating at times: the combination of someone who speaks quietly and quickly (me) and someone speaking what is usually their third language, however "fluent" they may be on paper, leads to a lot of backtracking and misunderstandings.

"Do the necessary"

[xeger.livejournal.com]

I very seldom give in to speaking louder and slower as a means to resolve language difficulties... but the necessary seemed to me to involve reaching through the phone and -STRANGLING- the person.

Poorly trained technical support is frustrating at the best of times. Poorly trained technical support working on an issue outside of their limited knowledge, in a timezone clearly hostile to their thought processes, and in a language with which they appear to have only a passing acquaintance? Arghhhhh!

Re: "Do the necessary"

[kimuchi.livejournal.com]

I always heard "please do the needful". I think it has a nice ring to it.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

one thing i've found is that, like the japanese, sometimes "yes" just means "i am acknowledging that you have been speaking". so i sometimes end up asking the same question a few different times and asking them to explain something back to me.

[dossy.livejournal.com]

The only advice I can give from actual experience dealing with an Indian dev. team at two companies I've worked for so far is:

Don't ask questions. Give commands that result in the answer to a question. i.e., don't ask "What do you know about [X]?" Instead, say, "Tell me everything you know about [X]."

Other than that, learn to enjoy a good lamb korma. It's my favorite. :-)

What I say three times is true

[lovingboth]

"Would you like X?" "No, thank you."
"Would you like X?" "No, thank you."
"Would you like X?" "Yes, please!"

"Have you done Y?" "Yes."
"Have you done Y?" "Yes."
"Have you done Y?" "No."

[selki.livejournal.com]

He might have thought you were asking whether it had quality, e.g., is [something] a good product/tool/whatever.

Short of another commenter's "tell me everything you know about X", I also try things like "Where are we with X, what's been done, and what still needs doing?" with more specifics as helpful for prompts, e.g. "and what about security".

Working with time-shifted people can be useful (e.g., developers check in their code, I build and push and go home, and when we come in the next day, the Singapore testers tell us what needs fixing), but language/culture can force extra work.