CHAPTER 4
Identify Your Own Challenges with the New Cultural Code

So, you’ve diagnosed the new cultural code for a particular situation you face in the new culture, or at least you have an informed, educated guess. It’s now time to diagnose which aspect of the code causes you the greatest degree of difficulty. To do this, you have two diagnostic tools at your disposal: the zone of appropriateness and the personal comfort zone.

The Zone of Appropriateness

The zone of appropriateness captures the range of behavior that is acceptable and appropriate to natives of a new culture. As someone learning to switch cultural behavior, your goal is to get your behavior inside this zone because that’s where you will be seen as appropriate and effective. ...

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