TEACHING AMERICAN BUSINESS WRITING IN RUSSIA - CROSS-CULTURES CROSS-PURPOSES/

This article describes the writer's experiences teaching American busi ness writing in Russia and attempting to find documents for comparison of Russian and American approaches to business communication. She dis covered that most documents common in the United States are rare or no nexistent in Karelia, where in many ways organizational culture is ora l culture; documents exist largely to show to officials rather than to communicate with customers, clients, superiors, or subordinates. Alth ough Hall's model of high-context communication accounts for some cult ural differences between Americans and Russians, it is important to no te the differences between Russians operating in official mode and in personal mode to understand the amount of explicitness and directness appropriate in various situations.