The key to professional success in Brazil is understanding Brazilians. But how do you understand an unfamiliar culture? Seasoned cross-cultural trainers Orlando R. Kelm and David A. Victor use Victor’s groundbreaking approach of evaluating a culture’s language, environment, social organization, context, authority, nonverbal communication, and time conception to provide a framework for understanding Brazilians and show effective strategies to overcome these communication barriers. The method, referred to as the LESCANT approach makes you the expert evaluator of the culture and helps you easily navigate hurdles that can challenge business relationships.

Each chapter of The Seven Keys to Communicating in Brazil employs memorable anecdotes, business cases on each topic from business professionals, and photographs to address key topics. The authors demonstrate how to evaluate the cultural differences between Brazil and North America and include examples of common communication mistakes. Engaging and accessible, the book helps North Americans master the nuances of the Brazilian language and achieve a real experience of the Brasil dos brasileiros.

Orlando R. Kelm, PhD, is an associate professor of Hispanic linguistics at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches courses in Portuguese and Spanish, focusing mainly on business language and the cultural aspects of international business communication. He also serves as the Director of the UT Portuguese Language Flagship. His research and publications center on the cultural aspects of international business and pedagogical applications of innovative technologies in language learning, focusing mainly on Latin America and Brazil. Together with coauthor David A. Victor, he published the first volume in this series, The Seven Keys To Communicating in Brazil: An Intercultural Approach (Georgetown University Press, 2016). With coauthors David A. Victor and Haru Yamada, he published the second volume in this series, The Seven Keys To Communicating in Japan: An Intercultural Approach (Georgetown University Press, 2017).

David A. Victor, PhD, is a tenured professor of management and international business at Eastern Michigan University, as well as a consultant, author, and editor. He teaches courses on managing world business communication, international management, and international business and offers a series of seminars on doing business in various countries, including Brazil. As a consultant, he has run training programs and coached the leaders of more than 200 companies and organizations, ranging from global 500 companies to governments and nongovernmental organizations. He is also Editor-in-Chief of the Global Advances in Business Communication Journal. Among his many publications is the groundbreaking International Business Communication (HarperCollins, 1992), which introduced the LESCANT Model used as the framework for this book.

Introduction1. Brazilian Language: That’s a Lot of Portuguese!2. Brazilian Environment: What a Huge Country!3. Brazilian Social Organization: Let’s Work on it Together4. Brazilian Contexting: I’ll Call You, Really I Will5. Brazilian Authority Conception: Show Me Some of that Jeitinho6. Brazilian Nonverbal Communication: One Kiss Or Two?7. Brazilian Temporal Conception: Come On Over When You Can8. Case Study: Sitting Secure In Latin America, Brazilian StyleNotesIndexAbout the Authors