Defining people by their ethnicity while virtually ignoring their cultural background has always been both dumb and dangerous, but there is a growing appreciation among business leaders, diplomats and politicians of the importance of understanding other cultures.
Comprehending another culture, however, usually requires long periods of living in that community and personally experiencing the attitudes and behavior found there — often preceded or accompanied by extensive anthropological or sociological research.
But there is an easier and faster way to get into and understand the mindset of a people. While working in Asia as a trade journalist in the 1950s and '60s, I observed that the attitudes and behavior of Chinese, Japanese and Koreans could be explained using a relatively small number of keywords found in their languages — words that revealed why they thought and acted the way they did.