It's all about TP!

TP- Trade, Politics and Press were today's themes. We started the day off meeting with the deputy mayor and a few city planners were we discussed everything from the city's support of the arts, balancing modernity and antiquity and the green movement. One thing that I couldn't help notice during the conversation is how it really is true that when you don't speak the language, it can "tip the scale" in a business deal. It's true that we weren't negotiating a deal but we were using our tour guide as the translator. I'm convinced that the deput mayor knew some English, his two colleagues were completely fluent. In any case, he had the benefit of hearing our conversation in English and then hearing it again in Turkish. It was a great meeting and he was a very open to our conversation, it is just something that we anglophones need to be aware of. It is true that English is the lingua franca but we should remember we are at a disadvantage in speaking in only English at a meeting as the other party has the benefit of hearing the conversation twice- once when we say it and then again when it is translated. Of course, politics has an impact on trade and the press. It was interesting to hear that Turkey's number one selling newspaper only came into existence 26 years ago because before that, there was no such thing as a "free press" and even know the government does have influence over what's published. The trade piece was most interesting for me, of course, It was fabulous to see how things like lowering taxes, support for ex-pats, assurance of legal rights has catapulted this economy into a position to compete with the BRICs.