A face-saving, called chae-myun (chay-me-yuun) in Korean, is a cultural factor, including age, gender, education and other not so obvious, that Koreans have considered extremely important, when people have relationship with others in either case, friendship or business partner. For these reason, if you are doing something that causes others losing face and vice versa, it could be, and often is, disastrous.
In business, Korean is the official language and spoken by everyone in the country, so communication is very important sector that may cause serious problem. If you have a chance to do presentation to Korean, give them a time to understand what you are saying because Koreans will not grant that they are having difficulties in front of others. Koreans speaking English have steadily increased every year, but recommend you to be with translator as possible. Also, here is a thing you might misunderstand; ‘nodding’ or ‘yes’ does not mean to agree while you are saying, but it is a kind gesture to show they are hearing your words. Because of the importance of face-saving, instead of saying “no” directly to respond, Koreans have answered like “I will think about this later” to avoid making counterparts losing face and open disagreement or confrontation does not allowed in public. Therefore, Understanding ambiguous clues that convey message will be main consideration when you negotiate with Korean businessperson.
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