Learn More: Prepare for a Foreign Assignment (or a Travel Adventure)
Visit The Wall Street Journal home page. Choose Career Journal from the menu on the lower left side. Select European Careers or Asian careers to read an assortment of articles relevant for expatriate workers in those areas. At the bottom of the page, you can access more useful stuff from an international salary calculator or country profiles, which give information about business and social customs in 26 major countries around the world.

An excellent second source of national and cultural information about your selected country (or one not on the Journal's list) comes from the publishers of the somewhat offbeat Lonely Planet travel guides. From the top of the home page menu, click on "Worldguide" On this page, follow the prompts to tap into useful information about the country you have in mind.

If the local language for your selected country is not your native language, the Internet can get you headed in the right direction. At the home page of www.travlang.com, go to Foreign Language for Travelers, then follow steps one and two. Next, at your selected country page, click on the option "Basic Words". Practice your new vocabulary of essential greetings and questions. The quiz option is a good learning tool. (Warning: You will encounter some very irritating and persistent pop-up advertisements at this site!)

Pick one of the more than two dozen countries, that you would like to visit, take a job in, or just learn more about.

1. Does your selected country appear to be high-context or low-context? Monochronic or polychronic? Individualistic or collectivist? How can you tell?
2. How much culture shock are you likely to experience if you travel or move to your chosen country? Explain.
3. How well will your native language serve you if you visit your chosen country? What language(s) will you have to know to do business in your selected country? How do you say "Hello" and "Thank You" in a language from your selected country?
4. Based on your Internet studies, how strong is your desire to visit or work in the country you selected? Explain.

Check It Out
View the Web site of Intermundo, the intercultural communication network. The site offers articles, book reviews, streaming educational television shows, and more (Warning: You will be required to have a membership in order to access all the features of this site, but membership is free.)

1. Read one article from their current list, and come to class prepared to share what you have learned.