264 CultureShock! Egypt
Topics to Avoid
Nearly every book you read gives you hints on topics you
should avoid in business meetings or with Egyptians in
general. Usually, the well-meaning author reminds you not to
ask any in-depth questions about a man’s family, particularly
his wife or daughters. On the other hand, if you know your
colleague has a wife, three daughters and an ailing mother-
in-law, it would seem cold not to make a casual comment
roughly stating that you hope all is well with his family (or
getting better as in the case of the sick mother-in-law).
This shows your friendship and caring for him as a person.
Certainly on a fi rst meeting, you should not be the fi rst to
bring up the topic of his wife and daughters (most especially
if you have never met them). Use good judgement and you
probably won’t go wrong.
The second topic usually listed to avoid is religion. This
can be tricky since many Egyptians may well bring up the
subject and you are left trying to fi gure out how to get out
of discussing the topic. And, yes, this can even happen in a
business meeting, particularly when you are going through
some of the ‘get-to-know-each-other’ protocol. Interestingly,
many Egyptians are fascinated about Western Christianity.
This is another one of those cases where the media introduces
some preconceived notions that might not be accurate
from your point of view. For example, some have viewed
American televangelists via cable or satellite and assume that
all American Christians (maybe even Christians throughout
the world) have similar views. Your best bet, should you get
stuck in an awkward situation, is to try to shift the topic
around to having them explain Islam to you. That way you
can avoid making any statements that could be viewed as
hostile or inappropriate, and you are showing an interest
in them.
The third topic to avoid is politics, the government or
government policy (unless of course you are asking questions
about how these things affect your proposed business deal).
This is another one of those topics that seem to fascinate
Egyptians. Since you are a foreigner of presumed high ranking
(or else you wouldn’t be there), anything you say may be open