n.05_September_October.2009.Englisch._

• INTERCUlTURAlCOMMUNICATIONROMANIA

AboutRomania

U

~d~rcommunistrulefromaftertheSecondWorldWarun-
tlllate1989,RomaniajoinedNATOin 2004 andtheEU
in 2007.It isthelargestofIhe Balkan countries,with the
Caroathianmountainsrunningthroughitscentreanda 245-
kilometre-IongcoasthneontheBrackSea.
Romaniahasa populationofabout 21 million.Itscapitalis
Bucharest.Nearly 90 percentofitspopulationisofethnicRo-
manianbackground.Thenextlarges!group(about 7 percent)
isofHungarianheritage,fallowedby2.5percentethnicRama.
TherearesmallerpopulationgroupswithUkrainian,German,
RussianandTurkishbackgrounds.TheEasternOrthodoxChurch
representsabout 87 percentofthepopulation.Romanianisthe
country'sofflciallanguage,bulabout 7 percentofthecountf)"S
populationspeakHungarianand 1 percentRomany.EQI&d.yre-
mainswidespreadinRomania,althoughQutsourcinlj!byWestern
companiesandexportstotheEUhavehelpedinthegradual
developmentofamiddieclass.Itsmainexportsaretextilesand
shoes, asweil asmetal products, machineryand minerals.
Romaniahopestojointheeurozonein2014.TheRomanian
currencyistheNewLeu(RON).

Poland,theCzechRepublic,Hungaryand,tosomeex-

rem,SioveniaandCroatiawerenotonlydoserroehe

Westbut,evenbeforecommllnism,hadsllbstanrialin-

duste)'and free-marketstrucrures.Whenconununism

came,noteveryrhingwasdestroyed,sothataftenvards

theycouldbuildontheseroots.Therewasprivateland

owncrshipinPolandaodsomepri\'atelyownedcompa-

niesin Hungary.InRomania,nothingwasleftafter

communism,andnotsomuchhadbecntherebefare.Ir

isinrerestingtolookatresearchinrothebehaviourof

RomanianworkersbetoreehcSecondWorldWar::Ind

a fewyearsago:eherearenorcaldifferences.Commu-

nismseemstohaveinrensifiedthebehaviourehatwas

alreadythere:ant:3SV~QinKviewoflifeandanunwill-

ingncs~tofollowrules.Key{raitsareoepotism,faral-

ismandnim- Romaniaispcrhaps[hemostpjQ.us.

countr)'inEurope,withalmost 100 percentbelievers.

Thismakesithardroenforceami-corruptionlegislation

ortOgerpeoplctOtaken:spoosibiliryfororgani7:aeions

ortheenvironment.Despiteallthis,Romaniahaswhar

IcalJa "sympaehyfacror".whichgivestheCountrya

billigeArbeitskr.lfte

zuverlässig.gleichbleibend

W3hrung

Klischee(vorstellungl

leilnalimsvoll

Mer1unaJ

Gemauschel,Kungelei

Vellernwirtschaft

KontaktaufbalJund-pflege

AuslagerlJngvonleistungen

Frömmigkeit

fromm

Armut

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etw.ablehnen,etw.

zurockwe,se~"ii;;~~Studien,u.!!tersuchungen...;:::

ForschungundEntwicklung

(F&E)

Romani

unhöflich

Standort

Erbe;hier:Abstam~

Gastfreundschaft

imHinblickauf...

Yorstellungsgesprach

Gesetzgebung

langfristig

MaschinenundAnlagen

argueaOOut5th.['U:lljU::-"baulI

BlackSea[,bla:k'~i:I

appre<:~teaddteu5th.$th.I~'BP:Jiell][""drt""~l~iiL=-_--==j'~"~'etw.ansprechenzusch3tzenwissen

approach1~'pr:>l)Tn HerangehenSWl:!ise;hier:

U!.f1&ang,Haltung

Schwarzesüberetw.deba:~;,~,,~"~=Meer

Gerissenheit

Karpathen

cannines5J'k;cninOl,1

Calpalhianmountains

Iko:,pcIOi.Jn'maonl,nzj

cheapIAbourr,t]i:p'lei!»]

cOl'\$istentrk;m'MSI~ll

currencyr'tAr.onsij

deadline['dcrlLaml

delicately['dclikOllli]

easy·a:oine:[,i:~;'g:>lHI)J

enlorcesth.[rn'r.':~J

governed,le!oneselfbe_by5th.

!'ghv'ndl

herltagel'henud31

hospltalityl,bosp"IZI;>Ii)

Intermsof...[In't3:mz;ovJ

;obinterview"d3ob,lnt;lvju:)

Iegls!atiort1,lcdJl'5lelfonl

long·mn.[,IDIJ'n:ml

machlnery[m;l'!i:n:)li!

reject5th.lri'dJl:.It.:l]

research(ri's:J:ln

researchanddevelopment(R&O)

[ri,S:Jllf:}ndi'vclopmon1]

Romany['rom;)ni]

rudeIru:dJ

sile[salt]

stereotype/'slcri;llalrJ

syrnpattlelicl.slmpOl'8ellkJ

lr3jtllrclt]

w~linganddealing(,w;,-I'I]:1I1'di:>iJO]

WhatarethemostcommonstereotypesGermanshave

aboutRomanians?

Germ3nsofrengotoRomaniawithcJassicalsrereotypes

abolltcommunism. Accordingto thesestereotypes,

peoplearelaz}',uninrcresredinworkandunwillingto

showiniriative.The)'thinkthatRomaniansdon'tget

thingsdone- thishassamethingtodowithdifferent

ideasaboutwhetheryouaskwhattodoorwaituntiI

youareroldwhat[Qdo.Germansohenfeel(hattheir

Romanianstafflookuptothebosswomuch,3ndthat

rhey h<lvetobegil'enexrrcmelysrrictandpreciscin-

structions.TheyfedthatRomanianslackloyalty;West-

erncompanieslookafterandtrainsr::!ffburthen,roo

often,theseemploycesleave.

Anothercriticismhastodowiththeapproachro

time.Thisisa veryimponanrfaetor- somepeoplesay

thatitisoneofthcrhingstharhas beenslowestro

changeinRomania.Thisismostevidentinlon~-tetm

planning.Germanswantrodefinceachpanofa proj-

ectintermsofsize,timeandresources.Romaniansfind

ithardtuthinkIikethis,whichGermansinterpretasa

lackofcompetenceorasunwillingnessrowork.Ger-

mansoftenrhinkthattheirRomanianpartnerscan't

plan,thattheymissdeadlines,areunstrucrured,waste

timeinlangmeetingsbeforethcycanmakeadecision,

andhavelinIesenseofquality.

Since the fall ofcommunlsm, Romania has been

througha transformationprocess.Howduesthistrans-

formationcumparewithwhathashappenedinother

statesintheregion?

Itisdifficulttomakedirectcomparisonsbecausethc

staningpointsinthevariousstateswerevcrydifferent.

30 BusinmSpollight 5/2009