Have you ever asked a coworker from a distant and bizarre culture—say, an Estonian—how they’re doing, only to have them actually tell you how they were? In full sentences? Or perhaps you’ve experienced the opposite: You—a literal-minded northern European, for example—greet an American colleague with a “What’s up?” but they don’t think of it as a real question, so all you get in return is a simple “Hi.” And now you’ll never know what’s up.

(With that in mind, do you ever find yourself making sweeping generalizations about nationalities because it’s easier to deal with neatly labeled boxes than with unique individuals? Yeah—I do too.)

Let’s go deeper down the rabbit hole:

Do you ever accidentally address an office mate in a language you know ...