ABSTRACT
But this does not m e a n that we must a b a n d o n all hope for cross-cultural research. T h o u g h subtle differences in mean ing will always be present , shared meanings are often close enough that we can communica te the essential point . For example, last year a colleague sent me the message, 'Meet me at the Ra thauspark Hotel in Vienna at 9 a.m. on 11 J u n e to discuss our project ' . O n 11 June , people from Australia, Austria, Brazil, C a n a d a , Germany, J a p a n , Norway, Switzerland, and the Uni ted States showed up at the Ra thauspark Hotel a n d discussed the project. T h e Ra thauspark Hote l probably carries different connotat ions for each of these people, Vienna probably conveys different images, and J u n e probably carries different meanings for a Norwegian (for w h o m it comes in spring) and a Brazilian (for w h o m it comes in the autumn) . But in spite of these differences, the basic mean ing of the message was clear enough to achieve its purpose . A meet ing of minds took place.
