COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP):
SLURPING AND burping at the dinner table is OK. Always use both hands to present somebody a business card. And as for those public toilets (or lack thereof), make sure you bring your own tissues.
Three months from now, Olympic athletes will have to negotiate their way through China on more than just the playing field - and figuring out Far East culture could be as challenging as any opponent.
To offer tips, the United States (US) Olympic Committee and a sponsor brought in two cultural experts, who spoke to about three dozen athletes on Tuesday about what to expect once they arrive in Beijing.
"One of the most important things I can tell you is that, once you get through that first layer, people all around the world are more alike than they are unalike," travel etiquette expert Roger Axtell told the athletes.
Awareness tips
First, they have to negotiate that first layer.
Athletes were referred to a website with more than 100 "awareness tips" on everything from business etiquette to table manners to shopping for clothes.
For instance, it is considered polite to hand a business card to a new contact with both hands, preferably with the writing facing the person receiving the card. And when you receive a business card, it's gauche to write on the back of it.
On a completely unrelated topic, public toilets aren't common in China yet. Often, it's just a hole in the floor. Another suggestion regarding that business: Bring a packet of tissues to use in case there's no toilet paper, which isn't that uncommon.
Table etiquette
Also, there's no need to stifle burps at the dinner table, and should you hear someone else do it, no need to act horrified, either. Oh, and eating until your plate's clean at dinner in China does not necessarily mean you liked it; it can be interpreted as a sign that you didn't get enough food.
"If you're sitting at a dinner table and people are snorting and gurgling in ways you don't know how to deal with, just roll with it," said Gideon Yago, a former international news correspondent for MTV.
In fact, the best piece of advice both he and Axtell offer is simply to go with the flow.
Word meanings
Axtell told a story of his wife's visit to China. She was feeling sick, so she got a doctor to make a house call at her hotel room. He came once, said he'd come again. And toward the end of the second visit, he was on his knees, saying he wanted a "relationship" with Axtell's wife.
What he really wanted, as she later figured out, was a connection with someone in the US because the doctor's daughter went to college in Toronto.
The point is that something as basic as the shadings of the meaning of a word - in this case "relationship" - can cause confusion.
"Things are going to happen, something unexpected is going to happen," Axtell said. "It could be a comment, a gesture. Whatever. You just have to be ready for it."
Many American athletes at the Olympic level have learned these lessons before. Most have a wealth of experience in international travel. The USOC also has its own new, "ambassador programme," created in part to teach about cultural differences, but also to remind athletes to be on their best behavior and represent America appropriately when they're competing abroad.
"To me, the whole thing is just to stay patient, listen, watch," said Sarah Noriega, a veteran on the American volleyball team, which is coached by one-time Chinese volleyball great Lang Ping. "Listen to the little tips you get. Rely on nonverbal clues".
Even those can be tricky. For instance, the 'V for Victory' sign means different things in different parts of the world, and can even have a different meaning depending on whether the outside of the fingers are pointed in or out.
One nonverbal clue that means the same in any part of the world.
"A smile," Axtell said. "That works almost every single time."
