preview

Brazilian Culture

Decent Essays

Overview of Brazilian Culture
Communication. The communication of Brazil is borne out of a close-knit bond for tribe and family ingrained from years ago. The national language of Brazil is Portuguese, or modified “Brazilian Portuguese," of which about 90% of Brazilians speak fluently (Martin & Chaney, 2012). Even though Brazil has come out from under the shadow of Portugal to be the largest Latin American country today, Brazilians are proud of their hard-fought heritage and of the fact that they are the only Latin American country that predominantly speaks Portuguese. Other languages utilized in the business world with educated Brazilians are Spanish (which is not preferred) and English (Martin & Chaney, 2012). To the advantage of the Canadian, …show more content…

Brazil has the greatest inequity of wealth distribution of all major economies with a mere 5% of the population owning 80% of the nation’s land (World Bank Group, 2015). As late as the mid-1990s, 85% of Brazilians had no system of sewage disposal and more than 70% of the population had no running water at all (World Bank Group, 2015). In 1980, the richest 10% of the population controlled about 46.6% of the nation’s wealth, and by 1990, this elite 10% controlled even more at 53.2% of the nation’s wealth, with the disparity growing steadily since (World Bank Group, 2015). By contrast, most businesspeople in Brazil belong, or are actively aspiring to belong, to the controlling 10% of the Brazilian economic elite (The Heritage Foundation, 2015). Most Brazilian businesspeople seem comfortable with their perception of their view as the natural order of economic inequality. In general, businesspeople in Canada, US, and the UK are uncomfortable with the class distinctions and class stratification found in the Brazilian society. While the business culture of Brazil may be at ease with these social inequalities, the international businessperson needs to not allow friction in business relationships to result from these facts. The worldview of Brazil is that its society is inherently unequal, and the workplace, in particular, is a microcosm of that …show more content…

Regarding the business elite of Brazil, they are among the best educated people in the world. Brazilian executives and professionals are often educated in foreign nations, such as the US and UK, but many are also educated in Brazil’s own well-respected universities (Brazil education, n.d.). The federal government of Brazil regulates the country’s educational system through the Ministry of Education. The government provides each area with funding and educational guidelines, and the individual states are responsible for implementing and enforcing these mandates (Brazil education, n.d.). Brazil provides public and private sector schools, but the disparity in education still exists as it does in the business world. School is compulsory for all children between 7 and 14 years of age, but this law is seldom enforced as many children in rural areas have to work to make money for their families (Brazil education, n.d.). Many public schools in Brazil lack plumbing and heating, while the construction is dilapidated and neglected, ignoring any building codes and enforcements. A high illiteracy rate exists in the nation, with one-half of all Latin America’s illiterate population living in Brazil with a full 20% of Brazilians possessing the inability to read, and the percentage for functional illiteracy being even higher (Victor,

Get Access