Asia—Culture Smart!

Paul Norbury is a publisher, editor, and author who has written on international business practice and procedure, with particular reference to Japan and East Asia. He has specialized in publishing books on intercultural communications. Whereas previously he has focused on explaining Asian culture to Westerners, in this book he uses his experience as a mediator and interpreter to introduce his native Britain to visitors from abroad.

Becky Stephen is a writer, manragement consultant, and cross-cultural trainer for businesses and nonprofit organizations in Dubai, the UK, and the USA. After graduating with a Masters in Cross Cultural Studies from Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA, she developed and led cross-cultural and other training programs and events in the USA, India, Eurasia, and Europe, and led the US division of a nonprofit organization responsible for Americans on long-term international assignment.

Kathy Flower is a radio and television producer, scriptwriter, and trainer who has specialized in the teaching of English as a Foreign Language. After training teachers for the British Council in Paris, she worked in Beijing from 1981 to 1983 and presented China's first major English-language teaching series, Follow Me, on Chinese TV. She is still known to millions of viewers as laoshi, or teacher.

Indre Balcikonyte-Huang holds a bachelor's degree in Chinese and economics and a master's degree in modern and contemporary Chinese literature from Fudan University in Shanghai. Fluent in Mandarin, she has lived in Beijing and Shanghai for more than ten years. She currently works for a cross-border consultancy helping western companies and brands find a footing in China.

Charles Armstrong trained at the Drama Studio. His theatre work includes Stop Messing About (Leicester Square Theatre) and Round the Horne Revisited (West End and Tour). He has also worked for the Royal Shakespeare Company, National, and many repertory theaters. His work on film and TV includes Scoop, EastEnders, Poirot, Head Over Heels, and The Navigators. He has recorded numerous voiceovers, documentaries, radio dramas, and audiobooks.

Anna Bentinck, who trained at the Arts Educational School, has made over eight hundred broadcasts for BBC radio and has performed for animated series as well as television. An experienced audiobook narrator, she has recorded a wide variety of audiobooks, including classics, teenage sci-fi, children's titles, and animation.

Peter Noble is an experienced audiobook narrator. Born in South Africa, he was dragged by hippie musicians from his idyllic childhood, where he ran barefoot through rich and matted grass with his dog Bartok, to vegetarian communes from California to India via Lisbon, London, and Findhorn. He picked up a wide range of authentic local accents and character voices along the way.