LOTE Blog

Family is one of the fundamental parts of the Afghan culture. This week Shamsiya discusses the role of family in Afghan society and highlights some key differences between Afghan and Western cultures. https://youtu.be/31W0MAwgHlc   When communicating with...

We all love those special days of the year when we get together with our families and friends to cook delicious meals and celebrate with one another. What are these special days in Afghanistan? Find out in the fourth of our Cultural Insights videos on Afghanistan, as...

Earlier this week, Shamsiya introduced us to Afghanistan, its iconic sights and shared some travel tips. So now you know what to see on your first trip to the country! But before you book that trip, let’s learn about etiquette in the Afghan culture...    ...

Over the last few weeks we caught up with friends of LOTE who migrated to Australia in their youth. We learnt about their birth country and its culture, and about some similarities and differences with Australia.   Shamsiya kicked off our Cultural Insights series...

Social isolation. Lockdown. A challenging situation during which staying connected has never been so important. We took to Zoom to connect with some friends of The LOTE Agency who had migrated to Australia in their youth. They talked to us about their birth country...

How your language manipulates your eyes. In last week's article, we discussed different symbolic meanings that people attach to colours around the world. But the topic of colour goes beyond that. Did you know that there are colours taken for granted within one culture...

Symbolic meaning of colours. Is there anything more natural in our lives than colour? Colours are among the first things every child learns.They surround us in the environment and they are closely linked to our psychology. We choose which colour to dress in depending...

Council: City of Greater Dandenong KMs from CBD: 27km Population: 25,785 Top languages spoken other than English: Vietnamese 3,126 Khmer 2,173 Mandarin 1,508 Cantonese 1,051 Turkish 637 Keysborough is in the locality of Greater Dandenong, which is the most culturally...

Even after my fifth month living in Southeast Asia, I still never dared to drive. Many travellers will agree that for someone spoiled by driving on the well-ordered European roads, Asian traffic is chaotic, to say the least. When I moved to Indonesia, I made a...

If the title caught your attention and you decided to read on, I assume that you either want a better understanding of foreign business culture, or you like to cook. Whatever the reason is, keep reading and we’ll help you decode some key cultural behaviours and...

Can you recall a moment when a good joke helped you break the ice with a new client, despite a language barrier? Or when a witty one-liner defused the tension during negotiations with a tough partner from overseas? Or when a shared sense of humour turned a foreigner...

From the decorated eggs, fireworks and different dates, Orthodox Easter or ‘Pascha’, is distinctly different from the Easter many Australians know. Why is Orthodox Easter celebrated on a different day? Easter is the most important date in the Orthodox Church’s...