Russian Language in Negotiations: An Italian Experience

Abstract

This research work is devoted to the language peculiarities affecting the relations between Italian firms and their Russian counterparts. According to authors pre-work research, this topic was not investigated by previous academic works, thus should be employed as a starting point to further analysis on the linguistic business interactions regarding the two countries in question. Two parallel researches were carried out. The first was an on-line anonymous survey of linguistic and economic metadata provided by Italian firms well-established on the Russian market. The second was an on-field selection of linguistic events observed during the interactions between Italian and Russian managers at the last Agri-food Prodexpo Exhibition 2019 in Moscow. Data gathered show patterns of approach to the linguistic problems of interaction with Russian language from Italian companies along with problems of oral communication due to inherent differences in grammar and vocabulary.