International business people have been adapting themselves to American culture for thousands of years, but recently there have been other cultures to accommodate.

The Confucius Institute of N.C . State, which aims to spread Chinese culture around campus, is currently offering Chinese business classes to some students.

Anna Lamm of the Confucius Institute, and the China program director, said she is anticipating the course to be a success.

“We have a big group for the course. It is an elective course but next semester we hope to offer it for credit,” Lamm said.

Lamm said members of SKEMA Business School, a French exchange program, would mainly inhabit the current course. She hopes to see the course expand next semester.

The Chinese business course will aim at several aspects of business, including Chinese business etiquette and techniques, vocabulary, politics and economics of the country.

The course, taught primarily by Chen Xiaoke , will also offer several guest lecturers who have experience in Chinese business practices.

Students who take the course will learn about Chinese culture and how to handle business situations with the Chinese, goals Lamm says intersect directly with that of the Confucius Institute.

“Our mission here at Confucius Institute is to teach Chinese business and culture,” Lamm said.

Marie Claire Ribeill , language coordinator for the University, has also taken part in constructing the Chinese business course. According to Ribeill , the course will especially help students of SKEMA .

“For the moment [the course is] just for the SKEMA students,” Ribeill said, “Our students are business students, so they will definitely be dealing with Chinese business people.”

Ribeill said one of the main reasons the course is especially beneficial to SKEMA students is because the business school has a campus in China. She also said the course’s conception is largely due to the recent rise in China’s economy.

“There are more and more business transactions with China,” Ribeill said.

In the course, students will learn how to speak with Chinese people in English, as well as how develop relationships with Chinese people and speak very basic Chinese.

“We teach how to act during a banquet, how to give your business card, how to say hello, how to say goodbye,” Ribeill said.

Although the course does not teach conversational Chinese, Ribeill said the course will train students to treat Chinese business people the way they are accustomed to.

Marshall Crawley , sophomore in English, saw the benefit in a Chinese business course, but didn’t see it as particularly beneficial to himself.

“It isn’t a course I would take,” Crawley said.

Crawley said the course does seem appropriate, given China’s increasingly relevant role in international business.

Arthur Freeman, sophomore in sport management, said the course could be good for some students.

“I could see it being beneficial,” Freeman said.

Both Freeman and Crawley expressed the course seems very relevant to business majors, such as SKEMA students.

“If you are in a business field I can see why someone would want to take that course,” Freeman said.

The course, though basic, seeks to provide business people with the tools necessary to conduct business positively.

“There are a lot of things that you should do, or not do, that you may not know about,” Ribeill said.