Seeing-as: a conversion chart

From a guidebook for Americans studying in Israel, produced by the U.S.-Israel Educational Foundation and sent to me by the Institute of International Education:

Same Behavior / Different Labels

Americans tend to see themselves as:	Israelis often see Americans as:
friendly	naive, superficial, sexually provocative, artificial
respectful of privacy	distant, unfriendly, lacking spontaneity, shy, excessively formal
sharing personal concerns	tastelessly exposing private matters, intrusive, unnecessarily revealing
organized	rigid, “square”, inflexible, efficient at the expense of personal relationships, going by the book instead of improvising, focused on procedures instead of task at hand
respectful of authority	passive, conforming, excessively formal, excessively mindful of hierarchy, focused on roles rather than goals, freier (Hebrew slang for “sucker” or “pushover”)
professional	arbitrarily differentiating between work and social spheres, excessively formal
efficient	arbitrarily differentiating between work and social spheres, unfriendly, overly programmed, lacking spontaneity
trusting and trustworthy	naive

Israelis tend to see themselves as:	Americans often see Israelis as:
Informal	rude, familiar, inconsiderate, disrespectful, insubordinate, unprofessional
outspoken, direct, honest	tactless, rude, blunt, disrespectful, aggressive, stubborn, insubordinate
spontaneous, open, natural	out of control, intrusive, ill-mannered, unprofessional
hospitable, warm	smothering, intrusive, dominating
assertive	aggressive, arrogant, ruthless, stubborn
flexible about plans and schedules; casual about rules and regulations	inefficient, sloppy, unprofessional, undisciplined, arrogant, irresponsible, inconsiderate
creative, able to improvise	superficial, chaotic, undisciplined, unsystematic
active, taking initiative	insubordinate, pushy, undisciplined, intrusive, dominating, aggressive
self-confident	arrogant
willing to take risks	irresponsible, overconfident
wary, alert, realistic	cynical, distrustful

I think I'll be fine as long as I print out this table and make all the Israelis read it.

(33 days left.)

E.T.A. Some of these adjectives seem to have been copied-and-pasted right out of this article.

"Some years ago an Israeli journalist wrote about U.S. supermarkets. What struck him was the impersonal way in which store clerks told him to have a nice day. Later, a book by a pair of cross-cultural consultants found that Israelis often see Americans as insincere, naive, superficial, too formal, lacking spontaneity, insistent on going by the book rather than improvising, and easily taken advantage of."

There's also a short discussion of "freierhood" in there. I wonder what book he's referring to....