Different Signs, Communication and Language throughout the World

Hand gestures signifying an insult have been in use throughout the world for ma ny centuries. The gesture of the extended middle finger is said to have been used by Diogenes to insult Demosthenes. See Betty J. Buml & Franz H. Buml, Dictionary of Worldwide Gestures 159 (2d ed. 1997). Other hand gestures regarded as insults in some countries include an extended right thumb, an extended little finger, and raised index and middle fingers, not to mention those effected with two hands. See id.

5. a. there is three types of body language and nonverbal communication, eye contact, body positioning, and encouragement. Making eye contact is extremely important. Making eye contact in a conversation shows the other person that you are listening and you are interested in what is being said. Not making any eye contact makes the other person think you have no interest. Adjusting body positions are important because sitting straight up shows you care, when you slouch during an important conversation you are communicating you don’t care. Facing the person sitting straight up shows you respect them and what is being said. Nonverbally encouraging or discouraging what others say can be demonstrated in a conversation by using hand gestures and facial movement. Actively nodding and showing you are interested without talking are nonverbal ways of communication. (Lewicki, p 184-185)

Gestures provide one of the most obvious cases of cross-cultural differences in nonverbal communication. In South Italy gesture use is prominent and many gestures are conventional. These include ‘pragmatic’ gestures that indicate type of speech act or aspects of discourse structure and ‘substantive’ gestures that express utterance content (Kendon, n.d.). The examples of conventional ‘pragmatic’ gestures are the Mano a borsa(‘purse hand’) and the Mani giunte (‘praying hands’) are well known and have recognition as ‘quotable gestures’ or ‘emblems’. They express the illocutionary intent of the spoken utterances associated with them. The second two relate to discourse structure: The Finger Bunch, which is similar to the ‘purse hand’ in form, marks ‘topic’ as distinct from ‘comment’; the Ring, in which the tips of the index finger and thumb are brought into contact forming a circle, marks the ‘locality’ of a unit in relation to the theme. Emblems, in particular, tend to differ by culture. Emblems are gestures that substitute for language. Examples of emblems include waving hand to say “hello” or “goodbye”, nodding to say “yes”, putting your hand out so that someone stops, and more. Those are the examples of emblems in the United States.

People from parts of India shake their head from side to side to show agreement instead of nodding like Americans do. In some Australian Aboriginal cultures, looking an elder or person of higher rank than you in the eye is considered disrespectful. It's important to research cultural differences in body language prior to visiting or interacting with someone of a different culture.

There are eight key forms of nonverbal communications used on a daily basis. These forms can affect the way people view another person; however, without understanding the forms of nonverbal communication there is certain to be a lot of misinterpretations. Cultural and language differences are a common reason for miscommunication. When communicating with people in different cultures, a person should be extremely aware of the hand gestures and nonverbal communication tools they are using. Many of the hand gestures used in the United States that mean good things, mean offensive and profane things to other cultures. Nonverbal communication is described as body language, hand gestures, and facial expressions. It is known that people reveal more information through nonverbal communication, than words alone to get a point across. There will always be some interaction between two or more people that everyone’s

Body language and various other nonverbal cues have long been recognized as being of great importance to the facilitation of communication. There has been a long running debate as to whether body language signals and their meanings are culturally determined or whether such cues are innate and thus universal. The nature versus nurture dichotomy inherent in this debate is false; one does not preclude the other’s influence. Rather researchers should seek to address the question how much of nonverbal communication is innate and how much is culturally defined? Are there any true universal nonverbal cues or just universal tendencies modified to suit cultural ideals and constraints? It is my proposal that of all forms of nonverbal

Gesture is a form of non- verbal communication that it serves to convey mankind’s position with a part of body. Gesture is rich in variation to express people’s feelings, thoughts, even attitudes towards others and others’ opinion . According to the social anthropologist, Edward T. Hall, in a normal conversation between two people, less than 35% of the social meanings is actually transmitted by words. So, at least 65% of it is conveyed through the body language.

Response-The American Illustrator that is used in other cultures is the upper hand. By having your hand on top of another person’s hand during a handshake displays power and that you’re in control. It is mostly displayed when world leaders meet, but is also used in business meetings. Also the saying the upper hand comes from when President Richard Nixon meets when Elvis Presley and is shown having the upper hand during the handshake pictures.

Jun’s appearance and his use of facial expressions and gestures by showing Roberto the tattoo on his arm with his uncle’s address has conveyed to Roberto of his disastrous situation and uncertainty in this foreign country while lacking in intercultural competence therefore Roberto brought Jun home to help Jun to find his uncle. From this scene it is evident that the use of body language and gestures is an essential tool in supporting intercultural communication because while when people are incapable to communicate verbally the use of body language are very effective to assist proper communication and understanding between people from different culture. Some past experiences related to the use of body language is back when I couldn’t speak English after moved into Australia. I was unable to communicate with people and tell people about my thought and was very uncertain about my surrounding. Where once I was at the school swimming lesson and I didn’t have a swimming cap but I couldn’t tell the teacher that I need one due to the language barrier so I had to point at someone else’s swimming cap and point at my head and shake my hand to express that I didn’t had a swimming cap, fortunately the teacher understood. This is when I found the appropriate use of body language is very important when individuals can’t

Smiles mean approval, everything is content, and a good situation is present. A nod shows that one agrees with something. Hand gestures are not used in this culture because they could imply something other than what is being interpreted. Pointing

The most commonly known form of nonverbal communication is using physical movements, also called gestures. “Gestures are movements of any part of the body to indicate what someone wants”(Nonverbal). While there are several divisions of gestures, the two most common ones are emblems and quotable gestures. They are also known as conventional, culture specific gestures that are used as a replacement for words such as: waving goodbye or hello, shrugging of the shoulders, or a thumbs up. Gestures may also be called body language in business dealings. Good body language can be crucial for success, but different gestures may mean something different from country to country. In the United States of America, a firm handshake and direct eye contact are respected, but in France, a handshake is meant to be light and quick(Examples). For many people, movements of the body are the easiest way to communicate nonverbally. Consequently, physical gestures are the most common

Gestures such as thumbs up can be interpreted differently in different cultures.  It is taken as “Okay” sign in many cultures whereas is taken as a vulgarism in others like Latin American cultures and in Japan some even take it as money. Some cultures take snapping fingers to get the attention of a waiter as al-right whereas some take it as disrespect and very offensive.  Showing feet is taken as offensive in some Middle Eastern cultures.  Some cultures take pointing fingers as insulting too.  In Polynesia, people stick out their tongue to greet people which is taken as a sign of mockery in most of other cultures.

How do people act on a date, on a job interview, or just at home hanging out with their friends? How does a best friend look like when they're angry, and how can parents tell when their kids are lying? Body language is at the heart of nonverbal communication, and according to recent studies we pass on more messages to each other through body language than all the things we say combined. Approximately 55% of communication is based on body language and when put in certain environments such as dating, workplace and social gatherings we will look at how men and women communicate differently using body language.

Although verbal communication is understood within one’s own social group, the interpretation of body language can be a vitally imperative when establishing a connection with people of different nationalities. Safadi and Valentine (1985) described gestures as being “contextually linked, to the situation, and along with the interplay of body and facial movement and utterance, they together convey the speaker’s intent” (pg.5). However there are some cross cultural hand gestures that can be misinterpreted in different regions of the world. For instance, to gesture okay in America, one would connect the thumb and the index finger in a circular shape with the other three fingers extended upwards. Conversely, in Arabian cultures, the same borrowed symbol can be interpreted as an obscenity referring to the evil eye. If an Arabic person were to use the okay gesture in another person direction while shaking, it symbolizes that the person receiving the gesture is being cursed (U.S. Army, 2006). On the

With my siblings, we tend to use body language when we are out in public. We do this when we want to talk about someone we don’t like and we do not want to say it out loud. For instance, if we see someone that we do not like we look at each and laugh and look at that person we do not like. Another example is when we see someone who is wearing something ugly on and they think they are cute, we signal each