Mexican American Gestures

It’s not only how we speak to people but it can also be reflected through our body language. We have to bear in mind that other people’s cultures may find some gestures offensive to them. Being respectful to their beliefs and cultures is important in maintaining positive relations. A raise of an eye brow or shrug of the shoulder can send the

The harmony of the existing cultures is crucial for the survival and success of any communication and ignoring these aspects may challenge the communication. For example, speaking to employees in Middle East is quite different from Switzerland; talking about personal things is acceptable by Swiss. Individuals who move to other countries unprepared for cultural differences may face unpleasant frustration when communicating. However, those who try to learn other cultures are likely to avoid individual tragedies. For example, Americans doing business in Mexico need to learn the local language to enhance interactions with the locals.

Tone is another thing that be misinterpreted by other as when someone raises their c=voice to one group of people it means that they are angry are annoyed but to other it can mean that they are excited yet in different culture this can be the subtle difference in cultures; different cultures will often have picked up different things like when looking at the west it is very common to use communication methods as emails and texting. Other culture prefer to communicate through telephones or written word; and generation can also affect the language as young people will have developed new language to accompany the new technology which may seem horrible to older people.

The Chinese culture is built around thousands of years of tradition. Understanding these Chinese beliefs and social influences may benefit you when attending to someone of this culture.

People from different backgrounds may use communication methods differently these may include the language they speak or the dialect they use. They may use different gestures, touch and mannerisms’. Also the volume, speed and pitch of a person’s voice would affect communication. Somebody who comes from a society that speaks quickly with a regional dialect would have difficulty being understood somewhere where they speak more slowly. In different culture gestures can mean different things. The gesture of holding two fingers up can either mean peace if the palm is facing out or if the palm is facing in can be offensive. An aggressive gesture of waving a closed fist in western countries means one is trying to pick a fight or is showing annoyance. In Asian countries this will definitely get you into fist fight.

I decided to go to Panda Express at 5:30 pm for my observations, while there I was able to observe just how much people rely on nonverbal communications to get their point across. Although I witnessed several encounters of unique body language, there were also a few actions that reoccurred several times in several different people. For example, when a customer would approach the counter where employee served the food, the employee would raise her eyebrows and smile at the customer. The employee’s smile, however, did not reach her eyes suggesting that while it is her job to smile and be welcoming to the customer, she most likely did not want to be at work. Additionally, I noticed that when customers approached the counter about 90 percent of them had their arms crossed. The act of crossing ones arms usually means that a person is trying to put a barrier between them and a situation that they either don’t like, or are uncomfortable with. This may mean that the customers were displeased with having to wait in line to get their food, on the other hand it may be that they were simply comfortable folding their arms. Once they reached the front of the line, every customer pointed to the food they wanted along with verbally telling the employee. This made their communication more effective as it helped to overcome the barrier of sound because the restaurant was noisy.

• Cultural differences – when the same thing means different things in two cultures, communication can be difficult. For example, it is seen as polite and respectful to make eye contact when speaking to someone in Western culture but in other cultures, for example in East Asia, it can be seen as rude and defiant.

Home language and culture – Different languages or forms of a language may be spoken at home, as well as accents and pronunciation differentiating between other regions in the same country. People who do not have English as a first language can take pitch and tone in many different ways as for instance they may not use rise and fall in their tone. Body language also needs to be taken into consideration as gesture and eye contact may rarely be used in some cultures. There may also be

Cultures provide people several ways of thinking and opinions. When it comes communicating the potential for misunderstandings increase dramatically because translations between languages. Most cultures have their own constricted rules about what is proper communication which affect verbal and nonverbal communication. Sometimes by simply not looking at a person eye to eye has a significant impact on how a different cultural per son will receive it. There a several rules to communication which differ from culture to culture and can be sometime wrongly

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.

The OK hand gesture that we us in England is also considered offensive in countries like Latin America and France. The thumb up hand sigh is considered rude in many Asian and Islamic countries. In most westernised countries nose picking is considered vulgar. However in many Asian countries such as china nose picking in public is perfectly expectable behaviour and it is most common in older generations younger generations tend to be more westernised and most do not pick their nose in public.

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

Due to the different ways of expressing politeness and conversational involvement, they may have trouble communicating even if they share the same language. The ‘two cultures' approach proposes that talk between women and men is fraught with potential misunderstanding for much the same reasons that communication across the ethnic groups is (Mary Crawford, Talking Difference On Gender and Language, 1995). Hence, I agree with the point of view of Deborah Tannen. However, "You just don't understand: Women and men in conversation" does not inform readers about the reasons and the consequences of the communication differences between genders. Therefore, this essay will include the above

In the Hispanic culture it is perfectly fine for people to get very close to each other, but in other countries, like America, people like to have more room. Another is time, for some people it is perfectly fine to be a little late, while in certain countries it is important to be punctual. In some countries people have different views on fate, for some (usually those who have gone through trouble in their economy, government, or natural catastrophes) it is perfectly acceptable to not do something because they believe fate has gone against it while for some it is fine to try to do something even though problems may

The geographical area of China is more than 9 million square kilometers and as a result, it is the fourth largest country in the world. There are several ethnic groups in China, the Han Chinese is the largest group, and it is found in almost all parts of the country. Other minority groups include Tibetan, Zhuang, Korean, and Mongol. The Chinese society is high context and non-verbal. The Chinese people acquire the knowledge of what they are supposed to do and say even if they are not told through conversation. Voice and facial expressions play a critical role in determining the feelings in a person. They do not have facial expressions when in a conversation. Direct eye contact is avoided because it is viewed as a symbol of disrespect (Clair & Norris, 2011).