Nonverbal Communication: French, Italian, And German

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.

Body language such as hand gestures and facial expressions is very important while talking to the French (especially in the South). Exaggerated expressions and movements help convey the reality of a story or explanation. Gestures in France and America are quite similar. Shrugging your shoulders means that you don’t know or you don’t care. Putting up both of your hands with your palms up illustrates helplessness or anger. And making a circle with your thumb and forefinger stands for saying that something is okay or even perfect.

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.

A. In American culture the thumbs up gestures represents doing good or okay. In other countries such as Australia, Italy, Greece, different countries in the Middle East it takes a different meaning. The way we see the middle finger in America is how they see the thumbs up in other cultures. Although in Hungary and Germany it means the number one meanwhile it Japan in stands for the number five.

Choice #1: Interview a professional about their career choice and take some notes. Focus on the non-verbal gestures and active listening that take place during

Signings & Symbols: there are many common signs and symbols that people would automatically recognise. A wave of the hand can mean hello or goodbye. You can use this in health and social care setting when you are talking to a person who is disabled and can’t talk or someone that is deaf and has difficulties communicating you would use sign language.

The gesture of circling the index finger to the thumb to give the "Okay" sign is "extremely offensive" to the Mexicans. The placement of ones hands on their hips is a sign of aggressiveness, while placing the hands the pocket is impolite. (CC Consulting Ltd 2004)

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.

Winston used a hand gesture to promote the campaign “V for Victory”; the gesture was his index and middle fingers are raised and parted with the rest of his fingers clenched and his palm outwards. Winston Churchill wasn’t the only one using the gesture

They use symbolism. A Joad family member tries to get a ride with another man, who really isn’t supposed to be giving rides out to anyone, he says to the driver, something to the effect of, “We are both good guys.” Using the symbolic meaning of a good person to sway the driver’s mind into letting the other man hitch a ride with the driver. A way that I see this perspective being used would be interpreting people’s behavior or their tone of voice. Making sure that a dear friend seems to be doing okay based on their actions seems to be a very common thing. Most of us at some point have used our middle finger as a form of symbolism too, however in certain circumstances it can mean very different things like at a friend it usually mean, “Hey, what is happenin’ I can not actually talk right now, so bye.” Or if it’s to an unwelcomed event it’s usually a form of slur that can be directed at someone from a nice distance away. Using and gestures could be a form of

The hand shake is commonly used upon meeting, parting, offering congratulation, or expressing gratitude. In addition, in sport or any other competitive activities, people used to handshake as a sign of good sport spirit. The purpose of doing it is to convey trust, respect, balance, and equality in order to confirm an agreement. For sure, different culture may be more or less likely to shake hands, or they might have different tradition about when or where to do

India is a high setting society, there is much dependence on nonverbal motions. In India, individuals welcome each other utilizing the word Namaste and they set up their palms together before their mid-section and give a slight bow of the head. This easygoing or formal welcome is a custom in all of India. Used to start and end with, Namaste actually signifies "I bow to you"- my welcome or greetings. Men will shake hands, yet not with ladies. Ladies ought to never start the handshake. Like other Asian societies, Indians require the evacuation of footwear before entering a sacrosanct range. The general population of India have diverse motions. As per Charlene Wu on Cultural Gestures, Indians will "get a handle on their ear cartilage to express

Handshakes were rated on nine different aspects by examiners and then participants were given a personality test based on the Big Five Factor Model. The handshakes were then compared to the results from the personality tests and scored based on the most dominant features of personality. Those with firm handshakes and good eye contact were found to be more extroverted and more agreeable, were as those with weaker handshakes and less eye contact were more introverted and less open to new experience. The complete results are far more complex and more informative about many types of handshakes and the personalities that belong to the people giving them. The results show a considerable correlation between the handshake someone gives,

Hand gestures are an important method of communication and to foreign folk, Japanese hand gestures may seem perplexing. More specifically, “come here,' which looks like 'go away” (Seifi) this is important as

In most cultures, a handshake is an acceptable greeting. However, the meaning of the grip of a handshake varies from culture to culture. Also, there are different greetings that are more effective in some cultures.