Nonverbal communication in various cultures

Nonverbal communication expresses feelings and thoughts without using words (spoken or written) and can be intentional or unintentional. A big part of our communication is nonverbal and sometimes may be even more powerful than the verbal interaction. Nonverbal communication involves many ways of expressing yourself like facial expression, tones of the voice, body posture, gestures, and eye contact. Some signals are consistent across multiple cultures and if you do not speak a foreign language, you may still communicate with people from another country just by using body language and facial expressions. But sometimes different nationalities have specific gestures and emotions and some gestures may have different meanings for different people in certain contexts. These nonverbal differences across cultures can be a source of confusion or embarrassment for foreigners, therefore learning about them is important. Facial expressions are responsible for a big proportion of nonverbal communication because the human face is extremely expressive. The facial expressions for happiness, sadness, anger, fear and more are similar throughout the world, but can differ in intensity. For example, in one experiment, American and Japanese people had similar facial expressions when watching a certain film by themselves, but, when an audience was present, the Americans showed more facial behaviors than the Japanese. Communication is also affected by a variety of aspects related to appearance such as clothes and accessories. These convey signals relating to the context including formal and informal, status and individuality. In the Islam, Muslim women are expected to covered, except for their eyes. To Koreans the first impression is important and they usually judge people on their appearance. In Japan having a tattoo is frowned upon and sometimes you're not allowed to enter a public bath if you have tattoos. Eye contact is one of the most important ways of communication since, for most people, the visual sense is dominant. People in some Asian cultures barely make eye contact. Looking directly into someones eyes for too long is considered impolite and even intimidating/aggressive and it is preferred to look at various places on the face before looking back at the eyes (they usually focus on a persons neck). Most people in Arab cultures share a great deal of eye contact with their counterparts and may regard too little as disrespectful. Wearing sunglasses is not recommended even if the sun is very bright. In western cultures a big amount of eye contact is required, too little often signifies a lack of sincerity or confidence. But too much might make some people uncomfortable.

Probably the biggest nonverbal difference between Asians and Westerners is kinesics (gestures, body movements and posture). Usually when people meet it is customary to shake hands. But in Asian cultures bowing is customary. For example there is an entire etiquette for bowing in Japan. Bowing during an introduction shows status, business inferiors must bow lower than superiors. The lower you bow the more respect you are showing (the most formal bow is performed to a 45degree). Asians usually keep a greater physical distance between themselves than Westerners. Pointing is considered rude. They are also reserved when it comes to physical touching. They tend to be more reserved and humble and dont like to stand out. In Japan if someone is speaking in a loud voice, he is considered as being rude. On the other hand, people of the Middle East and of the Mediterranean area are hearty and lively. Loudness indicates strength in some Arabic cultures while softness indicates weakness. Even if we are in an era of globalization, cultural differences still remain very important. In this day because of changes in technology, travel and political systems, the chance that you may regularly interact with people from different countries/cultures are very high and will probably continue to grow. Therefore we have only to gain if we learn to communicate effectively with other cultures.