the analysis of similarities and differences in body language between china and the western world摘要自從語言產生以來，語言交際便在人類交際中扮演主要角色，但并非是交際的唯一手段。身勢語是非語言交際的重要組成部分，并和文化緊密聯系在一起，它在人類交際中起著不可忽略的作用。在跨文化交際中它幫助人們傳情達意，突破語言障礙，促進交流。我們必須承認世界各國的身勢語與語言文化一樣，也有相似之處。然而由于地域、種族和文化習俗的差異，不同文化的身勢語有許多差異，它們由文化制約，并擁有獨特的文化內涵。作者在借鑒前人成果的基礎上分析了中西方身勢語的文化差異與共性,揭示中西方民族性格方面的差異，并提出交際中遵循的原則，從而促進有效交際，避免誤解。關鍵詞：身勢語; 文化差異; 中西方abstractlanguage plays an important role as a means of communication, furthermore it is a part of nonverbal communication and connected with culture. it takes an important role to help people transfer information for better communication, which will be an indispensable power breaking up language obstacles in intercultural communication. we need to realize that body language, like verbal communication and culture, has many similarities all over the world. however, body languages vary due to different regions, race and cultural customs. and it is restricted by different cultural connotations. in this essay, the author analyzes the similarities and differences of body language between china and the western world and explains the differences in different national traits, then puts forward some principles to reduce communicative barriers and achieve better understanding.key words: body language; cultural similarities and differences; china and the western worldtable of contents acknowledgementsiiabstract in chineseiiiabstract in englishivtable of contentsvchapter 1.1introduction11.1 definition of body language11.2 sorts of body language11.3 the relation between body language and culture21.4 the importance of body language3chapter 2.4literature review4chapter 3.5analysis53.1 the similarities of body language and their cause53.1.1 the similarities of body language53.1.2 the cause resulting in the similarities of body language53.2 the differences of body language between china and the western world and their cause53.2.1 the reasons for difference of body language between the west and china63.2.2 the same body language with different understanding73.2.3 different body languages with similar connotation113.2.4 body language in one culture without equivalent in the other cultures113.3 the principles of reducing barriers in communication14chapter 4.16conclusion16bibliography17chapter 1. introductionin modern society, most countries communicate with each other frequently. at the same time, people speaking different languages have different cultural backgrounds, ways of living, religions and values, which take intervene to the communication.people can communicate with each other through not only verbal communication, but also nonverbal communication. when they talk with each other, there always accompany with some gestures and postures and so on, which we call body language, but also can help us get out of the misunderstanding zone in intercultural communication. we must firstly understand the specific meaning under their backgrounds of culture, and then can we understand the meaning of body language under different cultural backgrounds.1.1 definition of body languagebody language is the process of communicating what you are feeling or thinking by the way you place and move your body rather than by words. (oxford advanced learners english-chinese dictionary, 2007)1.2 sorts of body languagesome body languages are not only innate but also unconscious. a baby can cry when it is born. it can suck its fingers when it is hungry. when we are excited, our pupils will enlarge distinctively. our eyebrows will move rapidly when we greet. and we will frown when we are unsatisfied. acquired body language is greatly affected by social environment and accepted through common practice. it often becomes a distinctive culture. every country, every nation, and every region has its own historical and cultural background, so the body language is quite different. for example, americans like to shrug when they have no idea about something, but chinese dont. we can control body language and we can do some postures consciously. for example, if a public speaker is fiddling with a pencil or with his glasses all the time while he is talking, it is quite clear that he is nervous, but some experienced speech makers will pretend well and show confidence.and also body language can be divided into sight language, body-touching language, posture, gesture, manner, facial expression, flavor language, proxemics and clothe language.1.3 the relation between body language and culture like verbal, body language is also a part of culture, which has great influence on body language. the same body language also has great difference in different cultural backgrounds, so we should understand the important relation between body language and culture, because both body language and culture are passed from one generation to the next, which are the convention of particular society formed for years. body language and culture are inseparable. the forming of body language is decided by a certain culture background, and the relationship between them is close and complicated. it is restricted by its culture and has different cultural connotations. people can know and understand the culture values and exclude the narrow feeling of cultural superiority by studying body language, and at the same time, they can guess peoples gesture or body language by knowing their cultures.the most difficult and meaningful thing of studying body language is to solve the culture conflicts. people always pay more attention and show more sensibility to the other nations body language than to their own. the misuse of body language can take more serious conflicts than culture can take, and if the speaker speak other nations language frequently, but use improper body language, which means they take more serious mistakes, because body language stands for motion expression.1.4 the importance of body languagean investigation into functions of the verbal and nonverbal communications shows: 35% information is transferred by language; the other 65% are by nonverbal patterns. the famous psychologist albert mebrain has ever advanced a formula: emotion expression=7% language +38% voice +55% expression behavior, which also illustrates the important role of body language in interpersonal.at beginning, human ancestors relied on all sorts of gestures and postures for mutual coordination, so body language is actually the most primitive instrument of communication.body language has many functions on the human beings communication. firstly, to accompany. it means that people do the related behaviors while speaking, which are to illustrate and emphasize the meaning the speaker likes to express and reflect some kinds of psychological state. secondly, to symbol. the symbolic gesture is usually a common etiquette, which is established by the popular usage. thirdly, to reveal the feeling. in fact, psychologists state that the expressions of human beings can be revealed on the behavior absolutely and unconsciously, because the inner spirit state can spot the weak point on the behavior no matter what he conceals consciously.chapter 2. literature reviewafter borrowing and learning the experience of nonverbal communication, the book of tells, body language-how to read others thoughts by their gestures, 中西方文化比較 ,肢體語言的心理秘密, 文化與人格, its easy to find that body languages have different meanings between china and the western world as well as similarities.many authors divided body language into a broad sense and a narrow sense. in peter colletts the book of tells, he said, broadly speaking, there are two types of body language: quality, like height or weight; action ,like smile and hold arms or unconsciously say some words, which reveal ones intention. most authors, like in zhou zengwens the secret of body language, talked about body language from the narrow sense. that is eye contact, facial expression, body touches, postures, gestures, physical distance, manners and clothes.after reading some books and articles, the differences can be found. first, because that chinese advocate reunification and cooperation, chinese dont pay much attention to body distance .for example, we always see two girls hand-in-hand. on the contrary, westerners emphasize individualism and freedom, so that they require personal space. second, chinese are conservative and indirect so that they contain much but reveal little. however, westerners are direct and open, and they like to express themselves without any concealing.those studies told us that body language takes an important role to help people communicate and has different meanings in china and western countries. and they gave many contrastive body languages, which will be good for further study in this area and for successful intercultural communication.in the latter study, the focus should be a profound study of some typical body languages differences, reasons and the reflection of peoples characteristics, national spirits and cultural traditions.chapter 3.analysis3.1 the similarities of body language and their cause3.1.1 the similarities of body languagealthough the cultural difference is the important feature for body language, it still can be easy to find out there are a lot of the same or similar bl between china and western countries.nodding often means agreement or greeting in most countries. shaking ones head often means disagreement or no. applauding means appreciation or agreement. if a person is hurt, he/she will cry to express pain. even some chinese and english expression and their meanings are totally same. for example, patting on the back means encouragement and appreciation. pulling a long face indicates unhappiness and danger. being all smiles means happiness and so on.3.1.2 the cause resulting in the similarities of body languagebody language is a symbol and a tool of human communication. human beings have the same ancestor, which determines the similarities of body language. nowadays, with the development of the world, people from different cultures communicate more and more often. we have more chance to exchange culture and economy. people compare the world to global village to describe the world, which means that the world becomes smaller and smaller, due more frequent communication. on the one hand, people from east world have accepted the body language from west world, such as shrugging, ok gesture, v gesture and so on. on the other hand, with the rapid development of china, body language from east world has a great influence on western world. in the communication between east and west people, many westerners have learned chinese customs and etiquettes.3.2 the differences of body language between china and the western world and their cause3.2.1 the reasons for difference of body language between the west and china(a) the difference of the traditional culturethe differences of the traditional culture lead to the different characteristics. historians considered that culture is the entire form of movement of a nation. china and western countries have their own different social soil and cultural atmosphere. they have their own history of independent development and special space, and each of them has its own distinct ethnic characteristics. body language reflects the characteristics of a nation, it not only includes the nations historical and cultural background, it also contains the attitude for life; it is a concrete manifestation of peoples lifestyle and way of thinking. chinese civilization system is accurately called “chinese cultural circle”, people call it “circle” means that it stays in an obdurate and self-sufficiency status for lengthy millennium because of the geographical factors and profound influence of confucian thought. in the inward-looking “circle”, chinese people came into being a respected family-centered culture system. looking back over history, their homes are “siheyuan”; the board is “cubic city”, and has the great wall. it fashions a family-style country, it advocates “reunification”, pursuing “cooperation”, like living together. although westerners also say: “east, west, home is best”, what they express is probably a kind of “maritime civilization” and “nomadic that is outward expansion and lateral extension, and go to the outer world is the only way for their survival and development. therefore, occidental pursue a kind of autocephaly, outward “on the road” spirit, it engenders a kind of “discrete” action mode. this cultural difference has clearly reflected in their body language between china and the west. for example, western people cant do this, if they have to sit in the narrowness space, they will use “special skills”-they will never see the people who are too closed to them and never have any brow. (b) different ethnic character traits the nation character is formed in the process of a long history of cultural development. this characteristic is like a bright brand. it makes each nation have their own characteristic and differentiation with each other. there is a huge contrast between chinese and western ethnic character traits, so their body language is also different. china is a country that has a long history, it is a country that the feudalism centralization of state power pattern and the traditional culture are most fixedness and continue the longest. it make chineses ethnic character traits careful, modest, follow crowd, continence, and think a lot of ceremony, ethic, and expression connotation and so on. in western countries because of the growth of geographical traffic, different races and social status make the westerns abound in adventure, uphold autocephaly and peace, extroversion, assuredness, candor and voluntaries. two different character traits bring on two different body languages. people from eastern world advocate modesty, tolerance, mutual-support and responsibility for the group. but western people admire independence, self-respect, free development, and requiring individual space and so on. next, we will go to the differences of body language in three points.(c) different social customsfolk-custom is a kind of special culture form, it is the sedimentation of traditional culture, and it is a kind of cultural phenomenon that goes along from generation to generation. body language and folk culture are closely correlation; it is a concrete expression of folk culture. therefore, body language has special color of different folk-custom. many of the early history of body language have been oblivion, but it doesnt prevent new generation from using these body language. they accumulate in the folk custom and were retained, but many users were not aware of these body languages source. 3.2.2 the same body language with different understanding(a) caused by traditional culturewesterners always pay much attention to personal space, and they always have a kind of instinctive common sense of self-guard, so the speakers talking with him need to keep a distance during conversation to avoid offence.anthropologist edward hall had identified four distance zones used by middle-class americans. (i) intimate zone. it ranges from zero to about 45 cm. in this zone, two intimate persons can touch each other. for example, a couple, two lovers or two members of a family can kiss and hug. (ii) casual-personal zone. it ranges from 45 cm to 80 cm. it is a distance that friends, acquaintances or relatives should keep. they should avoid touching the body. (iii) social-consultative zone. it ranges from 1.3 meters to 3 meters. in this zone, the communicators know, but not familiar with each other. (iv) public zone. the distance is 3meters and beyond. its the distance that speakers and listeners should keep when they are making speeches in public place.while in china, the concept of distance is less clear than that in the west. in general, the speaker and listeners often keep more than 46 cm. however its common to see two same-sex persons walk arm-in-arm or hold hands, which westerners regard as something that should happen between homosexual people.in western countries, common friends and acquaintances will avoid body touch. even in the elevator, body touch is not allowed. touching the other people slightly or unconsciously, people will say sorry, very sorry, excuse me in a hurry to express apology. the westerners particularly mind their private space, which often represents peoples privacy and intimacy. but chinese pay less attention to their private space. it is crowded in china because of a large population, so chinese have got used to it and they often show their understanding and tolerance.there is another example. the chinese saying goes: the eye is the window of the soul. from that we can see that eye contact is quite important in their interaction. we have found that people in western countries expect the person they are interacting with to look at them in the eye during a conversation. they see eye contact as a sign of honesty and a lack of eye contact or shifty eyes as a sign of untruthfulness, contempt, fear, indifference, guilt or absence of mind. they are told never trust anyone who wont look you in the eye. they have been used to direct eye contact and think direct eye contact is the indication of confidence and politeness, but chinese would avoid long direct eye contact during the conversation to show respect, or obedience, or politeness. especially, in the context where juniors or subordinates are conversing with seniors or superiors. at this time, the most common posture of juniors and inferior is a slump one or slouched shoulder. in the feudal society, people shouldnt see