InterculturalNon-verbalCommunicationFrenchgesturefor'Idon'tbelieveyou',guesswhatthisIraniangesturemeans?forme/Goodluck/screwyouScrewyouThisgestureisidenticaltotheAmerican/Englishgesturefor‘GoodLucktoyou.’Butitisanobscene(淫猥的)gesture,andanAmericantravelinginIranwouldoutragepeoplethereiftheAmericanperformedthisgesture.Wheninanothercultureorsociety,weshouldnever'mirror'agesturethatsomeonepresentstous--withoutknowingit,wecouldbedeeplyoffendingthatpersonandinvitingconflict.DrakkarNoir

Itisaveryfamousmen’sfragrancemadeinFrance.Inordertoappealadventurous,passionateandmodernmalecustomers,thecompanydesignaTVadvertisement.Sinceitguaranteedascentthatwouldberich,sophisticatedandirresistibletotheladies,thepromotioninFranceisverysuccessful.Butwiththesameads,thepromotioninMiddleEastisadisaster.

Doyouknowwhy?Becauseoftheimproprietyofthebodylanguage.Sotheyreplaceitwithawomanusingthetipofherfingertoslightlytouchaman’sarminasuit.WhydidtheadaptedversionsucceedinMiddleEast?Eachculturehasawell-definedsystemofmeaningsfordifferentformsoftouching.Somegeneralizationscanbemadewithregardstohigh-touchversuslow-touchcultures.

Americans,theEnglish,GermansandNorthernEuropeansaresaidtobelongtolow-touchcultures,exhibitingverylimitedtactilecontactinpublic.Hispanics(西班牙人),peopleofEasternEuropeandescents,Italians,theFrench,Arabs,andJewsareallsaidtobelongtohigh-touchcultures.

TheFrenchculturepermitsamutualdirectionaltouchingbetweendifferentsexeswhileinArabiancultures,themalefollowamuchhigherpatterntothefemale,thanthefemaledotothemale.TheadsinFranceisquite“high”andisfromthefemaletothemale.ButforArabia,itistoomuch.Itinvitesthatthefemaleisbehavingindecently,whichcanaffectthemale’simage.Sotouchingisreducedandneutralized.Itimpliesthemanisirresistiblethattheladycan’thelpgettingclosetohiminspiteofherawarenessoftheculturalrule.TouchingJourardsatincoffeeshopsinfourdifferentcities.Wheneverhesawpeopletouch,herecordedthetouch.Hisrecordsareasfollowed:@Sainthorn(PortoRico):180@Paris:102@Gynswere(Florida):2@London:0 1.NonverbalCommunicationNonverbalcodesrefertocommunicativemessageswhicharenotinwordform.Morethan55%messagesarecommunicatednonverbally!Definition:(1)“munication(beyondtheusualcommmunication),paralinguistics,second-ordermessages,thesilentlanguage,andthehiddendimensionofcommunication.”(Hall,1959)Definition:(2)Nonverbalcommunicationinvolvesallnonverbalstimuliinacommunicationsettingthatisgeneratedbyboththesourceandhisorheruseoftheenvironmentandthathaspotentialmessagevalueforthesourceorreceiver.(SamovarandPorter,2004)DefinitioninChinese非言語交際包括在交際中認為的和環境產生的對于傳播者或受傳者含有潛在信息的所有的刺激，簡單地說就是“不用語言的交際”，被稱作”無聲的語言“。OverviewofNonverbalCommunicationBodyLanguageGeneralappearanceanddressGesturesEyecontactFacialexpressionPostureTouching2.ParalanguageSilencePitchVolumeEnvironmentLanguageSpaceTime畢繼萬（1995）體態語（bodylanguage，包括各種表情、動作、姿態）副語言（paralanguage，包括沉默與非語義聲音）客體語（objectlanguage，包括皮膚顏色、氣味、衣著化妝、家具等）環境語言（environmentallanguage，包括時間，空間、顏色、城市規劃以及人對自然的影響等，即影響生理與心理的環境因素）。

1.1BodyLanguageBodylanguagereferstoallnonverbalcodeswhichareassociatedwithbodymovements.Bodylanguageincludesgestures,headmovements,facialexpressions,eyebehaviors,posturesandotherdisplaysthatcanbeusedtocommunicate.(1)GeneralAppearanceandDressConcernwithhowoneappearsisuniversal.Wemakeinferences(oftenfaulty)aboutanother’s“intelligence,gender,age,approachability,financialwell-being,class,tastes,values,andculturalbackground”fromattractiveness,dress,andpersonalartifacts.Doyouselectattractivefriendsoverlessattractiveones?(2)GesturesDoyouknowwhatthefollowinggesturesmeans?Number1isusedtogetherwiththeverbalmessage“Let’skeepourfingerscrossed”intheUnitedStates,England,andSwedentomeanthatthepersonishopingforgoodluck.ButinGreeceandTurkeyitmeansthebreakingofafriendship,andinpartsofItalyitmeans“O.K.”.

Number2isnormallyusedwhentalkingprivatelyaboutathirdperson,meaningthatpersoniscrazy,ofteninajokingway.Number3indicates“Ihavenoidea.”/“Idon’tknow.”ThegestureinPicture4meansthat“Ican’t/didn’thearyou.”Number5means“That’senough.It’salloverforme.”InPicture6the“thumbsdown”signindicates“rejection”or“refusal”,“defeat”or“nogood”or“badnews”toAmericans.“Somethingisabitsuspicious/oddhere.”“Comehere.”Number9iswidelyusedintheUStomean“Great,perfect,acceptable,O.K.”ButisBelgiumandFrance,itmeans“zero”;inTurkey,Brazil,Greece,andMalta（馬耳他）,ithasanobscenemeaning;andinTunisia（突尼斯）,itisusedasathreat.Number10isusedinItalytosay“Hello.”ForIndonesians,Malaysians,andsomespeakersofArabic,itsignals“Comehere.”Number11means“Oh,Iforgot.”oranexpressionofsurprise.ThegestureinNumber12means“Slowdown,relaxorwaitasecond.”Number13isusedtoshowthatsomeoneisachampionorawinner,usuallyinsports.Thisgesturecausedaseriousinternationalmisunderstandingin1959.NikitaKhrushchev,theSovietleader,wasvisitingtheUSandusedthisgesture,whichmeansfriendshipinRussia.Americannewspapersprinteditonpageone.AndtheAmericanpeopleunderstoodittomeantheopposite:thattheSovietUnionwoulddefeattheUS.Picture14isoneofthefewgestureswhichseemstobeusedonlyintheUS,andmanypeoplefeelitisnotascommonasitoncewas.Thisgestureismadebymovingoneindexfingeragainsttheother.Itisusuallyusedwithchildren.Oradultsdoitasajoke.Itmeans“Youdidsomethingbad;shameonyou.”Finger(1)IntheUnitedStates,theindexfingerisusedtopointtoobjectsandevenatpeople.GermanspointwiththelittlefingerJapanesepointwiththeentirehand,palmsupInmuchofAsia,pointingwiththeindexfingerisconsideredrude

Finger(2)英語國家的人有不少‘手語’，其一就是crossone'sfingers或keepone'sfingerscrossed。Crossone'sfingers.即把中指放在食指上，作有點像十字架的交叉狀。十字架在西方代表上帝，所以crossone'sfingers有‘祝福’、‘祈求好運’的意思，例如：Iamcrossingmyfingersthatnothinguntowardwillhappentohim.（我祈求不幸的事不會降臨他身上）。Keepyourfingerscrossedforhim.即‘為他祝福吧’。留意crossyourfingers是說的多，確實做這手勢的少。

Finger(3)說到手指，不能不談談‘伸出中指’這個下流手勢，英文叫做givesomeonethefinger，例如：Thepresidentialcandidateappearedquiteunperturbedwhenafewintheaudiencegavehimthefinger.（聽眾席上有些人向總統候選人伸出中指，但他若無其事）。要說得幽默一點，把gavehimthefinger改為gavehimone-fingersalutes（一只手指的敬禮）也無不可。Thumb此外還有thumbsup（拇指向上）、thumbsdown（拇指向下）的手勢。古羅馬斗士戰敗，觀眾做出拇指朝上手勢，是說‘可以饒他性命’；做出拇指朝下手勢，則是說‘殺卻’。今天，thumbsup常用來表示嘉許或接受，thumbsdown則表示不滿或反對，例如：Theauthoritieshavegiventhethumbsup./thumbsdownonourplan.（當局接受/否決了我們的計劃）。

FacialexpressionLookatthefollowingpictures,trytotellwhois…1.Themostkind-hearted?2.Themostartistic?3.Themostsmart?PostureAmanandawomanmetonthetrainplatform.

Willthewomanaccepttheman’sgreetingfriendly?Shewon’t!Man:“halfsmile”expressionarelaxedposition“snap”gesturebodyorientationWoman:“frowning”expression“chinup”facialposition“backing”postureLegstogetherFeetpointinginwardsYoudon’tjust“

read”others’bodylanguage;Youobserve,analyzeandinterpretbeforeyoudecidethepossiblemeaning!Matchthefollowingdescriptionswiththebehaviors:Thepersonisveryrelaxed,buthe/sheisreadytomoveatanytime.Thepersonisindeepthinking.He/shethinksthatmaybeagoodideaandisreadytomoveafterthethinking.Thepersonisverygladtoseetheother.Actuallyhe/shethinksthatpersonisimportant.Thepersonisveryconfident.He/shethinkshe/sheismoreimportantthantheother.Thepersonhasmadeuphis/hermind.He/sheisveryangry,buttriestocontrolhim-/her-self.Thepersondeterminestocontrolhis/herfeelings,tryingtocalmdown.Thepersonpresentshim-/her-selfasanimportantman.Buthe/shetriestobe