Did it ever cross your mind that a gesture you made toward another person might have offended that person and/or been misconstrued? Gestures are a form of “Nonverbal” communication. Nonverbal communication is defined as being other than verbal; not involving words. Every culture uses different kinds of nonverbal communication. Each of the nonverbal signs that cultures use also means something different to other cultures. Nonverbal communication is known as the basic form of communication. It is a learned behavior, but it is not taught. In every culture there are different nonverbal communication cues. Here are three different ones including our own.


In Japan, gestures mean something very different to any other culture. Like any other culture that you might visit you should always learn the culture first. The most common nonverbal cue is bowing. In Japan, this means respect. In Japan it is said that when offered food you should refuse it twice and then accept it the third time. A Japanese gesture for someone to come to you it is to put your palm down and scratch, but in the American culture you put your palm up and wave it. This is just one example of when one gesture can mean two different things. When a person is angry, a person will put their hands above the back of their own head almost symbolizing “rabbit” ears. To another culture though angry might not look like this and this gesture might mean something insulting.


Even though the Chinese culture does use nonverbal communication, they have become more reserved or they are less expressive with their gestures. Because China is such a large country, they have so many different gestures that they use for nonverbal communication. The Chinese have "Dead Gestures," which are the gestures that they used a long time ago. A common gesture in China is when they put their whole hand to their mouth saying that they are satisfied. In both China and Japan, hugging another person as a gesture of kindness and/or love is not the norm. In Korea, men and women hugging is almost considered a taboo if the two are not lovers…interesting…huh?


Most of us know the American nonverbal communication cues because we have used them our entire lives. Our nonverbal communication skills are very unique to us and mean many different things in other cultures. A very common gesture though is the hand shake. This can be a very informal or formal gesture. Another common gesture is the thumbs up meaning things are good. An obscene gesture that we use is the middle finger and so on. It is important for us to remain open to people from different cultures and not to judge a person to quickly based on these cues. In such a wonderful country that we live in, we must remember to remain open to different cultures, yet have the courage to question and challenge the status quo and refuse to accept “traditional” thinking and answers as “fact”—no matter which culture they derive from…
 

have the courage to question & challenge the status quo... refuse to accept "traditional" thinking and answers as fact....
~Kimlee