Blog assignment 3 Cultural differences in nonverbal communication

Blog assignment 3


Cultural differences in nonverbal communication

Every culture has a series of hand signals and facial expressions uniquely. American use more gestures,eye contact and body language when they express their thoughts. Their talks are enriched by facial expression. On the contrary, Chinese do not use so much nonverbal communications when they communicate with the others. They prefer to keep their hands and heads in original position instead of waving their hands or nodding.

I was startled, when I first time saw there were two American guys do friendly punch. I was afraid they would fight. However, to my surprise, they just wanted to show their friendship was so strong as before. In China, if you touch someone's body, it is easy for the guy who be touched get angry. Another good example is keep fingers crossed. On the orientation day, a girl showed this to me. I was so confusing about that! What is the meaning of that gesture? I did not use it in the past when I was in China. Luckily, I have totally understand it which shows a best wishs.

Certainly, we also have similarities in nonverbal communication between China and America. Here are the examples. The "Thumb up" indicate you are satisfied to something or someone. There is no misunderstanding on the "thumb up" in both China and America.

Although there are so many different nonverbal communication between China and America, the differences encourage me to learn more knowledge about America culture!