d voice quality communicate 38 percent, and nonverbal cues transmit a whopping 55 percent. That means people pick up more from nonverbal communication than from the words a person says. When studying abut a foreign culture, then, it just make s sense to pay attention to how people use nonverbal cues.
Gestures comprise a major form of nonverbal communication. In contrast to sing language, used by deaf people to communicate elaborate messages, gestures function as visual icons which represent a single idea. But often these gestures are embarrassingly culture bound. For example, when the Maoris of New Zealand stick out their tongue at someone, it is a sing of respect. When American schoolchildren make the same gesture, it means just the opposite. Also, American s often indicate \"OK\" with their thumb and forefinger touching to form a circle. The same gesture means \"money' to the Japanese, \"Zero\" to the French and a vulgarity to Brazilians. For that reason, people in a foreign culture must use gestures with caution.
Another cultural aspect of nonverbal communication is on e that you might not think about: space. Every person perceives himself to have a sort of invisible shield surrounding his physical body. When some comes too close, he feel uncomfortable. When he bumps onto someone, he feels obligated to apologize. But the size of a person's \"comfort zone\", depending on his cultural ethnic origin. For example, in casual conversation, many Americans stand abut four feet apart. In other words, they like to keep each other\" at arm's length,\" people in Latin or Arab cultures, in contrast, stand very close to each other, and tough each other often. If someone from one of those cultures stands too close to an American while in conversation, the American may feel uncomfortable and back away.
os saerehW .tcatnoc eye doog gniniatniam dna yletilop gnilims ,gniddon ,sworbeye rieht gnisiar yb noitasrevnoc a ni ssenevitnetta rieht etacidni osla snaciremA .noicipsus htiw nopu dekool era ,noisserpxe napdaed a yb neddih era snoitome esohw "\,ecaf rekop"\ a htiw elpoeP .ssendas ro kcohs ,tsugsid ro tnemeticxe fo snoisserpxe gniyalpsid yb ezihtapme stsilanoitasrevnoc etilop ,snaciremA oT .gniyas era yeht tahw ot dnopser ot srehto tcepxe yeht k gniklat era snaciremA nehW
