blog 3

The same type of nonverbal communication may represent total different meaning in different culture. Just take the following parts to supprot my opinion.





We Chinese , in my opinion ,seldon use gesture during the daily talks.I mean, if we begin to talk,we just talking. But we have the gestures represent"You can leave","I don't agree",etc. When I was searching Internet ,it said that "hunching shoulders"stands for "I can't do that"or"I have no idea about that"in American culture.This action means"Nothing special","Just so-so" in my culture.What a great difference that the same action stands for completely different meanings. So it is very hard for a foreigner to talk to a native speaker using gestures.Take my story for example. Last night,when I was helping my roommate with his math homework, I showed the solution in gesture that I have used for almost 20 years in China.Surprisingly, my roomate asked"What's that mean?"At that very moment, I realized that this is not a international gesture, and this geature is quite a strange thing for Americans to understand.After teaching my roommate roomate the geatures of ten numbers,he told me that some of then are not means number.Truely,different culture brings different meanings to gesture.





Secondly, about the eye contact.My mom always told me to look at people's eyes when they are talking to you, that is a basic way to show your respect.However,I can count the times that I followed her words. I just cannot bear the feeling that somebody is staring at me.But , this is real essential when you are talking to others.There is a saying in China "Eyes are the windows of heart".Eyes can easily show the emotion though you don't want to express it.That is the other reason why do not follow my mom's words.



Finally, about the so-called"air walls".I agree with the author.We stand closer to family members than to others,closer to friends than to strangers.This may be the same idea in my culture and American culture.The diatance can be shrunk by knowing each other better.



Above all ,I think we should pay attention to the aspects that have been mentioned to avoid some embarrassing situations.