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Masaryk University MASARYK UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE Body language and gestures across cultures Bachelor Thesis Brno 2010 Supervisor: Written by: Michael George, M.A Ondřej Korchan Announcement I declare that I wrote up this bachelor thesis on my own and I used only the sources listed in the bibliography. ………………………….. Ondřej Korchan 2 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Michael George, M.A. for his guidance during writing the thesis, his kind support, patience during consultations and valuable advice. 3 Korchan, Ondřej. Body language and gestures across cultures: bachelor thesis. Brno: Masaryk University, Faculty of Education, Department of English Language and Literature, 2010. 41 p. Supervisor: Michael George, M.A. Abstract The bachelor thesis deals with body-language as a form of non-verbal communication, gestures and differences in using gestures in different cultures. Interpretation of same gestures differs often in various parts of the world. Knowledge about the importance of body language and its potential usage in practice are included as well. Anotace Bakalářská práce se zabývá řečí těla jako formou komunikace, gestikulací a rozdíly v používání gestikulace v různých kulturách. Interpretace stejných gest se mnohdy velmi odlišuje v různých částech světa. V práci jsou rovněž zahrnuty poznatky o důležitosti řeči těla a jejich potenciální využití v praxi. Key Words Body language, non-verbal communication, spacing, handshake, O.K. , gestures, differences in cultures Klíčová slova Řeč těla, neverbální komunikace, osobní prostor, podání ruky, O.K., gesta, rozdíly v kulturách 4 Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 7 2 Body language .................................................................................................................... 8 2.1 Is our body able to speak? ............................................................................................ 8 2.2 Pretending of body language ....................................................................................... 9 2.3 Several well-known facts about human non-verbal communication ........................... 9 2.4 Nine basic signals we can read in people’s faces ...................................................... 10 2.5 Inter-cultural differences in interpretation and explanation of smile ......................... 11 2.6 Personal territory ........................................................................................................ 12 2.7 Spacing ....................................................................................................................... 12 2.8 Cultural factors that influence areal spacing .............................................................. 13 2.9 Spacing in city and at the countryside ....................................................................... 14 3 The most popular gestures ................................................................................................ 16 3.1 Basis of gestures and their origin ............................................................................... 16 3.2 Shrug .......................................................................................................................... 16 3.3 Circle of fingers, alias O.K. ....................................................................................... 16 3.4 Thumbs up ................................................................................................................. 17 3.5 “V” for victory ........................................................................................................... 18 3.6 Handshake .................................................................................................................. 18 3.7 Dominant x submisive handshake ............................................................................. 18 4 Practical part, country-by country listing ......................................................................... 20 4.1 Non-verbal communication in lessons ....................................................................... 20 4.2 How can we learn to understand body language ....................................................... 21 4.3 Are you sensible to body language? (self-evaluating test) ........................................ 21 4.4 Body language and gestures – concrete criteria that are significant for certain countries ................................................................................................................................ 23 4.4.1 North America .................................................................................................... 23 4.4.2 South and Central America ................................................................................ 25 4.4.3 Middle East ......................................................................................................... 27 4.4.4 Africa .................................................................................................................. 29 4.4.5 Asia and The Pacific Islands .............................................................................. 31 4.4.6 Europe ................................................................................................................. 34 5 5 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 38 6 Works Cited ...................................................................................................................... 39 6 1 INTRODUCTION This thesis deals with the most important aspects that are helpful for our understanding another people from their gestures, mimics and body language. It is important for future teachers to be aware of this topic and not to forget that except for the things that are said in front of an audience, the enormous part of impression creates how the speaker moves, looks, what the whole body does during a presentation. In the theoretical part the most often used body language is described and its connection with thoughts and unconscious. Nine basic signals as identifiers of speaker’s feelings are described in this chapter as well. The next important rule we should follow is spacing, since if we stand too close or too far from the person we communicate with, it could make the addressee feel bad. Another part of thesis are world-wide used gestures (such as thumbs up, ok sign, handshake etc.), their origin and differences in meaning of the same gestures in various countries. Although these gestures are used in the entire world, in every-day situations, most people have never thought about these gestures’ origin, reasons why are they so popular, which famous people used these gestures for the first time and made them so popular. The last chapter deals with how the body language could be taught in lessons, self-evaluating test of people’s ability to perceive body language and concrete examples of how continental, as well as national, influences have changed the meanings of common gestures. There are also described frequent body movement, known to various country, some tips of gestures and situations we should avoid in order not to look like a stranger, rude, or uneducated person. 7 2 BODY LANGUAGE 2.1 Is our body able to speak? Body language is said to be much more honest than words. And it is a fact, anthropologist Albert Mehrabian writes that just seven percent of the information we get during a conversation is gained from words while thirty eight percent is gained from tone of voice. Other sense, such as smell and touch take a part at this process as well (Thiel, 8). It is also declared, that on average we do not speak longer than twelve minutes in a day and the average duration of a sentence is no longer than 2,5 seconds. According to Birdwhistell it means, that almost 65 percent of the information we get from speaking is not gained from words (Thiel, 9). The information, that we gain from verbal communication are just brief facts, whereas non- verbal communication is what we get and what is supposed to create a picture into our soul, which means attitudes, dispositions, real feelings. Experts in body language are able to recognize what kind of movement a speaking person will do if they listen to his/her tone of voice. Our hands, arms, shoulders and legs do not express any less than our tongue. Similarly to multiple-meanings words, also our gestures might have more meanings. Significant meaning is what gestures get only in connection with another gestures and aspects of body language in particular situation, which is the same as multiple-meanings words compared to single- meanings words. Body language as such has its own grammar and punctuation. Every gesture has the same value as a single word. Although it seems to be rather difficult, body language is a matter of instinct Observation of children who are born blind, who have never seen gestures, proves that there are two ways of gestures: born and learned (Thiel, 9) The entire life is based on communication, therefore is it very important for us to learn to express ourselves as accurate as possible. Only in case we are able to express our opinions, attitudes and requests can we expect we will reach the goals we have specified before. 8 2.2 Pretending of body language If we deal with body language, we should know the answer to one basic question. Is it possible
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