Different Aspects of Intercultural Nonverbal Communication: a Study
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CPUH-Research Journal: 2016, 1(1), 17-24 ISSN (Online): 2455-6076 http://www.cpuh.in/academics/academic_journals.php Different Aspects of Intercultural Nonverbal Communication: A Study Saurabh Kaushal 1School of Humanities & Management Sciences, Career Point University, Hamirpur (HP) INDIA E-mail: [email protected] (Received 05 July, 2015; Accepted 18 July, 2015; Published 03 Mar, 2016) ABSTRACT: Communication is a dynamic and wide process with its ever changing roles of sending and receiving information, ideas, emotions and the working of mind. Communication is not only a word but a term in itself with multiple interpretations. Out of a number of forms, there are two very important kinds of communication, verbal and non-verbal and the relation between them is inseparable. Non-verbal communication keeps the major portion of the periphery occupied and in absence of it communication can never happen. In the era of caveman, just using nonverbal communication could help to understand the other person, but in the complex society of today both ver- bal and non-verbal forms of communication are needed to fully understand each other. We start taking lessons in nonverbal communication from the very starting of our life from parents and the society in which we are surviving. There is a very common perception among people that for understanding any oral message we have to concentrate and subsequently be able to understand the nonverbal elements, but in reality nonverbal communication is not as easy to understand as it seems to be. Often it is misinterpreted and because of that wrong message is understood by the receiver. Another widely accepted fact states that by focusing upon the body language of a person we can predict how he/she feels about any situation. But all that varies from context to context, from culture to culture. Studies in the field of nonverbal communication have well illustrated the fact. Since nonverbal behavior arises from our cul- tural common sense, we use different systems of understanding gestures, postures, and silence, emotional expres- sions, touch, physical appearance, and other nonverbal cues including personality. This paper focuses mostly upon the basic understanding required to be taken into consideration while understanding non verbal elements along with verbal elements in different cultural settings. Keywords: Intercultural Communication; NVC in Politics; Factors affecting Cross-Cultural Communication; NVC in Gen- der. INTRODUCTION: Nonverbal communication refers haviours such as body movements and positions. to all that stimuli which takes place between people Applbaum et al. (1979) describe the role of nonverbal communicating with each other both intentionally and communication as the major resources of meaning unintentionally. In an intercultural setting, successful people obtain in communication. This view is also interaction depends not only upon the understanding supported by Mcneill (2000), who argues that nonver- of verbal message but also equally on nonverbal as- bal communication plays an indispensable role in the pects as well. One of the varied characteristics of non- process of face-to-face interaction. verbal communication is that it is less systematic than With the development of globalization, intercultural the verbal communication; it is culture-bound and communication has become more frequent and more indistinct. significant than ever before (Wang, 2007). As an in- Nonverbal communication is defined in many ways. ternational language, English has played an important According to Burgoon, Buller, and Woodall (1989), role in facilitating the communication between people nonverbal communication is the unspoken dialogue with different cultural backgrounds. It seems that in- which involves the messages conveyed beyond the tercultural communication will be successful, as long words. Similarly, DePaulo and Friedman (1998) write as the speaker has achieved high proficiency in the that "nonverbal communication is the dynamic, most- language, namely English. However, it is indicated in ly face-to-face exchange of information through cues many studies that the failure or misunderstandings in other than words". Knapp and Hall (2006) specify the intercultural communication are largely caused by the three major components of nonverbal communication, misinterpretation or misuse of nonverbal behaviours the communication environment, the communicators’ (Arasaratnam & Banerjee, 2007; Ma, 1996). It is, paralinguistic characteristics and the nonverbal be- therefore, important to raise the awareness of the non- 17 [(CPUH-Research Journal: 2016, 1(1), 17-24) Different Aspects of Intercultural Nonverbal Communication: A S….] verbal communication in the process of intercultural around them. It also involves understanding the dif- communication. ferent cultures, languages and customs of people from other countries. Intercultural communication plays a There is well known saying, “actions speak louder very significant role in social sciences such as anthro- than words.” This statement further reinforces the pology, cultural studies, linguistics, psychology and significance of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication skills. communication is very significant and noteworthy in intercultural situations and its importance in our glob- Now as a fact, widespread population migrations have al society is quite evident. In our human relations, changed the demographics of several nations and new two-third of the communication taken place through cultural identities and communities have been born. nonverbal means. Because of the stated fact, the All civilization depends upon each other for different chances of misunderstanding and disagreement re- reasons. Therefore, the better our intercultural com- garding nonverbal communication are high due to munication skills, the easier it will be for us to take cultural differences because every culture differs from and mark our place in international global society. other. Therefore, successful interactions in such situa- Typically more interest is always focused on verbal tion depend largely upon a clear understanding of communication rather than nonverbal communication. nonverbal messages along with the verbal ones. Unfortunately, as a result people make great efforts to Nonverbal communication is one of the key aspects of improvise their vocabulary but neglect nonverbal communication. It includes function, such as repeat- communication cues. Therefore, it is important to ing, complementing, and contradicting a verbal mes- raise responsiveness of the nonverbal communication sage. For example, if a person is saying no to anything in the process of intercultural communication. This and is nodding his head as yes, so in that situation the paper deals with some of the means of nonverbal verbal message is not matching with nonverbal one. communication and ways of understanding and re- As a result, the other person listening will be confused solving the cultural disagreements and difficulties. because there is no coordination between verbal and The main purpose of my study is to examine the role nonverbal means. Apart from this, it also governs our of nonverbal behavior in the context of intercultural social and professional relations, such as nonverbal communication. In particular, the study further identi- cues conveying when we should speak and when we fies the importance of understanding and using non- should remain silent. Finally, it can even amend a verbal behaviour when living in an English-speaking verbal message through mimics, gestures and facial country. expressions, particularly when people do not share the Today the world doesn’t look that big and huge as it same language. seemed to be in the past. According to Y. Wang, peo- Nonverbal communication is hugely important in our ple are forced to live in this global world. With the any kind of social or professional interaction because increase of globalization, intercultural communication people tend to look for nonverbal cues when the ver- has become more significant than ever before. (Wang bal messages are unclear or ambiguous (especially Y., 2007). when different languages are being used). “Since non- verbal behavior arises from our cultural common The term ‘intercultural communication’ was first used sense, we use different systems of understanding ges- by Edward T Hall in his famous book, The Silent Lan- tures, postures, and silence, emotional expressions, guage. Hall has been universally recognized and touch, physical appearance, and other nonverbal acknowledged as the founder and initiator in the realm cues.” (LeBaron, 2003). of intercultural communication. The Silent Language has placed a serious emphasis on “nonverbal” com- Intercultural Communication: Human beings draw munication, and a significant contribution of the book close to one another by their common nature but hab- was its discussion of unseen aspects of human com- its and customs keep them apart. (Confucius) munication, namely proxemics (how space affects Intercultural communication is a form communication communication) and chronemics (how time affects that aims to share information across different cultures communication). and social groups. It is used to describe the wide range of communication processes and problems that natu- Now frequent researches in the field of nonverbal rally appear within an organization made up of indi- communication have swiftly increased over the last viduals from different religious, social, ethnic,