Your Actions Speak Louder
A Peace Corps staff member is hurriedly called to a town in Ethiopia to deal with reports that one of the volunteers is treating Ethiopians like dogs. What could the volunteer be doing to communicate that？
A volunteer in Nigeria has great trouble getting any discipline in his class， and it is known that the students have no respect for him becau he has shown no lf—respect. How has he shown that?
Neither volunteer offended his hosts with words. But both of them were unaware of what they had communicated through their nonverbal behavior.
In the first ca, the volunteer working at a health center would go into the waiting room and call for the next patient。 She did this as she would in America － by pointing with her finger to the next patient and beckoning him to come。 Acceptable in the States, but in Ethiopia her pointing gesture is for children and her beckoning signal is for dogs。 In Ethiopia one points to a person by extending the arm and hand and beckons by holding the hand out, palm down， and closing it repeatedly. growth
In the cond ca, the volunteer insisted that students look him in the eye to show attentiveness， in a country where prolonged eye contact is considered disrespectful。
barber是什么意思 While the most innocent American—English gesture may have insulting， embarrassing, or at least confusing connotations in another culture， the conver is also true。 If foreign visitors were to bang on the table and hiss at the waiter for rvice in a New York restaurant， they would be fortunate if they were only thrown out. Americans might find foreign students overly polite if they bow。
考研作文万能模板吴莫愁 price tag It ems easier to accept the arbitrariness of language － that dog is chien in French or aja in Yoruba － than the differences in the emotionally laden behavior of nonverbal communication， which in many ways is just as arbitrary as language.
We assume that our way of talking and gesturing is "natural” and that tho who do things differently are somehow playing with nature. This assumption leads to a blindness about intercultural behavior。 And individuals are likely to remain blind and unaware of what they are communicating nonverbally, becau the hosts will ldom tell them that they have committed a social blunder. It is true to tell people they are rude; thus the hosts
grant visitors a ”foreigner’s licen，" allowing them to make mistakes of social etiquette， and they never know until too late which ones prove disastrous.
An additional handicap is that the visitors have not entered the new tting as free agents, able to detect and adopt new ways of communicating without words。 They are prisoners of their own culture and interact within their own framework. Yet the fact remains that for maximum understanding the visitor using the words of another language also must learn to u the tools of nonverbal communication of that culture。
Nonverbal communication － teaching it and measuring effect － is more difficult than formal language instruction。 But now that language has achieved its proper recognition as being esntial for success， the area of nonverbal behavior should be taught to people who will live in another country in a systematic way, giving them actual experiences， awareness， nsitivity。 Indeed， it is the ri in linguistic fluency which now makes nonverbal fluency even more critical. A linguistically fluent visitor may tend to offend even more than tho who don't speak as well if that visitor shows ignorance about interface etiquette; the national may perceive this disparity between linguistic and n
alex watson
onlinguistic performance as a disregard for the more subtle aspects of intercultural communication. Becau nonverbal cues reflect emotional states, both visitor and host national might not be able to articulate what's going on. 搅和的读音
While it would be difficult to map out all the nonverbal details for every language that Peace Corps teaches, one can hope to make visitors aware of the existence and emotional importance of nonverbal channels。 I have identified five such channels: kinesic, proxemic, chronemic， oculesic, and haptic。
Kinesics － movement of the body (head, arms, legs， etc。）。 The initial example from the health center in Ethiopia was a problem caud by a kinesic sign being ud which had different meanings cross—culturally. Another example, the American gesture of slitting one’s throat implying "I've had it" or "I'm in trouble，” conveys quite a different message in Switzerland. It means "I love you。"panty
Americans make no distinction between gesturing for silence to an adult or to a child。 An American will put one finger to the lips for both， while an Ethiopian will u one finger to a child and four fingers for an adult。 To u only one finger for an adult is disres
pectful. On the other hand, Ethiopians make no distinction in gesturing to indicate emphatic negation. They shake their index finger from side to side to an adult as well as to a child, whereas this gesture is ud only for children by Americans. Thus, if visitors are not conscious of the meaning of such behavior, they not only will offend their hosts but they will be offended by them。
Drawing in the cheeks and holding the arms rigidly by the side of the body means ”thin" in Amharic。 Diet—conscious Americans feel complimented if they are told that they are slim and so may naturally assume that to tell an Ethiopian friend this is also complimentary. Yet in Ethiopia and a number of other countries, this is taken pejoratively, as it is thought better to be heavy-t， indicating health and status and enough wealth to ensure the two.
Proxemics － the u of interpersonal space。 South Americans， Greeks， and others find comfort in standing， sitting, or talking to people at a distance which Americans find intolerably clo. We give their unusual cloness the social interpretation of aggressiveness and intimacy, causing us to have feelings of hostility, discomfort， or in
timidation。 If we back away to our greater distance of comfort， we are perceived as being cold， unfriendly， and distrustful. Somalis would e us as we e South Americans, since their interface distance is greater still than ours.
we can work it outChronemics － the timing of verbal exchanges during conversation。 As Americans， we expect our partner to respond to our statement immediately。 In some other cultures, people time their exchanges to leave silence between each statement。 For Americans this silence is unttling. To us it may mean that the person is shy， inattentive, bored， or nervous。 It caus us to repeat， paraphra, talk louder, and ”correct” our speech to accommodate our partner. In the intercultural situation, it might be best for the visitor to tolerate the silence and wait for a respon.
Oculesics － eye—to-eye contact or avoidance。 Americans are dependent upon eye contact as a sign of listening behavior。 We do not feel that there is human contact without eye contact。 In many countries there are elaborate patterns of eye avoidance which we regard as inappropriate。
Haptics － the tactile form of communication。 Where， how， and how often people
can touch each other while conversing are culturally defined patterns. We need not go beyond the borders of our own country to e groups (Italians and black Americans， for example） which touch each other more often than Anglo—Americans do. Overas, Americans often feel crowded and pushed around by people who have much higher toleration for public physical contact and even need it as part of their communication process。 A visitor may feel embarrasd when a host national friend continues to hold his or her hand after the formal greetings are over.
patientThe five channels of nonverbal communication exist in every culture。 The patterns and forms are completely arbitrary， and it is arguable as to what is universal and what is culturally defined.
互联网电影数据库 Of cour， there is no guarantee that heightened awareness will change behavior. Indeed, there may be situations where visitors should not alter their behavior, depending on the status, personalities, and values in the social context。 But the approach eks to make people aware of an area of interpersonal activity which for too long has been left to change or to the assumption that visitors to other countries will be nsitive to it becau they are surrounded by it。
