Friday, March 13, 2009
Cultural Differences in Nonverbal Communication
The first thing I have to state is that I am not a traveler. In fact I have only been to neighboring states of California and never out of the country. I have lived in the same city and state all of my life so I really don’t have any real life experience just what I have learned in class and from others experiences. I have heard of nonverbal communication meanings of other cultures from some of my business classes. For instance, in Saudi Arabia it is an insult to show the sole of your shoe while conducting business. Another issue of nonverbal communication that does not carry the same meaning is eye contact. In the US eye contact is positive and in Japan and Latin American is avoided to show respect. I am sure there are a lot more and I look forward to reading the other posts to gain more knowledge.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Places like Saudi Arabia are probably very different than America when it comes to nonverbal messages. The way they follow personal status is very old fashion and seems strange when we look into their culture. Eye contact in Asia has always been a sign of disrespect. When a Asian Citizen comes to America the custom usually changes to the current cultural norm they are living in. I think learning about Japans cultural norms would give us clear understanding of our differences and similarities. Eye contact is very different throughout the world. In our culture eye contact is considered normal when one is having a conversation. Other places it is not always this way but may be just a little different. Some countries except eye contact but not to much eye contact.
ReplyDelete