-
Abstract
Body
language
is
an
important part of
nonverbal communication. It
is a
very
usual
phenomenon
in
our
daily
life.
Body
language
plays
an
assistant
role
in
communication,
especially
when communicate with
foreigners. But
in different countries, body
languages
have different
significances and expressions except some world
known ones. This paper
，
on
the basis of some
examples
，
comparing the body
languages
in the Western
countries
and China. It aims to
illustrate the differences body language in
different cultures and put
forward
the
principles
of
reducing
barriers
in
communication
so
as
to
achieve
efficient
communication
and
to
avoid
promote
people’s
cross
-cultural
communication
competence,
reinforce
the
heart-to-heart
understanding
and
in
the
end
will benefit the
communication between Weatern people and Chinese
people.
Key Words:
body language; Western countries and
China
；
comparison;
difference;
cross-cultural
communication
摘要
体态语是非语言交际的重要组成部分，在我们生活中是很常见的现象。在交际
中，体态语
扮演了辅助性的角色，特别是和外国人交流时。然而，不同的国家，体
态语有着不同的意
义和表达方式，除了一些国际上通用的体态语之外。本篇论文通
过举例对比了西中方体态
语的不同，目的在于说明体态语在不同文化中的差异，进
一步消除跨文化交际中的障碍，
达到良好的交流效果，避免出现误差。从而提高人
们的跨文化交流能力。加强心灵间的沟
通，推动西中方合作交流。
关键词：体态语；西中方；对比；差异；跨文化交际
i
Contens
1. Intro
duction
……………………………………………………………………………………
…
1
1.1 The Background of the
Study
……………………………………………………………
...1
1.2 The Reason of the
Study
…………………………………………………………………
< br>...2
2. Literature Review
……………………………………………………………………
..
.
3
2.1 The Definition of
Body Language
………………………………………………………
.3
2.2 The V
alue of
Body Language
…………………………………………………………
.....3
3. The Differences of
Body Language between W
estern Countries
and China
………
4
3.1
Eye Contact
…………………………………………………………………………
………
.4
3.2 Greet
..
..................................................
..................................................
....................................6
3.3 Grief.
..................
..................................................
..................................................
....................7
3.4 Smile
< br>…………………………………………………………………………………………
..
7
3.5 Touch
……………………………………………
……………………………………………
..9
sion
………………………………………………………………………………………
...10
Reference
……………………………
………………………………………………………………
.12
ii
1. Introduction
1.1 The
Background of the Study
Human communication consists of verbal
communication and nonverbal
communication.
When people
speak of the communication,
firstly
they will
think of the
language which
is the
verbal
communication.
Language
is
an
important
tool,
but
it
is
not
the
only
communicating
means.
In
fact,
in
addition
to
language,
there
is
a
more
abundant
content
of
the
means
of
communication that is non-verbal
communication.
“
Nonverbal
communication is a process in which communicators
use the natural features
of
their
bodies
to
deliver
information
and
express
specific
meaning
instinctively
to
other
communicators
”
(Guan
Yanxiang,
2004:13).
Nonverbal
communication
plays
a
very
important
role
in
human
’
s
whole
communication.
A
famous
anthropologist
pointed
out
that
silent
language
expresses
more
information
than
verbal
language
because
it
contains
much
information.
According
to
some
researchers
abroad,
in
people’s
daily
life,
nonverbal
communication
takes
part
over
65%
in
all
of
information
exchange.
For
example,
when
people
tell
someone
how
to
get
to
the
nearest
hospital,
they
not
only
tell
someone
the
direction but also pointing to
the direction with
hands.
For
instance, people
greet
each other
with
a
smile.
Smile
functions
as
a
supplement
to
the
pleasure
of
meeting
people.
So
it
is
obvious
if
people
ignore
the
nonverbal
communication,
they
will
not
get
a
complete
communication.
Nonverbal
communication
includes
many
aspects.
And
body
language
is
the
most
important part of it.
“
In general sense, the study
of body language began in 1950s. In during
1970s, the study of body
language entered a
fully
developing period. From the
late of
1970s
1
to
the early period of 1980s, body language contained
more content, and had a great influence
on
the
other
fields
”
(Net,
1).
When
people
see
a
friend,
they
smile;
when
people
say
goodbye,
they
wave
hands;
when
people
think,
they
frown.
All
of
these
actions
belong
to
body
language.
Body
language
from
different
cultures
has
many
differences
because
of
different
regions,
races
and
cultural
customs.
The
comparative
study
of
body
language
between
Western countries
and China
is
very
important
for people
to
master and
understand
the diversity of
cross-cultural communication.
1.2 The Reason of the Study
In different cultures, body
language
has different
meanings and different expressions. A
normal action
in Chinese
culture will be abnormal
in Western
culture.
A positive behavior
in
China will be negative in
Western countries. People from China advocate
modesty, tolerance,
mutual-support
and
responsibility
for
the
group.
But
Western
people
admire
independence,
self-respect,
free
development,
and
requiring
individual
space
and
so
on.
If
people
don’t
understand its cultural connotation,
they will not interact properly. Sometimes they
will make
themselves
or
others
embarrassed
in
cross-cultural
communication.
As
the
global
village
continues
to
shrink
and
cultures
blending,
countries
have
more
and
more
communications
with
each
other.
In
order
to
meet
the
international
communication
tendency,
now
it
is
very
important
to
know
the
different
meanings
of
body
language
in
different
cultures,
especially
the difference of body language between
Western countries and China.
This
paper
intends
to
make
a
comparative
study
of
the
differences
on
body
language
between Western Countries and China
in order to avoid
misunderstanding and
make
efficient
communication in cross-
cultural communication.
2
2.
Literature review
2.1 The Definitions of Body
Language
The body language
has been defined by many
researchers.
In Oxford Advanced learner’s
English-
Chinese
dictionary
its
definition
is:
“
the
process
of
communicating
what
you
are
feeling
or
thinking by
the
way
you place or
move
your body rather than
by words”
(Oxford
Advanced
Learners
English-Chinese
Dictionary
,
1997:175).
Zhao
Tao
presented
another
famous
definition
of
body
language.
He
pointed
out
that
body
language
is
a
term
for
communication using body movements or
gestures instead of, or in addition to, sounds,
verbal
language
or
other
communication.
It
forms
part
of
the
category
of
paralanguage,
which
describes all
forms of
human communication
that are
not
verbal
language.
This
includes
the
subtlest
of
movements
that
many
people
are
not
aware
of,
including
winking
and
slight
movement of the eyebrows. In addition,
body
language can also
incorporate the
use of
facial
expressions (Zhao
Tao: 2000).
But the
most
famous among these
definitions was presented by Ray
istell, who
wrote
introduction
to
Kinesics.
He
indicated
that
body
language
means
nonverbal
communication by means of facial
expression, eye behavior, gesture, posture, and so
on. Body
language
expresses
emotions,
feelings,
and
attitudes,
sometimes
even
contradicting
the
messages conveyed by spoken language
(Ray L. B.:1975).
2.2
The Value of Body Language
According
to
the
cultural
differences,
people
should
respect,
understand
and
learn
the
effective and powerful
“
silent
language
”
, body language.
Because body language reflects the
characteristics of a nation: it not
only includes the nati
on’s
histor
ical and cultural background,
3
but
also
contains the attitude
for
life of
the
nation;
it
is
a concrete
manifestation of
people’s
lifestyle
and
way
of
thinking.
So
it
is
essential
for
everybody
to
become
more
sensitive
to
motions,
gestures,
and
body
languages
surrounding
each
day.
Therefore,
it
is
necessary
and
important
to
have
an
understanding
of
the
uses
and
functions
of
body
language
in
communication.
As a
main part of nonverbal
communication, body
language plays a
complementary role
in
helping people transfer
information to
improve
their communication. People can
find that
body
language
is
used
in
many
scopes
and
many
situations,
just
like
intercommunication,
teaching, and speech and so on.
Usually, body
language accompany with
language and as an
assistant
tool.
When
people
communicate
with
persons
from
other
cultures,
body
language
sometimes help them make the
communication easy and effective. To a large
extent, emotions
and ideas are not only
based on language to convey, but also depend on
body language.
3.
The
Differences
of
Body
Language
between
Western
Countries
and
China
3.1 Eye Contact
People can express emotions by eyes,
and eye
contact
is regarded
as the
most effective
way
to
express
emotions.
Eye
contact
is
also
called
“eye
language”
.
It
is
a
silent
language
which
is
to
express
emotions
and
delivers
information
from
eye’s
miens
and
varieties.
Eye
language
is
the
most
vivid,
complex
in
all
facial
expressions.
As
a
saying
goes
“Eye
is
the
window
to
the
soul”.
That
is
to
say,
people
can
read
one’s
mind
through
his
or
her
eyes.
Generally
speaking, people
from
Western countries
have
more and
longer eye contact
when
4
they are
in
conversation than Chinese. They see eye contact as
a sign of honesty. And
lack of
eye
contact
or
shifty
eyes
is
a
sign
of
untruthfulness,
contempt,
fear,
indifference,
guilt
or
absence
of mind.
“
The
educated
Englishmen
believe
that
direct
eye
contact
with
communicators
is
gentlemanly
”
(Gao
Yihong,
2000:24).
According
to
American
tradition,
communicators
should
gaze
at
each
other.
Americans
pay
great
attention
to
the
time
and
the
way
of
eye
contact.
They think direct eye contact is an indication of
confidence and politeness, and shifty
or
lack of eye contact
implies
impoliteness. In
common conversation, they will
look at
each
other about one
minute
and then they will
look away. When a
speaker
has
finished taking
a
turn, Western people looks directly
at the listener to signal completion.
In
China,
people
also
use
eye
contact
to
greet
or
salute.
But
it
just
lasts
for
several
seconds. People
in China do
not
like communicators to stare at them
in conversation because
they
may
feel shy and
nervous. Chinese consider
gazing at people
is an
unfriendly behavior
and
it
is
a
challenge.
Most
people
feel
uneasy
and
uncomfortable
under
the
strong
staring.
When
people
stare
at
them,
Chinese
will
feel
their
sincerity
are
threatened
or
suspected.
However,
in
Chinese
culture,
people
who
are
engaged
in
interpersonal
communication
will
not
look
directly
into
others’
eyes,
especially
when
the
youths
talk
to
the
old
or
the
subordinate
talks
to
his
superior.
They
lower
their
head
and
nod
in
order
to
show
their
modesty
and
respect.
But
it
is
very
interesting
that
in
early
1980s
when
China
started
its
reform and open-up policy, people often
looked at
strange
foreigners
for a
long time.
This
is
due
to
the
fact
that
Chinese
people
had
little
chance
of
meeting
foreigners
in
the
past
(Yun
Guibin,2007).
Actually, it’s
a taboo of communication.
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