culture-specific body language that may cause misunderstanding or displeasure alvien xia & amy...
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Culture-specific Body Culture-specific Body Language That May Cause Language That May Cause
Misunderstanding or Misunderstanding or DispleasureDispleasure
Culture-specific Body Culture-specific Body Language That May Cause Language That May Cause
Misunderstanding or Misunderstanding or DispleasureDispleasure
Alvien Xia & Amy YangAlvien Xia & Amy Yang
Outline• Part one: Introduction• Part two: Examples of some common body
languages that may be culturally misunderstood• Part three: Theoretical explanations for the
misunderstanding• Part four: Some suggestions to avoid
misunderstanding and Pedagogical Implications•
Part One: IntroductionIn daily communication, 30% of the information transmitted
through verbal communication, 70% of the information transmitted
through non-verbal communication.
Part One: Introduction• Body-language • One of the most important means
of non-verbal communication• Caused by ethnocentrism
•Part Two:•Culturally Different Body Language
Thumb-up
• China: “very good, well-done”• America: “call for a taxi or ask
for free ride”• Japan: “the number 5”• Germany: “the number 1”
• America: “Okay”• Japan: “money”• Brazil & Germany:
“vulgar or obscene”
Nodding Head or Shaking Head ?
• Travelling in Turkey, if you want to show your agreement with local people, which one will you choose?
• What about in China?
A Finger against One’s Temple
• America, Germany & Brazil: “I’m crazy now.”
• China: “I’m thinking.”
V-sign
• What do you feel about this?
What about this?
What about this?
Meanings of V-sign
• Usually victory • Also for telling someone like
waiters, the number of two people or
things.
Misinterpretations of V-sign
• When palm faces toward the speaker, it is an obscene insult version.
• It is understood as ‘up yours’ or ‘fxxk you’ by the European, American, British, Australian and New Zealander.
• But palm-face-in V-sign is not a rude sign to bartenders ( 男侍應) . They interpret the sign as the number of mugs of beer.
Vertical Horns
• America: A football team logo
Vertical Horns
• Italy: Cuckold• One’s wife deceives
her husband by having sex with other.
• In 1985, five Americans were arrested in Rome for using this gesture outside the Vatican
Brainstorming • Why these different body languages
will cause misunderstanding?• Histories, living habits, geographical
environment, national characteristics, thought pattern, etc.
• All in all, culture divergence.
•Part Three: Theoretical Basis
Ethnocentrism(民族中心主義 )
• The Germans live in Germany, • The Romans live in Rome,• The Turks live in Turkey,• But the English live at home. 1909 nursery rhyme, J. H. Goring
Ethnocentrism• What is ethnocentrsim?• the tendency to believe that one's own race or eth
nic group is centrally important • judging other groups from our own cultural
point of view.• a form of superiority in which you believe your
way of doing things is the right and preferable way.
• making false assumptions about others' ways based on our own limited experience.
Ethnocentrism• Why ethnocentrsim?• Our limited experiences we have
already had are the basis for interpreting new experiences.
Ethnocentrism• It is natural to be ethnocentric, but
is it OK? • No.
Ethnocentrism• Perhaps no one can ever have
complete understanding of another people, without fully experiencing everything they experience. However, this does not mean we cannot develop a functional understanding, to interact successfully with others.
Part Four : Suggestions for Misunderstanding Avoidance and
Pedagogical Implications
• Be conscious of reactions of all interlocutors
• Compensate through verbal language• Never overemphasize communicative
competence in second language teaching
Part Four : Suggestions for Misunderstanding Avoidance
and Pedagogical Implications
• Other things to remember:• Not all groups in a culture have the
same characteristics;• Also be aware of individual personality.
Review of the Outline
• Part one: Introduction• Part two: Examples of some common body
languages that may be culturally misunderstood• Part three: Theoretical explanations for the
misunderstanding• Part four: Some suggestions to avoid
misunderstanding and Pedagogical Implications•
•Thank you for your attention
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