Tuesday, 20 January 2009

• Body Language Guide

   by Molly

  Body language is one of the most important ways we can communicate with others. If you don't speak a similar language, you can communicate through gestures and movements. Similarly, people respond to certain gestures positively or negatively, and are able to read another person's intent or meaning by the body language that they use. But, these gestures do not happen to be the same from country to country. In fact, some gestures that are considered normal and acceptable to one person might be highly offensive to someone else. Here are some examples:

   The thumbs up gesture is commonly used around the world in various different contexts. It is thought to of originally come from when the crowd would indicate if they wanted a gladiator to be spared (thumbs up) or killed (thumbs down), but now it generally has a good connotation. In the US and most of western Europe, the thumbs up means OK, cool, good job or go ahead.....or "can I hitch a ride."  In Australia, if you give a thumbs up with a slight up and down movement, it generally connotates something very obscene. In Iran, Iraq and Thailand, the thumbs up is a very obscene and offensive gesture, so I wouldn't start waving around your thumbs up in these countries.

   The OK gesture means a variety of good and bad things according to the country you are in. According to an Ezine article, here are the different meanings: Australia - Usually means ''zero'' rather than OK, not common. Canada, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the US - OK, alright, good. You can use it to signify approval. China - The OK sign is not used. France - Zero, null. Finland - military conscripts use the sign to signal that they have zero days left in the military service on their last day of the national service. Germany - Job well done or grave insult, depends on region. Japan - The general meaning is money, for young people it means OK. New Zealand - It's regarded as a cheesy way of saying OK. Not much used. Russia - Many people would understand this as OK, but they don't use this sign. Turkey - Homosexual. Venezuela - Homosexual. Brazil - Offensive

  Nodding from side to side in Bulgaria means yes, whereas in most of the rest of the world it means "no." Nodding up and down means "no" in Bulgaria, where it is generally seen as a gesture meaning "yes" in most of the world.

   The "V" hand gesture is commonly used to denote peace or victory. Although, in Australia, it often means ''Two beers please.'' In France it means "two." In Russia it is used to denote "victory," but is not commonly used, while in Turkey it is not used at all. In the US it generally means peace or two, but is also widely associated with the hippie culture. Although, according to which way your hand is facing, you may be offedning someone! In Great Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, turning your hand to the back and making the V symbol is taken as offensive, a mistake made by Winston Churchill.

   The middle finger is probably one of the most universal gestures, and means basically the same thing anywhere you go. In some Arab and Mediterranean countries, they replace the middle finger with the index finger, but the motion and meaning are basically the same. So, if you are looking to offend somewhere anywhere in the world, this one should do the trick.

  What other gestures have you seen that are different? Have you made any mistakes giving a gesture you shouldn't have in a country you visited?

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