新编跨文化交际英语教程Unit 6.ppt.Convertor

Unit 6 Culture and Nonverbal Communication Tips for a Successful Interview Warming-up questions 1. Why do you have to do so much about your appearance to get yourself ready for an interview? 2. What messages are sent to one another without saying any words? Can these messages be sent as effectively by words? Our appearance may communicate very much to other people we meet. It is often one of the most important means by which we can leave an impression upon people, especially those who we meet for the first time. In this case, even before the interview begins, a lot of messages about the persons involved in it are already sent to each other, by the light but decisive knocking at the door, the large oak desk behind which the woman is sitting, the clothes she is in, the smiles they exchange, the way they look at and shake hands with each other. Reading I An Overview of Nonverbal Communication Pre-reading questions Apart from verbal language, what other means of communication do you know? How do you use the nonverbal means of communication in everyday life? Another means of communication is non-verbal communication, the process of conveying meaning without using words. Research shows that the majority of communication is non-verbal. Non-verbal communication includes gestures, posture, facial expression, eye contact, etc. Non-verbal communication is also called silent language. The Definition of Nonverbal Communication Nonverbal communication is the process of communication by sending and receiving wordless (mostly visual) messages. Messages can be communicated through gestures and touch, by body language or posture, by facial expression and eye contact Meaning can also be communicated through object or artifacts (such as clothing, hairstyles or architecture). Speech contains nonverbal elements known as paralanguage (辅助语言), including voice quality, rate, pitch, volume, and speaking style, as well as prosodic features (韵律成分) such as rhythm, intonation and stress. Dance is also regarded as a form of nonverbal communication. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the physical layout of a page and removal of things. Characteristics of Nonverbal Communication Non-verbal messages primarily communicate emotions, attitudes. Non-verbal cues substitute for, contradict, emphasize or regulate verbal message. Non-verbal cues are often ambiguous. Non-verbal cues are continuous. Non-verbal cues are more reliable. Non-verbal cues are culture bound. Non-verbal behavior always has communicative value. Non-verbal communication is powerful. Voice or Intonation (paralanguage) We communicate with more than the words we speak. The quality of a voice can communicate as much as the words. The same words can be tender, mocking, sarcastic, angry, authoritative, humble and hesitant, depending on how they are said. Effective speakers use vocal qualities to suggest different meanings from exactly the same words. Intercultural communication, misunderstanding things like intonation man have tragic consequences. 1 Main ideas A pause in the wrong place or an intonation misunderstood may cause a whole conversation to go awry. She is my best friend. You’ve done really good job. Come here, please. That’s all right. Comprehension questions 1. Can you say each of the following sentences in different ways to mean differently? Speaking the same sentence with the stress on different words may mean different things. For instance, if the stress falls on “she” in the first sentence, it means it is SHE, not you or somebody else, that is my best friend. But if the stress falls on “my”, it implies that she is MY, not your or somebody’s, best friend. 2. Speakers of British English use loudness only when they are angry, speakers of Indian English use it to get the floor, a chance to speak. So when an Indian speaker is trying to get the floor, what would the British speaker think of the Indian and what would the British behave in response? The British speaker may think that the Indian gets angry with him or behaves rudely towards him, so he may complain about the Indian’s rudeness or even return his rudeness as a response. Body Language: Gestures Gestures are an important component of non-verbal communication. It must be emphasized that gestures vary in meaning from culture to culture. How people use their hands and whether they use them depends on their cultural background. 2 Body Language: Hand Gestures Different Gestures 1. The ring gesture: In America, it means OK. It’s great. In Japan, it means money; In France, it means zero or worthless; In Tunisia, “I’ll kill you.” 2. The single finger beckon: In America, it simply means: come here. In Yugoslavia and Malaysia, it is only used for beckoning animals. In Indonesia and Australia, it is used for beckoning prostitutes, i.e. ladies for the night. 3. The thumbs-up sign: In Britain it means OK and is also used as a sign for hitch-hiking. In Greece it is an insult. 4. The ear-tug: In Spain it means someone is a sponger, i.e. using other people’s money and never spending his own. In Greece it is a warning . In Italy it is used to call someone a homosexual. 5. The eyelid-pull: In France and Greece, it means: you can’t full me. In Spain and Italy, that you should be alert. In South America, it means he finds a woman very attractive. Italians, Russians, and Latin Americans: great hand movers English men seldom use hands Americans, with a mixture of cultures, use hands in any type of movement. Questions: What are the hand gestures Chinese people use most? And their meanings? What other kinds of gestures do you know? Comprehension questions 3. What differences in body language use have you noticed between your Chinese teachers and foreign teachers? There are really some differences between Chinese teachers and foreign teachers in their use of body language. For instance, Chinese teachers in general do not use gestures as much as foreign teachers do, and their facial expressions often seem to be less varied than those of many foreign teachers. 4. Do you know any gestures we often use that might be misunderstood by people from other cultures? For example, the way we Chinese motion to others to come over might be misunderstood by people from some Western countries to mean bye-bye. 3 Eye Contact / Eye Gaze Eye contact can indicate interest, attention, and involvement. It is a form of nonverbal communication and has a large influence on social behavior. Frequency and interpretation of eye contact vary between cultures and species. Eye aversion is the avoidance of eye contact. Eye contact and facial expressions provide important social and emotional information. People, perhaps without consciously doing so, probe each other’s eyes and faces for positive or negative mood signs. Gaze comprises the actions of looking while talking, looking while listening, amount of gaze, and frequency of glances, patterns of fixation, pupil dilation, and blink rate. Main Ideas Body language is more than hand movements. The eyes play a large part, too. In every situation, there is a proper looking time, a definite period during which you are allowed to meet and hold someone’s eyes. In an elevator, the time is very brief. In a crowded bus, a subway or train, you can look a little longer. In all conversations we look away frequently and break eye contact. Only a lecturer or a politician addressing an audience can hold eye contact as long as he wishes. In USA, in the cities, when people are within definite recognition distance (16 – 32 feet / 5 – 10 meters), there is mutual avoidance of eye contact. In small towns, people are much more likely to look at and greet one another, even if they’re strangers. The language of eyes is both subtle and complex. Men and women use their eyes differently. There are also class, generation, regional, ethnic and national differences. Americans complain about the way foreigners stare at people or hold a glance too long. Japanese are not taught to look another in the eye but at a position around the Adam’s apple (喉结). Chinese, Indonesians and rural Mexicans lower their eyes as a sign of deference. Arabs look directly into the eyes of another person. Exercises Read the following statements and decide whether they are true or false: (T) 1. Different cultures have different rules for what is considered appropriate eye contact. (F) 2. Within any one culture, the rules for eye contact are usually the same for different situations. (T) 3. In dealing with strangers the rule for British society is that you should look at them but you shouldn’t look at them for a long time. (F) 4. In Britain, you can look at a stranger for as long as you like providing that they are not standing next to you. (T) 5. If you don’t look at a British person while you are speaking to him, he will have a negative impression of you. (F) 6. When addressing a British audience you do not need to bother to look at its members. (T) 7. In a conversation, turn taking can be signaled by the eye movements of the speakers. (F) 8. It’s important to look at a person when you are speaking to him, but not that important when you are listening to him. (T) 9. There are cultures that value looking someone straight in the eye no matter who that person is. Comprehension questions 5. How do we Chinese people use eye contact in communication? During a conversation between two Chinese, it seems that the speaker and the hearer would usually look at each other (not necessarily in the eye) from time to time. How much eye-contact there is may depend on the relationship between the speaker and hearer and the situation they find themselves in. 6. How will you eye them when you are communicating with people from the United States or people from Japan While talking with Americans, we should look directly into the eyes of the person with whom we are talking. However; while talking with Japanese, we are not expected to look at them in the eye but at a position around the Adam’s apple. 4 Body Language: Smiles & Laughs Main ideas Nonverbal behaviors such as smile and laugh seem to cut across cultural lines. But in reality, they are often found to be not universal. A Japanese girl, when smiled at by a male stranger, may assume he is either a sexual maniac or an impolite person. Most Korean people take time to get to be friendly with people. They never talk or smile at strangers. Arabs may feel embarrassed when smiled at by strange people. Vietnamese think that Americans talk and smile too much. To people of different cultures, a smile or a laugh may have very different meanings. In eastern Asian countries, people do not readily show emotions. The Japanese smile is not necessarily a spontaneous expression of amusement, but a law of etiquette. Japanese children are taught always to show an appearance of happiness to avoid inflicting their sorrow upon their friends. In Africa, laughter is used by black people to express surprise, wonder, embarrassment and even discomfiture. 7. Do you often smile at others? Why or why not? It depends. For instance, it seems that we Chinese, as well as people of other Eastern Asian countries, do not usually smile at strangers as much as Americans. 8. What function may laughter serve in our culture? Does it sometimes cause intercultural misunderstanding? Laughter in our culture may serve various functions. Sometimes, it is used to express amusement or ridicule, and sometimes it is simply used to make one feel less embarrassed. 5 Touch / Haptic Communication (触觉交际) Definition Haptic communication is the means by which people communicate via touching. Touch, or the haptic sense, is extremely important for humans; as well as providing information about surfaces and textures, it is a component of nonverbal communication in interpersonal relationships, and vital in conveying physical intimacy. It can be both sexual (kissing is one such example that is sometimes sexual) and platonic (such as hugging or tickling). Main ideas Differences in touching behavior are highly correlated with culture. People in high contact cultures evaluate “close” as positive and good, and “far” as negative and bad. People in low contact cultures evaluate “close” as negative and bad, and “far” as positive and good. Latin America and the Mediterranean countries, high contact the U.S. moderate contact the Far East, low contect In some cultures, shaking hands is the only form of public touch. In England, shaking hands lightly is fine, but other forms of touching are not common. People from the South Pacific, Eastern and Western Europe, and the Far East and parts of Africa greet each other with a handshake and may wave at each other at a distance. In parts of Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East, handshaking can be followed by an embrace or a kiss on the cheek. In parts of Africa, India, and the Middle East, handshakes are reserved for men. In Germany, a man shakes a woman’s hand before he shakes the hand of another man. In some European countries (Australia, Poland, and Romania) handshaking between women and men is sometimes accompanied by a kiss of the woman’s hand by the man. Touch in the multicultural U.S. is very individual. Many Middle Eastern and Asian countries discourage physical affection in public between unmarried males and females. In the western countries, the number of nonsexual uses of the kiss is staggering. The simple kiss has served any or all of several purposes: greeting and farewell; affection; religious or ceremonial symbolism; deference to a person of higher status 9. Do you often touch others while talking with them? Whom do you touch more than others? We Chinese generally do not often touch others while talking with them unless they are our intimate friends or younger children. 10. In small groups or in pairs, demonstrate all the possible ways you can think of to greet another person. Is touching always part of a greeting? No. Touching is not always part of a greeting in our culture as in some other cultures. 11. Will you apologize if you accidentally touch other people in public places? Why or why not? Many people will apologize if they accidentally touch other people in public places since in our culture people who are strangers to each other should not touch. However, whether people will apologize or not depends on the situations. If a person accidentally touches a stranger in a very crowded place, he or she may not apologize for it. Gender and Nonverbal Communication Like language, nonverbal communication is also related to culture and gender: First, nonverbal communication conveys cultural meanings of gender. Second, men and women use nonverbal communication to express themselves as gendered. Body Movement (including gestures, facial expression, posture) Women: use facial and body motions generally to signal approachability and friendliness use fewer and more restrained gestures smile even when not happy due to socialized rules of women needing to be more expressive are attracted to those who smile more use facial expression a lot to send and receive messages tilt their head and body to the side more often Men: use facial and body motions to indicate more reservation and control use gestures more often display less emotion through smiling due to socialized rules to remain emotionally neutral are more likely to interrupt speakers who are smiling (often women) don’t send or interpret facial expressions as frequently have a more relaxed posture nod their head a lot Men aren’t as used to showing or reading facial expression, posture, or gestures. Therefore they can easily miss physical clues their girlfriends are sending about their own feelings. And women expect that men will be tuned into the feelings they are exhibiting through their body language. This nonverbal gender difference causes a lot of confusion as men often just don’t get what they’re supposed to be looking for and why, and women feel unloved or out of touch with their partner. Eye Contact / Gaze Women: rarely stare engage in more eye contact while conversing signal interest by sustaining eye contact break eye contact more often are generally the first to avert their eyes on an initial gaze Men: stare, perhaps to challenge power or status signal interest by staring generally don’t make as much eye contact as women generally maintain initial gaze until another person averts his/her eyes Attention Men have a tendency not to make as much eye contact as women would like to do during conversations. This nonverbal gender difference makes women feel men aren’t listening, aren’t interested, or are distracted by something else. Women use eye contact as a way to show their interest and attention and can be hurt when they don’t get that in return from men. And since men don’t do that with other men, they don’t know to do that with women. The Use of Touch Women: are touched more than men associate touch with warmth and expression are touched more gently initiate more hugging and touching that expresses support, affection, and comfort Men: are touched less than women initiate touch towards women more are often touched roughly use touch to direct, assert power, and express sexual interest Attention It’s easy for men to misinterpret women’s physical contact as sexual interest. In fact though, many women simply express their camaraderie and connection with others through physical touch. This misinterpretation can result in hurt feelings on both ends. The Use of Space Women: use less personal space have their space invaded more frequently, especially by men prefer face to face conversation Men: use more personal space are more likely to invade others personal space, especially women’s prefer side by side interaction Attention This is one nonverbal gender difference that often really frustrates women. “Why doesn’t he face me when we’re having a conversation?” Women are used to, and prefer, talking while facing each other. It feels more intimate and enhances the sense of connection. Women often interpret a man’s side-by-side preference as a lack of interest or poor listening. By understanding a little more about how the opposite sex uses body language, you have a better chance of communicating in a more effective way! Case Study Case 21 Sometimes our best intentions can lead to breakdowns in cross-cultural communication. For example, one of the very common manners of touching --- handshaking --- may result in conflict when performed with no consideration of cultural differences. Among middle-class North American men, it is customary to shake hands as a gesture of friendship. When wanting to communicate extra friendliness, a male in the United States may, while shaking hands, grasp with his left hand his friend’s right arm. However, to people of Middle Eastern countries, the left hand is profane and touching someone with it is highly offensive. Therefore, in Vernon’s eyes, Kenneth was actually an extremely offensive message to him. Case 22 In Puerto Rican culture, as in some other Latin American and Eastern cultures, it is not right for a child to keep an eye-contact with an adult who is accusing him or her, while in the United States, failing of meeting other person’s eye accusing him or her would be taken as a sign of guiltiness. As the principal knew little about this cultural difference in using eye-contact, he decided that the girl must be guilty. Generally speaking, avoiding eye-contact with the other is often considered as an