Nonverbal Communication: Speaking Without Words
Non-verbal
communication is “silent” communication, including the use of gestures,
postures, position, eye contact, facial expressions, and conversational
distance.
If we don’t understand the non-verbal communication
from different culture, it is possible that we can make a mistake of reading
the other person incorrectly. Some forms of non-verbal signals are the same and
universal and they have the same meaning or interpretation. But, the other
forms are different and they have different meaning too, or no meaning in the
other culture.
Craig Storti in “Figuring Out” as quoted
by Wienchecki (1999) mentions three main categories of non-verbal communication
in the cross-cultural context. These are:
