Transcript 幻灯片 1 - APISA

Culture-specific Body Language
That May Cause
Misunderstanding or Displeasure
Alvien 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: Introduction
In 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
ethnic 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