It is impossible to know all of the different cultural differences in body language that you can run into. And trying to abide by all of them is even tougher. “If I did, I’d be running around not looking at anyone with my hands in my pockets. Of course, then I would be offending both Turkish people (hands in my pockets) and all of my friends in the States.”(DIENER 2009) There are several items that differentiate humans and give away where they are from. A couple of those items may include eye contact, handshakes, personal space, touching other people, small talk, personal dress, hygiene and gestures. Today, I will attempt to explain a couple of these so that we understand cultural differences in body language a little better.
Eye contact may …show more content…
What I mean by that is, in general in America, for a man to touch a woman is not a very big issue but if a straight man touches another straight man then that is taken to be as disrespectful and unacceptable. But in places like India or Pakistan, if a man touches a female, he is committing a serious sin but he could be holding pinkies with another man in a park on a Saturday morning and that would be very normal. Well, that was the touch part of the cultural differences but have you ever thought that something as casual and normal as small talk could be a factor that offends people of different backgrounds and cultural differences? If not, prepare yourself to be amazed as my next paragraph exclusively talks about this …show more content…
“I'm hopeless at small talk and have a problem making eye contact.” (Numan n.d.)Generally, all friendships and business deals and relationships start with small talk. Let’s take an example. Before you meet someone for a meeting for the first time, you wouldn’t just barge into the main facts and business talks. You would start off with asking them how they are feeling and what the weather is like and a little introduction from both parties but that is not the case in all cultures. Silence is something that ends up being very awkward but the Scandinavians do not think so. Scandinavians are people who mind their own business and “do not appreciate small talk the way Americans do, and it would be very rare to hear a conversation filled with social pleasantries. Most Swedes, Fins, and Norwegians have conversations to truly converse, not just to fill time or interrupt a silence. It’s not because they’re intrinsically rude, small talk is just not part of their culture.” (Meaghan 2014) On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Brazilians, who are very much fond of this ‘small talk’. Same with the Arab countries, small talk is very much appreciated and sport is a topic that would end up being a very wide
Eye contact may …show more content…
What I mean by that is, in general in America, for a man to touch a woman is not a very big issue but if a straight man touches another straight man then that is taken to be as disrespectful and unacceptable. But in places like India or Pakistan, if a man touches a female, he is committing a serious sin but he could be holding pinkies with another man in a park on a Saturday morning and that would be very normal. Well, that was the touch part of the cultural differences but have you ever thought that something as casual and normal as small talk could be a factor that offends people of different backgrounds and cultural differences? If not, prepare yourself to be amazed as my next paragraph exclusively talks about this …show more content…
“I'm hopeless at small talk and have a problem making eye contact.” (Numan n.d.)Generally, all friendships and business deals and relationships start with small talk. Let’s take an example. Before you meet someone for a meeting for the first time, you wouldn’t just barge into the main facts and business talks. You would start off with asking them how they are feeling and what the weather is like and a little introduction from both parties but that is not the case in all cultures. Silence is something that ends up being very awkward but the Scandinavians do not think so. Scandinavians are people who mind their own business and “do not appreciate small talk the way Americans do, and it would be very rare to hear a conversation filled with social pleasantries. Most Swedes, Fins, and Norwegians have conversations to truly converse, not just to fill time or interrupt a silence. It’s not because they’re intrinsically rude, small talk is just not part of their culture.” (Meaghan 2014) On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Brazilians, who are very much fond of this ‘small talk’. Same with the Arab countries, small talk is very much appreciated and sport is a topic that would end up being a very wide