How to Read Body Language in Different Cultures
You might think body language is universal. After all, we're the same species, right? But basics like what is considered a polite greeting and definitions of "personal space" vary widely from culture to culture. Americans, for instance, are considered rather reserved in the way they greet friends, and they define personal space more broadly than most other cultures. Knowing how another culture's basic body language differs from yours may come in handy next time you travel internationally.
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Mind how you meet and greet. Americans and Canadians, male and female, tend to greet each other with a nice firm handshake. In Asian countries, the polite form of greeting is to bow, and the lower you bow, the deeper respect you have for the person you are bowing to. In Spain, Portugal, Italy and Eastern Europe, men kiss each other on the cheek.
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Be careful about eye contact. In America, intermittent eye contact is preferable in a conversation--unless it's someone you care deeply for. In Middle Eastern countries, intense prolonged eye contact is the norm, and the person you're speaking with will move very close to you to maintain it. The Japanese, on the other hand, consider it an invasion of privacy, and rarely look another person in the eye.
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Americans, in general, smile when they meet or greet someone. Koreans, however, think it's rude for adults to smile in public--to them, smiling in public is a sign of embarrassment.
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Don't point. Most Americans think nothing of pointing at an object or another person. Native Americans consider it extremely rude to point with a finger, and instead they point with their chin. It's also rude to point with a finger in China; the polite alternative is to use the whole hand, palm facing up.
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Give the right amount of space. In Asian cultures, particularly China, the concept of personal space (generally defined in America as a three- to four-foot circle for casual and business acquaintances) is nearly nonexistent. Strangers regularly touch bodies when standing in line for, say, movie tickets. People in Scandinavian countries, on the other hand, need more personal space than we do.
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