Cultural Gestures Essay

A, Gesture

I, Definition and explanation of the topic

Gestures are forms of nonverbal communication in which people use body movements to express their ideas, opinions or feelings. They play a significant role in communication since they help to convey information more effectively, either within a culture or across cultures. According to Ekman & Friesen, gestures are divided into four basic categories: emblems, illustrators, regulators and adaptors.

Emblems can be used instead of speech. People can directly translate them into words or phrases and their meanings are recognized by all of the ingroup members. In fact, some emblems have different meanings in different cultures, which can create misunderstandings and trigger conflicts in intercultural

Do you enjoy the meal?

Me (Nodded my head without saying a word because my mouth was full of food to indicate “Yes”, or everything is OK.

H (Her face turned sad): What is wrong with food? You don’t like the taste here, do you?

Me (confused): Oh no, I mean I very much love the food here.

H: So, why did you nod your head?

Me : Well… ( I did not know what was happening).

And then, the hostess explained that in her country, knodding your head means “No”, and shaking your head means “Yes”, which is opposite with most of the countries in the world. Finally, we understood the misunderstanding of the gesture I had made and we had a big laugh together, then she told us other strange rules and norms in her country that I had never heard before.

What we can learn from the example is that some emblems have different meanings in different cultures, which can create misunderstandings and trigger conflicts in intercultural communication. Contradicting to most parts of the world, in Bulgaria, nodding the head symbolizes “No”, while shaking the head means “Yes”. We should be very careful when using gesture, especially in countries that is not familiar to