Nonverbal Language in cross-cultural Communication

All cultures make use of nonverbal communication but the meanings of nonverbal communication vary across cultures. Nonverbal communication may be as important to understand as words are, for it can cause misunderstandings between people from different cultures if they misinterpret nonverbal symbols. Nonverbal communication is largely beyond our conscious, and the system we learn is not determined by the genetic heritage but by the socio-cultural environment. The differences across cultures in nonverbal signals have been studied widely, because of the importance and necessity in communication .The paper mainly focuses on the differences related to body language, body space, body touch and paralanguage.