1. Introduction 1
2. Literature review 2
2.1 Conceptions of relative words 2
2.1.1 Definition of body language 2
2.1.2 Conception of culture 3
2.2 Overseas and domestic literature review on body language 3
2.2.1 Overseas literature review on body language 4
2.2.2 Domestic literature review on body language 4
3. Comparison of body language in Chinese and American cultures 5
3.1 Same body language with the same meaning 6
3.2 Same body language with different meanings 7
3.3 Different body language with the same meaning 11
3.4 Unique body language exists in Chinese and American culture respectively 13
4. How to improve the ability of intercultural communication 14
5. Conclusion 15
Acknowledgements 16
References 17
1. Introduction
Speaking of “Body Language” in a board sense, there are in English such expressions as body movement, body gesture, body behavior, etc [1]13,[2]4. A psychologist proposed a formula: the total impact of a message = 7% verbal + 38% vocal + 55% facial expressions and behaviors [3]15.
Nowadays, with the rapid development of economy as well as science and technology, the world is becoming smaller and smaller, and the communication between people from different countries with different cultural backgrounds is increasing [3]19, especially that between people from China and America. Since interpretations of body language vary tremendously from culture to culture, it is a necessity to obtain the ability to understand body language while communicating with people from different countries with different culture. Certainly, there were many previous studies made by scholars on body language. However, most of their researches lay emphasis on the differences of body language between China and western countries instead of those between China and America. Meanwhile, few focus on the history and culture roots of body language and the influence of verbal language on body language. Therefore, the thesis is intended to focus on the similarities and differences of body language including posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts under different cultural backgrounds in China and America so as to enable readers to comprehensively understand the exact meanings of body language and to know the corresponding cultural background and social-cultural characteristics of the two countries.
The thesis is mainly composed of five chapters. The first Chapter serves as the brief introduction of the whole thesis; The second Chapter presents the definition of body language, culture and the literature review of body language abroad and in China; The third chapter focuses on the similarities and differences of body language under different cultural backgrounds in China and America and the corresponding reasons of history, culture and language for those similarities and differences will be analyzed at the same time. The fourth chapter introduces several tips for improving the ability of cross-cultural communication between the two countries. And the last part summarizes the whole content of this paper and restates the importance of body language in cross-cultural communication.
2. Literature review
The observation of body language is important to an effective listener because it communicates what is the most important to the speaker. When a person is reluctant to put his feelings into words, or has repressed his feelings to the extent that he is not consciously aware of his feelings, then his nonverbal language usually indicates his feelings. Now, to have a better knowledge of body language, the author here will first introduce the literature review on body language as follows.
2.1 Conceptions of relative words
When communicating with a person from different cultures, it is extremely important to possess the ability to understand the exact meanings of the body language he uses. Otherwise, it will cause unnecessary misunderstandings and even lead to some trouble. Body language has a close relationship with culture. Thus, before we come to the study on body language under different cultural backgrounds in China and America, we should first of all have a clear idea about the definitions of relative words: body language, and culture.
2.1.1 Definition of body language
Body language is a term for forms of communication using body movements or gestures instead of sounds, or other forms of oral communication [4]25. It is often called kinesics, composed not only of gestures and posture, but also facial expressions and eye contacts [5]23. Gestures refer to the movement of hands or arms to express the meaning of a verbal message which is regarded as the central part of our body language. Posture is the general way of carrying out one’s body, especially the head, shoulders and back when walking, standing, squatting, sitting or lying. Eye contact is a very important part in body language which refers to the study of messages expressed by eyes, including eye contact, eye movements, staring, gaze, blin
ks and pupil dilation. The face serves as the most expressive function in our body and it can give us some information about one’s character.
It should be mentioned that since diverse and complex factors are involved in the study of body language, a considerable amount of academic arguments exist concerning which definition of body language is the most valid and workable. Some scholars claim that body language is the language without words; others give a similar statement that body language indicates all communicative symbols except oral speech. Besides the above mentioned definitions, Samovar and Porter (1995) have made some attempts on a more specific and vivid definition of body language like this: Body language is the socially, biologically, psychologically or culturally framed exchange of valuable messages which are not verbally spoken out but conveyed by the body movements, body gestures, symbols or relevant context and surrounding environment etc 143.
2.1.2 Conception of culture
It is difficult to find even a single definition of culture on which scholars may have agreements since culture is really a very large and evasive concept which is very difficult to define. The anthropologists define it as: common knowledge, perceptions and values that constitute the foundation of social, economical and religious institutions in a society (Svanberg & Runblom, 1988) [7]8. It is said that there have been at least over 150 definitions on culture, but none of them seems to be able to tell us everything about culture [8]14.
But, simply put, “culture” refers to a group or a community with which we share common experiences that shape the way we understand the world. Most professionals view culture as being the sum total of beliefs, rules, techniques, institutions, and artefacts that characterize human beings [8]3. In other words, culture consists of socially created and learned patterns of behaviour shared by members of a given society—a unique lifestyle of a particular group of people.
From above, we know that culture is the collective programming of the mind that distinguishes one group or category of people from another [7]16. Since China is a developing country while America is a developed country, they have their unique styles in the traditions of culture and customs. They are different in many aspects of their life and production which produce a big influence on their body language. When coming to the definition of culture, we should take the cultural backgrounds of two countries’ history, customs and literature into consideration; meantime, we also should take the cultural factors into consideration when we are taking part in cross-cultural communication. By acquiring the basic theoretical conceptions of body language and culture, we will go further for the study on the meanings of body gestures under different cultural backgrounds in China and America in the next part.
2.2 Overseas and domestic literature review on body language
This part concerns literature review on body language made by scholars in China and America. Body language, as a communicative method, has a long history and it can be assumed that the history of body language is longer than any other natural languages. Body language is the subject which has received the most research and the greatest amount of public attention during recent years.
2.2.1 Overseas literature review on body language
Body language may date back to Aristotle, who had studied the expressions of actions. And Darwin’s Expressions of Humans and Animals published in 1872 can be regarded as the initial study of body language 26. These two books are regarded as two milestones in the decade.
The 1960s witnessed a nuclear explosion of studies on body language. There were extensive studies on specific areas of body including eye behaviors, personal space, body movements and body gestures. Dr. Edward T. Hall, professor of anthropology at Northwestern University, went into the cross-cultural perspective of proteomics. Paul Kerman and Wallace Friesen have developed a specific system of classifying nonverbal languages in terms of function in the book The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior [11]20
, which provided insights on the origin, usage, and coding of nonverbal behavior.
The 1970s made deep exploration on the aspect of body language from different perspectives, among which was Julius Fast’s Body Language in 1973 in which he explained by presenting interesting instances the meaning of such nonverbal behaviors as gestures, facial expressions, postures, and distance between interlocutors[12]14. In 1970, Ray Birdwhistell coined the term “kinesics”—the systematic study of how human beings communicate through body movements and gestures—in his masterpiece Kinesics and Context: Essay on Body Motion Communication.
2.2.2 Domestic literature review on body language
Chinese researchers have made a great contribution to the study on body language. The study on body language in China originated in the 1970s and prospered in the 1980s 5.
From above literature review on body language, we can clearly get that scholars have made various studies on body language. However, most of the researches laid emphasis on the differences of body language while the similarities were ignored. Furthermore, most of the studies focus on the phenomena of the differences instead of the real reasons of those similarities and differences, such as the differences between history, culture, traditions, customs and expressions of verbal language, etc.
Therefore, the author will focus on the comparison of similarities and differences of body language, including posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts, between China and America and analyze the reasons of the differences with case analysis and comparison method as well. And in the process of this study, in order to thoroughly compare the similarities and differences of body language between the two countries, the author will analyze the above mentioned four categories of body language one by one from the following aspects: (1) the same body language with the same meaning; (2) the same body language with different meanings; (3) different body language with the same meaning; (4) the special body language exists in Chinese and American culture respectively.
3. Comparison of body language in Chinese and American cultures
Body language can serve for communication which can make people communicate very well and smoothly. It is much related to culture. Particular body language and the meaning of body language are largely depended on cultural variations 9. From this we can see that it is important to study body language under the different cultural backgrounds. Besides, we should also have a clear understanding of the deep cultural reasons which cause these differences in body gestures.
In this part, the author elaborates the similarities and differences of body language, including posture, gestures, eye contacts, and facial expressions with case analysis and comparison method from the following four aspects so as to find out the culture root and social-cultural characteristics.
3.1 Same body language with the same meaning
Human beings have thousands of thousands of body gestures. Although different people live in different places, speak different languages, wear different clothes, people share many similarities in daily life as well, for example, happiness, anger, sadness. So it is not difficult to understand that people share a lot of similar body language which expresses the same meaning. In this part, the author discusses posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts th
at convey the same meaning in Chinese and American culture and analyzes the reasons as well.
Posture refers to the general way people carry out their body, and it can be divided into three categories: standing, bent-knee positions and lying [15]36. The same posture can be seen in the same situation in different countries. No matter in America or in China, it is easy to observe from TV and movies that individuals of higher status usually use a relaxed postural style, while those who are in a lower status are always in a upright and tense postural style since the “lower status” must show his respect to the senior.
Generally speaking, Gestures refer to specific body movements that carry meanings. Gestures are closely related to speech, illustrating or supplementing it. Gestures carry a great deal of meanings, some of which mean the same in China and America. When they are interpreted by Chinese and Americans respectively, there will not be any problem in understanding each other when communicating. For instance, both Chinese and Americans nod head up and down to mean “yes”, and they shake head from side to side to mean “no”; move hands from side to side to convey the meaning of saying goodbye to somebody; applaud to show approval of a performance. What is more, touch is one of the most fundamental forms of body gestures, like our oral speech, carries messages about what we are thinking and feeling. Touch is the earliest means we have to make contacts with others. Touch can indicate many things, including affection, aggression, sympathy and even the status or relationship which exists between people [15]25.
Face is the most expressive part of our body. The sayings “one’s face is the mirror of one’s soul,” and “The face tells the secret” tell us the importance of facial expressions. During interpersonal communication, we depend heavily on facial cues when making important judgements. Facial movements can express emotion. Research shows that seven basic emotions have been expressed the same. They are happiness, sadness, surprise, fear, anger, disgust and interest. In China and America, people almost express the above basic emotions with same facial expressions. So we can easily guess the meaning of a person from his or her face although we don’t understand each other’s language.
Eye contact plays an important role in human interactions. People can use eye contact to regulate communication, convey emotions, and indicate degrees of attentiveness, interest, and arousal. It was estimated that we spend approximately 45 percent of our time looking at others’ eyes [16]5. As to eye contacts, Chinese and Americans share some similarities too. For example, when we are in different emotions, such as happy, angry or sad, the expression in people’s eyes will change in accordance with the emotions we are in. Sometimes we control our facial expressions to hide our feelings and we can successfully do that while the expression in our eyes will reveal the secrets since it is too difficult to be controlled. In our daily life, we can not only guess a person’s happiness, anger and sadness from his or her eyes, but we can feel whether he is confident or shy, he is pessimistic or optimistic, he is kind or cruel, and so on. So Eyes are called the windows of man’s heart for they can reveal the implication at a deeper level that spoken language cannot express.
Why do body gestures have the same meaning even in China and America which have their own unique cultural origins and historical characteristics? The reason is easy to understand. It is the mutual knowledge and cognition in people’s life and production during the development of human’s society which offers the answer. What is more, both Chinese and Americans face life and death, love and hate, hope and fear in life. All people’s basic needs and philosophies are similar, even when their expressions is clouded and confused by racial, cultural or political trappings [15]19. And it is these cultural common characteristics upon which we can build understanding, respect and communication. To some extent, we human beings sometimes may have something in common in nonverbal expressions with gorillas, let alone people from different cultures. There are many differences between China and America, such as culture, history, religion, race, color of skin, etc, but just like many idioms we share in life, for example, “love me, love my dog”, “strike while the iron is hot”, “look before you leap” and so on, we share many body gestures in life too.
3.2 Same body language with different meanings
Even body language has a cultural accent, and because of the cultural differences in China and America, the same body gesture differs from each other in its meanings in some circumstances. Just like the saying goes “do as the Romans do&r
dquo;, it is necessary to pay attention to such differences in the same body gesture to avoid misunderstandings. Here the author studies the differences of posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contacts in Chinese and American cultures respectively and ultimately to cultivate their inside resources and reasons.
1. Posture
There are cultural differences as far as gait is concerned in China and America. For example, Chinese people may regard Americans’ big strides when they walk as being arrogant, and Americans may consider Chinese people’s gait shy and timid. This reason of this difference is simply that Americans need more space than Chinese do since American culture emphasizes individualism while Chinese culture stresses modesty. Also, Standing with arms akimbo is common in America with neutral meaning. Women may do this posture to show their impatience. However, this posture in China means a signal to protect oneself from being approached.
Sitting posture is a constant source of cultural misunderstandings. In America where being casual and friendly is valued, consciously or unconsciously people often fall into chairs or slouch. However, in China, a slouching posture is a signal of bad manners on many occasions, for Chinese value proper stance and sitting position.
When combined with cultural backgrounds in China and America, it is not difficult to understand the reasons for all these differences. People may note the values, norms, and beliefs or subjective culture of a particular group reflected in the nonverbal codes of the two nations. Americans emphasize informality and seem to have a loose and easy stance, but Chinese ancient philosophy values a rigid, erect and quiet stance. As an old saying: Stand as straight as a pine and sit as upright as a bell.
2. Gestures
Gestures are mainly connected with moving of hands or arms to convey some certain verbal information and emotion. People from China and America may have their own particular gestures, and even the same gesture may have its separate significance for Chinese and Americans in certain contexts because of their different cultures.
In America, snapping fingers is to cause someone’s attention, whereas in China it is considered very rude and ill-mannered. In the United States, using one’s thumb and index finger to make a circle while extending the others has the meaning of “ok or excellent”; while in China, it stands “zero”. Chinese may shake the hand with the palm turning downward to ask somebody to come, while Americans interpret this gesture as saying goodbye or asking somebody to go away [14]15. In American culture, stamping one’s foot means impatience, but in China it conveys anger, frustration and remorse. Moreover, in Chinese culture, using the index finger up to tip one’s own nose means that “I did this or it is me”, while for Americans they will think this to be ridiculous or funny.
Touch is more acceptable on Chinese campus than American campus, although both China and America are classified as non-contact culture 20.
There are still many other gestures varying culturally in this part. For instance, almost everyone has the experience of pointing a way for others. From childhood, Chinese are taught that it is impolite to use forefinger to point at things. This conception is reflected in the Chinese idiom “指桑骂槐” and “指手画脚” which convey the negative meaning [7]16. Since we have known the different meanings of the same body gesture in China and America, now, let’s come to the reasons for these differences. We all know that in China, culture is mainly connected with Han culture. Chinese culture emphasizes collectivism under the influence of Confucianism and Buddhism while American culture advocates individualism and independence which is clearly reflected in the different meanings of touch. That is to say, a country’s religion, economy and literature, to some extent, have a deep effect on the meaning o
f body language. Therefore, we should not only learn the meaning of body language, but also learn the cultural backgrounds that hind behind it.
3. Facial expressions
Facial expressions are connected with culture. There are differences between Chinese and Americans in facial expressions. Facial movements can express one’s emotions. Research shows that seven basic emotions have been expressed the same by facial expressions [20]11. However, the meaning of facial expressions differs in the values of culture and differs in the context of interpersonal communication.
Many examples can be found in daily life. In America, children often make facial expressions when they are disapproving of or questioning actions of their parents, while in China, children who do this are thought to disrespect their parents. As for the relationship between children and parents in a family, being obedient is what Chinese parents hope their children to do, while American parents seem partial to respect their children’s own choices, which is well reflected in the expressions of body language. So it is difficult for Americans and Chinese to understand each other’s ways of education. The main reason is that the difference in family education lies in the differences in their cultures.
In American culture, people are willing to express attitude and emotions. The American teachers like to open a friendly environment in his class to make his class more relaxing and interesting. They are more willingly to use body language frequently, such as making face and rising eyebrow, while the teachers in China tend to control their feelings or cover their emotions and attitude. The reason for this difference is that Chinese are deeply influenced by Buddhism which has the spirit of being earnest in front of others. Therefore, the American teacher’s class is more vivid to the Chinese students compared with the Chinese ones.
Because of the different understandings of the same facial expression, people may misunderstand each other in daily life. A typical example is that even laughter has the potential to cause misunderstanding. An American who fell off his bike would be very angry when bystanders laughed while Chinese man would not be angry at the laughter, because in Chinese culture the laughter conveyed sympathy or understanding, but not ridicule [20]20. From this example we can see how important to learn the meaning of the same body language in different countries.
4. Eye contacts
Every culture has its unique social rules governing eye contact, and because of the cultural differences, Chinese and Americans use eye contact in different ways. During conversations Chinese do not have much eye contact because they believe that prolonged eye contact is rude, threatening and disrespectful. It is a symbol of bad behaviour. Children are often told not to look downward when talking to the elders, indicating the attitude of submitting and respecting. While American adults demand that children look at them while they are speaking, for the reason that in a conversation too little eye contact may be interpreted negatively since lack of eye contact reveals one’s lack of interest, honesty, or one is inattention, or even mistrust. One more example, in Chinese culture, looking at something or somebody with fixed gaze means curious and sometimes surprise; while according to American culture, it indicates impoliteness which makes people embarrassing and uneasy [17]9.
Why does the same eye contact mean different in China and America? Each of the two countries has its own unique history, culture and customs which have a big influence on the meaning of body language. For example, in China, people advocate respecting the old and loving the young, while American people advocate being equal which may explain why there is different meanings in eye contact. As a result, we should lay emphasis on the study of a country’s history and culture which make a difference in acquiring a foreign language and improving the ability of cross-cultural communication.
Chinese and American have different ideas or attitude toward the same thing which is also a reflection of the difference between two cultures. So it is the two different psychological characteristics that lead to different understandings of the same body gesture. In other words, we can say that it is the different ideas and attitudes which contribute to the different views on the same thing. In a word, the different expressions and the difference between the cultures are the main reasons of this phenomenon. Therefore, learning a second language is more than learning the language itself, it is also a process of learning its culture and history.
3.3 Different body language with the same meaning
Though the culture differences exist in China and America, different body gestures have the same meaning in some circumstances. Since people in different countries with different cultural backg
rounds may use different body gestures to convey some certain similar meanings, so do Chinese and Americans. Since the differences in posture and eye contacts in this aspect are rare, the following part will focus on posture and gestures with the same meaning and their analysis.
1. Posture
Besides the universal ones, each culture has its cultural cues in the determination of posture and sitting habits which offer insight into the deep cultural recourses. This is true in Chinese and American cultures in which exist many differences in posture.
In China, both men and women are likely to stand when they are introduced to others, which mean being respectful to other people, while in America, to show this respect to others, women need not stand up except when the man’s social status is very high. This may be for the reason that Chinese culture advocates being immodest and respectful to others and American culture values that ladies first.
The example mentioned above is very interesting actually if you compare the two cultures carefully. China has a long history of feudal society, so the social status of women was much lower than that of men in the past. After the establishment of new China, the women have been liberated and the social status of women is higher than before or is almost as high as that of men. In some parts of China, especially in some south-east cities of China, the status of the wife is even higher than that of husband in a family. This can be reflected in many aspects. The typical example is that the wife who governs the budget of a family instead of the husband. Although it emphasizes “equality” very much in America, actually it is also not easy to realize, for example, after a woman’s marriage, her family name will be replaced by her husband’s family name which means the wife’s social status is mainly decided by that of her husband since the wife has already lost her original family name. At the same time, since American culture has been greatly influenced by that of Britain and the British has its unique “gentlemen” culture, so it is understandable that American gentlemen advocate “ladies first”.
2. Gestures
We all know the culture differences cause different understandings on the same body gesture. In China, if one put the hand toward someone with the fingers downward waving several times, he just wants the person to come to him; while in America, in order to convey the meaning of asking someone to come, one should put the hand toward someone with the centre of the palm upward, shaking the index finger back and front. What is more, Chinese and American use their fingers to determine the number in a different way. For Chinese, “one” is used thumb to count, while in America, they use the index finger to count the number of “one”. Besides, the Chinese way of counting on the finger is contrary to that of American way. The former is by bending the fingers from a stretched palm. The latter is by stretching the fingers from a clenched fist. In China, the gesture of forefinger of one hand stretched, tip touches one’s own face several times quickly, similar to scratching, but with the forefinger upright conveys that “shame on you”. In American culture, to express the same meaning, they would use forefinger of each hand stretched, palms down before somebody’s body, and one forefinger makes several brushing moving over other forefinger.
Actually it is not difficult to understand why Chinese and American express the same meaning with different gestures. For example, “I am up to my throat” is used to describe a person is full in English, so an American often puts a hand on his throat to mean that. In China, when a person is hungry, he will say “My belly (stomach) is hungry”, so when he is full, he will pat his stomach slightly to convey the meaning that he is full. Actually, there are many examples like this in our daily life. Therefore, we can see that body language has a close relationship with a country’s culture. Exactly, our body gesture is another expressive form of our language, while body language is more vivid and brings much fun compared with language.
Although researchers estimate that the human face can display over 250,000 different expressions [21]10, it is still very difficult to find that different facial expressions mean the same in China and America since they share more in common while this phenomenon can be found between the above two countries and Japan. People often feel difficult to understand or wonder why the Japanese smiles when he is embarrassing, angry or sad. In Japanese culture, smile can be used in many occasions to express different meanings. Americans prefer to smile towards strangers in public to show politeness or friendliness, Japanese smile a lot too while Chinese may not have any facial expression which does not mean impo
liteness or unfriendliness. As to eye contacts, since few examples can be found, we have to omit this part.
3.4 Unique body language exists in Chinese and American culture respectively
Since each culture is unique, each culture has its unique body language. There is some certain body language which just exists in one culture, but no other equivalent in the other culture.
There is a lot of unique body language in Chinese culture. In Chinese culture, delivering things to customers or other people with one’s two hands is to show respect to them; when someone pours a cup of tea or a glass of wine for the visitor, the visitor shall open one of or both hands to show thanks; in Chinese culture, a fist with the little finger expanded show the meaning of the last one. Upraised forefinger of each hand coming together in front of the boy until the two touch has the meaning that the boy and the girl is in love or they are a good match. The above body language cannot be found in American culture or other cultures.
At the same time, there are body gestures which only exist in American culture which Chinese do not accept. Sucking nails is to say that one is in the state of a big mental burden or very worried and do not know what to do; braving the nose with one’s thumb and the other four gingers bent actively is to show challenge and defiance; putting one’s arms on the chest with fists clenched and thumbs down, hemming a few times is to show one’s strong objection to the idea or suggestion. American individuals value privacy, and men always maintain a distance of 45-80centimeters between them when they are talking. Males rarely touch each other, except for a brief but firm handshake. They certainly never hold or sit with arms around one another 18. In American culture, shrugging the shoulders can indicate either a feeling of helplessness or of unconcern: “Don't ask me, I don't know what to say,” or, “I couldn't help it.” But Chinese people never do that.
Since the development of history, culture, politics and economy in China is totally different from those in America, the two countries have their unique traditions and customs. And all of these differences have been reflected on various aspects of people’ life including body language. Also, we should always keep in mind that it is the variety of culture that makes the world so colorful.
4. How to improve the ability of intercultural communication
It has been recognized that body language is an essential part in communication process. “He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent, he chatters with his fingertips; betrayals ooze out of him at every pore.” People from different cultures have their own cultural perceptions, beliefs, values, and social customs which greatly determine their communicative ways. Since body language plays an important role in cross-cultural communication, it is very important to grasp body language of another country if we want to communicate with it.
Therefore, in order to improve the ability to communicate with American people, we must follow the tips as shown: (1) be familiar with the body language in America, especially the body language that has different meanings and some special body language; (2) understand the deep cultural backgrounds of body language in America and the discrepancies between Chinese and American cultures; (3) fully respect the body language in American culture and try to learn to communicate with their body language, especially those special ones; (4) in cross-cultural communication, we should publicize the Chinese body language and the corresponding culture to Americans. For the purpose of further understanding the body language in American culture, we need to improve the cognition of the importance of body language from the perspective of culture.
It is not very difficult to communicate with another culture successfully without appropriate manners and behavior. Therefore, knowing more about the culture, and body language in China and America is a very important task when studying English. The learning of English is not only a process of the learning of spoken English and written English but also a process of learning the corresponding body language.
5. Conclusion
Through the above comparison and analysis on body language and its associated culture in China and America, we can learn that there are many similarities and differences between the body language of China and America: (1) “the same body language express the same meaning” can be found a lot in both cultures; (2) “the same body language express different meanings&rd
quo; can be commonly seen, which exists in posture, gestures, facial expressions and eye contracts; (3) “different body language express the same meaning” is less common, which mainly exists in posture and gestures; (4) Both Chinese culture and American one have their own unique body language. As to the reasons of the similarities and differences between the two cultures, the differences in the two countries’ history, culture, habits and language mainly cause the differences in the meanings of body language and the common features in the human community in human’s life and production are the major reasons of the similarities.
Through this dissertation, on the one hand, the body language of the two countries has been compared, on the other hand, the main reasons for the differences in body language between China and America has been analyzed. But the purpose of this paper is to increase students’ awareness of intercultural communication and reaching the aim of a successful and effective communication. So in the process of learning English, we shall pay more attention to or perhaps learn to use American’s body language when we communicating in English. Furthermore, when in cross-culture communication, we will never neglect the cultural differences.
Acknowledgements
I would like to express my deep and sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Lecturer Li Jiangxia, who patiently supervised my dissertation and was at times very willing to offer me illuminating advice or suggestions. Without her help, I could not have finished this dissertation smoothly.
I am also indebted to other teachers and my classmates who have given me a hand when I was faced with some problems. They not only offered me their warm encouragements but also shared with me their ideas and books.
My greatest personal debt is to my beloved family, who have cultivated a soul of sensitivity, hospitality, and honesty out of me, and offered a harbor of happiness and sweetness for me. I gratefully acknowledge the help of them, and for their loving considerations and great confidence in me through all these days.
The remaining weakness and possible errors of the dissertation are entirely my own.
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我谨在此承诺：本人所写的毕业论文《肢体语言在中美文化中的比较》均系本人独立完成，没有抄袭行为，凡涉及其他作者的观点和材料，均作了注释，若有不实，后果由本人承担。
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