COMMUNICATION

Which ones are the main Cultural Differences in Non-verbal Communication?

The non verbal communication can be defined as the stimuli that are nonverbal and that have a meaning and a potential message to the reciever. 

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It true that the personal appereance is something that we use as a reference to judge someone, that is why many people consider it being an important part of the nonverbal communication. 

Another example is the posture, the body movement and the gestures. In cultures such as China and Japan the way you greet someone is consider to be sign of respect. Even gestures as simple as the ones we use to point something, vary depending on the culture (Americans points with the index finger, Japanese with the entire hand). 

Other important types of this way of communication are the touch,  the facial expresions and the eye contact. 

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When someone is in a multicultural environment, he must take into account this type of communications since, for many cultures,  the nonverbal codes are as much as important as verbal. Also, for the western cultures (for example) there are many ways to express or to communicate something that could be offensive in Eastern cultures.