Importance of Non Verbal Communication

Nonverbal Communication defined as a communication without words. By this means the communication which is understood by the style, gesture, posture, facial expressions and the other body Language. It has been mentioned by the many people that nonverbal communication covers the 90% of the total communication and only 10% of the total communication is covered by the verbal communication. The common and few example of nonverbal communication are shown below which doesn’t require any words as it understood by the expression and sign which isn’t difficult for the receiver to understand it. Here are the most common Signs which people mostly found on the roads are,

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The above pictures represent: (1) Restaurant. (2) Vehicle Fuel Station. (3) You Turn. (4) No U-Turn. Here are the few example of symbols or expression which people shows

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The above pictures represent: (1) Anger (2) Too much noisy, can’t hear anymore (3) Thinking (4) Worried.

Importance of Non Verbal Communication in the light of Global Business is very important, because it is not necessary that each sign/expression or symbol has the same meaning globally. For instance there are few signs which have different meaning in the different states. Few of these signs are, thumbs Up, the fig sign, The V-Sign, The O.K/Perfect Sign, eye to eye contact, head Shaking, doubt on discount or 100% return, and etc. The hand gestures have different meaning in different states and even few states have no meaning at all. The Thumbs Up, has a generic meaning for 'well done ', “Appreciation” or 'things are great '. In the Western culture, it is a positive and informal sign. In the Middle East, Latin America, Greece, Russia and West Africa, thumbsup is in total contradiction. Showing this hand gesture means insulting other, on the other hand this also considered as a abusive such as Brazil, somehow in Australia with little upward motion.
From Left to Right , Thumps UP, O.K Sign, V-shape palm Outward & palm inward.

The O.K sign means its O.K somewhere and somewhere just a sign of complimenting. In Japan It represents Money, However it some countries it has no use or has occasional use. In Germany and Brazil it can be found as abusive in different region. In Turkey it shows that someone is homosexual. The V-shape Palm Outward & V-Shape Inward has mostly means Peace, in few countries it has no use, however in less countries it has also been considered as an abusive or vulgar usage. For instance, In Australia The V-shape palm inward also considered as an abusive and palm outward means “Two Beers Please” few times it is considered as “Victory” or “Peace” also. In United Kingdom the V-shape Palm Inward considered as an Abusive.

Except these four signs there is another hand gestures which has different meaning i-e The Fig shape. The fig shape represent good luck Charm in Brazil and Portugal, but however it’s highly obscene in Turkey, France, Greece and Others.

Beside the hand gestures there are few facial expressions which vary culture to culture. For instance, Head shaking, in few countries upward and downward head shaking consider as YES answer and left and Rightwards Considered as No or Refusal. Whereas other countries have inverse i-e upward and downward considered as a No/Refusal and Left and Rightward consider as YES. In few Countries people get confused when a company offered them a 100% money back guaranty. Lastly, Eye to Contact has a big difference among the cultures for instance in Pakistan, India. If people talk with eye to eye contact with elders and parents, it is considered as a shameless or disrespectful. Whereas in the U.S.A and etc, if you didn’t talked with eye contact that considered as disrespectful.

In a nonverbal Communication people aren’t using the words to communicate but their body language and expression tells everything to the receiver/audience. It must be highly recommended to learn this, as it has different meaning of different postures, gestures and expressions in the different States.
(Amar Veer)

References http://rninomiya.wordpress.com/tag/cross-culture/( O.K sign japan) http://www.hellobackpacker.com/cgi-bin/gestures.pl http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-tips-articles/the-vsign-around-the-world-learn-the-meaning-ofhand-gestures-624731.html http://iteslj.org/Articles/Darn-Nonverbal/

References: http://rninomiya.wordpress.com/tag/cross-culture/( O.K sign japan) http://www.hellobackpacker.com/cgi-bin/gestures.pl http://www.articlesbase.com/travel-tips-articles/the-vsign-around-the-world-learn-the-meaning-ofhand-gestures-624731.html http://iteslj.org/Articles/Darn-Nonverbal/