There is a famous myth about nonverbal cues in face to face
communication, which states that 93 percent of communication is nonverbal in
nature. We humans are usually dominated by visual so it seems reasonable but there
are other key factors such as culture, age and gender which influence a lot in
communication. As a student studying in foreign country, I have encountered
lots of communication barriers with other people. The only option to convey my message is through nonverbal communication.
Since I arrived in Singapore, I stayed in a hostel for the
very first 3 months before I moved out and stayed with my friend. I have no
relatives and friends in Singapore and my hostel mates were my immediate acquaintance
and they came from parts of Asia such as Tibet, India, Laos, Vietnam, China and
Indonesia. So my very first experience in Singapore was more like living in collective
of different foreign countries in a small place than living in a foreign country.
Although we all have good command of English as a second
language, but there are times it seems impossible for us to convey the right
message. After reflecting my experience in hostel, I realized one of the most
important factors which can only be shown by nonverbal communication, which is
cultural values. As we communicate verbally there are some common traits such as
tone, speed, emphasis, exclamation which are similar across Asian countries and
can be categorized in same group but when it comes to nonverbal communication, it
is unique even for people from same country with different ethnic background.
Nonverbal communication can also be transmitted by the
attire. It reminds me of the famous case of Barbie dolls in Iran. In short, Western
culture decedents Barbie dolls wear revealing dress and this culture is totally
diverse from values of women in middle east culture. Many Iranians believed that these Barbie dolls were imposing threats to their culture and eventually all Barbie dolls were banned in toy shops. We may not intend to offend through our attire, but
sometimes our attire also plays crucial parts in transmitting nonverbal cues in
different culture and gender.
In Asian culture, we may be familiar with paying respectful manner
to elders and toning down when we talk to elders but both verbal and nonverbal
communication may not match across different countries. In order to avoid
misunderstanding we must first respect and study the culture when we do intercultural
communication so that we can earn the respect and trust from members of the other culture.
Edited on 2/19/2016
Edited on 2/19/2016
