On The Differences Between Chinese Culture And American Culture In Nonverbal Communication And English Teaching

"Of course, language is the most important channel of communication in human interaction, but it is not the only one, for example, many nonverbal symbols are necessary in communication. In fact, social communication is effected both verbally and nonverbally. "(Chen Yuan, 1983:177 ). We can draw an important information from Chen Yuan's words: Nonverbal communication is an essential part of human communication. To a certain extent, effective communication depends on nonverbal messages. Ignorance of nonverbal messages will result in incomplete communication. Nonverbal and verbal communication together forms the whole process of communication. They are intercomplementary and interemphatical. At the same time, each has its own characteristics.As to what is nonverbal communication, different people have different definitions. Generally speaking, nonverbal communication refers to the information that is transmitted from senders to receivers when the dominant meaning is not conveyed by the use of words. Another way to put it is that nonverbal communication is all those stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source and his or her use of the environment and that have potential message value for the source or receiver.(TangDe gen 2000:384) It includes several major categories :chronemics, proxemics, paralanguage, object language or artifacts. All of these elements constitute the basic components of nonverbal communication. Nonverbal communication is a subtle, multidimensional, and usually spontaneous process. Sometimes we are not aware of most of our own nonverbal behaviors, which is enacted mindlessly, spontaneously, and unconsciously. We all take these nonverbal behaviors for granted, but they do exert an immense impact on communication. While studying human communication, people used to stress what is said at the expense of how it is said. They missed the importance of nonverbal communication. As important as verbal language is to a communication event, nonverbal communication is just as, if not more, important. For instance, research shows that when we meet someone for the first time, only 7%of our initial impact on others is determined by the content of what we say, the other 93%of our message is made up of body language (55%)and the tone of our voice (38%). ( Levine et al,1982: 43 ) Some early estimates about the impact of nonverbal communication ranged from about 65 to 93 % of the overall meaning of any message. (Samovar et al,1981: 155) Subsequent research suggested that close to one third is derived from nonverbal information. (Birdwhistell 1970: 371) In a project that examined studies of nonverbal, more recent research suggests that about two thirds of the meaning of messages is communicated nonverbally. The phonetician Divid Aberombie claimed that "we speak with our organs, but we converse with our entire bodies" (Aberomibe 1968) . Further research has suggested that nonverbal aspect outweighs the verbal in both accuracy and validity. Maybe the importance of nonverbal communication is overstated in the above-mentioned opinions. But nonverbal communication does play an important part in human interaction. Communication is much more than the words we say.Culture is everything and everywhere. This omnipresent quality of culture leadsHall ,an anthropologist ,to conclude that "there is not one aspect of human life that is not touched and altered by culture" . (Hall. 1959:169) Culture and communication, although two different concepts, are directly linked, because culture is learned, acted out, transmitted, and preserved through communication. "Culture is communication and communication is culture" . (Hall. 1977:14) Nonverbal communication, as an important way of communication, is the carrier of culture. Different cultures develop different systems of nonverbal communication. Thus, what might be a sign of greeting in one culture could well be a sign of obscene gesture in another, what might be a symbol of affirmation in one culture could be meaningless or even signify negatio...