A Comparative Study Of Chinese And American Nonverbal Communication

Human communication covers two forms: verbal and nonverbal. Verbal communication is commonly regarded as the most important, efficient, powerful means of communication. Thus, by far, much attention has been given to the research on verbal communication and much stress has been laid on the verbal form of intercultural communication, while nonverbal means of human communication is often ignored. However, in face-to-face communication the bulk of information is sent and received through nonverbal channels. This suggests that nonverbal communication also plays a vital role in human communication.However, the systematic research on nonverbal communication from the perspective of intercultural communication in our country has not gone far although some scholars have done some work. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the cultural differences in nonverbal communication between China and America,Based on culture and communication theories, applying contrastive and analytic method, this research intends to study the nonverbal communication between China and America. The materials for contrast and analysis are collected from nonverbal codes of daily use and related authentic works. The most basic, familiar and important nonverbal codes used in Chinese and American daily communication are the objective of this research. The contrastive study is based on five categories of nonverbal communication, namely body language, paralanguage, time language, space language and objectives of language. Abundant examples are provided for the study and some typical cases serve for detailed analysis to offer valid and convincing descriptions.Culture and communication, although being two different concepts, are directly linked. They are so inextricably bound that some anthropologists believe the terms are virtually synonymous. Hall (1976: 14) stated: "Culture is communication and communication is culture." On one hand, culture is learned, acted out, transmitted, and preserved through communication. On the other hand, communication is dependent largely on the culture. Whether we use verbal or nonverbal language in cross-cultural interaction, our listeners' cultural background influences the meaning they attach to what they hear or see. When cultures differ, communication practices may also differ.The main social and cultural reasons for nonverbal differences are discussed in this paper, which can be summarized as the follows: (1) culture and history (2); collectivism vs. individualism. (3); high-context culture vs. low-context culture. Collectivism is at the core of China so it is a high-context culture. It pays attention to interpersonal togetherness and harmony. However American culture is centralized on individualism which pays attention to interpersonal apartness and independence and it is a low-context culture. These cultural differences between Chinese and Americans result in different sets of nonverbal communication.Through contrastive analysis and detailed discussion, this study has proved that cultural differences in nonverbal behaviors between Chinese culture and America culture chiefly manifest themselves in two aspects. In the first place, different gestures or movements carry different cultures can indicate the same message, whereas the same gesture or movement has different meanings in different cultures. So, we must pay attention to the differences of nonverbal behaviors between native and target language and make proper use of them in intercultural communication.The significance of this exploration is evident. Firstly, we realize that in developing students' competence of intercultural communication, the perception of nonverbal communication and the awareness of nonverbal difference are essential. Secondly, in our language teaching nonverbal communication should be stressed. In fact, nonverbal communication has been almost completely neglected in the teaching of both native and foreign languages for a number of historical reasons.Thus, this study aims at arousing readers' awareness of the importance of nonverbal communication and their due interests in the differences between Chinese and American nonverbal communication. Therefore, the competence of intercultural communication can be improved and misunderstanding between people from different countries can be reduced and a better relationship will be build.