A Comparative Study of Verbal Communication and Nonverbal Communication in Cross-cultural Communication 英语专业毕业论文.doc

a comparative study of verbal communication and nonverbal communication in cross-cultural communication introductioncommunication is an indispensable part in peoples activities. it falls into two categories, namely, verbal communication and nonverbal communication. when it comes to communication, people tend to view it as verbal communication. yet besides the language, non-language communication plays a dispensable role in peoples daily life. both depend on each other. .verbal communication in general, verbal communication means that people communicate with each other by means of language. through verbal communication, people will learn who they are, and what the world around them is like. furthermore, verbal communication expresses ones thought and feelings to others, and to satisfy ones emotional and material needs. in humans daily life, communication is something that they do every day. verbal communication is humans main communicative form, in which language is its communicative tool.nonverbal communicationin a broad sense, nonverbal communication refers to all communicative means except verbal communication. according to外语界，上海外国语主办，nonverbal communication may divide into two categories: non-language information sent by body like body language, facial expression, eye contact, physical touch, smell and paralanguage, and nonverbal information connected to environment such as time, space and silence. in a narrow prospect, definitions of nonverbal communication differ from one expert to another. nonverbal communication may convey richer information than that of verbal communication. sometimes, it can send messages independently, and in many situations it is employed in combination with verbal actions to transmit meanings.superiorities of nonverbal communication4.1 comparison of verbal and nonverbal communication in social communication, verbal and nonverbal communication are not absolutely separate each other. both are indispensable and interactive. verbal communication sends information only in a waylanguage. such information may be repeated, explained, complemented and reinforced with the accompaniment of nonverbal behaviors like tone of voices, smiling, nodding, eye movement, facial expression, etc. during peoples face- to -face activities, verbal communication is a principle communicative means, but once verbal and nonverbal communication happen to conflict, nonverbal messages are more powerful in that it may reflect ones true thinking and feelings. why is nonverbal communication more forceful than verbal communication when they conflict? the real value of these two kinds of communications lies in their differences. 4.1.1 one-way information vs. multiple-way messages verbal communication, whose communicative tool is only language, conveys information with the use of verbal messages such as words, sentences and paragraphs. whether sending comprehensive information that what counterpart needs, it depends on his or her reaction. unlike verbal communication that sends information in a single waylanguage, nonverbal communication may provide various ways of learning about others such as other eyes movement, facial expression, postures, gestures and so on. just as chinese saying: to read ones faces. then, verbal communication conveys information with the one- way use of language. however, in fact, language may hardly convey absolutely the senders thought and feelings. sometimes, there is no need to convey ones minds and emotions. whats more, only with the use of language can they not be conveyed. whereas, non-language information sent by body and nonverbal messages connected to environment may tell others. through some nonverbal cues, others are able to understand the senders verbal information in the whole .it naturally leads to the fact that verbal communication sends information in a single way, while nonverbal communication may explain and complement the messages that language can not convey or impossibly convey through various ways.4.1.2 direct vs. indirectverbal communication directly sends information through language, while nonverbal communication indirectly conveys messages through some non-language cues such as body languages, physical touch, spatial use and so on .when communicating through human language, people receive direct information. then, in a conversation, the topic, the content, the direction and the purpose are obvious. communicators are able to directly gain necessary information and they will reach an agreeable idea. nonverbal communication, however, may indirectly bring a great variety of messages. although nonverbal communication differs in different cultures, some basic emotions reflected by behaviors such as smiling, frowning, laughing and crying have common meanings in human communication. a smile signifies happiness, greeting, and welcome; frown may display disagreement, unhappiness, discouragement, dissatisfaction, anger and so on. on the other hand, people in different culture have different attitude towards physical contact, spatial use and so on. such indirect information without the aid of language is more effective than that of verbal language.4.1.3 conscious vs. unconscious it is a usual fact that people think about what they want to say before speaking or writing, more nonverbal messages are not conscious. of course, someone really focus on some of their nonverbal behavior: smiling, as people want to try their best to convince others that they are happy or making sure the handshake is firm to show that they are straightforward and decisive. yet there are so many nonverbal signals that are unlikely for people to consider and dominant over all of them. then, their subtle frowns may deny their smiles, and their eye movement may destroy all the self-confidence of their strong handshakes. the unconscious nature of most nonverbal behavior explains the reason why it can offer so many valuable cues about how others are feeling and thinking. verbal communication and nonverbal communication are inseparable. the two depend on each other. thus, both are interactive. it is difficult to image that how they could take into effect without either one. much of the real value of these communications of two kinds lies in their differences. 4.2 function of nonverbal communication nonverbal communication is also called silent language because it does not use sound as media. the messages sent by nonverbal communication are not in such an orderly, sequential manner. nonverbal communication may convey ones soundless and true feelings in the inner world. in interpersonal communication, nonverbal communication is unlikely to be replaced by spoken language. nonverbal communication is the linguistic signal system that people exchange thought, convey information and express emotions. it has its own function. when only used, it has the function of conveying emotions, replacing language, conveying information, showing ceremony and so on. when used together with language, it has the following functions. 4.2.1 emphasizing the information of verbal communication nonverbal signal may underline the information that the verbal communication conveys, and leave a deep impression on others. in a speech, nonverbal transmission is especially important, sometimes even more important than language. when you are giving a speech or talking, nonverbal cues may lead to your success, for it can draw audiences attention and emphasize your speech. in this way, people will have a deep impression on you and a better understanding on what you try to convey in this speech. in addition, nonverbal signals may highlight what one is speaking. for example, when a stranger gets lost in a big city, then turn to you for help, you will describe how to get there, pointing at a landmark. in such way, the stranger makes a clear sense of your words. and this gesture emphasizes what you say. nonverbal signals play a vital role in emphasizing what verbal language is conveying. it may make verbal information clearer, more powerful. 4.2.2 repeating the verbal messages nonverbal communication may reinforce whats said in verbal language. studies show that the information that verbal language conveys is only partly sent to receiver. hence, repeating the verbal messages by nonverbal cues, such as by a gesture, the receiver possesses a better possibility to understand the messages. for instance, people may point at a building after they just say “this is the most beautiful office building here”.4.2.3 complementing more information repetition can reinforce the information, while complementing generally adds more information to messages. for example, if you are delivering a lecture, you may change your tone of voice, for in such way, audience will not feel bored. meanwhile, this way may complement your lecture that is expressing ideas. in addition, if you make an apology to someone, it is more powerful on your face, eyes as well, are saying, “i am sorry”. it is more effective that you could accent your anger by speaking in a much louder voice than in normal. 4.2.4 contradicting the verbal messages nonverbal communication sends signals opposite to the real meaning conveyed in verbal language in some situation. in such occasion, it is easier to bring about misunderstanding. it is often argued that people have a trend to believe the information that nonverbal language conveys when verbal communication and nonverbal communication conflict. some talkers, however, often send their nonverbal cues beyond their conscious control. for example, if you visit a friend, when you are going to leave, your friend enthusiastically say to you, “i really want you to stay a day once again”, opening the door and having a desire to push you outside and shut the door. dont you believe that your friend really want you to stay a day once again in his or her inner world? in such occasion, your friends spoken words make you feel that he/she is quite hospitable, while his/her nonverbal behavior contradicts his/her verbal messages.4.2.5 substituting the verbal words nonverbal signals may be applied to take the place of verbal language to convey certain meanings. for instance, in the basketball match, the referee makes effective use of nonverbal signals to replace a plenty of verbal words to facilitate the match to proceed smoothly. in such noisy climate, nonverbal signals play a great important role. besides, people run into a close friend in a public or the bus stop, they tend to add more smiling and enthusiastically open their arms to greet him/her, which is a substitute for all the words to convey the same meaning.4.2.6 regulating the situation in some occasions, people tend to have a sense to control and manage communicating through the use of some kinds of nonverbal signals. for example, teachers usually make a gesture “stop” tell the students to keep quiet and the class will begin. besides, nodding implies that the speaker is supposed to proceed talking; direct eye contact with someone indicates that the ways of communicating are free. it is the fact that nonverbal signals may help people with the dominance over the situation.nonverbal communication strategies in cross-cultural communication 5.1 nonverbal signals language is viewed as social communicative tool, which is the media of culture and also a part of it. the languages from different ethnic groups mirror different cultural environment, ways of life, thought and ideas, religious ceremony, the ideas of value and thinking habit. every language, including body language and paralanguage carries on the mission of culture and is colored by it. culture influences virtually every aspect of human life and does predominantly peoples behavior, including linguistic behavior. especially, in cross-cultural communication, different cultures have diverse communicative rues, and thus, it is inevitable that the misunderstandings and conflicting in cultures occur among people of different cultures. nonverbal communication is closely associated with culture. then, nonverbal signals in different cultures bring about various meanings. for example, in china and english-speaking countries, whichever smile usually indicates friendliness, agreement, satisfaction, happiness, pleasure, but in some occasions, the chineses smile may lead to western peoples displeasure. it suggests that nonverbal communication and culture are inseparable, and nonverbal signals may also reflect varied cultural differences. the following points about nonverbal signals may witness cultural differences.5.1.1 space distance people in different culture possess various needs of space distance. it is a mirror on culture that how to keep space distance and how distant between two persons in communication. during peoples communication, it is of a great importance for those who are communicating to keep a certain distance, which tells not only the relationship, the state of mental between them, but also reflects nationality and cultural feature. psychologists find that, everyone desires to own a self space that they can control around them.the length of this space varies among different cultural background, environment, occupation and different personalities. according to the american anthropologist edward hall, there are four main categories of distance in europe and america.1. intimate distance ranging from direct contact to about 45cm, which applies to the closest relationships such as husband and wife. 2. personal distance ranging from 45 to 80cm, which is usually maintained for conversations between friends and relatives. 3. social distance ranging from 1.3 to 2 meters, which covers people who work together or are meeting at social gatherings. 4. public distance, which is beyond social distance, such as that kept between a lecturer and his audience. (跨文化交际，p256)this is american spatial use and also mirrors its unique culture. in other cultures, space is used differently. for example, spanish and arab stand quite close to each other while talking. to russian, italian stands too much closer as talking. it is more interesting that when english communicates with italian, italian constantly move towards english, while english continue to step back. as a matter of fact, they want to occupy a suitable position that formed in their own culture. such phenomenon reflects different codes.5.1.2 eye contact “there is language in her eye, her check, her lip”.william shakespeare (跨文化交际).from the quotation, it could be seen that eye contact is a language. what about eye language how much we know? there is a saying: eye contact is an important aspect of body language. one could draw up quite a lot of “rules” about eye contact: to look or not to look, when to look and how long to look, who and who not to look at etc. (跨文化交际) the rules about eye contact above mentioned vary among different cultures. there is a case about the rules from the same book. ( 跨文化交际) for the british, the rule for eye contact when passing strangers in the street is that you must avoid staring at them but at the same time avoid ignoring them .to be more exact, you may look at the approaching strangers until they are about eight feet away.(p253) besides, in western societies, most people expect the person with whom they are communicating to look at them in the eye. and the japanese consider prolonged eye contact to be rude, threatening and disrespectful, while those who are from latin american and caribbean cultures view avoiding eye contact as a sign of respect. arabs, on the other hand, stare directly at the eyes of their interactive partners, and do so for long time. they argue that such eye contact implies interest in others and helps them judge the truthfulness of what others say.in a culture, the rules regulating eye contact also change in different situation: passing strangers in the street and proceeding into a face- to- face communication with someone require a different degree of eye contact. the ceremony of eye contact, a variety of eye behaviors and the function of eye contact in communication reflect various cultural background and diverse national culture.5.1.3 body contact just as language and body language may convey information, body contact also does. yet, times of touch, types of touch and different part of the touch on arm, leg, breast, face, etc. indicate diverse cultures. hence, all kinds of body contact have varied meanings, and different cultures may give people an accurate answer about what it means when they touch some certain parts of ones body. it shows that the properness of body contact varies among different cultures. there is a group of interesting figures about physical contact quoted from 跨文化交际教程，p100. pairs of individuals sitting and chatting in college cafes in different places were observed for at least one hour. the number of times that either one touched the other in each group in that one hour was recorded, with the following results:london:0;gainesille, florida:2;paris:10;san juan, puerto rico:180.these figures speak for themselves.(robinett,1978) physical contact involves on holding hands, patting, hugging, and so on. it is a common phenomenon that holding hands exist in various cultures. in english-speaking countries, it is generally believed that physical contact is not allowed in talking among average friends or acquaintances. it is likely to lead to an unhappy result that you touch someone carelessly. if some touch another one all of a sudden, they tend to ask for an excuse as “sorry, oh, i am sorry,” or “excuse me”. in chinese and other asian cultures there is little body touching in conversation, not alone among in