The non-verbal communication is one of the aspects of communication that has always intrigued me. It is fascinating to note that each culture has a special meaning to the appearance, body gestures, face and eye contact. Hand signals are used in various fields, for instance commodities brokers on the floor of the stock exchange have a highly codified set of hand signals to communicate. In sports, referees, players, and managers all have their own non-verbal way of talking to each other, whether it's signalling a penalty in soccer, motioning to a teammate, or repositioning a player.
From the comedy show of Russell Peters, I found out that the Italians are the people who use their hands the most in communicating. If you speak Italian without using your hands, no matter how good your Italian is, they will think it lacks sense. It is claimed that most of them even express themselves with the hands when speaking on the phone. This is indeed hilarious. Italians use body language and hand gestures to punctuate an expression and give it shading that the word or phrase itself lacks. There is one video from ‘YouTube’ that I found out was really fun and would like to share with you.
There is one hand motion in Italian that means, ‘what the f**k’ and the same one in the Indian culture means, ‘I’m hungry’. Now imagine you are in Italy and one hungry Indian guy enters an Italian restaurant and demonstrate this hand motion. How would you deal with this situation?
UCS1001 S21 Tri1 2024-25
3 weeks ago
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Good post, Yuvraj, and interesting question. Let's see how folks respond.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, having lived in Portugal, I can say that they too are very communicative with their hands. My wife, who was brought up in the Portuguese community in Malacca, also uses many hand gestures while speaking. She has said that if she can't move her hands, she feels like she isn't talking.
Dear Yuvraj,
ReplyDeleteInteresting post and youtube clips about hand gestures. I didn't realize that Italian are so fond of using their hand gestures when communicating.
In the blog post do you mean that i am one of the customer in the resturant and witness the indian lad gesturing "I'm hungry" hand sign ? Personally, i'll see how the situation goes. The feelings of the italians dinners around him will probably range from being very furious to indifferent. Those who feel offended by his hand sign would be furious and may ignite a quarrel. However, there are probably some who are accomodating who think that his hand signal mean something else as he is a foreigner. I think how the siutation turns out depends greatly on the EQ and knowledge of the diner.
Hi Yuvraj, I was trying to remember all those words from the clip while watching! It is pretty interesting!
ReplyDeleteI think if I were in that situation, I will hope and pray very hard that the Italians will not react to what the Indian guy. So ideal, but if there is really a disrupt (not so serious), maybe can help to be that mediator between the two parties?
At the end of the day, I would think there must be a certain "space" between people of different cultures because it gives allowance for differences and so long as it is able to be controlled within that "space", we should learn to accomodate as much as possible.
Hey Yuvraj,
ReplyDeleteI agree with Brad and Terry. Really interesting post. Like Terry, I too had no idea the Italians used their hands to complement this many words!
As for your hypothetical situation, I guess it would be pretty easy for me, given the fact that I'm Indian. I would just play 'middle-man' and relay the Indian guy's TRUE intentions to the waiter.
Cheerz!
Ps: I would also ask the Indian guy to watch his hand gestures henceforth... ;)
Hi Yuvraj,
ReplyDeleteAfter watching the relevant Russell Peters video, I found your post even more interesting. I gesture a lot when talking sometimes but they have no meaning. I think in Chinese culture, too much gesturing by a female speaker can be considered unfeminine and unbecoming. :(
Frankly, the only thing I know about Italy is pasta before this. When in Rome, do what Romans do. I would tell the Indian guy in a teasing form of way what does he think that gesture meant in Italy? Also, I believe we should always have tolerance for other cultures.
If all else fails, the Indian accent is the best for relieving tension, remember?
Too many inside jokes in this comment.
Thanks everyone for the comments.
ReplyDeleteI was also amazed with the Italians way of non-verbal communication and this is why I posted this post. This post is just a way to make us realise how important this way of communication is.
Even I use a lot of hand gestures that I never realise, but now I pay special attention whenever I try to use them.
I sincerely believe that non-verbal are an essential component for all of us especially when delivering presentations and for job interviews.