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Gestures and physical movements are parts of our communication.

2023.05.29

Photo Credit: Andrea Piacquadio @ pexels.com

 

In many countries, people often use hand gestures, such as “beat” gestures, to make communication easier. There is scientific research showing that “beat” gestures improve children's narrative discourse performance. Other studies illustrate that people can more easily realise the meanings of words when hand gestures are used during a conversation than during a conversation without gestures.

 

As there are different languages depending on cultures, different hand gestures are used from country to country. For example, Japanese people wave their hands when they want to call over somebody, or ask somebody to move forward. More specifically, they repeatedly drag their four fingers inwards to their palm, before then straightening them again. These beckoning gestures have an opposite meaning in Western culture. People in Western countries use similar gestures when they want to say goodbye.

 

Japanese people wave their hands left to right in front of their faces when they want to say 'no'. However, people in Western countries use a similar expression when something smells bad.

 

Not only hand gestures, but also physical behaviours are culturally different. At this point I would like to introduce my experience in the UK when I was a postgraduate student. When I was a college student in Japan, I thought it was okay to sniffle quietly when I had a runny nose. I did not care about other people's sniffling sounds, unless they were loud. However, when I was a postgraduate student in the UK, I realised that making a sniffling sound is very rude in Western cultures. When I was studying in a university library with my friend from Luxemburg, a male student next to us sniffled many times. I did not care about it so much, but suddenly my friend from Luxemburg stood up and whispered into my ear, 'I can't stand that sound, Chika. I'm gonna leave'. She looked very angry, and I was extremely surprised to learn the reason for this anger. I realised that it is better to blow one’s nose in Western countries even if it makes a sound. It may not be good to make a big noise, though.

 

Of course, it is very important to learn other languages. However, as we can see in the examples of this blog, physical movements or behaviours also have huge impacts on our communication. While learning foreign languages, it may be interesting to observe the physical movements or behaviours which are common in our own countries, and think about how these common behaviours are considered in other countries.

 

 

Questions:

 

Question 1: What kinds of hand gestures do Japanese people use when they want to call somebody over?

 

Question 2: What does the beckoning gesture of Japanese people mean in Western countries?

 

Question 3: What kinds of hand gestures do Japanese people use when they want to say 'no'?

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers

 

 








Answers:

 

Answer 1: They drag their four fingers inwards to their palm, before then straightening them again and repeating the gesture.

 

Answer 2: It means 'goodbye'.

 

Answer 3: They repeatedly wave their hand left to right in front of their faces.

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