« I Feel Pretty » A film that I have not regretted watching it. It is the story of a girl who doesn’t feel very beautiful and who doesn’t have a “model shape” and because she feels ugly she has a life far below her abilities. This girl doesn’t dare to apply for a job, she also has few friends, she stops dreaming; even in the street, she is quite discreet, and therefore her life goes by like that without flavor, without color. All of her non-verbal communication is moreover “pulled down” with loose gestures, a curved back. And at some point, the girl falls and hits her head, but when she gets up, she looks in the mirror and suddenly she is very beautiful. She loves her body, her face, her head and all the details that go with it, she is wonderful, she changes her whole vision, it’s always the same, but she looks at herself differently. In short, she opens up to the world and finally dares. Obviously, falling on the head is a metaphor to explain this moment of “letting go” when she stops judging herself and being much too severe with herself. Therefore, communication styles change according to cultures because non-verbal communication, made up of body language and eye contact, is more or less used according to cultures, and in different ways. Especially, since we are in a world crossed by globalization and the development of means of communication, so individuals are constantly brought to meet people from different cultures, that is, to participate in intercultural communication. It is sure that now you want to know what is the impact of culture of each country on the individual’s non-verbal communication? How important is body language in society? What is the impact of cultural differences?

We don’t need to hit our heads to accept ourselves; when Amy Shumer the heroine of “I Feel Pretty”, starts believing in herself, she improves her communication, in both levels verbal and non-verbal communication because Humans don’t communicate by words alone. We are concerned too, the ways we communicate, our behavior affects the meaning, and one wrong gesture will damage our self-image that we tried to project. Especially in intercultural situations, the risk of error in interpretations of our behaviors is higher due to the cultural differences that affect the social interactions between cultures. The common definition of cultural differences includes the various beliefs, behaviors, languages, practices, and expressions considered unique to members of a specific ethnicity, race, or national origin. To keep it simple we will take into consideration only this definition but many authors give other dimensions of cultural differences. In the 21st century, cultural diversity increased as Moran (2007) said “We are beginning to realize that we create the world in which we live ”, which means that awareness and learning growth too, here appears the importance of intercultural relations to improve our knowledge and lives; communicators use non-verbal communication to attend their purpose easier, as we already mentioned, people don’t use just words, but also body language, feeling, and emotions. Non-verbal communication is as well useful in situations where we should communicate with people we don’t speak their language.

Take the first example, if you are European and travel to Japan and you don’t speak Japanese, you don’t have a translator, so you can’t use verbal communication to communicate with people. You go to a restaurant, for example, and order those dishes that you need to shake hands while showing something of your choice. Another example is the fact that nodding can also mean various things that can cause problems when the person nods to say “yes”, others think it means “no” in Japan when you nod, they may think it is a sign that you are listening. Non-verbal communication can also take other forms: eye contact, Western cultures generally regard eye contact as a good thing such as showing attention and confidence; while Asians and Middle Eastern consider this disrespectful. Gestures like the thumbs up can be interpreted according to each culture: that something is good and better for one country, and considered as a vulgar in another country. Besides, some cultures use the fingers to capture a person’s attention, while others view them as disrespectful to people (in the Middle East, for example), also Americans use the sign “O” (with the index and thumb finger) to indicate that something is better, while for Japan it means” money “, for the French, the Belgians, the Argentines and the Portuguese, it means a zero or something null. We can also speak of facial expressions: the face shows feelings and emotions as a wink; In Latin America, this gesture is often considered a romantic or sexual gesture, for the Chinese it is considered a rude gesture.

For further examples, South African nonverbal gestures vary from location and age. Because of segregation before the late 20th century, people did not make an effort to learn the manners of other people. Blacks outnumbered whites, but whites were richer and held more political power. Whites considered themselves superior. Because of this history, there is some miscommunication between the two races. For example, in rural African areas, it is considered rude to make eye contact with anyone superior. But in more populated areas eye contact is expected. This makes it difficult for white employers who think not making eye contact means they are lying or have something to hide. Similar to the United States, body language affects the way people view others and their social status. Their clothing, the way they stand, the firmness of their handshake all determine how others view them. A man viewed as well dressed, sitting tall and proper, and has a nice, firm handshake is looked at as a man with a lot of power. Whereas a man who is dressed unprofessionally, slouches or has a weak handshake is viewed not as superior. South Africans are very expressive with hand gestures. Let’s take an example of hand gestures used: Beating upon your breasts with your hands is viewed as a form of prayer among members of the Bantu tribe.

In conclusion, nonverbal miscommunication can happen because of all sorts of reasons. Cultural barriers, gender differences, and age differences are only three of the factors that can cause nonverbal miscommunication. Different cultures think that some nonverbal gestures are rude, while others may think it is only polite. An example of this is eye contact. American culture expects direct eye contact to show respect, while many other cultures believe it is rude. Women use a more emotional approach to nonverbal communication and are good at picking up cues, while men are not so emotional and need more obvious cues to pick up on nonverbal communication. When it comes to age, older generations have a hard time communicating with millennia children because the younger generation can not read nonverbal cues. We can overcome these barriers by adapting how we use our nonverbal communication depending on what situation we are in.

Authors

• BAHMANI Samira
• BAKHTYARI Asmae
• BELAABAD Intissar
• AAMIRA Ayoub
• BELMACHIA Alaaeddine

References

• Leatherq Dale and H.Eaves Michael (2016), Successful nonverbal communication: Principles and applications-Routled  (google books )
• Reisinger and al.(2003), Cross-cultural behavior in tourism: Concepts and analysis – Taylor & Francis (ScholarVox Management)
• Moran and al. (2007), Managing cultural differences, 7 ed, butterworth Heinemann Elsevier (google books )
• Ntuli Danisile Cynthia(2012), Intercultural Misunderstanding in South Africa: An Analysis of Nonverbal Communication Behaviour in Context, University of South Africa, PDF
• Trailer “I Feel Pretty”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVx9EFK3DWE
• Definition of cultural differences: https://www.mightyrecruiter.com/recruiter-guide/hiring-glossary-a-to-z/cultural-differences/
• South African culture: https://culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/south-african-culture/south-african-culture-communication