The Definitive Book of Body Language

The Definitive Book of Body Language

and you step to your left, they step to their right. Wearing sun-

glasses in foreign countries is the single biggest cause of

pavement collisions between cultures because no one can see the

other person's gaze to know which way they intend to step. But

it's a novel way of meeting new and interesting foreigners.

You'd also be stunned when you go to shake hands to say

goodbye to an Italian but, instead, you get a kiss on both cheeks.

As I departed, the Italian man kissed me on both cheeks.

I was tying my shoelaces at the time.

WOODY ALLEN

As you talk with local Italians, they seem to stand in your
space, continually grabbing you, talking over the top of you,
yelling in fact, and sounding angry about everything. But these
things are a normal part of everyday friendly Italian commu-
nication. Not all things in all cultures mean the same things.

Take the Cultural Test

How aware are you of cultural differences in body language?
Try this exercise — hold up your main hand to display the
number five - do it now. Now change it to the number two. If
you're Anglo-Saxon, there's a 96% chance you'll be holding up
your middle and index fingers. If you're European, there's a
94% chance you'll be holding up your thumb and index finger.
Europeans start counting with the number one on the thumb,
two on the index finger, three on the middle finger, and so on.
Anglo-Saxons count number one on the index finger, two on
the middle finger and finish with five on the thumb.

Now look at the following hand signals and see how many
different meanings you can assign to each one. For each correct
answer, score one point and deduct one point for an incorrect
answer. The answers are listed at the bottom of the page.