The Cultur al Difference Of Nonverbal Communication
in Cross-culture Business Negotiations
Chen Si
English (Normal) Major (2006～2010), Sanming University, Sanming, Fujian 365004
Abstract：Ever since China joins to the WTO, international business increased a lot. However many business negotiations end with failure. The most important factor which affects the success of business negotiation is cross-cultural communication. The study of cross-cultural communication includes language communication and non-verbal communication.People usually pay attention to verbal communication in general during communication. They believe that language is the only way to transmit and comprehend information,while ignoring the importance of non-verbal communication. This paper attempts to introduce the basic ideas of non-verbal communication and apply relevan t principles to account for some cross-culture business negotiation skills through case stud ies.This paper aims to make people understand the importance of non-verbal communication and the non-verbal language difference which is influenced by different social backgrounds so as to avoid business negotiations failure.
Key Words：nonverbal communication; business negotiations; culture difference
1.Introduction
With the development of social economy and high technology, China's exchanges with other countries become more and more frequent, the study of cross-cultural communication is also developed.Ever since China joins to WTO, international business activities increased a lot.For businessmen who engaged in international business communication, it’s necessary to understand cross-cultural communication
knowledge and skills so as to reduce or eliminate misunderstanding of non-verbal language which may caused friction and conflict. The study of cross-cultural communication can improve the communication efficiency which is of great practical significance. It will affect the success of international business communication .
The cross-cultural communication study includes the verbal communication and non-verbal communication. According to a survey of interpersonal communication by Rey ? L ? Bodekesi: During the process of communicat ing of two person s,the information conveyed through language is only 35% of the total, while the remaining 65% is transmitted through the movements, posture, distance from each other and other non-verbal behaviours.[3] (155)However, during communication, people usually only pay attention to verbal communication in general. They believe that language is the only way to transmit and comprehend information,while ignoring the importance of non-verbal communication.
2. A Brief Introduction to Nonverbal Communication
Burgoon and Saine define "Nonverbal Language"as follows: Nonverbal Communication is all the communication movements except the language behaviour. Nonverbal communication refers to the actions which are sent out purposely, received with consciousness and may have a response. [2](1)Since nonverbal communication contains too many things and can be divided into many different systems, it’s impossible to deal with all non-verbal communication theories in details. So this paper will just focus on three major strategies of nonverbal communication which are devided by Bi Jiwan. The three major strategies are body language,paralanguage and environment language.[2](6-7)
2.1 Body language
According to Ekman and Friesen's body language classification, the body language can be divided into five categories. That is embloms, illustrators, affect
display, regulators and adaptors. The classification is based on the causes of the behaviour, the usage, and the code. [1] (13-18)
First, emblems. Emblems is the type of action which has a clear meaning, often used replace the language acts. Emblems often have a clear cultural identity.
Second, illustrators. Illustrators is a type of action which can illustrate the meaning of the conversation with the help of language. It can be used for stress, description, characterization and so on.
Third,affect display.Affect display is a type of action mainly displa y ed through some facial expressions or other body parts’ movement which will reveal the speakers’ emotion or mood.
Fourth, regulators.Regulators is a kind of movements which can be used to maintain or adjust the conversation atmosphere. People can advice the speaker to continue to talk, to repeat, or to further explain with the help of regulators. Regulators can be used in Turn-taking.
Fifth,Adaptors.Adaptors can be divided into three types: self-adaptors, alter-directed and object-adaptors.Under normal circumstances, people will have many self-adaptor actions when they suffer from nervousness, such as eyes movements or perspiration. Alter-directed a daptor actions often occur when people have conversation with others.I t often happens unconsciously, such as step forward or backward. Object-adaptor actions usually relate to the use of some objects, such as smoking, writing, graffiti and so on. [2] (15)
2.2 Paralanguage
Paralanguage is the voice which often accompany with language. Samovar define "Paralanguage"as follows: paralanguage is a kind of sound behaviour which can accompany, interrupt or temporarily replace the language. It can accompany the language through the tone, volume, speed, clarity and parlance. It can interrupt the conversation with the voice such as “uh, umm, uhhuh”.It can replace the language, for example, use the voice “brr” instead of “I am cold”. [3] (177-178)In a word, it is necessary to pay attention to different attitude of silence, turn-taking and non-verbal sound in different culture during the process of international business communication.
In fact,sometimes people will use silence instead of words as a response during their conversation. Brosnahan states that “Chinese people like to remain silence. They often treat people with silence and refuse to answer questions.” [2] (182) However, people in English-speaking countries will feel insulted in such situation.So the Chinese businessmen should remember that it’s better to response others in conversation while listening.
The second way to response others is turn-taking.Turn-taking in paralanguage refers to the voice or words that the speaker uses to suggest the audience that he will give up, return or maintain the topic. It will help to avoid the embarrassed situation caused by science.
The third way is nonverbal sound. Non-verbal sound is the voice which has no language meaning but can transmit some information. The sound mainly relate to volume control, body sounds and onomatopoeia.
2.3 Environment Language
Environment language is the study of the environmental impact in cross-cultural communication. It includes time and space in this paper..
2.3.1 M e ssage of space.
Hall believes that space change would have an impact on communication. It can enhance the effectiveness of communication [4] (180).Hall divides space into three types: fixed-feature space, semi-fixed-feature space and informal space.Fixed-feature space is the space which is comparted by walls or other objects, such as the meeting room. Semi-fixed-feature space is the space which is comparted by by larger objects such as meeting table. Informal space refers to the bubbles of personal space which is maintained by people during communication. The bubble of personal space includes space、territory、territoriality and proximity. “People will protect their bubbles of personal space during the process of communication by instinct.”[8] (180)
2.3.2 M e ssage of time.
Hofstede divides time into two categories: monochoronic time and polychronic time. Monochoronic time emphasizes on "an effective Itinerary" and "speed". People in western countries, such as the North Americans, Swiss, Germans and so on tend to
use monochoronic time. While polychronic time emphasizes on " multi-purposes at the same time". In the Middle East and Latin American countries, many people are accustomed to the polychronic time and have relaxed timetable and information feedback extension.[6] (186)
3.The Case study of Cultur al Difference
Of Nonverbal Communication
Through the practice, people find that "cultural mistake" is much more serious than “language mistake”. As a result, the words don’t transmit the ideas clearly if people make language mistakes. While the cultural mistakes, might lead to a serious misunderstanding between the natives and the aliens. Sometimes it will cause hostility between each other.[16] (255)
3.1The Culture Difference of Body Language
Case 1:
At an international airport in an Arab country, a Chinese engineer wanted to express his appreciation attitude while checking the luggage. As he knew no Arabic, the only way for him was to shake hands with the officer.
Both of the engineer’s hands were full—his left hand was holding a small traveler’s bag and his right hand a piece of luggage. For the sake of convenience, the engineer quickly put the bag into his right hand and extended his left one to the officer—he was expecting a hand shake with the officer.
Something happened unexpectedly. The officer’s smiling face turned pale and the smile disappeared at once. Instead of a courteous handshake, he slapped that engineer’s extended hand and walked away. [7]（63）
Analysis:Personal body movements and facial expressions can convey information which sometimes can cooperate with the language, and sometimes even can replace the language to convey information.What is wrong with the Chinese engineer in the case above? The point is that: he extends his left hand (instead of his
right one) to the Arab officer for a handshake. What that engineer do not know is that, in Arab culture, left hand is dirty, and it is regarded as an insult if someone uses it for a handshake. [7]（64）
It is true that a business person could not have a complete knowledge of all other culture and customs. However, as a business person, he should learn as much as possible. Actually, more and more Western business magazines and journals have become more and more interested in study on cultur al differences and teaching their business people how to behave accordingly in another culture.
People of different cultures will have different understanding about body language.Business Communication is not only the exchanges and cooperation in the economic field, but also the exchange and communication between cultures,and cultural factors always play a crucial role.The same movements or expressions in different cultures may stand for different meaning. For example, Americans use thumb and index finger to make a circle instead "OK" as a symbolic gesture.But, in Japan, it is stand for "coin", the shape of "money".So in Japan the gesture means the money.In France, in most cases, the gesture means "zero" or "no value" .Use the same gesture on the same occasion c an means different kinds of meaning in different cultur e and cause different kinds of response s.The same gesture, the Americans means "OK"; the Japanese means "money", they want to know something about the price; French means "no value". In a word, in the process of business communication businessmen should know some cultural habits to avoid unnecessary misunderstanding.
3.2 The Cultur al Difference of Paralanguage
Case 2:Some Japanese businessmen went to the United States for a large trade negotiation.At the beginning of the negotiations, U.S. representatives spoke a lot. They want to reach an agreement quickly. However, the Japanese representatives kept silent. They did’t response except listening and re cording.When the U.S. representatives try to talk with the Japanese,these American managers confused and felt frustrated. Because the American managers sometimes just got a "Hay" or a nod as the answer, even sometimes they got nothing but the silence.Finally, the U.S.
manager concluded: "The Japanese do not want to do business with us.They are so rude, they even do not have a willing to talk with us !" This trade negotiation ended with failure.
Analysis: More often the American-Japanese business communication runs into a loop: the more the American talks, the more silent the Japanese will be—they need time to digest what the American has just said; and the more silence the Japanese respond with, the more the American will talk. For those American managers, perhaps the saying “ enough is enough” is the best expression to describe their irritated feeling or frustration. This helps to explain why the American manager in the case above finally said :"The Japanese do not want to do business with us. They are so rude, they even do not have a willing to talk with us !" [7] (278)
What makes the American-Japanese business communication runs into such a loop is the cultur al difference of the two countries. They have different understanding of silence.Americans believe an eloquent speaker is regarded as a good communicator. For that reason, many Americans assume that one should be eloquent, and this should be the standard applicable everywhere in the world. However, what they do not know is that such a standard does not fit into the Japanese context. The Japanese culture, on the contrary, takes silence as an earnest way to think about what others have said (or are saying). Moreover, Japanese distrust “s peakers”. As the Japanese proverb goes intosilence, “he who kno ws does not speak, and he who speaks does not know.” That’s the reason why many Japanese often remain silent or pause for a long time before they say anything. As far as silence is concerned, Japanese have all kinds of silence, each of which carries different meanings. And this is something many American managers have little knowledge about. [7] (277)
In a word,we must pay attention to the turn-taking skills during business conversation. In English-speaking countries, silence is the worst response during the communication. Because they believe response is a expression of respect and attention. We must use non-verbal signals from time to time to maintain a context with others during business communication.
3.3 The Culture Difference of Environment Language
3.3.1Mess a ge of space
Case 3:
An American went to an Arab country to meet his Arab counterpart for a business talk. The talk went on smoothly and both sides felt pleased.
At the break, both stood talking casually. However, the Arab manager considered they knew each other quite well and that , therefore, they should stand closer to show their closeness in their bilateral relationship. So he moved closer to the American manager. The American manager was surprised by the move. Then he thought maybe that ac tion was unintentional on the Arab manager’s part. He showed no sign in understanding the Arab’s move, and just stepped back a bit to keep the distance.
Unfortunately, the Arab manager’s further move made the American manager feel uncomfortable. However, as that was his first trip there, he did not want to spoil the nice talk by a trivial matter and make both sides embarrassed. So he quietly stepped back. This action was repeated several times until finally the American manager’s back touched the wall—there was no more room for him to step back any further. Both the American and Arab managers felt frustrated by the situation, yet none of them could make out why the other side would take the adverse way for the distance between them. [7]（68）
Analysis:“People will protect their bubbles of personal space during the process of communication by instinct.”[8] (180)The bubble of personal space includes space、territory、territoriality and proximity. Different people will have different sizes of bubbles. Americans re cognize “social” distance,covering people who work together or are meeting at social gatherings,tends to be kept 1.3 to 2 meters. However，the Arabs get used to standing close to each other,but that would be the last thing the Americans will do as they d on’t want to take the risk of exchanging breath with other people. [9] (115)Hall believes that any change of space would have an impact on communication effectiveness.Sometimes it can enhance the communication effectiveness . [4] (180) However, improper handling of spatial information may result in misunderstanding of business communication and sometimes it may be understood as a violation of the personal sphere which will lead to business failure. In a word,
businessmen should keep certain space with other partners to avoid such problem in the business communication process.
3.3.2M e ssage of time
Case 4: Some American managers went to China for a large trade negotiation. In the trade negotiations meeting,U.S. representatives wanted to discuss the price, delivery date, transport means, warrantee, service contracts and other detail issues in several meetings, and then signed a contract.They want to finish the trade negotiations as soon as possible. However, the Chinese representatives related all the relevant issues as a whole at the first meeting,but did not draw specific conclusions. The Chinese representatives wanted to reach a long-term co-operation program, so they spent some time in drawing the beautiful picture of the future cooperation between the two companies and developing a good relationship of each other. However, the American representatives believed that those Chinese managers were impracticably.They thought the Chinese managers wasted too much time in talking about the future which did not happen yet. They hoped their partners would be efficient and practical. As a result, the United States representatives canceled the cooperation plan with the Chinese companies.
Analysis:According to Hofstede,b usinessmen should pay attention to the design of business activities schedule according to different opinions of schedule plan between the East and West countries.[6](P186)
The westerners, such as the North Americans, Swiss and German, tend to monochoronic time,which stressed that "an effective Itinerary" and "speed". In western countries, people (especially Americans) like to pursuit speed and efficiency. They will try to shorten the negotiations’ time, and strive to reach an agreement as soon as possible.For them, the efficiency of a negotiation depends on the number of the solved problems. When facing with a complex business negotiations, westerners often would break down large tasks into a series of small tasks and the final agreement is a summary of a series of small agreements.
On the contrary, in the Middle East and Latin American countries, many people are accustomed to the polychronic time, which stressed that " multi-purposes at the
same time". Chinese people like to build up a friendship first, because they believe a good friendship is the security for the future cooperation. For the Chinese people, it is normal to discussed several topics at the same time. So sometimes the Chinese businessmen will rediscuss the topics which have been discussed before.[6] (186) Conferring and agreeing upon all aspects of the agenda for the negotiation is the most important step in the long process of the relationship building. It’s necessary for a successful deal. In fact, sometimes the quality of the deal becomes secondary to that relationship. [14] (65) Therefore, businessmen must learn to design business schedule according to different issues and different concepts of time.
4. Conclusion
Edward T. Hall believes that non-verbal communication is as invisible and difficult to be perceived as the culture. However, there is no doubt that the non-verbal communication is very important.Non-verbal communication is the best reflection of a person's real attitude, value and emotion.[10] (88)In fact, people usually use their own cultural h abits and rules to judge their own and others’language communication and non-verbal communicative behaviour subconsciously.This will often lead to misunderstanding, doubt, even aversion and some bad emotions of the other side. And then the communication will result as a failure. Cross-cultural business activities require not only linguistic propriety, but also the propriety of non-verbal behaviour. It’s, of course, based on the understanding of different cultural backgrounds.
In conclusion, it’s a very i mportant to know the culture difference of nonverbal communication. It will not only help the businessmen make the cross-culture business negotiations successfully, but also help people from different countries understand each other and make a good friendship between each other. And it will enhance the relationship between countries and improve the international cooperation environment.
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非语言交际在国际商务沟通中的文化差异
陈思
三明学院2006级英语（师范）专业福建三明365004
【摘要】跨文化交际学是从20世纪60年代发展起来的，中国对于跨文化交际学的研究则是从80年代初开始的。自从中国加入WTO，国际性的商务活动逐渐增多，而影响其成败的最主要因素就是跨文化交际学所包括的语言交际与非语言交际。然而，在进行交际时，人们一般只注意到语言交际，认为词语是传递和领悟信息的唯一途径，而忽略了非语言交际的重要性。本文将从体态语、副语言、环境语三种不同的非语言行为的角度出发，探讨非语言交际在商务沟通中的差异，进而认识非语言交际的重要性，了解不同国家不同社会背景影响下的非语言差异，尽量避免非语言交际语用失误，保障商务活动的顺利进行。
【关键词】非语言交际；商务沟通；文化差异
Acknowledgements
I should like to express my deepest gratitude to all those kindness and advice have made this work possible.
I am greatly indebted to my advisor, associate Prof. Li Menlan who gave me valuable instructions, and urged me to begin my paper as soon as possible. Her effective advice, comments and quick corrections have kept this paper in the right direction. She has improved me in language and has shown me into the fascinating world of international world.
My gratitude is to my friend Cheng Shengnan who constantly encouraged me. I am grateful for Wang Yuqing’s constructive suggestions and careful reading of the manuscript.