Collana | SAIL
Volume | Tra lingue e culture
Capitolo | 3 Problemi comunicativi dovuti ai linguaggi non verbali

3 Problemi comunicativi dovuti ai linguaggi non verbali

The third chapter deals with the main aspects of non-verbal languages which could prove to be sources of misunderstandings between Italians and South Slavs if not thoroughly analysed and carefully considered. Some possible intercultural problems could be determined, as a matter of fact, by the assumption that certain messages conveyed through the kinetic, proxemic, objectemic and vestemic codes are universal. On the contrary, the meaning of some gestures and facial expressions, the “grammars” of eye-contact and smile exchange, the distances to keep between bodies during certain kinds of interaction, the clothes to wear on the occasion of various formal events, etc., are strictly cultural and thus strongly dependent on the traditions and the social and behavioural rules of a given society. If you consider that most non-verbal messages conveyed by the human-beings are not verbal (Mehrabian, 1972), behaving non-verbally in a way that does not infringe the rules of the foreign interlocutor’s culture is essential to avoid misunderstandings with the foreign speaker and not foster negative judgments.


Open access

Presentato: 28 Settembre 2016 | Lingua: it


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