„‚ CONDITIONS THAT HINDER EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

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NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION AND THE
INTERCULTURAL ENCOUNTER
Melvin Schnapper
An American nurse is accused by Ethiopian townspeople of treating Ethiopians like
dogs. An American teacher in Nigeria has great trouble getting any discipline in his
class, and it is known that the students have no respect for him because he has shown no
self-respect.
Even though neither American has offended the respective hosts with words, both
of them are unaware of the offenses they have communicated by their nonverbal
behavior. These two examples cite but one aspect of the intercultural encounter. This
occurs whenever people from different cultures meet, be they from different countries or
from different racial or ethnic groups within one country. Whenever such persons
encounter each other, they are apt to miscommunicate because of their different values,
assumptions, perceptions, experiences, language (even if they speak the “same”
language), and nonverbal communication patterns.
Although a great deal of attention has been given to the intercultural encounter, it is
only recently that people in the training field have been given systematic preparation for
the intercultural encounter. One aspect of this encounter that is still neglected in training
is nonverbal communication.
NONVERBAL DIFFERENCES
In the first example, the nurse working at a health center would enter the waiting
room and call for the next patient as she would in the States—by pointing with her
finger to the patient and beckoning the patient to come. This pointing gesture is
acceptable in the States, but in Ethiopia it is for children—and her beckoning signal is
for dogs! In Ethiopia one points to a person by extending the arm and hand and beckons
by holding the hand out, palm down, and closing the hand repeatedly.
In the second example, the teacher insisted that students look him in the eye to
show attentiveness—in a country where prolonged eye contact is considered
disrespectful.
Although the most innocent American/English gesture may have insulting,
embarrassing, or at least confusing connotations in another culture, the converse also is
true. If a South American were to bang on the table and hiss at the waiter for service in a
New York restaurant, that customer would be thrown out. Americans usually feel that
Originally published in The 1975 Annual Handbook for Group Facilitators by John E. Jones and J. William Pfeiffer (Eds.), San Diego,
CA: Pfeiffer & Company.
The Pfeiffer Library Volume 6, 2nd Edition. Copyright © 1998 Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer ❚❘ 53