An Interesting Gesture-V Sign
An interesting gesture used by Chinese people is
the V sign. Most Chinese people like posing a V sign when taking photos. They do
not realize and even do not know why they do that. I think the V sign in
my country has several meanings. First, the V sign means victory just because
the V sign looks like the first letter of the English word - victory. Second, posing
a V sign when taking a photo shows a person is very cute. Third, a V sign means
number two. Number two can be used to describe people in Chinese and has a deep
meaning in Chinese culture. In a comparison, in Britain a V sign with the palm facing you and especially with fingers fast moving shows a taunt or ridicule. Many foreigners do not understand why Chinese
people like the V sign, but they have realized that interesting gesture. In
intercultural communication, using right body language in right situations is
really important. We are responsible for knowing that gestures may have
different meanings in different countries. If we know more about other
countries’ gestures, we may avoid some conflicts and set up good social
relationships. Another example is thumb-up. It is used by hitchhikers or it means Okay in the U.S.. However, it means fuck in Australia and insult in Nigeria. In
Japan, it means “five” but “one” in German. In China, thumb-up means good. If
we do not know that thum-up has a negative meaning in Australia, we may be in a very embarrassed situation when we do that in Australia. Thus, we need to improve our ability in observing, evaluating, and behaving in an appropriate and effective way in our daily life.
An interesting gesture used by Chinese people is
the V sign. Most Chinese people like posing a V sign when taking photos. They do
not realize and even do not know why they do that. I think the V sign in
my country has several meanings. First, the V sign means victory just because
the V sign looks like the first letter of the English word - victory. Second, posing
a V sign when taking a photo shows a person is very cute. Third, a V sign means
number two. Number two can be used to describe people in Chinese and has a deep
meaning in Chinese culture. In a comparison, in Britain a V sign with the palm facing you and especially with fingers fast moving shows a taunt or ridicule. Many foreigners do not understand why Chinese
people like the V sign, but they have realized that interesting gesture. In
intercultural communication, using right body language in right situations is
really important. We are responsible for knowing that gestures may have
different meanings in different countries. If we know more about other
countries’ gestures, we may avoid some conflicts and set up good social
relationships. Another example is thumb-up. It is used by hitchhikers or it means Okay in the U.S.. However, it means fuck in Australia and insult in Nigeria. In
Japan, it means “five” but “one” in German. In China, thumb-up means good. If
we do not know that thum-up has a negative meaning in Australia, we may be in a very embarrassed situation when we do that in Australia. Thus, we need to improve our ability in observing, evaluating, and behaving in an appropriate and effective way in our daily life.
Being aware of all intercultural gestures is very challenging because every culture has different movements and poses, like China has the V sign. I agree that we need to be careful while communicating with people from different cultures because on one way or another we can easily offend them. I think this can be managed only if both sides are aware of the cultural differences. Moreover, I believe that we should all have understanding for each other because only in that way we’ll learn about our differences and we’ll start appreciating other cultural views.
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