How Your Body Can Communicate

Body language can range from a variety of types, with some involving a single body part gesture, and with others involving the entire body parts for the meaning to be understood clearly.

It should however be considered that similar gestures might have totally differing meanings, depending on where one grew up from, the culture they are accustomed to, to mention a few.

Factors that may affect one’s body language

• Geographical location
• Country
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Family
• Group
• Culture

Why Body Language Is Important For Effective Communication?

Body language and gestures help stress a point at times. When one verbally communicates with the help of gestures and body movements while explaining something, it further helps to stress the issue at hand.

 

Probably president Obama's facial expressions mean that he perfectly understood what his counterpart Putin of Russia was saying

There are matters that cannot be effectively explained without one pointing to directions or to objects. Well, one may argue that one for example can understand directions by reading a site map or by listening to the directions giver. This is true but will probably take way longer than it would take if one merely used the hands to point to the direction and describe scenes.

For the hearing impaired, sign language, which is also part of body language is very crucial. This is because their mode of communication majorly depends on body language in form of sign language. The deaf use body gestures that are known in a particular country or community for effective communication.

That is why it is crucial that if getting sign language interpreters, one should first research about what type of sign language is used in a particular country or place that the communication is to be made. This is because sign language, just like all other world languages differs.

Situations where the body language/gestures might not work

In case blind or partially blind people are involved, then using gestures might as well be deemed useless. Obviously because the other party is not able to see the movements and will therefore not to get understand what the other party is communicating.

If the person addressing the blind is verbally communicating, then the latter will understand but not as effectively as it would have been if they happened to see the body movements.

Another case is if the people communicating are from extremely different parts of the world, thus different cultures and might have similar gestures that have differing means, or have gestures that do not match at all.

Common body gestures include;

Thumbs up means can mean good, and thumbs down can mean bad

•  Thumbs up – Good/Okay
• Thumbs down – Bad/Not Okay
• Nodding head - yes/affirmation
• Shaking of head- No, India non inclusive
• Winking
• Frowning
• Shaking of hands horizontally while raids – No
• Jumping – Joy/scared
• Dancing
• Putting the palms of both hands together – Prayer/Asking/Begging
• pointing finger - Accusing

By Angela Kyolaba