hc3, Lorentz Lyceum, Netherlands, Question:



Many conflicts arise from not understanding each other. Signs and body language can play a role. Which gestures are specific to your area? (for example how you greet each other? How do you know if you agree with one another or not? etc.) Have you experienced when you were not understood because the gestures you used? How could this problem be solved?

Answer from hc1

Canadians are known as peaceful people and of we do something bad we apologize and try not to cause any more trouble. In our country we have many hand signs like Thumbs-Up and High Fives. Our group feels like conflict is good sometimes because we can learn from our mistakes.  We think the way in which people communicate is an important piece to maintaining peace in the World today.  Negotiations are also important so that all parties have an opportunity to say their side.  However we think there are times in conflict that we are blinded by our emotions and don’t allow the necessary communication to occur.  An example that we can think of is the current situation in North Korea.  We think the language barrier is a big part of the misunderstanding and as soon as you start talking about nuclear war, people get spooked and worried and proper peace talks stop being effective.  We hope that the United Nations can maintain the best interest of everyone in the World when they are dealing with North Korea in the future.  The way in which we communicate with them will be critical to this success.

XXX

Answer from hc2



XXX

Answer from hc4

We only greet someone if we know them, have seen them before or when you meet a person for the first time.

Give them a handshake is quite polite to do in that moment, also introducing yourself and say hello.  

The things that are specific in our area is:

- Handshake

- 3 kisses on their cheek or a hug if you know them for a longer time. ( We especially do this on birthdays )

- Just say hello

The things that are ''rude'' in our country:

- Crossing arms

- eating chewing gum with your mouth wide open

- Hands in pockets

- Don't make eye contact when you're talking

- Pointing with a finger

Actually it's acting like you don't care.

It's not that we don't really understand each other because we can say things like ''I don't want that.'' or ''Stop it.'' 

So there's no real problem to be solved because we all understand each other and if you don't want a kiss on your cheek for example you shake your head that you don't want it. 

x H3X

Answer from hc5

Some gestures in our country have a different meaning in other countries. That can cause conflicts. Some cultures think different about women for example. There are signs we don’t accept, like imitating Hitler with his mustache.
If you want to say hello or goodbye, you can wave with your hand. If you want to say that something is good, you can put your thumb up. In some country it means that something is dirty. That can cause conflicts.
In the Netherlands we don’t have a lot of gestures, so we don’t have many conflicts caused by that. So we don’t have any experience with that. 

Answer from hc6

      Our bodily actions are equally strong as our words we use in communication. Movements of hands, face, legs, and other parts of the body to express something could be either voluntary or an automatic instinctive response, and such activities are known as gestures. Purely expressive display of gestures allow us to convey our feelings, sentiments and thoughts very explicitly while there are certain actions that are only attributed to proxemics. In the latter, gestures are governed by the nature of the physical space we share with people surrounding us. Use of gestures in non-verbal communication is extensive while in verbal communication they are just an addition to words in order to make the communication more effective and appealing. Study of gestures and body language is not only given utmost importance in psychology but also in neurology because the brain plays a key role in controlling our body movements. Let's try to understand how gestures are significant in our everyday life.

 The following gestures, however, are perfectly acceptable. Not only in Ukraine, but often used:

• Eye contact
• Firm Handshake
• Hug
• Kiss cheek

The following gestures are rude in Ukraine:

• Hands in pockets
• Make fist with thumb between middle and index finger
• Point with index finger
• Tap forehead with index finger

Answer from hc7

Which gestures are specific to our environment?

Most of the people in the Netherlands talks with their hand. For example, the raising of your thumb or down with your thumb. Up then means that something is good and your thumbs down means that something is not right. or if you want to greet each other, we throw our hand in the air, and then you say hey in gestures.

How do you know if you agree with each other?

If you not agree with each other, you put your face from left to right and if you do agree with each other, you shake your head.

Have you ever experienced you agree with each other or not?

Yes, we have experienced that we do not agree with someone and then we shake or head and then they know immediately that we not agree.

 how can you fix that?

Along a different solution, which everyone agrees. And sometimes you have to the accept the opinion of the other.

Answer from hc8

     Relationships between people is based on communication. Often, verbal communication is complemented by verbal and para-verbal.

     I think there are a lot of problems about communication and greeting each other. Most of people talk rudely to each others and that makes us not be friendly. It is important to act and talk nice, because there are many good people who doesn't deserve to be bad to them. To solve these problems, we need to be polite, respect, the important rules and act nicely to all the people.

     On the other hand, the normality in human relations means environmentally friendly conduct with specific rules of your own cultures and, therefore, cultural differences can generate many errors. There are cultures, such as the German, American or Canadian, the language used is very precise, direct, while in other cultures-such as the Japanese, French, Romanian, the language is more abstract, more indirect and allusive. Also, many gestures have different meanings.

On the other hand, the normality in human relations means environmentally friendly conduct with specific rules of your own cultures and, therefore, cultural differences can generate many errors. There are cultures, such as the German, American or Canadian, the language used is very precise, direct, while in other cultures--such as the Japanese, French, Romanian, the language is more abstract, more indirect and allusive. Also, many gestures have different meanings.

     We believe that intercultural misunderstandings can be avoided only if we strive to learns as many of the values of communication partners.

Answer from hc9

      

   The communication is an indispensable element to society, both verbal ( oral, through letters, messages, e-mails) and nonverbal communication (gestures, mimics, signs and body language).

   Signs and body language play a very important role with a high share in communication, over 55%. It isn’t easy to realize if you like someone new, because you don’t have any idea about his behaviour, but at first view the personal presence can tell a lot about the personality and the behavior of someone.

   Personally I happened to not understanding what want someone to say, don’t understanding his gestures when I was at school in a project at another school with disabilities childrens which was talking only with gestures.

   This problem could be resolved if all of we are knowing exactly what each gestures means to those around us.

Answer from hc10

Some of the gestures  know well to Sutton are clenched fists, the-your-talking-to-much-signs (you make your thumb and pointer finger and make it look like a mouth talking), I love you signs, thumbs up signs, the middle fingers,  hugs, fist pumps, high fives, waves, retard gestures, tongue clicks, chest bumps, eye roles, glares, sighs, nods, and sometimes people make up a secret hand shakes. Anything could be taken the wrong way. Like fist pumps, you could be giving a fist pump to somebody than that person might freak out and then grab your hand or they could get upset. Another way that somebody could get upset is if you over gesture or use wrong gestures for your situation. Some ways to avoid the situation where somebody is upset because of your gestures is to control your gesture usage and to control your facial expressions (because if you give a facial expression with a gesture that means something completely different so that would be really weird and then the person would get confused and think that you are making fun of them). To solve it you could explain what you meant and then admit your mistake.

Sorces:

Our class

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gestures