Body Language

Judy: Hey! Do you know there is a special way to communicate with people 
  without voice?

Amy: You mean sign language?

Judy: Not sign language. But it’s pretty close.

Annie: I got it! Is body language isn’t it?

Judy: Bingo! That’s what I am talking about.

Amy: Oh…I see. It’s true that people use body language often.

Annie: Exactly! And it’s also one of the things we can not help doing. It’s our
  nature and it really works.

Judy: I’ve read something in books. When children learn to talk, they learn the
  words, sentences, and grammar of the spoken language. However, they also
  learn to “speak” in other ways by body language.

Amy: For example, they learn to wave, clap their hands, shrug their shoulders,
 stomp their feet, and stick out their tongues.

Annie: As they grow older, in fact, they will learn thousands of ways to express
  themselves through body language, and they will use them nearly as often
  as they use words and sentences.

Judy: People love to use body language. It has been used for a long time.

Amy: Before humans created words, they used body language to communicate
  with others.

Annie: Till now, body language is popular.

Judy: You’re right! Nowadays, body language is commonly used in plenty occasions
  such as bulletin board signs and popular psychology.

Amy: By the way, according to some studies, more than 90 percent of
 communication is expressed through unspoken signals.

Annie: Such as eye contact, nod, and smile. There are many kinds of body
  language.  Besides gesture, these include facial expression, tone and
  volume of voice, eye contact, posture, and stance.

Judy: Yeah! We also shrug our shoulder while we mean “I don’t know” and wave our hands to say “Hello!”

Amy: Sometimes, we move the hands close to the mouth or touch the nose to indicate deceit.

Annie: Hum…body language really is a nice way to communicate with others.

Judy: And it’s easy to understand! Some types of body language seem to be the same all over the world.

Amy: These are generally the ones that are innate, such as smiling when we are
 happy or tensing our lips when we are angry.

Annie: Likewise, the crying that accompanies sadness or the wide-open eyes that
  accompany fear are also part of a common human language. These kinds of
  movements come naturally; we don’t have to learn them.

Amy: However body language and gestures vary from culture to culture.

Annie: To communicate the number “six”, people in Taiwan and other Chinese
  cultures use just one hand, holding up the thumb and little finger; but
  most English-speaking people need two hands, five fingers on one and the
  thumb or index finger of the other.

Judy: In America, the hand signal for “O.K.” has a completely different meaning in Japan, where it symbolizes money, and in Latin America, where it is considered an obscene gesture.

Amy: And in Japan, when parting from a friend, it is customary to give a bow, whereas in France, it is common to kiss the person on both cheeks.

Annie: In some countries, using body language and gestures may not cause
  problems. However, it means impolite or obscene in another country.

Judy: For instance, we consider pointing at one person is a common situation; however, foreigners dislike it and may get angry.

Amy: Sometimes, the worse thing will happen that people misunderstand the original meaning which actually contains a good intention, but due to improper use of body language.

Annie: Body language can show one’s situation, too. Children sometimes hide their hands in their pocket or behind their backs when telling a lie.

Judy: And some people wink their eyes while telling a lie, too.

Amy: Say so, body language is a type of nonverbal communication, plays an extremely important role in day-to-day interactions between people.

Annie: I agree what you said. I think that one who can use body language well is
  a successful communicator.

Judy: So while learning English is common nowadays, learning body language is also essential.

Amy: Therefore, when we learn another language, we must learn not only the spoken language, but also the body language. Let’s learn how to use our body language properly!
　

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By Amy, Annie and Judy