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[Abstract] With the rapid development of science and technology, the world is becoming increasingly a global village. Cultural interflows in the world are irreversible trends. Communication can be divided into two categories, namely, verbal communication and nonverbal communication. Besides the language, the nonverbal language such as tone of voice, eye movement, posture, touch, facial expressions and so on are also of vital importance to people’s daily communication.
Nonverbal communication can exert influences on people’s communication, reflect the people’s thoughts and complement the verbal communication. Nonverbal communication is universal. It is part of culture and a mirror of culture. Learning to communicate with another people from different culture means learning that culture’s nonverbal signals as well. It becomes imperative that people should not simply try to interpret messages of others with his or her local frames of reference. If people fail to handle this, it will inevitably cause conflicts or misunderstanding when two or more cultures encounter each other.
This paper explores the functions of nonverbal communication in cross-cultural communication, significance of nonverbal communication and puts forward some suggestions on how to avoid and deal with the conflicts or misunderstanding when encountering people from different cultures
[Key Words] Nonverbal communication; Culture; Cross-cultural communication

    【摘要】随着科学技术的迅猛发展，整个世界已逐渐成为一个地球村，世界各国间的交流也成为一个不可逆转的潮流。交际可以被分为语言交际以及非语言交际。除了语言交流，话语音调、眼神的交流、姿势、触摸及面部表情等都在交际中起着非常重要的作用。
    非语言交际的重要性体现在它能够影响人们的交流，反映人们的思想，是语言交际的重要补充。它无所不在，源于文化又反映文化。学习一个国家的文化就不可忽视对它的非语言交际的研究。仅用本国的文化框架来解释他国的文化是行不通的。忽视这一点，就可能导致冲突和误解。
    本文探讨了不同文化中非语言交际手段的作用，在交际中的重要性，以及如何避免和解决跨文化交际中的冲突和误解。

1. Introduction

When people talk about communication, the first thing that comes to their minds is the use of human language. However, language is not the only way for communication. Although nonverbal communication is not really a language at all, it is a powerful mode of communication. People can gain more information from nonverbal communication than from what people actually say. It is estimated that 55 percent of people’s attitudes and feelings are communicated by the body, 38 percent of the voice and only 7 percent by spoken words.[1] This is why people give credence to such well-known sayings as “A picture is worth a thousand words.”

2 Definition of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication involves all those nonverbal stimuli in a communication setting that are generated by both the source and his or her use of environment and that have potential message value for the source or receiver.[2] Nonverbal communication includes tone of voice, facial expressions, postures, gestures, and use of time, all of which are used to communicate messages. 本论文由英语论文网 www.51lunwen.org整理提供Nonverbal communication sometimes can convey messages independently, and in many situations it is used in combination with verbal behaviors to convey meaning. It is useful, therefore to examine the functions of nonverbal messages in relation to verbal messages in communication.

3 The functions of nonverbal communication

3.1 Repetition
Nonverbal communication can reinforce what’s said in verbal language. By repeating the verbal message nonverbally, as by a gesture, there is a better chance for the receiver to under