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understanding human behavior is tricky stuff. No two people behave in precisely the same way. Nor do people from the same culture all perform exactly the same gestures and body language uniformly. For almost any gestures there will probably be a minority within a given nationality who might say, "Well, some might attach that meaning to it, but to me it means..." and then they will provide a different interpretation.

In the world of gestures, the best single piece of advice is to remember the two A's - "Ask" and be "aware." If you see a motion or gesture that is new or confusing, ask a local person what it signifies. Then, be aware of many body signs and customs around you.

3.2 Applications of the body language

To appreciate the importance of nonverbal communication to human interaction, reflect for a moment on the countless times in a single day that you send and receive nonverbal messages during the presence of other people. Barnlund highlights some of the reasons why this form of communication is important to the study of intercultural communication: “Many, and sometimes most, of the critical meanings generated in human encounters are elicited by touch, glance, vocal nuance, gestures, or facial expression with or without the aid of words. Form the moment of recognition until the moment of separation; People observe each other with all their senses, hearing pause and intonation, attending to dress and carriage, observing glance and facial tension, as well as nothing word choice and syntax. Every harmony or disharmony of signals guides the interpretation of passing mood or enduring attribute out of the evaluation of kinetic, to relax or resist, to continue or cut off conversation”. Barnlund is telling us that consciously and unconsciously, intentionally and unintentionally, we make important judgments and decisions concerning the internal states of others—states they often express without word. The following are application of the body language.

3.2.1 Greetings

Hoa has just arrived from Vietnam. Her cousin Phuong and some of his American friends are waiting at the airport to meet her. Hoa and Phuong are both excited about this meeting because they have been separated for seven years. As soon as Hoa enters the passengers’ terminal, Phuong introduces her to his friends Tom, Don, and Charles. Tom steps forward and hugs and kisses Hoa. She pushes him away and bursts into tears.

Among Chinese from Vietnam, if a boy hugs and kisses a girl in public, he insults her. Chinese culture in Vietnam is very strict about this, especially in the rural areas where Hoa grew up. She described her village: “After children are ten years old, boys and girls cannot play together. A boy and girl cannot date without their parents’ approval. A man and a woman cannot hug or kiss if they’re not married.”

In Hoa’s village if anyone violated these rules, the villagers would punished the girl by forcing her to kneel on the ground so they could spit at her and throw rocks at her. No wonder that Puong’s American friends frightened Hoa. She did not know what punishment for public hugging and kissing might be meted out to her in this country. She confused Tom, who by American standards was dong the right thing. Eventually Hoa learned to be comfortable when greeted with hugs and kisses, accepting them as merely perfunctory acts.