Abstract:It is widely believed that the body language has been playing an important role in people’s daily talks. In intercultural communication, body languages of different nations are likely to cause misunderstandings. This paper mainly explores the differences of body languages between Chinese and English by analyzing the aspects of gesture, facial expression, eye contact, posture and body distance. It has been found that traditional cultures and social backgrounds between China and English-speaking countries are the two reasons causing these differences on body language. In China, people believe in Confucianism, which emphasizes the hierarchy in society. As a result, the Chinese people attach more importance on the values of status when they use body languages. In English-speaking countries, most people believe in Christianity, which promotes the opinion of equality and freedom. As for the social backgrounds, the Chinese people put collectivism above individualism while people in English-speaking countries hold the opposite opinion. By listing examples of differences in Chinese and English body languages and discussing reasons for variation, this paper aims at making English learners realize different connotations of body languages. What is more important is to help them acquire more knowledge as to how to understand and use body languages correctly in order to avoid cultural conflicts caused by them in intercultural communication.
Key Words：body language; intercultural communication; cultural differences
摘要：众所周知，身势语在人们的日常交流中起着很重要的作用。在跨文化交际中，不同国家的身势语很容易会造成人们的误解。这篇论文主要通过从手势、面部表情、眼神交流、姿势和身体距离这几个方面来比较中英身势语的不同之处并发现传统文化和社会背景是造成身势语不同的重要的原因。在中国，大多数人推崇儒家思想，强调等级在社会中的重要性。因此，中国人在运用身势语的时候常常会考虑到双方的地位因素。而在英语国家，大多数人信仰的是推崇平等自由的基督教。在社会背景方面，中国人把集体主义置于个人主义之上，而在倡导自由的美国恰恰和中国是相反的。通过列举例子比较中国和英语国家身势语的不同并分析原因，本文致力于帮助英语学习者了解中国和英语国家身势语的不同含义。更重要的是能帮助他们在跨文化交际中能够正确理解和成功使用身势语来避免交际中可能产生的冲突。
关键词：身势语；跨文化交际；文化差异
注：本文全文为英语所写的英语论文。只有摘要是中英语写的，全文为英文。
