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 necessary verbal communication, body language, the major part of nonverbal communication, is also a part of our culture and of vital importance to people’s daily communication.
Body language can exert influences on people’s communication, reflect the people’s thoughts, and can be a complement to the verbal communication, so it is necessary for us to learn what the different body language means if we want to communicate with another people with a different culture. Apparently, people can not simply try to interpret the messages of others according to their own local body language. If people fail to handle that, it will inevitably cause misunderstanding or conflicts in the shock of culture. So in order to communicate effectively with foreign people, we should know and master the body language.
This paper aims to explore the functions of body language in intercultural communication, the differences of body languages, and putting forward some suggestions on how to avoid and deal with the misunderstanding or conflicts when we encounter people from different cultures. The observation shows that a true bilingual switches his body language at the same time he does his languages. This makes communication easier and better.
Key words: body language； intercultural communication； different cultures; avoid misunderstanding
中文摘要: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。除了必须的语言交际，体势语，非语言交际的主要组成部分，同样也是我们文化的一部分，而且对于人们日常的交流有着不可缺少的重要性。
体势语对人们的交流产生着影响，反映了人们的思想和补充了语言交际的不足。学习和不同文化的人交流就意味着同时也和不同的体势语交流。人们迫切地认识到不应该按照自己的参考准则去诠释别人给出的信息。如果人们不能处理好这个问题，当两种或更多的文化相遇的时候，就会不可避免地发生误解和冲突。所以，想要和外国人有效地交流，人们应该也要知道他们的体势语。
这篇论文研究了在跨文化交际中体势语的功能，体势语的不同，而且对于碰见不同文化的人的时候，如何避免和处理误解或者冲突，提出了一些建议。观察显示一个真正懂得两种语言的人在转换语言的同时也转换了他的体势语。这使交际变得更容易和更好。
关键词：体势语; 跨文化交际; 不同的文化; 避免误解
