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 hen it comes to volume
or tone of voice, cultural differences are not that big, said David
Givens, director of the nonprofit Center for Nonverbal Studies in
Spokane, Wash. Around the world people raise their voices when they
are angry, use lower-pitched voices in romantic situations or use
a rising intonation to ask a question, he said.
"The
voice tones are almost universal, but there are always special cases,"
Givens said. "The Japanese, for example, growl when they
disagree with something. I believe it's a tradition that comes from
the martial arts."
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| PHOTO
Frederic Vincent |
Hilka
Klinkenberg, an international
etiquette consultant, |
Those
constants still don't guarantee clear communication, though, even
for people who speak the same language.
"Americans don't deal with silence as well as Asian cultures
do," international etiquette consultant Hilka Klinkenberg said.
"Americans feel silence is an uncomfortable void that must be filled,
while Asians see it as a sign of respect." Asians usually
keep their voices down when they speak, she said.
Americans have always been accused of talking loudly, said anthropologist
Edward T. Hall, a pioneer in the study of personal space. Americans
increase the 
volume as a function of distances, something rydifferent from Middle
Eastern people, who get quieter the closer they come to each other.
But
there are other cultures that do care. The English case is
one of the most obvious ones. Hall concluded they developed skills
in beaming the voice toward the person they were talking to, carefully
adjusting it so it just barely overrides the background noise and
distance. In other words, for the English to be overheard is to
intrude on others, while the English way of modulating the voice
may sound and look conspiratorial to Americans.
On
the other hand, Latino cultures do not have a unified way
of talking. Just like the British and the Americans, there are big
differences between Spanish speakers. "Latin cultures vary in their
garrulousness and speech volume," Klinkenberg said. Spaniards are
quieter than their Latino cousins, and Brazilians are much
more vocal than their more formal Argentine neighbors.
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The distance between men and women
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Women
approach more closely, and seem to prefer side-by-side conversations.
Men prefer more face-to-face conversations.
Men
are more likely to initiate touch with others than are women.
Women are touched more than men, partly because they are more
likely to associate touch with personal warmth and expressiveness.
Although
women use more facial expression, they appear to use fewer
and more restrained gestures than men.
On
an escalator, women seem to prefer to act as if they do not
notice anything, so that unwanted contact can be avoided,
say anthropologists Anneke Vrugt and Ada Kerkstra in their
study about sexual differences in non-verbal communication.
According to them, men make it clear in their reactions that
they do not appreciate a rapprochement.
Some
researchers suggest that women are more skilled at both sending
and interpreting facial expression than are men. Women use
more facial expression in general and smile more in particular.
Women
who introduce themselves with a firm handshake were perceived
as being intellectual and open to new experiences in a recent
study for the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
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