non verbal, communication

1.  BODY LANGUAGE
 TOUCHING
 USE OF TIME AND SPACE
 PERSONAL APPEARANCE
 VOCAL CHARACTERISTICS
PRESENTED BY :LAW YU SHENG
CHING GUO SEN

2. THE DEFINITION OF NON-VERBAL
COMMUNICATION
• Non-verbal communication describes the
process of shared cues between people, which
goes hand-in-hand with public speaking.
• It does not involve verbal communication but
may include non-verbal aspects of speech itself
(accent, tone of voice, speed of speaking and so
on)
• Non-verbal communication includes eye contact,
frequency of glances, blink rate, gestures, facial
expressions, postures, and so on.

3. BODY LANGUAGE
(SIMILARITIES)
• Individuals in the United States and Algeria use the “OK”
sign to convey that something is acceptable. For
example, the “OK” hand gesture means “this is good”,
“no problem” and “I agree”.
• In America, they think it’s universally known that shaking
your head from side to side means “No”, while nodding
your head means “Yes” same goes for Africa.

4. BODY LANGUAGE
(DIFFERENCES)
• “Thumbs up” to American means, “I approve” or “good
work”. However, in Algeria, this gesture means “Up yours!”
• Making eye contact is among the most important for
Americans. Americans see lack of eye contact as lack of
confidence, signs that you are lying or embarrassment. For
Algerian, eye contact is very threatening .They always look
slightly to the side.(It is fine to make eye contact for few
seconds )

5. TOUCHING
(SIMILARITIES)
• Touching children on the head is fine in America and it is
also acceptable to kiss ,hold and hug a young child in
Algeria.
• Kissing on cheeks gets American and Algerian feeling
awkward and it is only reserved for close friends,
relatives and family.
• Full on hugs are only reserved for close friends, family,
and romantic partners.

6. TOUCHING
(DIFFERENCES)
• In America, for example, using a firm handshake is
considered appropriate to greet a stranger or another
business professional (male or female) but for Algerian,
handshake between women and men are rare( not
allowed) but it is fine to shake hands with the same
gender.
• In America, it is fine to use both hands to do anything but
for Algerian, using left hand to accept gifts or shake
hands is extremely rude because left hand is considered
unclean.

7. USE OF TIME AND SPACE
(SIMILARITIES)
• American, as a whole, are people who like a bit more
personal space compared to people from other cultures.
Most Americans value their personal space and feel
discomfort, upset, or anxiety when another person gets
too close. This is also exactly the same with the Algerian.
• American and Algerian will make a choice to move
backwards if they feel uncomfortable having people too
close to them.

8. USE OF TIME AND SPACE
(DIFFERENCES)
• Americans are very time conscious and value punctuality.
Being late for meetings is viewed as rude and insensitive
behavior; tardiness also conveys that the person is not
well-organized. However, in Algeria, punctuality is not
widely regarded.
• American follows monochronic time to perform only one
major activities in a time. For Algerian, they follow
polychronic time to work on several activities
simultaneously.

9. PERSONALAPPEARANCE
(SIMILARITIES)
• Nowadays, most people from USA and the city folks from
Algeria wear European-style clothing.
• In America, physical appearance such as clothing style
will represent their social status . People may have a
quick judgments of character according your personal
appearance. In Algeria, the physical appearance will
indicate the wealth and the status of the person.

10. PERSONALAPPEARANCE
(DIFFERENCES)
• Algerians strictly keep their clothing traditions. Even
today, they wear folk dresses every day, not to talk about
special occasions but the Americans only wear the
traditional costumes during festive season.
• Most of the Algerians wear clothes which will cover up
most parts of their bodies(aurat) except wrist and eyes
but for Americans they can wear clothes freely as what
they want.

11. VOCAL CHARACTERISTICS
(SIMILARITIES)
• Americans and Algerians will make a word stress when
they want to emphasize on something.
• Algerians speak loudly because it is an indication of
strength and sincerity and same goes for the Americans.

12. VOCAL CHARACTERISTICS
(DIFFERENCES)
• Arabic(Darija) is famous of its vowel reduction but
American English is reducing its consonant and
preposition.
• The speaking rate of Algerian is faster than American.

13. CONCLUSION
• It is crucial for those who work or study in
other countries to have at least a
rudimentary understanding of the ways
nonverbal cues are communicated across
and within foreign cultures.
• We should know more about non-verbal
communication to make sure we receive
the correct information and avoid
misunderstandings.