When you learn a foreign language, you must learn more than the vocabulary and the grammar. To communicate successfully, you must also learn the non-verbal language, or “body language” of that culture. “Body language” is a term used to describe facial expression, gestures, and other movements of the body that send messages. This means of communication is so important that we may actually say more with our movements than with words.

當(dāng)你學(xué)習(xí)一門外語的時候，你必須學(xué)習(xí)詞匯和語法以外的東西。為了能夠順利溝通，你必須學(xué)會那一文化的肢體語言?！爸w語言”是用來描述面部表情，姿勢以及其他傳遞信息的身體動作的術(shù)語。這種溝通方式很重要，因而我們實(shí)際上可能用動作比用話語表達(dá)的更多。

For some messages, words are not enough. Speaking a foreign language is sometimes difficult because we may not understand the non-verbal signals of another culture. For example, nodding the head up and down is a gesture that may communicate different messages in different parts of the world. In North America, it means “I agree”. In the Middle East, nodding the head down means “I agree” and up means “I disagree”. In a conversation among Japanese it often simply means “I’m listening”.

對于有些信息，言語是不夠的。有時候說一門外語很難，因?yàn)槲覀兛赡懿焕斫饬硪晃幕姆钦Z言信號。比如，上下點(diǎn)頭這一姿勢在世界不同的地方表達(dá)的信息也是不一樣的。在北美，這一姿勢意味著“我同意“。在中東，點(diǎn)頭表示”我同意“，而抬頭表示”我不同意“。在日本人的對話當(dāng)中，它通常只是表示”我在聽“。

Eye contact is also very meaningful, but it can also mean different things in different countries. In some Spanish-speaking countries, children show respect to an old person by not looking directly into the person’s eye during a conversation. In other cultures, looking into a person’s eye is expected. For example, if you don’t do it in the United States, people may think that you are afraid, embarrassed, or angry. In the Middle East, direct eye contact in a conversation is more continuous than in many other parts of the world. People who are not used to this may feel uncomfortable. 

眼神接觸也很有意義，但是它在不同的國家也可以表示不同的意思。在一些說西班牙語的國家，孩子們在與老人的對話中通過不直視對方的眼睛來對對方表示尊敬。在其他文化中，人們期待別人直視眼睛。比如，在美國，如果你不這樣做，人們可能會認(rèn)為你害怕，尷尬或者生氣。在中東，對話中直接的眼神接觸比世界上很多其他地方更持久。不習(xí)慣的人可能會覺得不舒服。