Cultural Diversity (Complete)

Every culture interprets different body language, gestures, posture and carriage and vocal noises. Communicating to audiences can be risky to handle out. Most audiences have different opinions of dialogue and gestures which is at risk to offend viewers. Audiences are diverse as some gestures can have a different meaning to another culture.

Gestures-   Nodding our head up and down would indicate yes or no, but in some countries, it means the exact opposite. In the Middle East for example, nodding our head down indicates agreement or "Yes", whilst nodding up is a sign of disagreement; The thumbs-up signal in the UK for example is an indicator of "OK" whilst in Iran the gesture is classed vulgar. While in other cultures it's an extremely offensive reference to a private body parts and a Point gesture with the wrong finger is classed as an offence. The list continues: Some countries consider a simple handshake rude, and it's always rude to hand an object to another person with our left hand in the Middle East as the left hand is used for personal hygiene in some cultures. Cultures in India consider belching as a sign of appreciation whereas in the UK it’s classed as a uncouth action.

Body Language- Body language is a non verbal communication where feelings, thoughts and intentions are expressed by physical behavior. Body language is expressed by the body posture, gestures, eye movement and the use of space in the communication environment. Body language will differ as cultures have different meaning to one another and may offend audiences.

Eye Contact - In places such as the west and and European countries eye contact is important as it shows interest  and respect towards groups. In other countries such as Japan and Africa, eye contact is addressed as disrespect. 

Facial expressions- Facial expressions is a prefix of communication and might be the only form of non-verbal communication that could be considered universal. All cultures express emotions in the same way with their facial features; an audience would determine the emotion felt from the announcer. There are multiple universal facial expressions: anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise. Although the cultures may not understand the accent or language, our body language and facial expressions differ as we all share the same emotions via facial emotions and body language. 

Scent- Reasonably, places like the US and the UK do not like the the stench of natural body odors and tend to purchase products such as antiperspirant and perfume to cover these smells. Many cultures such as Arabic and Asian admire the smell as its to be natural. Asian culture emphasize the importance of washing regularly to be clean.

Touch- Touch is another communicative feature in places such as the UK and the U.S.  Touch in both these countries, such as handshakes are welcoming and a sign of interest, surprise and respect in topic. However in other cultures such as Islamic and Hinduism cultures do not touch with the left hand, as it is used for bodily functions. 

Overall- Globalization has affected the way we communicate to each other as human beings. When talking to an audience, we must consider taking notice of cultural diversity and review the consequences of talking to audiences. Multiculturalism means an announcer needs to take notice of offensive gestures, body language and emotions as it will ultimately create dominance of speech or lead in a loss of interest.