Non verbal language

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Hi everyone,

Some people think gestures are animal language only.

No!

Just look at a football match (American football) and you'll see the coach providing the quarterbacks with instructions.
Just look at my son playing a double tennis match and you'll have the opportunity to see the guy at the net suggesting  tactics to his partner about to serve.
Just look at the stock-exchange floor to realize that there're oodles of possibilities.

No, gesture language isn't an animal language but really something very rich and very used by human beings.

Consider all the nods all day long to say "yes", "no", the signs with the lips, the signs with fingers or hands...


Signs are so common that you might think they're obvious, quite natural.
Thumbs up should mean "everything's fine", right? Things are not that simple as this sign means you're going up for a diver.
To say it's fine, a diver will join the thumb to the index showing kinda circle the other fingers being stretched (looking like a 6 when done by the left hand). Mind you as this sign means "zero" for a French guy and speaks about an orifice to other country natives!!!


Well, take great care! Sign meanings are very different depending on the countries!

Interested in the subject?

Access this 9-minute video after a BBC program -> Gestures across cultures it's really very interesting!

a clip of the best and fascinating gestures from around the world. taken from BBC documentary the human animal- language of the body

Remember: if you're traveling, signs are different in cultures and a YES might mean a NO! or even worse, a polite sign might mean an obscenity!!

The National Geographic magazine in its last December issue, contains a few pages on the subject under the title "A world of Gestures".
Their web site has got tracks of the subject:
-> Gestures, Signals, and Sign Language
-> Is a Smile Always Just a Smile?
-> Social Psychology, Sociology, a 40-page PDF

Another video by Bud Brown -> Gestures From Around the World Part 1
Another one -> Gestures and Body Language Tutorial
Take a look at the right hand column of the YouTube Web page and you'll see tons of videos on the subject including Japanese gesture language or Italian language in 10 minutes!!

Also ask Google about it -> http://www.google.fr/#sclient=psy-ab&hl=fr&site=&source=hp&q=a+world+of+gestures&psj=1&oq=A+world+of+gestures&aq=0L&aqi=g-L3g-vL2g-jL1&aql=&gs_sm=c&gs_upl=4641l8957l0l15055l19l19l0l8l8l0l131l1087l8.3l11l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=57678b3039d9bd9e&biw=1280&bih=698

Enjoy!

Welcome back Gérard!!

Hi Gérard, nice to see you back !
I enjoyed viewing most of the links you shared about "Gestures across cultures".
One of them surprised me however : three tests on gestures made by 1) a Japanese lady 2) a French lady 3) an Iraní lady.
I doubt the latter was a true Iraní lady as she was not veiled (!) and made an obscene gesture. She can't come from Iran, can she ?

I also liked the 4 magic phrases, which one can use whenever one is in a difficult situation !

So far i know , human uses 80% body language and 20% spoken language. (I guess except from germans...they don´t really move that much..)
Regards.

We have known for some years that certain plants communicate and "warn" in case of big heat, insect damage or disease. Some researchers from the University of Aberdeen in Scotland have managed to prove that chemical molecules passing from one plant to the other thanks to the development of a surprising experience.

Translate
Bean .............. haricot
Hear .............. chaleur
To manage ... réussir
Thanks to ..... grace à

amazing

It's like WiFi for beans!

Florent, Remy,

Here's an article that is close to the subject -so I think-: communication between plants and animals.
I add it to this topic:

-> Discovery News


PLANTS RELEASE ANIMAL-LIKE SUBSTANCE WHEN STRESSED: Plants and animals share more in common than we tend to think, with new research finding that both groups respond to stress in similar ways, at least from a biochemical standpoint. Aren't plants amazing?

Plants Release Animal-like Substance When Stressed : DNews
Plants and animals share more in common than we tend to think, with new research finding that both groups respond to stress in similar ways, at least...
news.discovery.com

Thanks for sharing, Gérard!

However, plants don't have any mind. As mussels. How does it work ?

I think it's their instinct (like every alive cell) because they communicate for basic reason:heat, attacks, disease ... no complex feelings!

Yes, you're right. Even small animals can have a complex language: take the example of bees who can push through several complex intructions judt with their ... dance!

Hi Florent, everyone,

You should read this article.

Discovery News


FRUIT FLIES PLAY VIDEO GAME, SHOW SELF-AWARENESS: A capability once thought reserved for humans and some top-level animals — awareness of the self — also exists in fruit flies, new research finds. Get all the details here



Fruit Flies Play Video Game, Show Self-Awareness : DNews
Some fruit flies, when put in front of a video game, controlled the game, meaning that they had awareness of their surroundings and where they stood in them....
NEWS.DISCOVERY.COM

Hi Paula,

Men seem to have been very selfish and arrogant!

Probably due to the Catholic religion, we considered that human beings only were important and had a soul (I don't want to speak about non Catholics), the rest was nothing.

When I was a kid we could do bad things and even kill birds, pigs, cows, dogs, cats, etc. sardines, sharks, whales, fish, etc.
Centuries ago, American indians, pygmies, natives of Africa, Australia, Asia were poorly treated; chimps and other apes similarly.

Nowadays -fortunately- we reconsidered all this.
Bees, spyders, ants... have to be protected or at least respected.

What about plants?
What about the Earth (of course I'm not going to say it has a soul but we must not dammage it)?


Regarding animals (plants) the more scientists study them, the more they discover marvels.

I would like to point out that if humans tend to respect other living beings, it looks like they respects other humans less and less...

Hi everyone,

I wouldn't like to steal Florent's thread.

If I go back to the initial subject "Do you speak bean?", during my studies in chemistry, I couldn't ignore that chemicals played a big role in life.
As an example, plants "knew" about seasons, plants were able to invent a strategy to attract insects if they "wanted" to multiply... yes I wrote: "invent" strategies as they had to change and adapt them to new environments.
Already able to deal with chlorophyll and use light and solar radiation to grow, plants did better with chemistry and insects.

Muriel,

Isn't it awesome how smart living-beings are? Personal abilities and creativity, social organisation, communication, synchronization, etc. even slavery, perversity !