Whenyoulearnaforeignlanguageyoumustlearnmorethanjustthevocabularyandthegrammar.Tocommunicatesuccessfullyinspeech,youmustalsolearnthenonverballanguage,or“bodylanguage”ofthatculture.“Bodylanguage”isatermusedtodescribefacialexpressions,gestures,andothermovementsofthebodythatsendmessages.Thismeansofcommunicationissoimportantthatwemayactuallysaymorewithourmovementsthanwedowithwords.

Speakingaforeignlanguageissometimesdifficultbecausewemaynotunderstandthenonverbalsignalsofanotherculture,ortheymaymeansomethingverydifferentfromwhattheymeaninourownculture.Forexample,noddingtheheadupanddownisagesturethatconveysadifferentmessageindifferentpartsoftheworld.InNorthAmerica,itmeans“Iagree.”IntheMiddleEast,noddingtheheaddownmeans“Iagree”andupmeans“Idisagree.”InaconversationamongJapanese,itoftensimplymeans“Iamlistening.”OneJapanesestudentintheUnitedStateslearnedthedifferencethehardway.Whilespeakingwithasalesman,thestudentnoddedhisheadpolitelytoshowthathewaspayingattention.Thetextdaythesalesmanbroughtanewwashingmachinetothestudent’sapartment.

Althoughwespendmanyyearslearninghowtospeakaforeignlanguage,misunderstandingscanoccurunlesswealsoknowthenonverballanguageandthecorrectbehaviorofthatculture.Wearenotreallypreparedtocommunicateinaforeignlanguageunlessweknowwhethertoshakehandsorbow,whentositandstand,andhowtobehaveinunfamiliarsituations.Perhapsafifthskilloughttobeaddedtothefourtraditionalcommunicationsskillsofreading,writing,speaking,andlistening:culturalawareness.

1.Accordingtothepassage,successfulcommunicationdependsonallofthefollowingEXCEPT_________.

A.nonverballanguageB.grammarC.humorD.vocabulary

2.BodylanguageprobablydoesNOTdescribe______.

A.thewaypeoplelaughB.thewaypeopleareseated

C.thewaypeopleshakehandsD.thewaypeoplesleep

3.WhydidtheAmericansalesmanbringanewwashingmachinetotheJapanesestudent’sapartment?

A.Becausethesalesmanmisunderstoodthestudent

B.Becausethesalesmanwasagoodlistener