Hand Gestures as Non-Verbal Language Complementing the Oral Speech - Essay Example

One obvious thing that everyone in society ought to have noticed, is that speech always goes in line with hand gestures. Unlike other processes which may occur sequentially, most hand gestures do occur simultaneously with speech. This simply shows that speech and gestures are just but the consequences of a common internal mental process. More so, someone in a place like Peru would be saying "thank you" while at the same time holding his or her two hands in front of their chest. The two different processes are usually done at the same time and are meant to pass a common message, as they simply reinforce each other.

Carrying out this activity which focused on hand gestures, has proven that the understanding of the various gestures used by different people who identify themselves with different cultures, is a way of adding to one's communication competence. This, therefore, is important in enabling one to expand their worldview, and thus their intellectual capacity. On the contrary, learning this technique of inculcating gestures into our communication proficiency, has brought up one clear challenge. Taking a look at the practiced gestures as well as those that have not been mentioned, one should notice the differences with respect to origins.

Different countries or cultures have adopted different ways of expressing themselves by way of hand gestures. The way someone in Brazil uses hand gestures to mean dissatisfaction is not the same way a communicator in Britain or America does. Therefore, these differences in culture can for sure prove to be a challenge worth impeding communication as a whole. In conclusion, gestures are part of communication. As a subset of communication, the use of gestures, which communicating with people has been practiced for quite a long time across many countries of the world.

As a result, despite the country of origin and the different gesture being used, there are a good number of specific gestures which have been common across the board. However, a majority of the simple hand gestures hold different meanings when reviewed from the perspective of different cultures. This means that a person's communication competence heavily depends on the understanding of the appropriate gestures being practiced by different cultures. Having highlighted the various issues surrounding the use of hand gestures, it is quite clear that there is a need to invest more resources in carrying out sufficient studies so as to help learners understand the yet-to-be-known concepts.

This will go a long way in improving every teacher's proficiency as well as enabling students to get the actual view of how communication should be conducted when interacting with different people originating from different cultural backgrounds.