Is your Body Multi-Lingual?

Goal

Give a speech demonstrating how the presence of a person could have different meanings in different cultures and/or sub-cultures.

Background

The presence of a speaker (or a person in general) is sometimes perceived very differently in different cultures. The aim of this speech project is to make your audience more sensitive towards subtle aspects of body language in multi-cultural situations. Give examples how a persons nonverbal behaviour and appearance could be interpreted in your culture and one or more other cultures.

Possible aspects that could have different meanings in different cultures include:

• body language
• voice tonality or volume
• dress style or colour
• smiles and other facial expressions
• gestures
• physical interaction
• dirty shoes

Focus your presentation on one or a few of these aspects.

Time

5-7 minutes

Questions for evaluators

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Extra Material

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written by Armando Cristofori, edited by Kristian Rother