賴世雄高級(jí)美國英語教程Lesson 28 Tips on English Body Language
Hi, everyone, welcome again to Radio English on Sunday.
/ This is Bruce,
/ And this is Peter.
/ Today on page two hundred thirty one, unit twenty eight. We have another lesson for you on English, but this time not about the spoken language, but the body language of English. And we're going to give you today, tips on English body language.
So we'll be telling you some specific examples of the body language used for English speakers so that you can become more aware of some of the problems that can sometimes happen in communication when people misread body language. It sounds funny because we don't read, like read a book, when we talk about body language, but in this case "read" means to understand.
Let's read through the first paragraph here on page two hundred thirty one, and get started with our lesson today.
Mr. Garcia, a businessman from Madrid, Spain, is speaking English to one of his customers, Mr. Patton, from Vancouver, Canada. As they speak, a bystander notices that Mr. Garcia slowly steps closer to Mr. Patton, the latter slowly steps away. This slow dance continues throughout the conversation until Mr. Patton is literally against the wall. He now crosses his arms in front of him. Mr. Patton appears nervous and a little annoyed. Mr. Garica, aware of this, thinks he is not explaining himself well enough in English, even though Mr. Patton fully understands him. Thinking the business deal has gone sour, Mr. Garcia excuses himself and leaves.
/ That's really too bad.
/ Yeah, this is a situation, and is a true one, is based on real experience, in which a member of the Spanish speaking community, which is also not world wild, but throughout north and south America, as well as south western Europe, his (banic) is specially the Spanish speaking community. They have a certain body language themselves, which is different from the Englsih body language. So, a person from Spain, although he might be able to understand the English language, if he doesn't understand English body language, the may miscommunicate, and annoy or trouble an English speaker. We're going to explain this. Why this is happening. The first we want to give you the situation. Whether the Spanish speaker moves close to the English speaker, but the English speaker feels uncomfortable without realizing it, steps back, and the Spanish speaker then moves closer, and the English speaker back until the Englsih speaker is really against the wall; his back is against the wall. Then he crosses his arms, which is a body language symbol, that he is upset or angry or annoyed. And then the latter speaker, the Spanish speaker doesn't understand why he is upset,--oh, maybe he's upset becuase my English isn't good, and then he excuses himself because "well, I have to go now, sorry, bye bye, maybe I'll see you again. " In fact, he was communicating the language well but not his body language well. And we'll explain to you why in the next paragraph.
/ This goes to show that in doing business, you've got to also understand cultural background.
/ Oh, yes. Very very important. For example, when dining with Chinese, we should toast people, each time we drink, or as the Japanese and the Americans, usually toast only the first time. After that, 隨便喝. You just drink by yourself, but that will be considered very rude in the Chinese eating situation.
/ You already ..Chinese completely, because the way you eat noodles, you slurp...
/ 比較好吃啊.
A slurp, Jananese and Chinese will slurp their noodles or their soup because they taste better, whereas Westerners, Eurpeans, and Americans think, ahh! This is terrible, this is very rude. So we have to be aware of this as we go from country to country. We all have different manners quite naturally.
Well, let's find out why the situation has caused poor Mr. Garcia to lose a business deal that he didn't mean to.
/ 還有一點(diǎn)要提一下， to go sour, 搞砸鍋，bungle, 也可以用turn sour, become sour,
Let's go on here, in the second paragraph, the last paragraph on page two hundred thirty one, if you just joined our program.
What is going on here? If Mr. Garcia, or any other non-native English-speaking businessman, student, immigrant or tourist, had been aware of English body language, this unfortunate incidence could have been avoided. Among English speakers, personal space is very important. Indeed, personal space is important in all languages, but the distance considered critical to trigger discomfort differs. Spanish speakers tolerate a much closer speaking distance, a distance of some thirty centimeters, which is about half that which English speakers prefer. Thus, a Spanish speaker will instinctively move in closer to talk with an English speaker, who instinctively moves away, closer to his preferred speaking distance.
Now we find out why this incidence happened, because a Spanish speaker, his personal space is quite close, or at least closer than an English speaker's personal space. Thirty centimeters is only about one foot, so when you see Spanish speakers speaking together, they appear to speak head to head, very close to each other; whereas English speakers at about twice that distance or sixty centimeters, about two feet away, they feel comfortable speaking in that distance. This is something cultural, and is something nobody teaches you. You mother, well, my mother never told me, now stand sixty centimeters away from a person when you talk and then you'll feel comfortable.
Nonsense. Body language is not talk. It is picked up, or learned instinctively by the speakers or that particular language.
/ Yeah. So, does that mean that we always have to get a scale, (regul) or something?
/
/ It's not ..uhh,..you feel like talking to a person from countries?
/ No. Luckily that Chinese and the English-speaking people have about the same sense of personal distance, so we don't have to worry about that. But if you, Peter, go to South America, you should be prepared to have people in your face; and for them, this is comfortable and polite. If you pull away, you will appear to be impolite.
/ Right. I think this has to do with the very fact that, you know, those, Spanish speaking people tend to hug each other, the moment they speak to each other.
/ We say in English that they are a very passionate people. They express emotion very strongely, and their idea of friendship includes a lot of kissing and hugging, hand-holding, hand over, uhh, I should say, arm over the shoulders, and so on. They are very physical and they are emotional.
/ Mmm, they are very emotional. I think Italian people are also the same way.
/ Yes. They are a very passionate people, too.
/ distance, to keep somebody at a distance, 這個(gè)用法比較管用。
/ Oh, that means to avoid somebody, to keep away from someone. Because I owe Peter a thousand dollars, I am keeping him at a distance. ..whoops?
/ trigger, to trigger something, to tough off something,
/ "Set off", "touch off" both those 比較口語的用法。means to causes to happen.
/ 觸發(fā)..
His stupid words triggered a dispute,
His stupid words set off a dispute,
His stupid words touched off a dispute,
All right. Let's turn the page, and get ready for our next paragraph.
Body language is one kind of non-verbal communication, such as winking, to indicate "I am kidding", or a sexual advance, or arms held akimbo---in some cultures, merely resting; in others, a threatening, or defiant stance. This communication can, on occasion, be even more important than the actual words spoken.
_________akimbo, adj, adv,
In or into a position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward:
雙手叉腰地處于兩手放在腰臀部，兩肘向外的姿勢：
children standing akimbo by the fence.
雙手叉腰站在籬笆附近的孩子們
akimbo
adj.
Placed in such a way as to have the hands on the hips and the elbows bowed outward:
雙手叉腰的雙手放在腰臀部，兩肘向外來擺姿勢的：
children standing with arms akimbo.
雙手叉腰站著的孩子們
adv.
兩手叉腰
with arms akimbo
兩手叉腰
adv, adj
兩手叉腰地（的）
She stood, arms akimbo, looking around.
她站著，兩手叉著腰，向四下張望。
______stance,
The attitude or position of a standing person or animal, especially the position assumed by an athlete preparatory to action.
始發(fā)姿勢一個(gè)站立的人或者動(dòng)物的姿勢或位置，尤指運(yùn)動(dòng)員預(yù)備時(shí)的始發(fā)姿勢
See: posture
Mental posture; point of view:
理性態(tài)度；看法：
揚(yáng)eru . . . has also toughened its stance toward foreign investors?Abraham F. Lowenthal)
“秘魯…已經(jīng)強(qiáng)硬了對(duì)外國投資者的態(tài)度”(亞伯拉罕F.洛溫塔爾)
姿態(tài), 態(tài)度
安放的位置, 地位
take a moderate stance towards sb.
對(duì)某人采取溫和的姿態(tài)
fundamental stance
基本站立姿勢
Well, what we should remember here is, body language, although it is nonverbal; although it does not use words from the mouth, it is not spoken, maybe more important than what is being said. So we should not discount body language. That is, we should not consider it unimportant, indeed, it can sometimes be more important than the words that the person is speaking. For example, I'll give you some specific examples in a moment, but, when Mr. Garcia is crossing his arms..I am sorry, Mr. Patton, when Mr. Patton was crossing his arms, for English speakers, it is a sign that they are bored, or annoyed, and maybe you should consider what you are talking about now, or maybe you have a problem with your body language. It's a good sign that you need to improve your relation with the person you're talking to.
/ indicate, 顯示出， 它的形容詞是indicative, 第二個(gè)音節(jié)重讀。to be indicative of...也是“顯示出。。。”的意思。
His facial expression is indicative of his anger.
Let's continue and I'll give you some specific examples now of body language, and, you just said, to indicate, here we would say, how to interpret what it means.
/ Mmm, 詮釋,
Take winking for example. In most cases, English speakers will wink, the closing of only one eye at each other, to show that they are not serious about what they're saying. They may also cross their middle finger over their index finger to indicate the same thing. These gestures are extremely important as they virtually negate what the speakers says.
______negate, v,
To make ineffective or invalid; nullify.
使無效使不起作用或無效；否決
See: neutralize
To rule out; deny.
排除；否認(rèn)
See: deny
否認(rèn), 否定; 拒絕, 拒不接受
取消, 使不起作用, 使無效
求反, “非”, 對(duì)...施以“非”操作
Our actions often negate our principles.
我們的行為時(shí)常與我們所信奉的原則背道而弛。
So here we have the couple of signs or body language gestures which if you see you should interpret it carefully. One is winking. Now we blink, if maybe something is close to our eyes as if a fly flies close to our eyes, we will blink instinctively. You blink naturally or instinctively to protect your eyes. But if you wink, 這個(gè)是故意的，you close one eye to show another person that you are kidding; or in some cases that you "mmm, ", you're interested in this person, maybe you want to take them up on the date. Another way to show that you are just kidding and not serious about what I'm talking about is to take your index finger, and cross it over and on top of ..I am sorry, your middle finger, lift it up and cross it over your index finger, this symbol shows to English speakers, 啊，我開玩笑。 我故意地這樣子講話。..not serious right now. So, winking and crossing of the middle finger over the index finger, you should be able to interpret that he's just kidding. He's not serious right now. He's kidding.
/ Mmm-humm.
Wink at,
Look at that girl, she's winking at you.
/ Uhh..another girl.
/
I am really as handsome as can be, ...so people all call me a ladykiller.
/ ..I had my fingers crossed.
/ "to have one's fingers crossed, " 表示祝福的意思,
/ to keep your fingers crossed, to hold your fingers crossed, to have your fingers crossed.
Be careful, means like you are winking, you are just kidding,
/ I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
Hey, I will be, I am leaving, you know, for United States tomorrow,
...I will keep my fingers crossed for you.
..When I said that, I had my fingers crossed. 我在開玩笑的意思了。
Alright. Let's take another look at a different type of body language or non-verbal communication.
Another example is eye contact. In many American Indian and East Asian cultures, respect is shown by not looking directly into the eyes of a person considered of a higher social class than oneself. For western Europeans, the opposite is true. For them, anything less than full eye contact is considered disrespectful, or even devious. Problems have arisen when Chinese or Korean school children enter American or European schools. Western teachers assume that these children are up to something, or that they are showing disrespect when in actuality they are behaving correctly for their own culture. One Chinese child was denied entry into a gifted students' school, because he was considered lacking leadership qualities despite his overall excellence in hisacademic, and interpersonal relations. When it was pointed out that Chinese children are taught not to be aggressive, show leadership qualities, the school reconsidered and admitted the lad.
_______上面這個(gè)East Asian聽了很長時(shí)間，要注意這兩個(gè)字連在一起時(shí)的效果。Pan.
______lad,
A young man; a youth.
年輕人；小伙子
Alright, we are talking about eye contact, which means looking directly at the person you are talking to, looking into the eye of the person you are talking to. This is considered good in Western European cultures, but it is considered not good if you are talking to a person who is an higher social position than yourself, do not look directly into that person's eye. When these children, when Eastern European children, enter American or European schools, there may be problems here; and the last example of the Chinese child, who was denied entry, who was not admitted to a gifted students' school because of this. Later, I wrote the letter because I ..talking about my godson 干兒子 ) here, when I found out he was not allowed into the school, I wrote the letter to the headmaster of the school, explaining the situation, and he was later admitted.
/ (godfather, 干爸爸？千萬不要翻成dry father, )
Ok, let's go ahead.
Sometimes gestures used in different languages have contrary meanings. This can produce a humorous effect. In Vietnam and China, the gesture for "come here" is quite similar to that of waving good-bye in Enlish. Thus, when speakers of these two cultures are leaving each other, if the English speaker gestures good bye, the far eastern speaker may misinterpret the signal as meaning "come back here".
Alright, this paragraph shows us another example of body langauge, or non-verbal communication. When Western people wave goodbye, one way of their waving goodbye, is the same or very similar to that, here use an Eastern Asia, which means to come here. So it is the opposite meaning or contrary meaning. And, you might try to say goodbye and American might try to wave goodbye to his ...or Chinese friends, who would think "oh, he still has something to tell me, " and then walks back to him or some situation like this, could be a little bit funny, because they are misinterpreting the body language.
We'll finish up now.
Learning body gestures is rather difficult from textbooks. The best way to learn gestures, for any language or culture, is to stay a while in the foreign country to learn, not only what people say, but how they say it. For most people, the learning a body language is an exciting and charming aspect of learning a foreign language.
Again, even though we give you a lesson in a book, it's more..how can I say it, much more convenient to learn body language by actually being in the country, but you have to be observant or watchful. You will miss a lot of things unless you carefully observe how people talk, not only what they say.
/ Mmm, you will have to learn to be observant, and its noun is "observance",
in observance of, 遵照，v,
while in a foreign country you should do everything in observance of their customs.
/ of local customs.
Well, we have enough time to finish our rereading of our "tips on English body language. "
________Pan. 2003. 7.
Lesson 28 Tips on English Body Language
Mr. Garcia, a businessman from Madrid, Spain, is speaking English to one of his customers, Mr. Patton, from Vancouver, Canada. As they speak, a bystander notices that as Mr. Garcia slowly steps closer to Mr. Patton, the latter slowly steps away. This slow dance continues throughout the conversation until Mr. Patton is literally against the wall. He now crosses his arms in front of him. Mr. Patton appears nervous and a little annoyed; Mr. Garcia, aware of this, thinks he is not explaining himself well enough in English, even though Mr. Patton fully understands him. Thinking the business deal has gone sour, Mr.Garcia excuses himself and leaves.
What is going on here? If Mr. Garcia or any other non-native English speaking businessman, student, immigrant, or tourist had been aware of English body language, this unfortunate incident could have been avoided. Among English speakers, personal space is very important; indeed, personal space is important in all languages, but the distance considered critical to trigger discomfort differs.Spanish speakers tolerate a much closer speaking distance, a distance of some 30 centimeters, which is about half that which English speakers prefer. Thus, a Spanish Speaker will instinctively move in closer to talk with an English speaker, who instinctively moves away, closer to his preferred speaking distance.
Body language is one kind of nonverbal communication, such as winking (to indicate "I'm kidding" or a sexual advance), or arms held akimbo (in some cultures, merely resting; in others, a threatening or defiant stance). This communication can, on occasion, be even more important than the actual words spoken.
Take winking for example. In most cases, English speakers will wink (the closing of only one eye) at each other to show that they are not serious about what they are saying. They may also cross their middle finger over their index finger to indicate the same thing. These gestures are extremely important as they virtually negate what the speaker says.
Another example is eye contact. In many American Indian and East Asian cultures, respect is shown by not looking directly into the eyes of a person considered of a higher social class than oneself. For Western Europeans, the opposite is true. For them, anything less than full eye contact is considered disrespectful or even devious. Problems have arisen when Chinese or Korean school children enter American or European schools. Western teachers assume that these children are "up to something" or that they are showing disrespect, when, in actuality, they are behaving correctly for their own culture. One Chinese child was denied entry into a gifted students' school because he was considered "lacking leadership qualities" despite his overall excellence in his academic and interpersonal relations. When it was pointed out that Chinese children are taught not to be aggressive (show leadership qualities) the school reconsidered and admitted the lad.
Sometimes gestures used in different languages have contrary meanings. This can produce a humorous effect. In Vietnam and China, the gesture for "come here " is quite similar to that of waving "good bye" in English. Thus, when speakers of these two cultures are leaving each other, if the English speaker gestures "good bye", the Far Eastern speaker may misinterpret the signal as meaning, "come back here."
Learning body gestures in rather difficult from textbooks. The best way to learn gestures---for any language or culture--is to stay a while in a foreign country to learn not only what people say but how they say it. For most people, the learning of body language is an exciting and charming aspect of learning a foreign language.
***********
bystander
A person who is present at an event without participating in it.
旁觀者處于某事件發(fā)生的現(xiàn)場但沒有參與的人
go sour, 變壞，出錯(cuò)，
It looks like all my plans are going sour.
incident, n, 插曲，小事件?！pisode,
indicate: v,表示，顯示，暗示，
trigger, v, n,
His biased remark triggered an argument.
biased
Marked by or exhibiting bias; prejudiced:
有偏見的以偏見為特點(diǎn)或表現(xiàn)出偏見的；偏見的：
gave a biased account of the trial.
對(duì)事件做出有偏見的描述
akimbo [i]
In or into a position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward:
雙手叉腰地處于兩手放在腰臀部，兩肘向外的姿勢：
children standing akimbo by the fence.
雙手叉腰站在籬笆附近的孩子們
akimbo
adj.
Placed in such a way as to have the hands on the hips and the elbows bowed outward:
雙手叉腰的雙手放在腰臀部，兩肘向外來擺姿勢的：
children standing with arms akimbo.
雙手叉腰站著的孩子們
Being in a bent, bowed, or arched position:
彎曲著的處于彎曲、彎腰或拱形的姿式的：
揟here he remained, dead to the world, limbs akimbo, until we left?Alex Shoumatoff
“直到我們離去他一直四肢彎曲著呆在那兒，對(duì)外界全然不顧”(亞歷克斯·肖馬托夫
?[She] often skips into a veritable ballet of akimbo limbs?Jack Kroll)
“)［她］常常能跳出四肢彎曲的真正的芭蕾舞動(dòng)作”(杰克·克羅爾)
兩手叉腰
with arms akimbo
兩手叉腰
adv, adj
兩手叉腰地（的）
She stood, arms akimbo, looking around.
她站著，兩手叉著腰，向四下張望。
stance, n, 站立時(shí)的姿勢；態(tài)度
devious, adj, 不坦誠的，不率直的，
