Peopleusemorethanjustwordstocommunicate．Infact，someresearchersclaimthatlessthanhalfofaspokenmessage'srealmeaningisinthewordsusedinthemessage．Theysaythatmostofamessage'smeaningcomesfromunderstandinghowthe

　　Peopleusemorethanjustwordstocommunicate．Infact，someresearchersclaimthatlessthanhalfofaspokenmessage'srealmeaningisinthewordsusedinthemessage．Theysaythatmostofamessage'smeaningcomesfromunderstandinghowthespeakerusesthingsliketoneofvoiceandbodylanguage．

　　Bodylanguageincludessuchthingsastheexpressiononthespeaker'sface，gesturesthespeakermakeswithhisorherhands，andthepositionofthespeaker'sbody．Justastherearemanydifferentlanguagesspokenaroundtheworld，therearemanydifferentwaysforpeopletousebodylanguage，too．Forexample，gesturesmayimplydifferentmeaningsindifferentcultures．Makinga"thumbsup"signinAmericameans"Great!"However，inArabcultures，thisgestureisextremelyoffensive．AndinIndia，iflistenerswanttoshowspeakersthattheyunderstand，thelistenerswillmovetheirheadsfromsidetoside．InmanyWesterncountries，asimilargesturemeans"no"．

　　Althoughmanygesturescanbeinterpreteddifferentlybydifferentcultures，therearealsomanygesturesthatarealmostuniversallyinterpretedthesameway．Forexample，byandlargeasmileisunderstoodasasignoffriendshiporgoodwillaroundtheworld．Also，usinganopenhandtogesturetowardsomethingisviewedaspoliteorfriendlyinmostcultures．

　　Therearealsosomeformsofbodylanguagethatcanbeuniversallyreadwiththemeaning，"Iaminterestedinyou"or"Ilikeyou．"Sometimesthiskindofbodylanguageisusedunconsciouslybetweentwopeople．Thesesignsifinterestincludestandingorsittingwithbothfeetflatontheground，mirroringorusingthesamegesturesastheotherperson，andturningone'sbodytofullyfacetheotherperson．Inaddition，aperson'spupilswillautomaticallybecomewiderwhentheyareinterestedinanotherperson．

　　Bodylanguagethatcanbereadwiththemeaning，"Iamnotinterestedinyou"or"Idon'tlikeyou，"mayincludethefollowinggestures：lookingdownorlookinginanotherdirection，leaningawayfromaperson，crossingone'sarmsorlegs，ortappingafootorfinger．

　　Bodylanguageexpertspointoutoneimportantthing．Theperson'scultureisonlyonefactorthatcaninfluencehisorheru