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Chapter 10 - The Secret Code of Body Language

from Part III - Cultural Integration through Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  aN Invalid Date NaN

Vered Shwartz
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
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Summary

Apart from the words we speak or write, nonverbal communication – such as tone of voice, facial expressions, eye contact, and gestures – also differs across cultures. For example, travel guides for Italy like to warn against using the 🤌 hand gesture commonly signaling “wait” in many countries, because Italians interpret this gesture as, “What the hell are you saying?” Tech companies are now dipping their toes into analyzing users’ behavior as expressed in nonverbal communication. For example, Zoom is providing business customers with AI tools that can determine users’ emotions during video calls based on facial expressions and tone of voice. Unless companies carefully consider cultural differences, the ramifications could be more algorithmic bias and discrimination.

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Lost in Automatic Translation
Navigating Life in English in the Age of Language Technologies
, pp. 159 - 166
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2025

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