Do you think some gestures are universal?

At first I want to ask you a question. Do you think knowing about universal gestures is important? Well, I think yes. Suppose that you have traveled to a country and you don’t know even one word about the language, when walking on the streets, you touch a person inadvertently. Now what should you do to make them understand, it was not deliberately? Here is where you need universal gestures and body language. So in the next lines, we’re going to get familiar with some of them.

First of all THE OKAY sign which is used in Australia, USA, United Kingdom and Canada to show satisfaction. To use this sign just join your index finger and thumb together like a ring.

The second gesture that I can think of is THE HORN FINGERS. Just hold up your baby and index fingers and that will mean approval. This gesture is used in USA, Italy, Brazil, Colombia, Portugal and Spain.

As the third one, I can name THE FINGERS ALL TOGETHER which is used in Italy, Congo, Turkey and Egypt that means differently in all of these countries. For example, in Congo it means small amount of something while in Turkey it means something is beautiful or well.

Now come to speak about the most popular gestures through the globe. One of them is THE THUMBS UP. In countries like UK, Australia, USA, Canada and Russia it is a sign of approval but in countries like Iran, Latin America, West Africa, Iraq and Afghanistan it has a really negative impression and should not be used at all. So don’t use this sign if you travel to these countries because they will kick you out of there. Another is the ‘V’ sign. Most of us think that it means victory but if you use it backward, it means peace in the US but in other countries like UK, Australia and New Zealand it is used as a rude sign, showing contempt. THE COME HERE sign as its name suggests is used to motion somebody over in most countries but in Philippines, it is so rude to use this gesture for another person and they use it just for dogs. The last most popular universal gesture that I can think of is THE POINT sign. It is so interesting because in Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany and Australia it is used for number 2 but in China as number 8 and in Italy it is used to indicate that somebody is not good.

So, if you travel abroad, be careful about gestures that you may use. Because something that may be so pleasant to use in your country may have a really rude and offensive meaning in another country. Cultures are different and so the meanings of universal gestures are.