"When studying foreign speech, don't forget about body language," Anne Merritt said. Something as simple as a smile can show friendliness in one culture, embarrassment in another, impatience in a third. Even silence means different things in different places. If you want to avoid making some mistakes when traveling abroad, you should pay attention to the following.  Touch Britain, along with much of Northern Europe and the Far East, has a "non-contact" culture. In those countries, there is very little physical contact  in people's daily talks. Even brushing someone's arm by accident is the reason for an apology. However, in the high-contact cultures of the Middle East, Latin America, and southern Europe, physical touch is a big part of daily life. What's more, there are different standards for who touches whom and where. In much of the Arab world, men hold hands and kiss each other in greeting, but would never do the same with a woman. In Thailand and Laos, it is taboo  to touch anyone's head, even children's. In South Korea, elders can touch younger people with force when trying to get through a crowd, but younger people can't do the same. Eye contact In most Western countries, frequent eye contact is a sign of confidence and attentiveness . We may think that a conversation partner who looks away is either not listening to us or lying. Of course, this is not the standard around the world. In many Asian, African, and Latin American countries, the unbroken  eye contact would be considered impolite and rude. These cultures consider avoiding eye contact a sign of respect for bosses and elders. In these parts of the world, children won't look at an adult who is speaking to them, and nor will employees look at their bosses. In Britain, when people are talking, they usually_.
avoid eye contact brush the others' arms avoid physical contact apologize for their mistakes