Understand the non-verbal communication of a culture is very important upon learning about their language. Expressions and the way things are said in one culture or language may mean different things others. Some culture might have the same meaning for example on the way they say hello but even though it might be expressed language wise the same way the way they express is different. For example Latin American countries when greeting someone give a kiss on the cheek but Europeans do the same when greetings, they give a kiss on the cheek but Spanish and Italians do one kiss in each cheek, some culture might even do three kisses while most Americans don’t give a single kiss on the cheek. So if a person that is learning Spanish goes to lets say Panama, he should know that when meeting new people the greeting involves a kiss on the cheek. If the person is introduce into a small group of people from the country and he doesn’t give a kiss on the cheek when greeting and gives a handshake this is seen as a sign of disrespect. So even though this might be normal to an American the group of people form the other culture misinterpreted his greeting.
Again with the notion of time in American culture there is a great importance in the notion of time considering it Monochronic while Hispanic culture is very slow motion, time is not important and to be late is part of the culture. While time is of the essence when making money its not rude to be a couple minutes late in Latin America. The same is with how direct people are. Us, Hispanics, don’t go around but go straight to the point everything s clear and direct while this may be a rude quality in other cultures where certain subjects like love are treated with an indirect communication and not so direct.
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