Abstract:Nonverbal communication, which is usually understood as the process of sending and receiving wordless and soundless messages. Nonverbal communication, which is the same as verbal language, also plays an imporant role in our culture. Culture and nonverbal communication are inseparable, and a lot of nonverbal language communication is the result of culture acqcusition and its formation and effects depend on a certain cultural environment. Therefore, in the cross-culture communication, the most realistic significence is how to settle the cultural conflicts in the studies of the relationship between nonverbal communication and culture. However, not all the same body language means the same thing in different cultures. Different countiries and nations have their different ways of nonverbal communication. This thesis will probe into the cultural meaning of the body language under the different backgrounds in the East and the West, and discuss the cultural differences in space distance, eye contact, physical contact and facial expression etc.

Key words:  nonverbal communication; body language; different culture; cross-culture

中文摘要:非语言交际，通常被理解为发送和接收无声的信息的过程。“体态语”同语言一样，都是文化的一个重要的组成部分。文化与非语言交际密不可分；许多非语言交际都是文化习得的结果；人们的非语言行为的形成和效果往往都由一定的文化环境决定。在不同的国家同一体态语的意义不一定完全相同。各个国家、民族有其不同的非语言交际的方式。因此，在跨文化交际中研究非语言交际与文化之间的关系最为现实的意义是要解决非语言交际中的文化冲突问题。本文从文化角度对某些体态语在不同的文化背景中的含义作了介绍，探讨了东方与西方在空间距离、目光注视、身体接触、姿态动作与面部表情等方面的文化差异，论述理解文化含义在非语言交际中的重要性。

关键词：非语言交际，不同文化，体态语，跨文化差异