Are you a gesticulatory sort of person?

English as a Second Language What do you want to talk about?
1

Hi,

I guess this one is about body language and gestures. In this little essay you will learn more about how people in England gesticulate in various situations:

Are you a gesticulatory sort of person?
[size=75]http://www.english-test.net/stories/44/index.html[/size]

So, what about you?

Alan

2

HI Alan,thanks for such a good topic,I liked it.

Hmmm, I guess I’m a gestculatory person,as I always wave my hands slowly when I speak, especially, when I want to explain something to another person.So, I use gestures more when I puzzle to explain something and it happens when I want to express my thoughts in English.I think it happens because of my helplessness to describe things or expressing my thoughts in foreign language.Most persons think that people use gestures when they are very angry,but I must say, I talk to somebody quite calmly when I’m angry,without gestures,and sometimes my such motion can take my enemies out from themselves :mrgreen: So,some people maybe gesticulatory for the type of conversation, the others for the language in which they talk, for my opinion :smiley:

3

I define myself as a non-gesticulating person, though I tend to wave with my hands extremely much when I am under some sort of pressure.

4

Hi

As in different cultures the meaning of the same gestures is (can be) VERY different, being abroad I always try not to gesticulate unnecessarily.
Even though I’m rather a ‘gestculatory’ and quite emotional person, in nature. :slight_smile:

5

Good point, Tamara. In Germany there are a few “negative” or “insulting” gestures for which you can be fined if you’re caught aiming one of them at someone. Unfortunately, one of these is very similar to a gesture used in the US, but the American gesture has a different meaning and is quite positive. So, I’ve had to be particularly careful with that one. :shock:

I also found out the hard way that Germans count on their fingers differently than Americans. In German, the numbers 2 and 3 sound similar and espeicially when I was new in Germany, the baker often didn’t understand whether I’d said 2 or 3 when ordering rolls. Normally I always order rolls in pairs and never in 3s and to clarify my order I’d always hold up two fingers – the index finger and the middle finger – to indicate I wanted 2 rolls. Then the baker would end up giving me 3 rolls anyway. It took me a while to figure out why even hand signals weren’t working.

It turns out, when Germans count on their fingers, they begin with the thumb (1) and end with the pinkie (5). So, if you want to indicate 2, you signal that with “the first two fingers” – your thumb and your index finger. But when Americans count on their fingers, they begin with the index finger, the pinkie is counted as 4 and the last finger counted is the thumb (5). :lol:

Amy

6

The article is very interesting; so were the comments by various readers. I was surprised to find an important word spelt incorrectly:
‘ESL Story: Are you a gestculatory sort of person?’
And at least one reader has used the incorrect spelling.
ravirao

7

Hi,

How do you spell it?

Alan

8

Hi,

‘Gestculatory’, which appears in a couple of places, including the title, is incorrect.
The correct spelling, ‘gesticulatory’, (with an ‘i’ after the ‘t’), has been used in the body of the article.
ravirao