Carles Darwin was interested in finding out whether there were universal gestures and expressions, so he sent out a questionnaire to missionaries and whatnot that, among other things, asked what gesticulations the locals used to convey "yes" and "no."Nodding and head-shaking turned out to be pretty common, but there were some exceptions.
Introduction: Intercultural difference is not simply a question of language. Even if we know how to speak a foreign language we also know there are plenty of traps, which make real communication difficult because of cultural differences. We do not always just use words to communicate something. We can express pleasure with a smile and anger with a glower. We express surprise by raising our eyebrows and indifference by shrugging our shoulders. In fact there is a whole language of body movements and gestures that we use all the time, often without realising it. In fact, it is known as body language.