The Silent Language In International Business Negotiation

As the largest developing countries, Chinese and western trade volume has hit rocket high, hence the urgent requirement for Chinese enterprises to enlarge their business ranges. The political and juristic supports offered by China supply a stable environment for foreign investors and stimulate the overseas investment from domestic corporations. Therefore, Chinese and western trade cooperation has a long-term and stable prospect.When there is trade cooperation, there is business negotiation. And it is considered as the most important and direct means of communication. But nonverbal communication, such as gesture, views for time and space and the like is more reliable and efficient. Although nonverbal communication appeared in1950s, it arouses much attention of scholars. There is much work should be done about the impact of culture on business negotiation. As a result this research tries to explore nonverbal communication in international business negotiation so as to enhance the Chinese negotiators’ cultural awareness, avoiding mistakes and propelling success.Culture is crucial in international business negotiation. Collectivism is predominate in China. It emphasizes individual benefit should obey collective benefit. Individual, collectivity, society and country rely on each other which facilitate harmony in China. Under the influence of Puritanism, American highlights individualism. They pursue independency, equality, self-fulfillment and uniqueness.Chinese communicate by high context, whereas some North American and North European countries such as America, Sweden, Germany and the like is in low context culture. High-context information was either conveyed by the same cultural background or the circumstances. On the contrary, low-context message rest much upon words and verbal communication. This research adopts contrastive and analytical study on nonverbal communication in Chinese and western business negotiation, taking advantage of Speech Act Theory and Social Exchange Theory. The material is adopted from the masterpiece of business negotiation nonverbal communication. To begin with the definition, application and function, it explores the nonverbal communication in business negotiation in terms of kinesics, paralanguage and environmental language.After contrastive study, some impacts of nonverbal communication on international business negotiation have been found. It is vital that negotiators should respect different cultures and international regulations. Words are just the things what the opposite negotiators want you to know. Nonetheless, the messages delivered by their nonverbal behavior are much more authentic. It follows that nonverbal communication could complement, transfer, accommodate or even negate verbal words. Communication between China and western countries would promote stability, boost world economy so it ought to be taken seriously to ensure a win-win future.The significance of this research is far-reaching. First of all, it would make the potential negotiators aware the vitality of culture and nonverbal communication in business negotiation. And then it reminds us that the education on nonverbal communication and foreign culture should never be neglected. Last but not the least, it gear up the likelihood of success for business negotiationAgainst the background of deepening economic globalization, people should be armed with knowledge; States ought to be backed by strong economy; world requires cultural diversification. This research might arouse people’s keen awareness for Chinese and westerners of different cultural background during nonverbal communication and help to decline misunderstandings, propelling mutual benefit and win-win situation.