英会話・英語　アミック The hidden meaning of silence

We tend to view silence (especially in the Western world) as mere absence of speech—but in reality, silence can be a powerful tool of communication.

Indeed, it can convey much information that language fails to do. It is a kind of nonverbal communication and it can express a wide range of emotions and feelings that go from happiness, joy, and embarrassment to anger, grief, denial, fear, and withdrawal of acceptance.

Additionally, silence is also a tool to enforce etiquette and social standards and a way to communicate agreement or disagreement.

The importance of silence is recognized by all cultures in the world; traces of its significant role in the communicative context can be found in sayings such as “speech is silver, but silence is golden” or the Chinese maxim, “silence is better than eloquence.” However, silence becomes a real philosophy when we move to the Far East, especially in Japanese culture.