Whatever the situation in any culture, you should be careful with your hand gestures. Some of them may create wrong impression or be offensive to others.
Firstly let me explain the handshake. In most of Asian cultures like Japan, Korea, China, they prefer bow instead of handshake. The bow is a sign of mutual respect. The more senior you are, the deeper you bow. If you shake hands, handshake should not be strong or long. But in Western culture, a weak handshake is signs of weakness or lack of interest. As soon as you discover these different meanings, you stop judge the hand shake of other cultures.
The thumbs-up gesture is commonly used in many cultures to signify ‘OK’. But in some cultures like Australia, Greece and Iran, the meaning is totally different. It translates to ‘up to yours’. In Germany and Hungary, the upright thumb is used to represent the number 1, but it represents the number 5 in Japan.
The victory sign is a common gesture in American culture for victory or peace. But in some other cultures, it may be accepted as an insult.
The two fingers crossed sign is seen as wishing good luck in mostly Western culture. Based on my searches, the only exception country where this can be seen as offensive is Paraguay.
By the way, I liked this video on You Tube about hand gestures all around the world. It summarizes main hand gestures well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fa_GCK-Czqs
This is definitely a secret language that we should be aware of its different meanings.
Enjoy and share your experiences if you have ! :)
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