Here are 3 interesting videos that highlight the importance of non-verbal communication. If you will study, volunteer, intern or travel abroad, the following video clips are useful resources that highlight how a simply gesture, turn of the head or handshake can convey a much deeper meaning.  (If you are a study abroad adviser, add these links to your toolkit for pre-departure or in country orientation meetings.)

The first video is a clip from a BBC documentary.  It provides various examples of non-verbal communication including hand shakes, head nods, and hand gestures for places such as Mali, India, Turkey, Greece, the US, England, Italy and more.  It does a nice job of explaining some of the history of these non-verbals:

This appears to have been prepared by students (who selected some great music!) and focuses on non-verbals in India:

This is specifically about the various uses of silence in Japan: