Do the french use body language and gestures a lot more compared to other nationalities?
They do use body language , but not as much as Italians for instance and not as much as Americans or Australians either. The French use hand movements in particular to emphasize a point; they frown; they shake hands with everyone and even kiss relative strangers on the cheek as a welcome. However they are quite cool towards total strangers and do not smile at everybody. Americans grin a lot, have a very active body language and tend to be loud and outgoing: just look at their cheerleaders. Australians touch others, are also loud, and they are strong on gestures too: the Australian president was the first to touch the Queen and put his arm around her to usher her in. The Italians do the lot…though they are much more reserved than they used to be, whilst the Brits, who used to be the stiff upper lip nation, have become much more demonstrative and outgoing, especially the younger generations.
