Watch your body language, travelers!

We know you love metal, but this gesture won't be well received in Italy and Cuba. (Christopher Dibble/Getty Images)

I don’t care what Black Sabbath song comes raging over the loud speakers in Italy or Cuba, don’t throw up your index and pinky fingers in a salute to heavy metal and expect to make any friends. In those countries, this devil horns gesture is akin to the American use of the middle finger, except that it implies another person’s wife is “not of sexual moral standing,” according to AOL Travel.

This is just one example of how a seemingly friendly gesticulation can be construed as rude when you’re traveling abroad. Here are a few more (according to Budget Travel, AOL Travel and international business writer Roger E. Axtell):

• Give someone a “thumbs up” in Iran and Bangladesh and you’re basically flipping them the bird. In Japan and Germany, people will just think you’re counting. In Germany, the thumbs up means “one.” In Japan, it means “five.”
• If you’re at a religious site in Thailand, and you decide to sit down on the floor, don’t stretch out your legs so that your feet point at somebody who’s older than you are. It’s an insult.
• In the United States, you’re probably joking when you flash a friend your palm and say “talk to the hand.” In Greece, that gesture means you’re sincerely displeased with the other person.
• In the United States, when you touch your index finger to your thumb to form a circle, it means “A-OK” or “perfect.” In the South of France, that same gesture means “worthless;” in Japan, it refers to money; and, in Brazil it represents something much more vulgar about women than I care to repeat here.
• In Japan, the bow rules, and it’s a very complex gesture — how deeply you bow and how long you hold your bow communicates a lot. According to the London Times via the Economist, if you step on somebody’s toe, a brief, shallow bow will do; if you run over a person’s dog, well, you’ll need to bow deeply and hold it. If you bow wrong, you might end up in hot water.

Have you committed any body language faux pas during your travels?

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