My entire life I've heard people say that 80-90% of all communication is nonverbal. The top result on Google claims 93%. The problem is, I just can't believe it. I believe the verbal part of communication is so essential to the process that all the studies skip over this completely.
If 93% of communication is non-verbal, I could listen to somebody speaking German or Chinese and understand nearly everything they were saying. Obviously that is not true at all. Non-verbal communication can only express emotions. You can listen to somebody speaking another language and get a sense of whether they are happy or sad, excited or upset, but you miss the message itself. If somebody ran up to you needing help and tried to communicate that to you in another language, you would immediately sense that they were distraught, but would have no way of knowing the actual problem.
As humans we have the capacity to contemplate, communicate, and discuss deeply complex ideas. We can have philosophical discussions about abstract concepts, imagine alternate realities, and ponder hypothetical questions about our very existence. Non-verbal communication is not going to get you there.
If communication was so heavily dependent on the non-verbal aspect, how can you explain the power of the written word? Writing has helped spark national revolutions, changed societies, and created world-wide religions. How is that possible if it only represents utilizing 7% of the communication process?
Without question, there are non-verbal clues that help you interpret the words being spoken, provide context, and help refine the message. But without the words themselves, communication as we know it would not exist.
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