EL RINCON DE POCAHONTAS "The Hidden Dimension,"

Edward T. Hall, in his book "The Hidden Dimension," discusses proxemics, and proxemics are important, present in every culture, and expressed differently in each one.

Proxemics refers to the distances between speakers. I don't know if you've ever entered a room and observed the seating arrangement, and how each of the students or conference participants sits in the large room.

By offering a keen observation and studying the distances between speakers—proxemics—as a teacher or presenter, you can guess who is with whom, and where the groups are located based on the distances they establish between themselves.

The premise of "The Hidden Dimension" is how human beings transcend cultures, that is, how we can understand cultures and enter into them to understand them, without, like the Spanish, removing one form or behavior to establish another of supposedly greater value, which was like taking Pocahontas out of her culture and turning her into an Englishwoman to establish that they had culturally assimilated an indigenous person and converted them into a European within their culture.

In this proxemics, which differs between cultures, the intimate or non-intimate relationship between the speakers, those who speak face to face, is also revealed.

In Mexico, as in the United States, the manifestations of affection vary across cultures and are observed through proxemics.

A distance of one meter between speakers who are "talking" to each other means that these speakers don't know each other, they are not friends, but probably people who have met by chance.

Closing the distance to half a meter, we infer that the relationship between the speakers is one of "friends" chatting with each other.

We close the distance even more, and it is established that something is probably brewing between the speakers; there is greater intimacy, and they are likely establishing a closer relationship.

The spaces between the speakers close completely, and we establish that they are lovers when there is no longer any distance separating the two, and they touch hands and faces—that is, boyfriends, husbands, or lovers. The proxemics between American and Mexican culture are also quite different. American culture is somewhat colder, while Mexican culture is more effusive, warmer.

In American culture, a typical greeting might be a simple "What's going on," said while walking past someone and making eye contact, without any physical contact like a handshake. In contrast, Mexican culture involves hugs, kisses on the cheek, and more effusive hand gestures.

The same applies to expressions of affection in American and Mexican cultures. Affection is expressed more reservedly in American culture than among Latinos, and the distance between speakers is shorter among Latinos, while in American culture, a greater distance is maintained.

And if this is true for physical distance or proxemics, the same applies to language and speech. Latin American speech is warmer and more intimate (think "Hola Papi," "Hola mi amor"), while American greetings ("What's going on," "What's up," "How you doing") are often exchanged while simply passing by each other.

Two ways of being, two structures, two languages—both valid. One is not used to diminish the other; they are simply two different perspectives, two ways of living life, without one being superior to the other.

And these are the hidden dimensions.