If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?
Yes, I find myself communicating differently with people of different groups and cultures daily. My neighbors are all from different cultures and races. I have a young couple from Zimbabwe, an elderly Caucasians couple, a Black couple and so many more in the neighborhood that I see and communicate with every single day. I would have to say they all will without hesitation spark a conversation if given the opportunity. I enjoy talking to each person in my neighborhood because I learn a lot about them and their daily lives just by listening and speaking with them. No matter what the culture is with the people in my community one thing is for certain, they all just want someone to share in the life's experiences. Some I listen to as they share their views of the world while I smile and nod which I learned is called "pseudolistening" and others I have a more balance monotone free flowing conversation about the weather, another neighbor, or whatever comes to mind. Here recently after my long work days I've been a little exhausted to fully commit my attention in my conversations so the following three strategies can help me with my communicating with others more effectively.
2)Adjust my existing schemas with my neighbors so that I do not have a perception the conversations will be as they usually are "When you recognize one component of a schema, the entire schema is activated and helps you to know what to say or how to behave in a particular situation" (O'Hair, 2018)
3)Learn about the communication style of others that I am communicating with."To communicate effectively from relationship to relationship and situation to situation, you must understand the communication needs of others (Farmer, 2019).
References
Farmer, J. (2019). How to Communicate Effectively in Any Relationship. Retrieved from https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/effective-communication-how-communicate-your-daily-life.html
O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J. (2018). Real Communication: An Introduction (4th. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.
Vuckovic, A. (2008). Inter-cultural Communication: A Foundation of Communicative Action. Multicultural Education and Technology Journal, 2(1), 47 - 59.
4 comments:
Understanding people of dissimilar cultures is a key factor for mutual communication. We should try to understand the different values, verbal and non-verbal cues that other people use. Cross-cultural communication requires the filtering of sensitive norms so as to make it easier for the other person to understand you. Undoubtedly, learning the various cultures of varying walks of life will ensure that people remain neutral and understood. People will definitely understand others in a different manner. It is quite often that a certain gesture or verbal cue can mean something else in another culture. Therefore, other people of various culture may misunderstand the values of other diverse cultures, and this will make up a poor team.
Dane Archer. (1997). A WORLD OFDIFFERENCES:(Video-30 minutes). http://nonverbal.ucsc.edu/xcultrev.html
Violanda,
Understanding those from a different culture is definitely an important part of communication. I believe that we cannot communicate properly unless we are open to learning about other cultures. I think that it is interesting that every culture has its own verbal and non-verbal cues. Since I started teaching in a mostly ESOL environment I have had to take my time to learn different cues from different cultures in order to make my students feel comfortable when communicating with me within the classroom setting.
Violanda, I am sure your day of communication is very interesting. You are surrounded by different forms of language, which is a great way to increase your knowledge on verbal and nonverbal communication as well as the different aspects of cultural differences.
Violanda,
I think it is great that you have an opportunity to communicate with individuals from different cultures right in your neighborhood. Your neighborhood seems very diverse. Do you all every come together and do neighborhood activities that intertwines everyone's culture? I think that would be a great teaching moment for the children of the neighborhood.
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