It has been a fairly fast semester, and reflecting on my first post, I am mildly surprised at how much I have progressed, and how much I stick to 20 odd year old habits.
Literally speaking, my understanding of the value of communication skills has not changed. I still seriously believe it is important (anyone who says he doesn’t is really bold since this is graded :> ). On the other hand, I have gleaned a whole wealth of knowledge on many fine intricacies of communications. How to have effective communications (7 Cs), how to be mindful of intrinsic differences in the means of communications inter and intraculturally. To be reminded succinctly that the semantics of an exchange involves far more than the words verbalized but also nonverbal cues accompanying them.
I count the business correspondence and biodata posts as among the most important lessons learnt. The MOST important lessons learnt was from feedback of my peers. This feedback is much more valuable than anything one can get from simple scholarly pursuits of academia because it showed me the strength and weaknesses of what I had written. (I would like to take this opportunity to thank all who have given feedback, whether constructive or not as it means I do have areas to work on :> )
While I took this module at the urging of my friend, I have gained a whole lot of practical skills that I believe is far more important in my coming career than the pathological progression of Dengue haemorrhagic fever. I have thoroughly enjoyed the exchanges both cyber as well as in classrooms and the videos of terrible interviews tremendously. I do have a lot more I wish to enunciate, but alas, I am nearing the word limit. I shall conclude by expressing my gratitude to Mrs Richardson, who has facilitated this module wonderfully, and to my friends in ES2007S, all the best in your future endeavours (just please let us not be vying for the same job :> )
Friday, April 10, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Biodata: JONATHAN LEE
Jonathan Lee is a third year undergraduate student concentrating in the Biomedical aspect of Lifesciences. He has a solid foundation in the field of Psychology, having done a Bachelors of Science in it while serving his National Service. Besides that academic achievement, he also developed discipline and perseverance having to juggle both studies as well as fulltime NS commitments.
His current degree in Lifesciences is no less remarkable. Choosing to broaden his horizons and way of thinking, he chose to take electives ranging from Philosophy, Sociology and Physics rather than concentrating narrowly in Biology. Jonathan also spent a semester on an exchange program with a university in Canada, further exposing him to different cultures and ways of life. The four months he spent in Canada taught him to be independent and resourceful, as well as to work well with people of other cultures. Besides Canadians, he also met and learnt from Hong Kongers, Fijians and Indians, something most Singaporeans have a chance to do. Jonathan has not neglected his chosen field however, doing many modules, over and above what is required, in general biology and biomedical science. He also has a great interest in laboratory work, having taken both level 2 experimental modules available in the department.
More holistically speaking, Jonathan is heavily involved in his Co-Curricular Activity as a small group leader, thus acquiring leadership skills. He also does altruistic work by serving in the local church. In the church, he serves as an Audio-Visual Aid technician, gaining patience, problem solving and analytical skills. He is in the committee for producing a newsletter targeted at youth, and this work as an editor has produced parsimonic qualities in him. He also has decision making skills and up to four years of experience heading the eight man team. He is capable of negotiating between opposing viewpoints to come up with a compromise mutually satisfactory to both sides. Jonathan has taught a group of youth for four years, cultivating a spirit of understanding and empathy with his young charges.
His current degree in Lifesciences is no less remarkable. Choosing to broaden his horizons and way of thinking, he chose to take electives ranging from Philosophy, Sociology and Physics rather than concentrating narrowly in Biology. Jonathan also spent a semester on an exchange program with a university in Canada, further exposing him to different cultures and ways of life. The four months he spent in Canada taught him to be independent and resourceful, as well as to work well with people of other cultures. Besides Canadians, he also met and learnt from Hong Kongers, Fijians and Indians, something most Singaporeans have a chance to do. Jonathan has not neglected his chosen field however, doing many modules, over and above what is required, in general biology and biomedical science. He also has a great interest in laboratory work, having taken both level 2 experimental modules available in the department.
More holistically speaking, Jonathan is heavily involved in his Co-Curricular Activity as a small group leader, thus acquiring leadership skills. He also does altruistic work by serving in the local church. In the church, he serves as an Audio-Visual Aid technician, gaining patience, problem solving and analytical skills. He is in the committee for producing a newsletter targeted at youth, and this work as an editor has produced parsimonic qualities in him. He also has decision making skills and up to four years of experience heading the eight man team. He is capable of negotiating between opposing viewpoints to come up with a compromise mutually satisfactory to both sides. Jonathan has taught a group of youth for four years, cultivating a spirit of understanding and empathy with his young charges.
Friday, March 13, 2009
Free and easy
The title refers to the topic only, and does not have any intrinsic meaning. :>
Open Topic: Other Communication Issues (Post #5)
Well, since I have been given free rein, I thought I'd talk a little about my National Service. (Disclaimer: To avoid any restricted/confidential content, I will be sticking to communication principles in general) I was a signaller in the Air Force for about 2 years, and I would like now to compare some principles of communicating over the radios, and communicating as we know it normally.
As people who handle communications within the armed forces, we learnt some valuable skills. Firstly, like the more common walkie-talkies, only 1 person is supposed to speak at a time. This avoids missing information which someone else was giving when you are speaking at the same time.
Secondly, no one person may speak for too long a time. This provides for a contingency in the case of emergencies, or if someone else has more important information than your chatting about the weather (as a figure of speech of course, we would not waste precious time and energy complaining about how we've to sit in the rain again). A related point is that we speak in short phrases packed with content. That means parsimonious speech, with as much important information as possible and as little 'fillers'. It sort of reminds me of Yoda's (little green alien from Star Wars) manner of speaking.
Thirdly, acknowledge and double-check all important information. This is especially crucial as our speech is encoded. If a person codes wrongly, or if an enemy has hi-jacked the radio network, the wrong information can be propagated.
Lastly, we have to check our equipment from time to time, to make sure we do not accidently press on the "Talk" button. Since only 1 person can talk at a time, a person pressing the button would cause a whole lot of nuisance. The more powerful your equipment is, the more trouble you can cause.
Well, now the question would be: How can this 'military' examples relate to communications in 'real life'?
Open Topic: Other Communication Issues (Post #5)
Well, since I have been given free rein, I thought I'd talk a little about my National Service. (Disclaimer: To avoid any restricted/confidential content, I will be sticking to communication principles in general) I was a signaller in the Air Force for about 2 years, and I would like now to compare some principles of communicating over the radios, and communicating as we know it normally.
As people who handle communications within the armed forces, we learnt some valuable skills. Firstly, like the more common walkie-talkies, only 1 person is supposed to speak at a time. This avoids missing information which someone else was giving when you are speaking at the same time.
Secondly, no one person may speak for too long a time. This provides for a contingency in the case of emergencies, or if someone else has more important information than your chatting about the weather (as a figure of speech of course, we would not waste precious time and energy complaining about how we've to sit in the rain again). A related point is that we speak in short phrases packed with content. That means parsimonious speech, with as much important information as possible and as little 'fillers'. It sort of reminds me of Yoda's (little green alien from Star Wars) manner of speaking.
Thirdly, acknowledge and double-check all important information. This is especially crucial as our speech is encoded. If a person codes wrongly, or if an enemy has hi-jacked the radio network, the wrong information can be propagated.
Lastly, we have to check our equipment from time to time, to make sure we do not accidently press on the "Talk" button. Since only 1 person can talk at a time, a person pressing the button would cause a whole lot of nuisance. The more powerful your equipment is, the more trouble you can cause.
Well, now the question would be: How can this 'military' examples relate to communications in 'real life'?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Canada, eh?
2 situations involving intercultural miscommunications come to mind easily. Both happened when i was in Canada for an exchange program last semester. The first is between a Canadian and me, and the second between Singaporean Chinese visiting Canada for the first time, and Canadian Chinese who have been living there practically their whole lives. It would not take much imagining to combine both into a single hypothetical scenario (although the Canadian in the first was a Caucasian young lady, it applies to most Canadians in general).
I was purchasing contact lenses from a sweet young lady optometrist at the mall. Now, the Canadians have a slang called "Eh?", similar to the Singlish we are familiar with. However, their "Eh?" is much more widely applicable to a variety of situations, depending on the context. It can be used as a question - huh?, as an indication of attention - ya?, as a reinforcer of the statement made - you know? Or even as a period at the end of a sentence - lah/hor. The Canadians (especially the pure trueblood kind for whom travelling out of their city is a major trip already) have evolved to utilise perfectly this expression that they often forget foreigners do not wield the same weapon with equal dexterity, even Singaporeans who have their own incomprehensible language. So it was with an increasing amount of bewilderment that i tried to crack the code she often lapsed into. I do feel that her apparent insensitivity to my predicament was due to the fact that facial conveyance of befuddlement looks very similar to squinting when trying on contact lenses. The mix up has serious implications as my contact lenses have not arrived 3 months after i seemingly ordered them.
The second incident is less a cultural conflict than it is a lack of understanding of cultural norms. It transpired at the end of my exchange, hours before i was to leave for the airport. There were 3 Singaporean guys, and one of them had friends in the area seeing him off. Hence we all went to have a nice dinner at the local pasta shop. Anton's Pasta has a reputation of serving large portions of pasta, so much so that it is rare for a person to WANT to finish the pasta. In fact they reward people who are able to finish their plates with a gift of a pen (which reads: "I ATE THE WHOLE THING"). Portions come heaped on plates 15x6/7 inches, and that is usually enough for 2 meals. In fact the norm for the Canadians was to eat their fill and pack the rest for takeaway (as we saw many other customers doing).
However, as ambassadors of Singapore, land of "buffets-do-not-make-much-profit", we had a reputation to uphold. Two of us managed to finish our portions quite easily. The last person was the one with his friends around, and he was having a very hard time. Mouthful after mouthful was forcibly shoved into his mouth as he struggled to maintain his dignity. To the Canadians, he seemed as though he was ravenous. They kept asking him if he was alright, as they'd never seen him this hungry. With his face stuffed with pasta all the time, my friend could not engage in a lengthy explanation of why he HAD to finish the plate. Even the waitresses were watching this spectacle, as they prepared the pen he had earned through so much suffering. Different cultural norms indeed!
I was purchasing contact lenses from a sweet young lady optometrist at the mall. Now, the Canadians have a slang called "Eh?", similar to the Singlish we are familiar with. However, their "Eh?" is much more widely applicable to a variety of situations, depending on the context. It can be used as a question - huh?, as an indication of attention - ya?, as a reinforcer of the statement made - you know? Or even as a period at the end of a sentence - lah/hor. The Canadians (especially the pure trueblood kind for whom travelling out of their city is a major trip already) have evolved to utilise perfectly this expression that they often forget foreigners do not wield the same weapon with equal dexterity, even Singaporeans who have their own incomprehensible language. So it was with an increasing amount of bewilderment that i tried to crack the code she often lapsed into. I do feel that her apparent insensitivity to my predicament was due to the fact that facial conveyance of befuddlement looks very similar to squinting when trying on contact lenses. The mix up has serious implications as my contact lenses have not arrived 3 months after i seemingly ordered them.
The second incident is less a cultural conflict than it is a lack of understanding of cultural norms. It transpired at the end of my exchange, hours before i was to leave for the airport. There were 3 Singaporean guys, and one of them had friends in the area seeing him off. Hence we all went to have a nice dinner at the local pasta shop. Anton's Pasta has a reputation of serving large portions of pasta, so much so that it is rare for a person to WANT to finish the pasta. In fact they reward people who are able to finish their plates with a gift of a pen (which reads: "I ATE THE WHOLE THING"). Portions come heaped on plates 15x6/7 inches, and that is usually enough for 2 meals. In fact the norm for the Canadians was to eat their fill and pack the rest for takeaway (as we saw many other customers doing).
However, as ambassadors of Singapore, land of "buffets-do-not-make-much-profit", we had a reputation to uphold. Two of us managed to finish our portions quite easily. The last person was the one with his friends around, and he was having a very hard time. Mouthful after mouthful was forcibly shoved into his mouth as he struggled to maintain his dignity. To the Canadians, he seemed as though he was ravenous. They kept asking him if he was alright, as they'd never seen him this hungry. With his face stuffed with pasta all the time, my friend could not engage in a lengthy explanation of why he HAD to finish the plate. Even the waitresses were watching this spectacle, as they prepared the pen he had earned through so much suffering. Different cultural norms indeed!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Online Retail Therapy with vPOST! Up to 20% OFF!
Business Correspondence Critique (Post #3)
Copy into this blog post a business letter/email that you, a member of your family or a friend received, one which you feel that you can share with your classmates. Next, analyze the letter/email according to the 7Cs in writing and principles of business correspondence and write a critique of about 200 words, showing the positive and negative points, and suggesting how the letter/email can be written more effectively.
After you have read your blogging group classmates’ posts, comment on each of their critiques to show whether you agree with their analysis.
Friday, 06 February 2009
Dear Jonathan (VP414422),
1) Match Your Packages
You can match your USA purchase invoice and packages using the online Matching Service to expedite the processing of your own packages! Learn more.
2) Include VP Number
When filling up your shipping address at the merchant̢۪s website, include your VP Number in BOTH the Name field and the 2nd Address Line.
Please remember to add vPOST Member Newsletter (newsletter@vpost.com.sg) to your email address book to continue receiving our emails in your mailbox.
Unsubscribe
This email is a vPOST advertisement. You are currently subscribed to receive our email advertisements. If you no longer want to receive our email advertisements - Click here to unsubscribe and we will promptly remove you from our mailing list.
Privacy
vPOST respects your privacy and will never ask for personal information in an email advertisement or sell your email address to a third party. Click here to contact us.
Sign On Credentials
Please be reminded not to provide anyone with your sign on credentials (vPOST ID and password) and/or other credible information to access to vPOST online.
Products limited and may sell out at any time. Prices are subject to change.
©2008 vPOST.com.sg. All rights reserved.
Singapore Post Limited (Reg No. 199201623M), 10 Eunos Road 8, Singapore Post Centre, Singapore 408600
Sadly, I really do not receive any business letters or emails (perhaps students do not have a great spending power) so this is the only email within months that fits the bill.
In terms of courtesy, the email parts "unsubscribe" and "privacy" score, using positive wording and adopting a 'you' attitude. It appears as if my interests are being highly regarded. Going with my first name 'Jonathan' also makes it seem less formal and relatively gender-neutral (if my first name was not clearly masculine that is).
The language used is fairly well understood, with nary a grammatical error. However, the sentences are somewhat short, and a few could be combined to result in much more pleasant wording.
The short sentences also score on consciseness, to the point of being in point form. On one hand it helps in skimming through the email to find relevant portions. On the other, it makes for lousy reading.
The email is very clear, delineating the different ideas with points in the form of numbering. Emphasis is well placed with the use of exclamation marks.
The brevity of the email causes it to have less coherence and cohesion, simply because it is not long enough to contain the necessary connection of ideas in prose. However, the use of enumeration mitigates it by paragraphing the points together.
This email lacks concreteness in that it does not elaborate on how much more expedient the processing of my packages will be if i were to use the online Matching Service.
Lastly, as with any advertisement, the email lacks total completeness. It fulfills it's purpose in selling the products, but it does not fully educate me on all relevant supporting information i might need to make an informed decision (i still have to do my research on the products).
Copy into this blog post a business letter/email that you, a member of your family or a friend received, one which you feel that you can share with your classmates. Next, analyze the letter/email according to the 7Cs in writing and principles of business correspondence and write a critique of about 200 words, showing the positive and negative points, and suggesting how the letter/email can be written more effectively.
After you have read your blogging group classmates’ posts, comment on each of their critiques to show whether you agree with their analysis.
Friday, 06 February 2009
Dear Jonathan (VP414422),
1) Match Your Packages
You can match your USA purchase invoice and packages using the online Matching Service to expedite the processing of your own packages! Learn more.
2) Include VP Number
When filling up your shipping address at the merchant̢۪s website, include your VP Number in BOTH the Name field and the 2nd Address Line.
Please remember to add vPOST Member Newsletter (newsletter@vpost.com.sg) to your email address book to continue receiving our emails in your mailbox.
Unsubscribe
This email is a vPOST advertisement. You are currently subscribed to receive our email advertisements. If you no longer want to receive our email advertisements - Click here to unsubscribe and we will promptly remove you from our mailing list.
Privacy
vPOST respects your privacy and will never ask for personal information in an email advertisement or sell your email address to a third party. Click here to contact us.
Sign On Credentials
Please be reminded not to provide anyone with your sign on credentials (vPOST ID and password) and/or other credible information to access to vPOST online.
Products limited and may sell out at any time. Prices are subject to change.
©2008 vPOST.com.sg. All rights reserved.
Singapore Post Limited (Reg No. 199201623M), 10 Eunos Road 8, Singapore Post Centre, Singapore 408600
Sadly, I really do not receive any business letters or emails (perhaps students do not have a great spending power) so this is the only email within months that fits the bill.
In terms of courtesy, the email parts "unsubscribe" and "privacy" score, using positive wording and adopting a 'you' attitude. It appears as if my interests are being highly regarded. Going with my first name 'Jonathan' also makes it seem less formal and relatively gender-neutral (if my first name was not clearly masculine that is).
The language used is fairly well understood, with nary a grammatical error. However, the sentences are somewhat short, and a few could be combined to result in much more pleasant wording.
The short sentences also score on consciseness, to the point of being in point form. On one hand it helps in skimming through the email to find relevant portions. On the other, it makes for lousy reading.
The email is very clear, delineating the different ideas with points in the form of numbering. Emphasis is well placed with the use of exclamation marks.
The brevity of the email causes it to have less coherence and cohesion, simply because it is not long enough to contain the necessary connection of ideas in prose. However, the use of enumeration mitigates it by paragraphing the points together.
This email lacks concreteness in that it does not elaborate on how much more expedient the processing of my packages will be if i were to use the online Matching Service.
Lastly, as with any advertisement, the email lacks total completeness. It fulfills it's purpose in selling the products, but it does not fully educate me on all relevant supporting information i might need to make an informed decision (i still have to do my research on the products).
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy stalks girl??
It has been brought to my attention that instructions say to write 200-250 words per blog post. While I would really like to write more (and sometimes would unintentionally), I apologise to you who have had to trudge through too many words and would try to limit myself in the future. :>
Now for the real(ly) hypothetical situation
Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Post #2)
To connect with you the audience, I have decided to use a romantic drama. That just means one in which there is a boy, and a girl, and one or more like each other, with a hodgepodge bag of spice thrown in in terms of a conflict. I am quite sure that university students would have encountered such a situation in one form or the other, whether personally or vicariously through peers. This plight is based on actual events, but the names of the lead characters have been changed to protect their identity.
Boy K and girl D have known each other for about a year now. Their acquaintance developed from attending the same co-curricular activity. They only recently got to know each other better and on a more personal level through a mutual friend (who is overseas). Both are foreigners, but D has been in Singapore for almost a decade now, while K has just arrived within the past year or so. D is pretty (much a friendly person), outgoing and sociable. She has more or less internalized the local culture, speaking singlish fluently and thoroughly enjoying the food here. She has been to the country where K and their mutual friend originated for a summer program. Therein lies the reason for their mutual friend’s asking her to bring K out in Singapore.
K has not been around Singapore much even though he’s been here for almost a year. He’s relatively quiet, preferring to concentrate on studies than social activities, and overall is a thoughtful person you would describe as a “nice guy”. He is overweight, but not overtly so. Financially speaking, he is well off but not rich (sort of middle income kind).
Now, after the outing, K keeps calling D, approximately twice a day. He also sends her gifts and frequently wishes to meet up with her to “spend time together”. He has followed her to her home and to her lessons as well. Efforts on the part of D to communicate displeasure have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Obviously, D is feeling stressed by the hounding, and feels increasingly frustrated.
What might have gone wrong in this situation?
PS: Feelings of K have been intentionally left out until some comments have been made.
PPS: Perhaps focus on what has been given in the framework about the characters’ backgrounds.
Now for the real(ly) hypothetical situation
Resolving Interpersonal Conflict (Post #2)
To connect with you the audience, I have decided to use a romantic drama. That just means one in which there is a boy, and a girl, and one or more like each other, with a hodgepodge bag of spice thrown in in terms of a conflict. I am quite sure that university students would have encountered such a situation in one form or the other, whether personally or vicariously through peers. This plight is based on actual events, but the names of the lead characters have been changed to protect their identity.
Boy K and girl D have known each other for about a year now. Their acquaintance developed from attending the same co-curricular activity. They only recently got to know each other better and on a more personal level through a mutual friend (who is overseas). Both are foreigners, but D has been in Singapore for almost a decade now, while K has just arrived within the past year or so. D is pretty (much a friendly person), outgoing and sociable. She has more or less internalized the local culture, speaking singlish fluently and thoroughly enjoying the food here. She has been to the country where K and their mutual friend originated for a summer program. Therein lies the reason for their mutual friend’s asking her to bring K out in Singapore.
K has not been around Singapore much even though he’s been here for almost a year. He’s relatively quiet, preferring to concentrate on studies than social activities, and overall is a thoughtful person you would describe as a “nice guy”. He is overweight, but not overtly so. Financially speaking, he is well off but not rich (sort of middle income kind).
Now, after the outing, K keeps calling D, approximately twice a day. He also sends her gifts and frequently wishes to meet up with her to “spend time together”. He has followed her to her home and to her lessons as well. Efforts on the part of D to communicate displeasure have seemingly fallen on deaf ears. Obviously, D is feeling stressed by the hounding, and feels increasingly frustrated.
What might have gone wrong in this situation?
PS: Feelings of K have been intentionally left out until some comments have been made.
PPS: Perhaps focus on what has been given in the framework about the characters’ backgrounds.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Effective Communication Skills (Post #1)
Effective Communication Skills (Post #1)
Why developing effective communication skills is important
"Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am"). This popular philosophical statement attributed to René Descartes is the foil to everything this course stands for – communication. No person is an island, and Man as a social creature HAS to communicate and have relationships with other beings. This sentence probably describes the very nature of communications, the relationship between “communicate” and “relationship”. Being capable of thought may allow us knowledge of self-existence, but without being able to express, give or interchange thoughts (whether literal thoughts, ideas, feelings or emotion) with others, it would really be a lonely place wouldn’t it?
Now, extremes aside, what about normal everyday communications? Everyone communicates in one way or another, but not everyone communicates effectively. Effectively, by dictionary.com, means “adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result”. That is what many people lack today, producing the intended result when trying to communicate with others. Let me start with language barriers (although this course does not pertain to language barriers, I do think it gives excellent examples).
Just over the Chinese new year, my family went to a hawker centre for our reunion dinner. That was typical, as was the menu of Chinese foods: yu sheng( a fish salad cold dish), shark’s fin soup (mostly fake), steamed grouper fish (in soy sauce, delicious), roasted chicken (very typical), couple of vegetable dishes (obviously not important enough to make an impact on my memory), fried rice (love that stuff) and some dessert. Dinner went fairly normally, until we wanted the rice to be served earlier, so that we could have it with the dishes. My brother told the waitress to serve the “chow fan” (wok-fried rice usually with ingredients like roasted pork, green peas and lots of oil). The waitress gave a puzzled look before leaving with a confused expression. The fried rice soon came, looking nowhere near sufficient to feed the ten people of my party. Disgruntled murmurs broke out and we had to order white rice to go with the dishes. A little while later, a glutinous rice dish appeared. Since that was not on the menu, we called the waitress over. She looked even more bewildered and could only say that it was part of the menu. Note: the stall was run and manned by mainland Chinese. Halfway through the meal, a chicken dish arrived. However, it looked nothing like the roasted chicken we were expecting. It was more of a herbal chicken (which means it was braised in some sauce). We decided to spare the poor waitress and inquired of her manager instead (who spoke marginally better English I might add). It turned out that the misunderstanding was really quite simple. The menu was written in Chinese before being translated into English. The wrong dishes made perfect sense in mandarin, but the English translation was horrible. Since three generations of my family speak English as our first language, no one thought to check the mandarin characters, which were really quite different from the English translation. Communication? Yes. Effective? No.
This is why I think developing effective communication skills are essential. We can have the greatest ideas, but if we are not able to share them, we are better off just dreaming or imagining things. If we can communicate them but ineffectively, how much of the original meaning gets lost in translation (anywhere in the process of encoding, sending through a channel with context, having the receiver receive the message and decoding it through the noise in the environment[text Chap 1.1])?
From workplace/institutions to homes, from (non)verbal to written, from stranger to familiar, effective communication is required in all social aspects of our lives. We may think that mainstream communication is fairly intuitive, but it is not. There are barriers that must be overcome in order for one to listen effectively [text 1.3], and even a simple conversation packs nuances of nonverbal cues. Developing effective communication skills will allow us to search for these cues, to listen actively, and to bring across our thoughts/ideas WITH THE INTENDED RESULT.
Why developing effective communication skills is important
"Cogito, ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am"). This popular philosophical statement attributed to René Descartes is the foil to everything this course stands for – communication. No person is an island, and Man as a social creature HAS to communicate and have relationships with other beings. This sentence probably describes the very nature of communications, the relationship between “communicate” and “relationship”. Being capable of thought may allow us knowledge of self-existence, but without being able to express, give or interchange thoughts (whether literal thoughts, ideas, feelings or emotion) with others, it would really be a lonely place wouldn’t it?
Now, extremes aside, what about normal everyday communications? Everyone communicates in one way or another, but not everyone communicates effectively. Effectively, by dictionary.com, means “adequate to accomplish a purpose; producing the intended or expected result”. That is what many people lack today, producing the intended result when trying to communicate with others. Let me start with language barriers (although this course does not pertain to language barriers, I do think it gives excellent examples).
Just over the Chinese new year, my family went to a hawker centre for our reunion dinner. That was typical, as was the menu of Chinese foods: yu sheng( a fish salad cold dish), shark’s fin soup (mostly fake), steamed grouper fish (in soy sauce, delicious), roasted chicken (very typical), couple of vegetable dishes (obviously not important enough to make an impact on my memory), fried rice (love that stuff) and some dessert. Dinner went fairly normally, until we wanted the rice to be served earlier, so that we could have it with the dishes. My brother told the waitress to serve the “chow fan” (wok-fried rice usually with ingredients like roasted pork, green peas and lots of oil). The waitress gave a puzzled look before leaving with a confused expression. The fried rice soon came, looking nowhere near sufficient to feed the ten people of my party. Disgruntled murmurs broke out and we had to order white rice to go with the dishes. A little while later, a glutinous rice dish appeared. Since that was not on the menu, we called the waitress over. She looked even more bewildered and could only say that it was part of the menu. Note: the stall was run and manned by mainland Chinese. Halfway through the meal, a chicken dish arrived. However, it looked nothing like the roasted chicken we were expecting. It was more of a herbal chicken (which means it was braised in some sauce). We decided to spare the poor waitress and inquired of her manager instead (who spoke marginally better English I might add). It turned out that the misunderstanding was really quite simple. The menu was written in Chinese before being translated into English. The wrong dishes made perfect sense in mandarin, but the English translation was horrible. Since three generations of my family speak English as our first language, no one thought to check the mandarin characters, which were really quite different from the English translation. Communication? Yes. Effective? No.
This is why I think developing effective communication skills are essential. We can have the greatest ideas, but if we are not able to share them, we are better off just dreaming or imagining things. If we can communicate them but ineffectively, how much of the original meaning gets lost in translation (anywhere in the process of encoding, sending through a channel with context, having the receiver receive the message and decoding it through the noise in the environment[text Chap 1.1])?
From workplace/institutions to homes, from (non)verbal to written, from stranger to familiar, effective communication is required in all social aspects of our lives. We may think that mainstream communication is fairly intuitive, but it is not. There are barriers that must be overcome in order for one to listen effectively [text 1.3], and even a simple conversation packs nuances of nonverbal cues. Developing effective communication skills will allow us to search for these cues, to listen actively, and to bring across our thoughts/ideas WITH THE INTENDED RESULT.
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