Hi, I’m Ryan*. As far as I can remember, talking to people has always been a scary obstacle I have to face. The same goes for writing a letter, leaving a message, or even just having to face someone and listen to them. Yet I have thoughts I want to share with people. This frustrates me.
Humans are social creatures. At the heart of human social interaction lies words, but communication is not just about words. There is so much more to communication than just words, if one pauses to think about it. As humans, we primarily rely on words to communicate, but we also rely on many non-verbal cues. Gestures, the tone of voice, and the method of communication – these are just a few of many factors that play a role in communication. To me, effective communication requires a degree of mastery over these factors.
To what end? Why bother so much about communication?
How do you feel when you cannot get someone to understand what you were saying, or when someone misunderstands you? I can say for myself that when I put in the effort to communicate with someone, and later find it was fruitless, it feels disappointing. However, quite apart from that, miscommunication can cause a lot more damage beyond petty hurt feelings. For example, misperceived malice could make a relationship sour; instructions followed to a tee (apparently) but misunderstood renders all effort in a project naught.
Like it or not, we live in a social world. Realistically speaking, being able to communicate effectively is one of the most valuable skills one can have. If nothing else, at least the ability to get your point across – to communicate one’s thoughts – is worth it. That is why effective communication skills are important for me.
*Not real name.
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ReplyDeleteHi there!
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that it is a very painful process when you are dying to make a point but no one understands you due to many factors. I have been through the ordeal before because of language barrier. It was kind of a bad experience and I was too disappointed and decided to not speak for the rest of the day.
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ReplyDeleteDear Izen,
ReplyDeleteThank you for a clear and fairly concise first post!
Your sharing illustrated a very good point - that it is important to develop effective communication skills, or misunderstandings can easily happen. I am glad you reflected on your areas for improvement because it tells me one thing: that you are ready to work on becoming a more effective communicator.
Let's look forward to a fruitful semester together!
PS: I understand that you may like a certain degree of anonymity - why not just use 'Izen'?
Hi Izen, you remind me of myself. Not able to bring across my thoughts and ideas and not able to express my messages and feelings, resulting in misinterpretation in conversations. But that are all in the past, luckily we took ES2007S to learn and change to become a better communicator!
ReplyDeleteFor starters, we should learn to speak freely instead of keeping it inside ourselves.
good point.. actually I'm having the same problem as well. I'm not really good at expressing myself sometimes, and my writing isn't that good though.. that's why I'm keen in taking ES2007S to improve myself. Let's learn together :)
ReplyDeleteHi,this is Zhao Chen. Great, well-structured essay! Your post is better than my essay for general paper in JC. (If you ever went to a JC here, you would know what it is) However you don't strike me as a person who treats communication as,and I quote, "a scary obstacle". I guess we all have different degrees of uneaseness when it comes to both verbal and written communications, and that is why this course is great for us. I,too, have tasted the bitter medicine of miscommunication and misunderstanding that follows, and eventually survived and learned through the mistakes
ReplyDeleteIt seems we have similar experience that we try desperatly to explain something while others still donot understand...I do agree with you that being able to communicate effectively is one of the most valuable skills one can have. we may forget those formulars we have learnt but communication skills will accompany us for out whole life.
ReplyDeleteHi Wei Ee! I think we all need to master the skills of communication so as to prevent our words from being misunderstood or hurtful. And I agree that it is one valuable skill to have, since we are all social creatures and interaction with others is inevitable. Thus, let's hope we can be more effective communicators after this module!
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