Edited Version.
Basically, I think that communication skills are very important to everyone, as these skills are one of the few options that could help us link to other people, regardless of whom they are. Skills such as active listening, could help us in understanding and interpreting the meaning of what the speaker is trying to convey to us. For example, I saw this show, “Life Transformers 2” on channel 8 last week. The show was about helping a mute and deaf couple in finding jobs and dealing with various problems. At times, when the translator was not around, there was a communication breakdown between the TV staff and the couple. And due to these communication breakdowns, it almost cost the wife’s job as she misunderstood the TV staff’s instruction. Eventually, with the presence of the translator, everything worked out fine.
However, this made me realize how effective communication really does matter in real life. There’s no such thing as a ‘translator’ for each of us in reality. So what should we do when we are placed in this kind of communication breakdown situation? I really have no idea...
And next on my list for the importance is that I want to be prepared for the working society, for instance, learning how to write a proper application letter, improving my skills on oral presentation and the way I present myself, verbally or through writing, etc. Plus, I believe the skills that we could learn in this module would improve my chance in being employed by those MNCs.
That should be all for me, I guess.
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Original Version.
Basically, I think that communication skills are very important to everyone, as these skills are one of the few options that could help us link to other people, regardless of whom they are. Skills, like active listening, could help us in understanding and interpreting the meaning of what the speaker is trying to convey to us. For example, I saw this show, “Life Transformers 2” on channel 8 last week. The show was about helping a mute and deaf couple in finding jobs and dealing with various problems. At times, when the translator was not around, there was a communication breakdown between the TV staff and the couple. And due to these communication breakdowns, it almost cost the wife’s job as she misunderstood the TV staff’s instruction. Eventually, with the presence of the translator, everything worked out fine. However, this made me realize how effective communication really does matter in real life; as there’s no such thing as a ‘translator’ for each of us in reality, so what should we do when we are placed in this kind of communication breakdown situation? I really have no idea...
And next on my list for the importance, is that I want to be prepared for the working society. For instance, learning how to write a proper application letter, improving my skills on oral presentation and the way I present myself, verbally or through writing, etc. Plus, I believe the skills that we could learn in this module, would improve my chance in being employed by those MNCs.
That should be all for me, I guess.
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Yo Shi Ting! Great post there! I so agree with what you said about the importance of being able to communicate effectively. I have to admit I am pretty bad at it especially at home where people rarely look at when it comes to effective communication. However we fail to realise communication begins from home and yes it can be a huge window to countless of opportunities out there. I hope you achieve your goals thorugh this module! See you in class! hugs! I also feel that the skills you learn in this class will also help you with making and keeping good friends as communication is not just limited to the working world but to everyhting around us! I have realised that I have to even learn how to communicate effectively with my pet parrot in order to build a relationship with it and make it happy! haha!
ReplyDeleteHi Shi Ting,
ReplyDeleteCommunication breakdown is also a problem that I am also puzzled with. The more I try to shun away from this awkward situation, eventually it will come to haunt me again. Isn't it scary?
My communication skills seem to shut-off and I turn tongue-tied while talking to new acquaintances.
This has something to do with our willingness to self-disclose to others. It is our natural instinct to choose what we disclose and whom to disclose. In other words, we are wary of our new acquaintances as we do not know much about them. Sometimes, I think its our natural instinct to be careful and protect ourselves from being hurt.
This is only two cents worth.
Cheers,
Serene
Hey Shi Ting,
ReplyDeleteI like your example about the life transformers helping out the mute and deaf couple. In fact, I think I would want to watch an episode of the show. I am just curious to know how the couple manages to communicate at the work place; I am assuming that the translator was arranged by the TV show.
Whatever the case, I prefer the idea of not having a translator around to solve communication breakdowns. I guess I would rather just try to communicate effectively with the other party, than waste my time trying to communicate wih the translator. Oh well, in extreme cases like this, the translator sure did come in handy.
Hi there
ReplyDeleteI like the concept of communication breakdown that you have brought up. There are many factors that can contribute to this result. For example, the sender of the message, the receiver of the message and the message itself could be possible reasons for communication breakdown. There is no doubt that effective communication skills would be very helpful in addressing this problem.Among all those skills, I value the idea of walking in others' shoes the most. Even if you are a good communicator, you cannot expect others to have communication skills as effective as you have. Hence, if you do not walk in others' shoes, a communication breakdown will occur as well.
To Serene:
I always treat talking to new acquaintances as an opportunity to go out of my comfort zone and practice my communication skills. Sometimes we need to push ourselves and force ourselves to try what we are not comfortable with and thus we can improve ourselves.
Hello Shi Ting!
ReplyDeleteI feel that this is a rather unique situation where the mute and deaf couple need a translator to communicate with others who don't understand sign language.
In our daily lives, we probably experience communication breakdowns too. For example, language barriers where you prefer to converse in Mandarin while I prefer speaking in English. Though it is sometimes difficult to express ourselves in a language that we are not comfortable with, we are still able to get along fine :)
Thus, I believe that a translator is only required for specific situations like the one you mentioned in your post, where one is unable to converse in the other's language at all.
Gwen
Dear Shi Ting,
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate you setting up your blog and making this initial post. You bring up some important reasons for enhancing our comm skills. The example from the TV program makes that especially clear, even though it is a special situation.
You have also briefly mentioned why certain skills will be useful for you in the future. In fact, I'd suggest that even now a skill such as writing with the 7Cs in mind is important and can help you in your communication.
In this post, you start with a question(?) that is a bit different from the actual assignment. Of course, the difference between "us" and "me" is subtle, but the purpose for the "you" to be singular rather than plural was intentional. I wanted to see exactly what areas of communication you might identify as being most in need of your focus. You do give reference to some in the last paragraph. However, I would have liked you to have focused on that more. (Please excuse my nitpicking!)
Speaking of nitpicking, here are some language issues I'd like you to review:
1) Why effective communication is important to us?? >>> question structure?
2) Skills, like active listening, >>> Skills such as active listening....
3) in real life; as there’s >>> wrong punctuation
4) ...reality, so what should we do when we are placed in this kind of communication breakdown situation? >>> please separate into two sentences
5) importance, is >>> punctuation?
6) For instance, learning how to write a proper application letter, improving my skills on oral presentation and the way I present myself, verbally or through writing, etc. >>> complete sentence?
7) the skills that we could learn in this module, would >>> generally you should not put a comma between the main subject and main verb unless you are inserting a dependent clause (You can check sentence structure on the Purdue OWL website.)
Thank you for all your hard work!
Thanks for your comments=）
ReplyDelete