Communication comprise of verbal communication and non-verbal communication. Verbal communication mean the exchange of information between two or more person through speaking. Non-Verbal communication mean the exchange of information between two or more person through body postures,facial expressions or body gestures.
My grandmother is 80 years old and having difficulties in walking. Both of my parents are working and they do not have the time to look after my grandmother. Thus, my family employed a foreign domestic helper to take care of my grandmother, cook for her and take care of her daily needs. My grandmother is poorly educated and illiterate. Thus, she cannot speak any language other than her own hakka dialect. My family's foreign domestic worker only know how to communicate in Indonesian and basic English as she originated from Indonesia. Thus, there is this language barrier between my grandmother and her.
There was this incident in the morning where both of them had problems communicating with each other. My grandmother wanted to eat sliced cucumber fried with egg for lunch but she did not how to communicate with my family's foreign domestic helper. My grandmother pointed to the fridge while she sat on the sofa and instructed my family's domestic helper with dialect to open the fridge and take out the cucumber. However, she does not understand but only making guesses on what my grandmother want. My grandmother raised her voice louder and louder each time as she got more and more frustrated until I decided to intervene. I told my family's domestic helper to open the fridge and take out the cucumber. After my family's domestic helper took out the cucumber and show it to my grandmother, my grandmother took the cucumber and demonstrated how to cut the cucumber according to the shape she want and to fry it with egg. After my family's domestic helper seen my grandmother's hand gestures, she understood that my grandmother want the cucumber to be sliced and fried with egg.
From this incident, I understood that even when two or more person came from different culture or age and there is no common language between them, there is still a communication method that works which is non-verbal communication. I am glad that we learn verbal and non-verbal communication in class as I am a person who is insensitive and not observant. I tend to hurt peoples' feelings unintentionally when speaking. After going through these communication classes, i hope that I will be able to overcome this weakness of mine.
Commented blog
Zong Hong -> 7 Cs of Communication
Syai
Mei Ying
Edited on 19/02/2016
Thanks, Zheng, for this detailed post which responds clearly to the assigned task. I especially like the anecdote about your grandmother and the OFW. Your description not only illustrates how important nonverbals can be --- and what their limitations are --- but it also indicates just how vital it is for each of us to have patience in social situations involving interlocutors from different cultures and different generations. Your involvement was essential for both your grandmother and the helper in order for their interaction to be successful.
ReplyDeleteThere are other issues here that can be discussed related to the 7Cs, but I'll leave those for your peers.
Thank you for expressing your like about the anecdote. With regards to OFW, may i know what do they stand for?
DeleteHi Kok Zheng, you define what is verbal and non-verbal in a simple manner, it is easy to understand. Indeed, communication do work wonders, even if there is no word involved, we can still understand what each other is trying to convey by observing their gestures and guessing it. Don't alot of people who say they can communicate with their close friends or family with just eye contact? I find it fascinating how human can communicate in so many different ways.
ReplyDeleteHello Daphne! Yes I strongly agree with your point of view that it is very fascinating that there are many different ways for human to communicate. Thank you for sharing your views.
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ReplyDeleteHello Kok Zheng,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and I really like your post because I find it very relevant because I believe it is something which we would experience, be it at home or outside. Because majority of the elderly do not know how to speak English, it is very difficult for them to communicate with their foreign domestic worker or even to others who do not speak their language. The only thing which they could do is through nonverbal communication like what your grandmother did, a simple hand pointing gesture.
Like what brad had mentioned, it is also vital for each of us to have patience in social issues involving interlocutors because we have to be tolerant in many aspects of cultural diversity we do not know much about. We can be successful in our communication through patiently preserving to understand issues of cultural diversity that are not very clear to us.
Lastly, I believe that after going through the communication class, you would be able to overcome your weakness and improve on those small little details making you a better communicator. Cheers!
Hello Steven! Thank you for your encouragement. Let us aim to be a better communicator everyday as compared to every yesterday.
DeleteHi Kok Zheng,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post regarding about your grandma. Gesture do help two people to understand each other better and i do believe that your maid will generally improve her communication with your grandma like how my maid and grandma did. What do you think? Did you maid improve her communication with your grandma? Maybe you can try asking your grandma to speak basic english. For example, "Cook" "Go out" and more. That's what I advise my grandma to do. :)
Hello Mei Ying! My foreign domestic helper did improve communication with my grandmother as she had began learning the Hakka dialect. Thank you for your concern and feedback.
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