Cultural Communication

Part 1:

·         I found this to be difficult, my partner was talking about something I was very interested in and I kept wanting to ask questions, but found without being verbal I could not articulate my complex questions. Being silent in itself was not hard, but not being able to show the question to my partner, I had to remain curious throughout the entire conversation.

·         At first my partner was at a loss for words, and laughed at my expressions, but as the conversation progressed my partner became more comfortable and opened up, conversing me and accepting my silence and listening intently. They did not alter their way of speaking, at least not in a way I noticed. My partner struggled a bit to fill in empty spots because of my lack of response, perhaps that is a noticeable change my partner made because of my silence.

·         The speaking culture has the advantage, because they can show much more information and communicate more complexly than the culture who can only use body language and facial expressions. The speaking culture may assume the culture using symbolic language is either stuck up and refusing to speak to them or they may assume the non-speaking culture is ignorant. Some individuals in our culture who have difficulty communicating using spoken language are deaf and mute individuals, this effects them by causing them to become better at communicating and showing their feelings in non-verbal ways, like sign language and body language. It also teaches people who communicate with individuals who have these problems how to understand more than just verbal words.

Part 2:

·         I had to do the conversation in two increments because I started giggling, but I did manage it. It was very hard not to use any emotion or moving, I didn’t realize just how much I move and use emotion to express feelings, until it was taken from me and I was no longer allowed to do so.

·         My partner was interested by my lack of emotion at first, but by the end of the conversation admitted to being slightly creeped out and feeling like he was talking to a robot.

·         Movements while speaking are somewhat important to the way we speak, for me I found it harder not to show any emotion verbally or physically, then it being hard to not use my hands or body while I spoke.

·         Yes there are people in the world who have trouble reading body language. The adaptive benefits of being able to read body language are knowing how someone feels before they even speak to you, say a person is angry, they walk a certain way and sometimes fold their arms or make an angry face. An environment where it would be bad to read body language would be similar to the environment shown in the movie and book titled “1984,” by George Orwell. The book is about a government where people are constantly being watched and have many, very strict rules they must follow or they are tortured. Big brother is their leader and he is ultimate, the reason this would be a good environment for people to be able to read body language is because, it could put citizens in danger. The government would know if they were nervous or if they were angry and would use this as a reason to believe they were not obeying the law and torture them.

Part 3:

·         I believe that part one of the experiment would have been easier if written language had been allowed, because it would have been a way to better articulate an exact feeling or response to your partner’s words or actions while talking with you.

·         Written language provides a culture with a way to record important historical events. We can also develop and use it to show differences between our culture and the culture of others.

·         Written language has allowed for more information to be shared with more people than ever before. So in terms of “Globalization,” it has helped us connect with our allies in other countries, we are now able to effectively communicate and work with one another because of our connection though written language and verbal language. We are also able to share our ideas worldwide through written communication, we can learn about each other and pass on information to the new generation.