I have learned that communication styles vary within
cultures and among people. What I have found interesting as well is that even
within my own culture, communication varies from country to country. So for
example, I have a good friend from Puerto Rico and although we speak the same
language, English, our vocabulary and expressions mean different at times. We
have had to really sit down and talk about different words and their meanings
as well as hand gestures, just to be amazed how different meaning each one had.
I guess because we have a good friendship it was
easy to ask and talk about differences and similarities about our culture with
no worries of offending each other.
I have also learned about the Muslim community since
I have many friends and worked with families from this specific community.
I think in order to practice Effective Communication
among each other we have to:
Be respectful
Be open minded
Ask questions when something is not clear to you
Treat each other as you want to be treated
Have empathy for others
Reflect on your bias and don't let that block for
seeing the whole picture
Patricia,
ReplyDeleteBeing open minded is a great skill to have! When we make others feel as if they are valued, we can build stronger relationships. We read this week that language can be mangled or missed when translated. Even though you and your friend both speak English, it reminded me of that point. I use Google Translate to communicated with one mother in the program. However, sometimes that can be a struggle because the translation is not always correct.
Patricia,
ReplyDeleteI like asking questions when something is not clear as I am communicating with someone. Not only does it help you understand what the other person is saying, it lets the other person know that you are actively listening to what they have to say. I also think being respectful is key when it comes to effective communication. Regardless if we agree with the other persons perspective, it is important that we respect where they are coming from. I have had many experiences with people who are not respectful when it comes to communication and it frustrates me and the conversation doesn't go anywhere. We can respectfully agree to disagree but being disrespectful has no benefit to the conversation or possible relationship.