How Women and Men Communicate?

Communication is a dynamic process with the interacting components of sending, receiving and feedback. Nonverbal cues may provide clarity or contradiction for a message being sent. If an ironic statement is made with a smile, the receiver knows to find it humorous instead of disconcerting. If we are sending a verbal message intending to deceive and avert our eyes the receiver knows we may be lying. Nonverbal cues also influence how we perceive and are perceived. Familiar faces may make us more likely to start a relationship and continue it. Nervous facial expression hinders other`s perception of our competence and persuasiveness. Nonverbal cues can provide information we may not want dispelled. Our decoding ability arises at a young age and increases as we get older, influencing our daily lives whether we are aware of it or not.

Women tend to communicate more effectively than men, focusing on how to create a solution that works for the group, talking through issues, and utilizes non-verbal cues such as tone, emotion, and empathy whereas men tend to be more task-oriented, less talkative, and more isolated. Men have a more difficult time understanding emotions that are not explicitly verbalized, while women tend to intuit emotions and emotional cues. Characteristically, women are encouraged to look modestly downward, to walk with small steps, be more restrained in facial expressions than men of their class, and to eat smaller portions of food. Gestures of female assertiveness, like standing with arms akimbo, or legs widely spaced, are regarded, particularly in societies with strong power differentials between the sexes, as unbecoming and aggressive, imitative of male behavior. These differences explain why men and women sometimes have difficulty communicating and why men-to-men friendships look different from friendships among women. Nonverbal communication, or body language, is a vital form of communication. When we interact with others, we continuously give and receive countless wordless signals. All of our nonverbal behaviors the gestures we make, the way we sit, how fast or how loud we talk, how close we stand, how much eye contact we make send strong messages. The way you listen, look, move, and react tell the other person whether or not you care and how well you’re listening. The nonverbal signals you send either produce a sense of interest, trust, and desire for connection or they generate disinterest, distrust, and confusion.

Nonverbal communication is a rapidly flowing back-and-forth process. Successful nonverbal communication depends on emotional self-awareness and an understanding of the cues you’re sending, along with the ability to accurately pick up on the cues others are sending you. This requires your full concentration and attention. If you are planning what you’re going to say next, daydreaming, or thinking about something else, you are almost certain to miss nonverbal cues and other subtleties in the conversation. You need to stay focused on the moment-to-moment experience in order to fully understand what’s going on.

"PC"

Political correctness is the variation of language said by proponents to redress real or alleged unjust discrimination or to avoid offense. The term most often appears in the predicate adjective form politically correct, often abbreviated (PC), and is usually used mockingly or disparagingly. One purpose behind politically correct language is to prevent the prohibition or the offending of people based upon differences or handicaps. The reasoning claimed by proponents for using politically correct terminology is to bring peoples' unconscious biases into awareness, allowing them to make a more informed choice about their language and making them aware of things different people might find offensive. Two common examples of this practice are to use the word “disabled” in preference to “crippled”, and “mentally ill” in preference to “crazy”. However, the new terms are often awkward, euphemistic substitutes for the original stark language concerning differences such as race, gender, sexual orientation and disability, religion and political views.

As the world has progressed it has become better and still today works on making itself better. As a result being politically correct has become necessary. If someone is not politically correct they are looked at as being rude and ignorant. This attitude has changed everyday conversation. Now when people have conversations they must be politically correct. For example, “Nigger” It is a word that white students struggle with and black students use pretty freely in daily’s conversations but view it as derogatory if used by people of other races. Young people are much more open to using it, especially young people who are black or who have been exposed to more diverse groups of people. I can’t imagine a political or a social multiracial situation where it would be appropriate. The word is so prevalent in the popular youth culture, grounded in hip-hop, that I wouldn’t like to predict where that debate is going to end up. But if the popular culture ends up agreeing that it is okay to use, then I think there are a lot of pretty scary implications. However, the choice of racial or ethnic nomenclature can depend on the individual, as well as location and time period. For example, in the United States of America also referred to as the United States U. America or the States is a federal republic in central North America, stretching from the Atlantic in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west. It shares land borders with Canada in people of both Caucasian. Caucasian is originally a geographical term, meaning relative or pertaining to the Caucasus region of Eastern Europe. It has in time acquired other specific meanings: in linguistics, the Caucasian languages are a large number of languages spoken in the Ca and Africa. Being politically correct on this issue means that one is careful in not bringing up stereotypes to define certain people or decide the issues. It is a fine line to walk when talking about issues of race. If politically correct language is not used then people will find themselves in deep trouble. Political correctness may also be exhibited by the refusal to discuss particular traits of an ethnic or religious minority. For instance, it may not be politically correct to point out that a particular community has crime rates above those of the general population or to publicly suggest that cultural traits of that community may have led to such a situation. If we allow political incorrectness we are rewritten history.

Globalization of Language

Learning one language doesn’t cause you to forget another. More than half the world plays soccer, but other sports continue to thrive. Why should languages be any different? In fact, it seems widely agreed upon that a person who speaks more than one language is worthy of admiration. The fact that nearly two billion people are learning English means that there are more bilingual people than ever before. Though shared languages between countries are necessary for globalization to thrive, the popularity of English is incidental and could change. English is a tool, just like a piece of technology. Much of the world’s economy is tied up in English-speaking countries and for that reason, English is like a cell phone provider offering the best plan. But if the dollar continues to drop, the most viable option could shift. Mexico and Korea don’t need English to communicate if Korea begins to find it profitable to learn Spanish.

According to The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language on pg.61 of the EL text, Mandarin Chinese is number one in first-language speakers with an estimated 726 million people. While English comes in second with 427 million and Spanish and Hindi rounding out the top four each with 266 million and 182 million respectfully. Now based of these statistics how can it be possible that English has become the universal language of communication? The answer by many points to money. These statistics do show what language people first learn to speak and they rank the way they do due to there being a billion people in China and close to a billion in India and all of the countries that Spain has spread their language during their history. What these statistics fail to show is how most non-English speakers are now learning to speak English. Why are all these people learning to speak English? They are learning it because if you can speak English you will have a job. The global economy has interlocked every country in the world and the driving force behind the majority of this economy is the USA. The USA is an English speaking country and the world needs to learn English in order to keep up with the complex economy. Now as all these people throughout the world learn English they are impacting their own native language. By becoming bilingual they are integrating English not only into their language but into their culture. This integration of English has had both a positive and negative effect on the world. The positive is that the economy of the world affects every country and this economy is dominated by English speakers. As people of the world learn English they can understand this complex economy and better themselves and their country. The negative impact of English becoming a world language is that it is endangering many languages in the world and some have already become extinct. There are native peoples throughout the world whose languages are in danger in being lost in history due to the necessity to learn English. According to James Geary in his essay “Speaking in Tongues”, located on pg.57 of the EL text, he states that, “of the roughly 6,500 languages now spoken, up to half are already endangered or on the brink of extinction.” This is a grave concern to many and Geary goes on to say that, “The death of a language… marks the loss of an entire culture.” The globalization of English has become a hindrance for many smaller languages to survive.

Word to Creativity

When it comes to creativity, we all have the unique talent to show the world who we are and what we capable of. The uniqueness in everyone is what allows creativity to be diverse. This diversity is what allows new concepts to appear and knowledge to grow. Whatever we write is considered our own work. Writer’s personal stamp is what allows us the audience to gain an understanding about them. This personal stamp is always present in an authors work and audiences can expand an understanding about them from it. It is as if the audience knows the writer without ever having met them. This is what is so remarkable about writing. We all have different point of views about various topics and through writing we can express them in our own unique way. As we express them the audience can not only understand what is being said but where the author is coming from based off their personal stamp. The stamp makes the audience feel as if the author presents the speech in front of them.

As an amateur writer, I still have a lot to learn about the craft. When it comes to writing, I am careful in planning and choosing my words. The words I choose are not technical, but it need to be a strong words that will help me create effective message so that the audience can understand my writing. Whether subject or main idea it is important to pick the right words so that my message is expressed properly. I want to build a strong relationship with my audience by establishing my credibility and projecting my image. If they do not understand my message or misunderstood what I am trying to tell them, then it is my fault for choosing the wrong word. If my writings confuse the reader and they come away not understanding what I was trying to express then I have failed. It’s critical when choosing the right words because you need to know if it appropriate to use. Richard Lederer states in the EL text, “Big words can make the way dark for those who read what you write and hear what you say” (p. 122). In his essay, Lederer makes the case for short words because they are simple and quickly get your point across to the reader. I strongly agree with Lederer. As a student I want to be a good writer and want my work to show that, but I sometimes failed to be a good writer. It’s a shame that I used dictionary to look for technical words to make my writing sound smart like a professional writer. I realized it just ended up making my writing look and sound awkward and the ideas were not coming across to the readers. But I come to a realization that all I need to do was to just be myself and pick a simple words that not plain English and comfortable with but at the same time being careful that the words properly expressed my ideas. That is the key. I put my own personal stamp on my work by just being myself and making sure the audience understands my ideas exactly as I intended them to. Being clear and concise is the way to make sure the reader does not get lost and that your ideas are understood.