What's in a Word? (REVISED for 10/7)

  The Newsweek article "What's in a Word?" had many examples of different cultures perceptions of language.  The question being posed is does language construct our view of the world?  I defiantly think that it does.  The article gives an example of the Viaduct de Millau bridge opening in France.  The French saw the bridge as large and powerful; the Germans saw the bridge as beautiful, elegant, and artful.  The reason the French saw the bridge the way they did is because in their language bridge is a masculine word.  In contrast, in German the word for bridge is feminine.  Clearly language shapes perception in this case.  I believe that language shapes the way we look at things in all circumstances.  In English, we do not give masculine and feminine identity to objects in the ways that other languages do, but there are more examples of how language shapes our perceptions.  For example, if a professor came up to me and said that my paper was "right on target" I would understand that this is a metaphor that my professor was using to say that my paper was well written.  Someone who did not understand this metaphor (with any linguistic background) would not understand the professors' message at all and would probably think in a more literal sense.  Language shapes our perceptions because we as a society agree on things such as metaphors, sayings, slang, profanity, and general words or phrases.  I believe by knowing that language shapes our perceptions we need to keep in mind that everyone is constantly perceiving things a little bit differently.
  In American society we use our language to define our world in a variety of ways as well.  For example, when you are reading about the war our country is currently in, government representatives will commonly pick certain words to alter your perceptions on a situation.  "Friendly fire" sounds a whole lot better than "we killed 50 of our own soldiers".  Hearing "friendly fire" is more acceptable to us.  These expressions mean the exact same thing but we choose certain words in order to alter perceptions or to paint a picture the way we want it in someone's mind.  Framing is a perfect example of this, by definition framing is a process whereby communicator's consciously or unconsciously act to construct a point of view that encourages the facts of a given situation to be interpreted by others in a political manner.  Framing is an art, because it is literally painting an image with words.  We see framing everyday in so many situations.  For example, you are watching TV and a commercial for Wal-Mart comes on, what image do you get from what you see?  You see the perky smiley face, happy employees, and satisfied customers.  Wal-Mart wanted you to see them that way, and to adapt to that perception of Wal-Mart so that next time you go shopping that is where you want to go.  As we talked about in class, another example would be the pro-choice pro-life debate about word selection.  If we called it pro-abortion and anti-abortion would that give it a different meaning?  I certainly think it would.  Language defines our world everyday whether it be by culture, media, framing, or environment, you can be sure that you see the world the way you do because of language.

The Gift of Listening

  I can recall a time that I was really listened to when I needed to talk to my best friend, Alex after my aunt had just passed away.  Alex is a good listener because she uses empathy.  She always tries to put herself in someone else's shoes.  When I was talking to her about my aunt she was looking at me the entire time.  She wasn't texting or thinking about what she was going to eat for dinner; she was imagining how I felt at the time and putting herself in my place.  Alex gave me so much comfort because I felt like she was on my level.  I felt as if she really understood how I was feeling because of what she was saying to me, and her non-verbal responses.  Besides eye contact, Alex used different facial expressions that showed me she was hanging on to my every word.  She really made me feel like I was understood, and that she could relate to the way I was feeling.
  I was misunderstood by a customer at my job once when I was trying to explain one of our services to her.  She asked me if there were customers older than her doing the treatment that we offer.  This is a customer that I have a good relationship with, I'm very comfortable with her, and we joke with each other often.  In my mind I was trying to be the sales woman selling this treatment and conveying that there were people of all different ages doing this treatment.  I made a sort of remark that much older people than her do this treatment, some are like "grandmas" was my exact choice of words.  Well needless to say she did not focus on the fact I was pointing out that a variety of different ages of women do this treatment, rather she thought I was comparing her to a grandma.  It really bothered me that she thought that I was trying to make fun of her age because that was far from what I was trying to say.  Our relationship was not damaged by this incident but needless to say I did not sell her the treatment that night.
  In my first listening experience, my best friend used good listening skills to make me feel understood, appreciated, and like I really got my message across correctly.  In my second listening situation, my customer interpreted my message incorrectly, which made me feel terrible that she thought I was insulting her when I was just ultimately trying to sell her something.  My first experience made me feel good, my second experience made me feel horrible.  Listening is truly a gift.  When you are a good listener to someone, you are giving them the gift of taking some weight off their shoulders.   Being a good listener goes hand in hand with being a good friend, parent, or partner.  Listening is an ethical act because it is such a supportive thing to do. When you have something you need to get off your chest, you need someone to just listen to you.  You need someone to give you their full attention and just really hear and understand what you have to say.  Sometimes the greatest gift of all is listening, and sometimes that's all we need.

Family Communication

  There are many different aspects of human communication and many ways to study the area that appeals to you.  An area that fascinates me is family communication studies.  I want to learn more about the ways in which we communicate with those closest to us, our families.  I believe that studying this aspect of communication can be beneficial to me in many aspects of my life beyond my immediate family.
  To study family communication I would choose a social constructionist model.  I chose this model because it focuses on how we communicate through our culture, and that we define our world by the communication that is relevant to us within our own social perspective.  The social constructionist perspective emphasizes symbolic codes, cultural traditions, cognitive customs, and shared roles and rules.  I think that this way of thinking would be a good way to study family communication because it focuses on your surroundings, traditions and values that make you see things the way that you do, which then directly effects how you communicate.  For example in our textbook there is a brief story about a man named John who was brought up in a time that you could say anything you want to women in the workplace.  He gets a reality check when Judy shows up "fresh out of college" where she was taught behavior like that is unacceptable.  I would be willing to bet if you explored John's family background his father would have some of the same behaviors towards women, and his mother would think nothing of those behaviors because that was simply the norm in those days. 
  I believe that the way you act and present yourself has a lot to do with the way you were brought up and the way that your family acts.  This is why family communication fascinates me.  I think that the social constructivist perspective is excellent at analyzing how it is that different families communicate, how family communication is different in other cultures, and how we can improve our communication in a family setting by understanding some of the customs and norms of that family.

The Sales Pitch

This is a funny example of horrible communication skills. In fact, there is a huge lack of communication that leads to hostility.

Is the study of communication an art or a science?

  The study of communication is very broad in its nature and has many different aspects to the field.  Communication can be interpreted in many different ways; some people believe that it is more aesthetic, some think it is more psychological, others believe it to be scientific.  I believe that communication is a combination of all of these and more, which certainly makes it appealing and fascinating to study. 
  In choosing whether communication is an art or a science I would have to lean more towards communication as an art.  In art you must have a certain technique and talent for the skill and I believe communication is the same way.  Not everyone is good or talented at communicating.  Sometimes communication can be quite difficult.  When you perfect the art of communication, many doors can open up to you.  Being a good communicator can set you apart from someone else with your same degree and past work experience when being interviewed for a job opportunity.  Good communication skills can be the difference between selling someone a fifty thousand dollar Lexus or loosing that sale to the BMW dealer who talked his way into your wallet.  Just like art, communication is a gift when you are so blessed with the talent.
  Communication can also be seen as an art because of some of the literary art that is interpreted.  In a class that I took last semester Oral Interpretation, I learned how to read between the lines of many great literary short stories and poems.  After I came to a conclusion about my interpretation of the work, I would act out a piece of the literature with all the emotion of the author or main character.  This is just one aspect of communication that in and of itself is an art.
  Whether communication is truly more of an art than a science I think is a matter of opinion.  I believe after the completion of more courses in this field I may be able to come to a new conclusion about this question.  The study of communication is far from simple but with all the many complex facets of the field, my opinion could change as quickly as the end of the semester.