Communication with Different Group and Culture

Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?

In every setting I attend to, I communicate differently than others. When I am new to a place, I am mainly quiet and reserved. At home with my family and friends, I am more open, outgoing, and I feel more like myself. At work I communicate more professionally, to my understanding, I speak in terms where both myself and my colleagues understand. When I am around children I communicate more on a level where the children understand. Depending on the group and culture, I try to communicate similarly, or not too much at all that I offend someone or create misunderstanding and miscommunication.

When I encounter groups of people from different culture, I usually try to develop an understanding of their culture, and be aware of my surroundings. I try to understand the diversity of my surroundings to identify if there is more than one culture I am dealing with. I would always keep communication simple, but also try and identify a common understanding between myself and the different groups of people. Look for something we have in common that we can conversate about, or look for activities and other things to do to be involved and not look like I am not fitting in.

Communication in Action

Mute on, Mute Off

One aha moment I had while watching the BFG (Big Friendly Giant) with my daughter, first in mute for the first half of the movie, and after replay and with music till the end was my assumptions. I began with the knowledge that the giant was friendly and lonely with no friends because of his circumstances. The little orphan girl walked through the house wishing for a different living situation. While she was snatched by the giant, I began to wonder if the giant was really friendly or not. After turning on the sound for the movie and starting all over again, it started to make sense. 

I began with some knowledge, what I thought I knew, and from there I build up all the assumptions regarding the movie and the characters. After the two main characters got to know each other, their friendship grew stronger and they started a mission to convince the queen to get rid of all the bad giants. At the end of the movie, I realize that we always tend to judge people by how we see them without giving them a chance to speak up for themselves. The big friendly giant, although big, he cared about everything, even the little creatures or "human beans" as they call them in the movie. Communication is important in life because we give people the chance to be themselves, and share who they are with others. I felt that even without sound, but with subtitle, I could have understood the movie without assumptions from the start. The greatest skill of communication is listening. We tend to not listen to understand what other people are saying instead we are always looking for and think about a response. Sometimes what people need is to be heard. 

Competent Communication

The one person that comes to mind who demonstrate competent communication is my older brother Hadden. He is one person that can entertain a crowd, knows how to talk amongst different variety of audiences, and is knowledgeable in what he says. In a setting where there are professionals he brings himself to their level and speak to them professionally. When in a crowd with youth, he entertains in a way that keeps his audience engage and alive. I consider him as a public speaker who is competent. I would always ask him for advice when I need to be talking to a crowd. I would want to be like him, with his confidence and enthusiasm.