Communication
Interpersonal Communication
Interpersonal communication is the process by which people exchange information, feelings, and meaning through verbal and non-verbal messages: it is face-to-face communication (Interpersonal Communication Skills).The following sequence shows flow of information in interpersonal communication.
In other words it can be said that this is the most direct type of communication. Examples of interpersonal communication are communication with peers, friends, and family members face to face. In such type of communication both the sender and receivers perceive the gestures of each other and the exchange medium (communication channel) for the information is the same. An added advantage to this type of communication is the direct flow of communication with minimum possible “noise” which thereby results in no or very less loss of information. It is also worth mentioning that it is a two way mode of communication. When the aforementioned receiver replies to the sender, then in that case the receiver becomes sender and the sender in the first case becomes receiver.
Interpersonal Communication with Family, Friends and co-workers
Interpersonal communication with family involves much easy flow of information. Generally speaking, one usually enjoys all the frankness and ease of understanding with one’s family members. Even, gestures of each others are so well understood that sometimes even without saying any word a message is perceived, interpreted and received corrected by the family members on a certain gesture of a family member. Thus, this is a very open and effective type of communication and his minimum noise ratio as compared to other modes of communication.
With friends, the situation is invariably as much the same as with family members. A person can easily convey to a friend his/her problem interpersonally due to level of understanding enjoyed between him/her and the friend. Both the sender and receiver are well known to each other’s way of talking and gestures thereby resulting in a very effective communication.
On the other hand, with co-workers, the interpersonal communication usually involves communication in a particular jargon. An engineer will talk to his peer usually about their professional routines. On the same lines, two doctors and nurses interacting interpersonally with each other shall, generally, be sharing professional notes regarding their job. They might be talking about some patient’s disease, diagnosis or treatment. This is also a very good form of communication since it is usually limited to a set of words being used professionally which are repeated day in and day out and have a very well defined meaning thereby resulting in a good communication.
Communication with people with different culture
Communication interpersonally with those people who belong to some other culture than that of the sender involves understanding the culture of the receiver first. There are many cultural differences due to which semantic barrier arises. Semantic barriers, therefore, are the misunderstandings that occur by people trying to communicate an idea, but simultaneously having completely different meanings in mind for the words (The Semantic Barriers In Peoples Communication English Language Essay). For instance, in USA and most of the countries of the world a positive nod is denoted by movement of head vertically (up and down). On the contrary, in China this movement of head refers to a “NO” which is diametrically opposite. This is a cultural difference which may result in wrong information flow and thereby resulting in a total misunderstanding of the intended message to the receiver. In such cases, it is very important for both the sender and receiver to know the culture of each other and thereby communicate as per the norms of each other’s cultural traits. Similarly, in Muslims, it is a trait that whenever they meet each other they offer salam which in Christianity and other religions is usually replaced by “Hello”. Hence, while interacting with people of different cultures, we have to accordingly modify our method of communication to create such a level of understanding between the sender and receiver that the intended message is received properly by the receiver.
Language is a lynchpin ingredient of a culture. In case a person is interacting with another person who understands some other language then there is a huge effort needed to communicate interpersonally. In such cases, people try to use standard gestures such as a thumb raise for “OK”, hand wave for “hello”, a nod for “yes” and so on. Let us take an example of a nurse who has to attend a patient from a varying culture with a different language. Now a nurse is supposed to take notes of the patient’s history and his/her medical record. This cannot be done without effectively communicating with the patient or his/her attendant. In such cases, usually, a translator is arranged to get the required data from the patient or the attendant. In such cases, loss of intended message or poor flow of communication can be disastrous and hence cannot be afforded. Such cases require, proper understanding of the culture of the patient to effectively study the case and further go on with the diagnosis and prognosis. Thus, the quintessence of the above discussion is that the people’s culture affects vividly the interpersonal communication.
Works Cited
"Interpersonal Communication Skills." www.skillsyouneed.com. 18 Jun. 2016. <http://www.skillsyouneed.com/ips/interpersonal-communication.html>.
"The Semantic Barriers In Peoples Communication English Language Essay."www.ukessays.com. 23 Mar. 2015. 18 Jun. 2016. <https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/the-semantic-barriers-in-peoples-communication-english-language-essay.php>.
