Communication and Messages Send between People

Identification of triggers

Insufficiency of equivalents:

The insufficiency of equivalents is another barrier to intercultural communication. Samovar et al. (2000) noted that “Many words are culture-bound and have no direct equivalents” (p. 132). Direct translation is very difficult due to this.

He also gave an example of which “a tribe in a mountainous jungle region” have words for “river and stream” (p. 134), but there is no word for ocean. This makes direct translation impossible for “ocean.” These difficulties develop from a lack of equivalents from different languages.

Level of context:

The level of context in words varies in different cultures. Some cultures practice direct replies, but others don’t. Bowe and Martin (2007) studied speech acts, such as “requests, complaints, apologies, acceptances of apologies and compliments” (p. 4), varying in different cultures.

Some ask for help or anything directly that people from other cultures don’t. (Bowe & Martin, 2007). Samovar et al. (2000) specified, “the use of direct and indirect language is a major linguistic difference between North Americans and many Asian cultures, such as the Chinese” (p. 129). Chinese people usually like to use a more implicit reply to compensate for negativity in speech, which is a “reflection of an indirect approach to communication” (p. 129) to be courteous towards others, he explained. Others might misunderstand this due to the “contrary-to-face value” (p. 129) of the politeness in their speech (Samovar et al., 2000).

Proposed solution

Being an Active Listener:

Active listening was popularized by Carl Rogers and Richard Farson (n.d.). It was also supported by counselors and therapists (Brownell, 2009; Burstein, 2010). Listeners should be aware of the verbal and nonverbal contents, with also the feelings of the speaker, to fully understand their message. To be a more active listeners, we can follow their guidelines (Rogers & Farson, n.d.).

1. Listening to what the message is.
   Listeners must listen carefully to what the other person is saying.
2. Understanding their feelings when they speak.
   Listeners should also try to figure out the other party’s feelings when they convey their message.
3. Give a response to their feelings.
   Listeners must let the person know they understand the message and their feelings.
4. Take note of all verbal and non-verbal clues.
   Listeners must take note of body language while listening. The listener can ask if anything is wrong if he feels something is not going correctly.
5. Ask them back by rephrasing it.
   Listeners may rephrase and send the message back to the other party as feedback. This allows them to respond with more information.

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