- THE LANGUAGE BARRIERS
PREJUDGING THE COMMUNICATOR OR THE COMMUNICATION.
This is a perceptual barrier. This is a situation that you go into in your thoughts, thinking that the person you are addressing is not going to understand you. Also, considering that you are not interested in what you are saying. This can make you sabotage your effort on making the point clear. You will employ a language that is sarcastic and thereby alienating your partner. The person ends up looking so ridiculous while failing to say anything of importance. Judging the information makes it even harder for the receiver to get what is being passed across. This is because he already thinks of a different version of the data.
DIFFERENCE IN LANGUAGE
This is the most apparent barrier in communication. This is because two people speaking two different languages have it hard to enhance their communication. When one person speaks a word that cannot be understood by the other, it becomes hard for the message being passed to be clearly understood. The sender might be saying something different from what the receiver is thinking, and this makes it hard to understand the information.
WORD CHOICE
The choice of word used in the description must always be considered before making the communication. The decision of terms used by two parties communicating can be taken as sarcasm to facilitate their agreement on something, which is always negative. Words with two meaning should ever be put aside in communication since it can easily be misunderstood and should be avoided for not sending a proper meaning. They are mostly interpreted in any way, and this brings a different sense hence not facilitating communication. Therefore the message will not be sent as intended, which leads to this being a barrier in communication.
- LISTENING AND HEARING
Hearing is a part of the five senses in humans, while listening is always a choice of hearing and analyze in your own words what you choose to hear. Hearing involves using your ears only while in listening, you have to use your body’s other senses to get the information. Listening also consists of seeing or having a vision of other people’s behavior that can add some insight to the message. In the hearing, it is just receiving the vibrations in sound.
THE LISTENING STYLES
APPRECIATIVE LISTENING
This is the listening that is always done on enjoyment. It is still in a play or a concert. When practicing this listening, you always have to sit back, watch, and enjoy yourself. You appreciate what is happening in the environment around you since you are neither analyzing nor evaluating anything.
EMPATHIC LISTENING
This involves listening to the challenges, the pains, and the hurts that your friend is going through and providing support and understanding to them. This Is a way to listen to a friend who is mourning the loss of a loved one or someone going through a heartbreak. During counseling, this is also the listening that is always employed.
DISCERNING LISTENING
This is always used in a situation that you want to gather information and some facts. In this, you are always looking for the memorable nuggets in the message that is being communicated to you. Often they are ever stored in noting them down on a paper and keeping it for another time.
EVALUATIVE LISTENING
This is the process of taking some information and assessing for the aim of making a decision. Nuggets of this information are compared to the real facts from the historical experience to determine the course of action. The style of listening always changes from time to time and always we should be sensitive to the urge to listen to different styles.
- 3. IMPORTANCE OF NONVERBAL COMMUNICATION
Nonverbal communication can always mean a lot of various things, and they are all important in being an effective communicator. The most prominent types of nonverbal communication forms are body gestures and languages, physical appearances and design choices. It is always important to keep in mind that cultural norms define a lot on the nonverbal communication. Personal space, eye contact and touching are just a few of the nonverbal communication forms that mean differently according to various cultures.
On the other hand, studies have shown that there are various facial expressions that are all universal due to the human race. These includes happiness, surprise, sadness and disgust. It has been estimated that a large percentage of communication is all about what has not been said and rather based on perception of gestures, eye contact and the environment.
The understanding on the body language can be instrumental in aiding others accept the point of view using some techniques. Strategic use of these forms can help make others more comfortable in a tense situation and in this situation one should not feel that they are not teased.