Cultural Communication

When communicating with others, I usually do not let cultural diversity interfere with the conversation or interaction. I keep a professional standpoint and try to respect everyone’s beliefs and comments with regard to the subject, because I feel everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

However when communicating with my family, I tend to be a lot more vocal and won’t back down from my beliefs. Several conversations can turn into arguments because we are all very opinionated. I believe we all communicated like this with each other because my parents have always told us to fight for what we want or feel.  

Three strategies that I could use to communicate more effectively is always keeping an open mind towards others viewpoints, to not let my body language show how I feel about the subject matter and to reflect on what I am told. When using these strategies, I can take more away from the conversations I have with others. 

The Mindy Project

For this assignment I watched the Halloween episode of “The Mindy Project.” With the sound off, I assumed that all of the characters worked together in an office building very much like the show “The Office.” From watching the episode, I inferred that the main character Mindy liked the doctor Tom, who was expecting a baby that she did not know about. The other two doctors at the office went to the DMV and were having trouble like many of us do. As for the other characters in the office, they were not important.

With the sound on, I got to know the characters better. With the sound on, I found out that Mindy and Tom used to date which would be understandable why she was upset about him having a baby that he didn’t tell her about. I also became more aware of the DMV situations that the other doctors were in, the one of was very nervous because he was on his third attempt to get his drivers license. But I was correct about the other people in the office, they are sub characters.  

The difference between the sound on and off, is that you get to understand what is being said behind the body language of the characters. You get to know why they were sad or nervous in the situations. There is a lot to learn from just observing others talk and from actually listening. When you are completely focused on the communication, you understand the entire context of the situation. 

Communication

One of the most impactful communicators I have had the opportunity to observe is Dr. Wilson, a history professor at Vanguard University of Southern California where I earned my bachelors degree. Every time you walked in the classroom he greeted you personally and wanted to get to know you. When he would teach the class he always made the material interesting and wanted our input on the matters we were learning. He wasn’t just lecturing; he was having a conversation about history with the class.

I would like to be like Dr. Wilson by wanting to be on a personal level with every person I communicate with. A personal relationship makes every conversation more meaningful.