(In a bootfel Steam-boat Rest-torant)
Ah Huat: "Why you so Kiasu? Take so many. After can take again what"
Ah Poh: "No lah, if don't take now, after no more already"
(source: http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Towers/1156/singlish2.html)
This is an example that presents a very unusual, unique culture strand to foreigners as they cruise around Singapore. This brings us to the topic of this post: Professional Communication.
How do we communicate effectively with people with different cultural values? How do we deal with people who speak in a language foreign to us? How to please your boss and maintain good rapport with your colleagues at the same time? How to write a scientific research paper or formal business letter? All of the answers to the above questions will require effective communication.
Is this communication?
What is communication? Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood by both sender and receiver (Wikipedia). Why do we need communication? This is crucial as we human beings, are social creatures. We cannot live without understanding one another, cooperating, socializing and building bonds with other individuals in society. At the start of our every day, we have to convey our choice of breakfast to the heartland hawkers accurately to have our order taken correctly. At school, we have to be tactful and engaging in company of our peers. We have to be cautious not to send wrong signals such as that of disinterest but warm the hearts of our lecturers. In hope of getting the best food, we try and build good rapport with the canteen vendors. Sometimes, upon returning home after a long day, some of us are faced with the challenge of how to best handle the endless naggings from our elders. Communication plays an important role in all of these activities. For as long as we live, we are obligated to communicate.
Effective communication, as its name suggests, is therefore an essential component in the developing interpersonal effectiveness, in both formal and informal aspects, written or spoken, verbal or nonverbal situations.
As an undergraduate in a university who would be graduating and joining the workforce soon, the ability to communicate effectively and professionally becomes very crucial to write a scientific report, produce an impressive resume and give a confident, good presentation of yourself to the interviewers. Communicating effectively is a life-long necessity that, even after securing a job, plays a key role to career success. This might include giving a professional business presentation, working effectively in a team and resolving conflicts in the office.
Being an individual in diverse society with a population of 6 billion people, one has to build efficient networks in order to be successful. Good interpersonal skills will greatly help in building strong bonds with others in the society. Success is not only measured monetarily but also includes strong and good relationships with the people around oneself, which would generally include one’s parents, spouse, friends, colleagues, and children.
As a frequent traveler and backpacker myself, effective communication has special importance to me. In traveling, people from all over the world are most definitely to cross paths with one another. To be able to communicate effectively with these people of all different cultural backgrounds is an important skill too. The exchange of ideas, thoughts, and life stories as well as to be around one another harmoniously only becomes possible when communications are effective. Effective communication which would also require understanding and mastery of nonverbal cues such as body language could also help one communicate with another who speaks a foreign language.
All in all, effective communication is not only important at the workplace but also important for social networking. To be able to communicative effectively is a life-long skill that everyone should practise throughout his life even after understanding the principles governing it through courses like ES2007S.
3 comments:
Very good effort, Baoqing. When you introduce this discussion with the example of Singlish, you immediately capture our attention. I also like the way you survey the general aspects of communication, even providing definitions, then bring the focus down to how you in specific are part of this web and have the need to develop effective skills.
One language issue is this sentence: "As an undergraduate in a university who would be graduating and joining the workforce soon, the ability to communicate effectively and professionally becomes very crucial to write a scientific report, produce an impressive resume and give a confident, good presentation of yourself to the interviewers."
Do you see what makes it odd? There's a disconnect between the subject of the two clauses. Imagine this: "As a student who is in this class, you need to do X, Y and Z." See the difference between my sentence and yours?
Thanks again for your effort!
Sounds like you have travelled extensively and have good exposure to different cultures. Perhaps you would like to share some incidents of miscommunication or how you try to communicate despite barriers (such as language barriers)?
Hmm... what if we meet someone from a different place and there is no common language to use in communication? I think that is when we really see the importance of nonverbal communication and realize the benefits of effective communication. I may probably resort to using lots of hand gestures! :)
Baoqing,
I want to add one more bit of criticism to this. Although I really appreciate all your work, especially since you are working in a **foreign** language, I feel that you've gone a bit too far over the upper word limit of 300 words. Try to achieve more conciseness in your future posts.
Thanks, man!
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