Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?
Yes I often find myself in this situation. I provide customer service to all nationalities and to people from all cultures and groups.
If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?
I have not yet mastered a second language. I do speak well enough to be able to know what the person is saying. I use things like pointing, asking questions in my own language because I know that even when people can’t speak the language they can understand what you are saying.
When communicating with a person from another culture or group it is always better to have someone that fully understand their language besides you interpreting the language.
Food for thought
Do you think it's rude when Hispanic people speak spanish in public?
“My friends and i were talking about this earlier in school, ok so my friend rides a bus to a tech school from high school everyday, and the bus driver is Hispanic, and this Hispanic girl sits in front of him speaking Spanish with bus driver, and he gets mad whenever they speak speak Spanish in front of him, he says that This is the united states are main language is English and it should stay this way. i am a little irritated EVEN IN MY ENGLISH CLASS they even speak Spanish!! its so rude to me whenever they speak spanish in a damn English class. we had groups today and we were moving around and my teacher puts me with this Hispanic girl and she barely knew english, she gave me a angry look like she didnt want to talk to me, but i didnt do anything i was just asking her about the study questions? but she decided not to anwser me and gave me a bad look, i think shes racist against americans i dont know... well have you had this experience before?, if so tell, when and where and this happened.”
Yahoo.com –Yahoo answers. Retrieved September 20, 2012 from http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20120318200545AA4TrOu
Leslie,
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it is rude for people from other cultures to speak in their native language in public. Everyone has the right to feel comfortable while communicating. Most people do not think that it is rude for someone to use sign language in public. In the same way, it is not rude for someone to speak their native language in public because it may be their only way to communicate. Furthermore, the U.S. does not have an official language.
Krista
Thanks Krista
DeleteI saw that question and though it would be nice to share with the class. Gestures are always good.
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteI do not speak a second language as well. I often find my self using nonverbal gestures such as pointing and knodding my head. I often get my hair braided by Africans and sometimes I do not understand them, I usually present a picture to them; showing them how I want my hair braided. I enjoyed reading your post.
Thanks for responding.
DeletePicture are a good way to communicate for people that can see. Have you ever had to communitate sometihing to a person with an impaired sight? How did you handle this?
Hi Leslie,
ReplyDeleteWhere I work, we have a large population of diverse languages that are spoken everywhere. I do not speak a second language and wish I did. I feel like it is ok for everyone to speak the langugae they are comfortable speaking because it is their way of communicating. I wonder how they felt when they came to the United States and could not speak English. It would have to be very frightening wondering if anyone understood you. Maybe someday we will all communicate with one another.
Whenever I hear somebody complain about someone not speaking English very well, I let them know that they speak it better than I speak their language. I admire those who know more than one language. Everyone has a right to speak any language that they want to. Sometimes I think that we are just paranoid that they might be saying something bad about me!!
ReplyDeleteFunny Dorna. I feel that way too sometimes especially when you know that the person may be a bad influence. I speak back and say things like don't take about me and I can't understand what your are saying. (lol)
ReplyDeleteLeslie,
ReplyDeleteIt is so funny to me that you bring up pointing and using gestures, to communicate with others, who do not speak the same language as you. My in-laws are Hispanic and Spanish is the primary language in the house, I do not speak the language fluently but after almost 10 years, I understand most of the conversations. To communicate back I use some broken words, and hand gestures. A funny story, I tried to be smart one day and was talking to my brother in law in Spanish and I completely misspoke a word and cussed him out. I learned my lesson.
Response to your question…. I do not find it offensive or rude when a group of people speaks their native language in public. I will admit that it makes me a bit uncomfortable but only because you feel excluded from the conversation.
Thank you,
Schlee