Language Blog

Part 1:
      In this first part of the experiment I found that it was fairly easy to communicate even if I was not able to speak with my partner. I did explain to my niece that we were going to be doing this experiment so that she would not find it to be rude for not speaking to her when she was talking to me. My niece did change the way she spoke to me in the aspect that she was constantly looking at me and seeing my expressions and my hand gestures. When there is an absence of communication I do think that people tend to change the way they talk to someone because they want others to feel like they are being payed attention and partners have to find an easier way to communicate and make sure that the information is going through to the other person.
     To me I felt like I was in charge of the conversation because my partner in this instance my niece had to keep looking at me and pay more attention to my body language to see if I was paying attention to her and to see the way I was responding to her story. She initially started the conversation with me. She was changing subjects from things that made her happy throughout the day and other things that made her day go bad and she changing and adding funny stories all throughout the entire conversation we had. She was asking questions every now and then and sometimes using my hands I was also able to ask her some questions when you are using your hands in a conversation it can be easy to find a hand movement that can easily be interpreted as a question gesture. I think in these kind of conversations with multiple people could sometimes leave people feeling excluded because when you are not focused on one person it can be hard to be talking to someone and be looking at the other to see if they are following along with what you're saying because I feel like people tend to pay more attention with someone they can communicate easily with. In this experiment I feel that when it was just my niece and I there was a balance in power due to the fact that at times she would start the conversation and she would change the subjects but I also had power in the aspect that she had to constantly had to be looking at me to see if I was paying attention or if my hand signals were asking her to explain more.
     The spoken culture to me would have more of an advantage in communicating because to my point of view when you can communicate with others using a spoken language it can take to someone who can speak the language and it will be easier to communicate. But the same could also be said to the cultures that do not use spoken languages for example the Deaf community which is an amazing community that some are able to speak but they have their own language and their own signals which is kind of captivating. This can be a little more difficult because not all countries have a universal sign language there is American Sign Language and there is also British Sign Language and they have different expressions for different words. Modern situations that mirror the relationship between cultures that can speak and those who can not would be the Deaf community withing those who can speak. Nowadays there are many materials available for people who can not hear, more people are learning how to communicate with each other and in some instances there are even coffee shops that have people who can order in sign language through the drive through because those who speak are learning how to communicate with others using hand gestures.
Part 2:
     The second part of this experiment was much more complicated than I thought. It difficult because I am the type of person who likes to speak and use my hand and I believe that naturally our voices mirror the expression we are trying to convey to others. My partner did not know how to act because I think she was trying to get some emotion of my responses as she told me her stories. It was very difficult for me at times to keep a straight face and control the emotion in my voice to match a monotone aspect to how was I was speaking. My niece did ask me if there was something wrong with me when we were speaking because unlike the first part of the experiment in which I explained what we were doing I tried to keep her in the dark on this part of the experiment so she was taken aback at my sudden change in communication.
     Non speech techniques are very important in our ability to communicate effectively because because signs and gestures are a way that can make communication between others effective. I think that when people pay attention to the body language someone is giving you, you can tell if that person is actually listening to you. There are different ways our body reacts to certain things. For example when I was talking with my niece I was trying so hard to lean into the way she was sitting and to look at her and I wanted to use my hands to show her how excited I was about hearing that she had passed her exam. She thought for a moment that I was not happy. Our body language can let many people know if we are interested or not and it helps people notice how something is making you feel.Having the ability to read body language is beneficial because it will enable to see if a person is paying attention to you. This ability is helpful when surviving, obtaining resources, and reproducing successfully because all the signs your body gives or the way that you move enables someone to establish a connection with you. For example when you are first starting a relationship you can tell someone is into you if their body language shows you that they are, their are certain moves like getting closer to you or paying extra attention to you it helps others see that you are truly interested. When you go in for a job interview they have videos showing you how you should sit how you should place your hands so that a possible employer will see that you have confidence and that you are formally interested in an opportunity. Being able to read all these signs our bodies give while we are having conversations with others can make conversations go smoother and we are happy that someone is paying attention to what we are saying.
     Yes, some people can have trouble reading body language because there are times where mixed signals can be pushed. For example I think that sometimes you can not really read someones true intentions and they tend to be not good. Some people you believe that people are reliable because you read their body language but they are not. When someone hires someone because they have out good body languages and they are always calling in or having excuses as to why they cannot work, the people who initially hired others can be like I thought they were gonna be good but they are not. A situation where it would be beneficial for someone not to read someones body language would be when you are walking down a street and you see someone who is selling things and they come up to you trying to sell you something even if they look like good people or their body language tries to imply that they are good you can never be too sure that their body language is reliable. I think it is possible to fake body language so that others think that you are listening or that some people are good.