Talking = Communicating?
Talking can be one-way, conversing is merely the exchanging of words between 2 or more parties, communication is the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs, between 2 or more parties (as defined by www.dictionary.com).
At the age of 23, I have already witnessed and experienced for myself, a fair share of the dire consequences of bad communication, miscommunication, and worst of all, no communication. Communication is important to me in every aspect of life. From the simple ordering of a bowl of Dumpling Noodle at the Science Canteen during my lunch hours, to the meetings with potential sponsors and clients for some of my school projects, miscommunication is the way to ruin my day! Or lunch!
At different stages in life, you will need to communicate effectively for different purposes with different people, be it your family, your peers or your colleagues. Communicating effectively is important to me because during a discussion or argument, every party needs to comprehend very clearly each others' stands and reasons, and vice versa, in order to make meaningful and constructive exchange of ideas and information. It is not just about knowing what someone is thinking, but how and why one has such opinions and perspectives. It can be due to his family background, his culture and of course, his upbringing. It is only through effective communication, will one be able to extract such important and crucial information from a conversation, and arrive at a sound, justified and hopefully, a peaceful conclusion.
So everyone, stop talking! Let's communicate!
At the age of 23, I have already witnessed and experienced for myself, a fair share of the dire consequences of bad communication, miscommunication, and worst of all, no communication. Communication is important to me in every aspect of life. From the simple ordering of a bowl of Dumpling Noodle at the Science Canteen during my lunch hours, to the meetings with potential sponsors and clients for some of my school projects, miscommunication is the way to ruin my day! Or lunch!
At different stages in life, you will need to communicate effectively for different purposes with different people, be it your family, your peers or your colleagues. Communicating effectively is important to me because during a discussion or argument, every party needs to comprehend very clearly each others' stands and reasons, and vice versa, in order to make meaningful and constructive exchange of ideas and information. It is not just about knowing what someone is thinking, but how and why one has such opinions and perspectives. It can be due to his family background, his culture and of course, his upbringing. It is only through effective communication, will one be able to extract such important and crucial information from a conversation, and arrive at a sound, justified and hopefully, a peaceful conclusion.
So everyone, stop talking! Let's communicate!
posted by Lyon at
5:28 AM
5 Comments:
I really like this post, Lyon. It has a natural flow to it as you offer valuable insights.
These statements in particular interest me: "It is not just about knowing what someone is thinking, but how and why one has such opinions and perspectives. It can be due to his family background, his culture and of course, his upbringing."
It seems like you're zooming in on some key points in understanding others, which might indicate the value of EQ to those of us who want to improve our skills.
Good deal, dude! I look forward to reading more of your thoughts.
August 22, 2008 at 9:20 AM
Hello Lyon
I like your to-the-point post :) there is also something I like to comment on, which is your bringing up the point of communicating differently at different stages of life. How true that is! I can just recall way back in the primary school years communication use to be very simple. Thoughts are brought across very easily be it the meeting place, the activity to be done or just feelings and emotions. And as i grow "older" I began to realise communication is no longer a simple task. More hidden meanings and context evolved and a simple sentence may mean different things to people depending on who you are speaking to and how sensitive the person is. The content of your speech will also have to be more "mature" in a sense as you communicate in the later years of life.
Thus I think it is definitely important to acknowledge this "change" in communication style and evolve to adapt to conversations to prevent being "left out".
August 24, 2008 at 10:14 PM
Hi Lyon,
I love the way your post is short yet insightful. I especially like the point about communication being a “MEANINGFUL and CONSTRUCTIVE exchange of ideas” as compared to talking, which to me, is more like a “I want to express my opinion, and I do not care whether you are receptive or not” situation. This post also leads me to think about quarreling as a form of expression, which is probably worse than talking, as it uses words that are meant to overpower and loud voices that are meant to intimidate. At the end of it, it will alter nobody’s opinion and will only serve to make the ‘loser’ of the argument resentful.
Thus, I do agree that effective communication is the most effective form of expression by allowing for the exchange of ideas, fostering relationships and achieving constructive outcomes.
August 25, 2008 at 6:15 AM
Hello junrong,
I have thought about the possible reasons to this before. It might be possible that as we grow, we become more objective-driven. There are more and more things we want to achieve (with what we say and do) and I believe that can make communication really complicated. All the subtle hints here and there, sarcasm flying around (can be intended can be unintended), might be just due to the fact that we are trying to achieve certain goals or aims.
And this has further led me into pondering over an interesting question: when we reach an age old enough (let's say 80+++), do the ways we communicate actually revert back to as simple as how it started off to be when we were still really young? Since we should be less objective-driven then (: I hope I am making sense.
August 25, 2008 at 8:28 AM
Yo oxy,
Firstly, what an interesting name you have!
Yes, many of us will think that effective communication is very crucial. And to me, I will consider the art of making people listen to you one of the hardest to master. On first thought, it might sound similar to the art of being a good speaker, but I feel that there are actually a lot of differences. Like what you have said, quarreling is a form of expression which some might consider hopeless in the sense that it will lead to nowhere. But amazingly, there are people who are capable of making people listen even during a heated argument! That is something which I really hope to master one day too! Not only can we choose to be a good listener, but if you're really good, you can even choose people to become your good listeners!
August 25, 2008 at 9:04 AM
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