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IE3 Seminar ICC: Lesson 11

6/27/2015

10 Comments

 
Hi everyone,

We're almost finished with the units from our textbook, and then we'll be starting our group presentations.

Language as a Barrier:
We finished up last week's lecture about translation problems and how they can be a barrier to intercultural communication.

We looks at how it can be a challenge to translate:
1. experiential equivalence
2. conceptional equivalence

For experiential equivalence, we took a look at the difficulty in translating "setsumeikai" into English since there are different contexts for how it is used in the Japanese language. When referring to job hunting, we came up with the translation "job recruitment seminar" and "job recruitment fair."

Nonverbal Communication:
We then moved on to nonverbal communication and the functions of it. We mostly focused on how nonverbal communication is used to replace spoken messages and to support spoken messages.

We had an activity on the use of symbols as a way to replace spoken messages, and then we had a gesture game to show how gestures are used to support spoken messages.

Remember to use nonverbal communication in your upcoming presentations.

Homework:
1.  Complete your presentation
2.  Blog Comment #10

3. 
Reading pp. 233-261 (ch. 10) and worksheet
  • Please download the worksheet at the end of the summary. This will be your "reflection topic" for this week. I'll collect the worksheet at the beginning of next week's lesson.

Blog Question #10:

Tell me about a time you had to use nonverbal communication (in Japanese or English).
  • What was the function of it?
  • How was it interpreted (by the other person)?
  • Was it effective?

*Write 150-200 words.
*Use capitalization, punctuation & spelling correctly.
*Submit by Monday, June 29 by 6:00pm.
Women & Families Worksheet
File Size: 75 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

10 Comments
IE3S-Jumpei
6/25/2015 04:57:21 pm

Although I do have experiences using nonverbal communications in Japanese or English, I do not have much information to write about. So instead I chose to share one of the most unforgettable experience I had in Paris.

I have had a hard time communicating with others from different cultures when I used to belong to the international school.
Since this international school was in Paris, as far as I remember, there were many Europeans including French, Italian, Spanish, and Greek. Before I moved to Paris, I lived in Texas in the U.S. and there, it was completely ordinary for me to raise my hand when I want to say something. However when I did the same gesture during class in Paris, the teacher which was unfortunately Greek, had a bad look in her face. After class, she asked for me to come to her and I was taught that showing your palm to someone in Greek or maybe Europeans could possibly offense them. It was the sign of insult according to her. Pointing your finger up and raising your arm would be the correct signal. This was the very first lesson that I learned about intercultural communications in my life.

Reply
IE3S-Yuma
6/28/2015 01:15:23 pm



I would like to introduce about a time when I had to use nonverbal communication,focusing on our appearance.I went to high school which has few school regulation.Our school has a uniform, but we do not have to wear it.We can choose wearing school uniform,casual clothes.Some students came to school with sports wear.In daily life,we do not usually wear uniform.However, in entrance ceremony,we all wear school uniform.It was only the day we wear same clothes. We are not forced to wear school uniform in that day,but we choose it.This is because we understand entrance ceremony is a formal event.So we think that we had better wear school uniform.If we wear casual clothes such a formal one, it seems to be strange.This is my experience which I have to use nonverbal communication.

Reply
IE3S-Takahiro
6/28/2015 02:28:53 pm

In Japan, we, Japanese have a culture to bow as a sign of respect and we are expected to bow to their elders, people of higher status, and anyone else we consider to be high. And then when we bow to another person, they always bow in return as a sign of their gratitude and to return their respect. When I was little, as I frequently used to bow to others meaninglessly, I was often seen to be too humble or well-behaved. On the contrary, in fact, as there were some cases that were true of what I wrote above, most of the cases when I bow to others were according to my habit. I never say I lack respect to others. That is to say, I think it would be because of my unconscious habit rooted deep in my mind. And it seems to me that it would be true of not only me but also most of Japanese.

Reply
IE3S-Manami
6/28/2015 03:01:43 pm

Since I have lived in other countries, I tend to use many body languages. I sometimes move my hands randomly when I talk. I didn't realize my habit since one of my friends told me. Japanese people don't use as much body language as others do and moving hands makes you look like you a restless person which isn't so good. When I have a job interview I always try not to move and it makes me feel uncomfortable. However, when I do my presentation or explain something to others, it actually helps others to understand easily.
When I lived in New Zealand, my family came to visit me. They didn't speak English at all but tried to talk to my host family. They used a lot of gestures especially my mother. It was really funny for me but it was really effective. Now my mother is really confident about her gestures.

Reply
IE3S-Kohei
6/28/2015 04:21:49 pm

Since I work at family restaurant in Shibuya as a part time job, I often communicate with people from other countries. Most of them speak English so it is not so tough to serve them. However I sometimes have to communicate with people who don't speak English so that I often use gestures for serving. It's a little bit tough because I have to ask something to them. When customers enter the restaurant, I ask them whether they want smoking seat or not. If they neither understand Japanese nor English, I use gesture of smoking instead of using Japanese or English. Of course I don't know what they speak, however, if they are smiling while they are eating, I easily understand that they are satisfied with the meal and having fun. Although I didn't communicate with them by words, I felt I could communicate with them very well at that time.

Reply
IE3S-Yumi
6/28/2015 06:27:07 pm

I didn't think of that different clothes for each culture can be a nonverbal communication. So I would like to introduce my experience of using nonverbal communication related to how we look. When I was in Canada, there were a heritage festival which people from different countries had each booth to introduce their traditional foods by serving them for free. And I participated in that festival as a introducer of Japanese food (okonomiyaki) and culture. Then I had to wear yukata to have people's attention and to let them know I was Japanese as they were interested in different culture and knew what I was wearing was Japanese thing.
Many people asked me to take pictures with me. I think it was a nonverbal communication as they could recognize I was Japanese by looking at the cloth, instead of asking me where I was from.

Reply
IE3S-Sayaka
6/28/2015 06:33:33 pm

When we think about nonverbal communication, we tend to come up with hand gestures. Hand gestures are one of the most common ways of nonverbal communication, but the most important and common ones are, I think, the facial expressions. Even when you talk about negative things such as braking up with your lover, if your face was smiling, people who are listening probably think that you don't think that as a bad thing.
When I tell someone about a good thing, my voice becomes higher and louder, and my face becomes smiling, then listener thinks that as a good thing for me. So the facial expressions and voice help understanding what's the contents of the talk.

Reply
IE3S-Saya
6/28/2015 06:58:29 pm

I can't remember clearly about the experience of using nonverbal communication. However, I remember the first day i went to the elementary school in America. At that time I could understand almost nothing when it was English that was spoken. What I did was to try my best in understanding what my teachers and classmates were trying to say through both verbal and nonverbal communication. I used my facial expression as a nonverbal communication to show if I understood what they said. I couldn't really use hand gestures because it was too difficult to explain. In addition, it's not really nonverbal communication but I remember using my Japanese-English dictionary to look up words and showing it to my teacher. I guess I didn't even know how to pronounce the words. Thinking about it now, I think I could have used more hand gestures and so on.

Reply
IE3S-Misato
6/28/2015 07:38:06 pm

I would like to write about the time I use nonverbal communication when I do job hunting. When I visit companies for recruiting fair or interviews, I wear suits and black bags, and have an extra care on my appearance. It is because I think the first impression would be really important, and also I'm showing my respect and that I value the time by wearing special clothes. Also, I have extra care to be polite, by having good posture, bowing, eye contacting, smiling and nodding my head when I think I need.
I think having only these points would not leads to get a good result, but these nonverbal communications are important, and would have good affects.

Reply
Derek D link
6/21/2022 07:37:29 am

Grateful for sharinng this

Reply



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