It was one of the most exciting moments of my life when I decided
to study in overseas, a few years back in Myanmar. At the same time, I felt
belittled whenever I subconsciously asked myself how would I communicate with other
students in overseas? I assumed that communicating is one of the innate
abilities and it is the only barrier for
me to communicate.
Until now, I have been lucky enough to share the same room in
Singapore with my childhood friend. We know each for my whole life,
minus five years before primary school, so we presumably know almost everything
about each other and sometimes in some aspects, my friend may know more than my
family does. Since we arrived in Singapore, we walked into different paths. We rarely talk to each other as both of us are busy with our own schedules and sometimes it is even hard to do household chores together. Ever
since, I gradually feel that something is setting us apart and until recently,
I realized that we became a total stranger to each other. I am more open to my overseas classmate then my childhood friend. Now I see the big picture that we have a
serious communication breakdown. When I refer to my own perception
of communication barrier, my hypothesis is totally wrong for my case. We speak the same language, we came from the same country, we came
from the same cultural background, we go through same childhood life and ultimately we
lived in same road where only a few houses separate our homes in our hometown.
The intricacy of communication is getting more and more complex as we go through different phases of our lives but the basic rule to establish
successful rapport is as simple as the main purpose of communicating. So why do we
communicate in the first place? We may define it in different ways but ultimately
we do communicate because we want to deliver the right information to our destination. So we cannot probably expect to receive the information which is not
delivered in the first place. This is where the communication breakdown start to happen when we take our relationship for granted and we tend to assume or we expect he/she to understand without even communicating. For my case, I failed to communicate in the first place, we assume each other to understand some
underlying problems and so I do not try to make effort to reestablish my communication. This trivial
problem is snowballing into total communication breakdown. I also forgot to
nurture my innate ability to make full use of it. I hope to communicate effectively and handle my communication mistakes very well in the future.
Edited on 2/19/2016
Commented Blog
Jia Sheng
Edited on 2/19/2016
Commented Blog
Jia Sheng
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello Lin, in your second paragraph"We know each for my whole life, minus five years before primary school, so we presumably know almost everything about each other and sometimes in some aspects, my friend may know more than my family does." I suggest you to review as there are few missing words.
ReplyDeleteHi Lin Zaw !
ReplyDeleteI like how you express yourself about communication and very detail of your weakness. However, you didn't really express your strength in communication skills. I do believe that you have strength in your communication skills. All the best.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting initial post, Lin. I appreciate the way you have framed the discussion of your communication strengths and weaknesses within the context of your current communication situation with your housemate. You 'paint' a very detailed picture of that relationship, but as your other readers have pointed out, the focus seems to be all on the negative with no nod to the positive. Obviously you and your buddy have been close. What values, what strategies helped you forge that bond in the first place?
ReplyDeleteThere are a few other points to consider related to language use:
1) I felt belittle... >>> (wrong word form) I felt belittled
2)...whenever I subconsciously ask myself how will I communicate with other students in overseas? >>> (wrong verb tense / word order)
...whenever I subconsciously askED myself how I WOULD communicate with other students overseas?
3) I assume that communicating is one of the innate abilities and always assumed that language difference is the only barrier for me to communicate. >>> ??? (verb tense? repeated word?)
4) Until now, I am lucky enough to share... >>> (verb tense form)
Until now, I HAVE BEEN lucky enough to share
5)I am more open up to my overseas classmate then my childhood friend. >>>
I am more open to my overseas classmates than my childhood friend.
6) ...where a few house apart in our hometown. >>> where only a few houses separate our homes in our hometown.
7) expending >>> ?
8) which is not deliver >>> (wrong verb form) ?
9) where the communication breakdown start .. >>> ?
None of this criticism should eclipse the effort you have made with this short essay.
I look forward to reading more of your ideas
Hey Lin,
ReplyDeletePlease note on the post itself when you actually have revised it. Also, list whose posts you have read, please. Thanks in advance.