As primates, we are born to live in groups, born to socialize, born to communicate. But as humans, we take it one step further, we have LANGUAGE and we have TEXT.
As groups grew larger and as minds develops, it was necessary for humans as a race to have a mechanism that conveys ideas with complexity. Language not only does that, but also frees our hands to do whatever that is needed. The mere existence of language and text shows how important communication is to our evolutionary history, but I shall argue that communication becomes even more relevant to us as modern human living in an age of technology and globalization.
Whether voluntary or not, we spend most of our waking hours communicating. This is especially true for Singaporeans and Hong Kongers who live in cities: we are almost always in company with someone else, in scrutiny of someone else. Whether we like it or not, our actions communicate something about us. In particular, I have noticed something as simple as our walking gait could be a form of communication. To illustrate, westerners who body build often walk with their legs apart and shoulders straight to communicate musculinity. In contrast, Asian body builders for example many Korean celebrities, do not. To a western audience who are not used to this, Asians look gay in comparison. Many Asian girls however, would go crazy for these "effeminate" men. In Japan, where domestic violence is not uncommon, feminity in men is valued to a certain extent because girls like men who are gentle and considerate. When acts as simple and unconscious as walking could label you, could project an image of you, how can we not think more about communication? When we have facebook and youtube and we meet different people from different parts of the world, not only must we be verbally culturally fluent, we must also be conscious of what our body language may convey. This is important, as good communication could earn you a potential husband or wife ;)
Switching gears, we'll talk about work life, where bosses and colleagues may not be as willing to spend time to know you as lovers do. Today, as labour market become increasingly liquid because of the internet and the geographical mobility of the world's salary man, being able to communicate one's strength and sell oneself is paramount to one's success. If you are not able to communicate your capability towards your potential employer, he or she could easily find someones else as a replacement. To communicate responsibility, for example, one have to speak in a clear and precise terms. One observation that people made is that irresponsible people often speak in vague terms. This is the unconscious part of them trying to protect themselves. By being vague, they allow themselves flexibility in explaining away things that might go wrong. Knowing this, it maybe better if during interviews, we sound certain and definite in the way we speak. While these observations and conclusion seems like common sense and straight forward, little do I have the time to make the observations and conclusions. Hence, I feel learning how to effectively communicate in a classroom setting is a more systematic and time- effective way for me to improve my communication skills in this demanding world.
