Communication itself

Communication is message transmission, conscious, targeted and purposeful influence on the attitudes and values of the interlocutor built mainly on a rational basis.

Communication includes business correspondence, negotiations, interpersonal, intergroup, public, mass and political communication. Also there is intercultural communication. Interpersonal communication includes verbal and nonverbal communication. In this essay on communication we are going to discuss interpersonal and nonverbal communication. I hope you will like this essay, also you may find many others on Puressay.com. On our website you can not only find many essays on various topics, but also order any essay you need. Contact our team and you will be pleased with the results.

Intercultural communication

As any person can not exist isolated from others, so as any culture can not function being isolated from the cultural achievements of other nations. In the process of life every nation needs to refer to the heritage of ancestors, to its past or to the experience of other nations. Nowadays there are no absolutely isolated from the world cultural communities, except the small native tribes lost in the most secluded corners of the globe. Today it is natural situation when any nation is ready to perceive foreign cultural experience and at the same time is ready to share with others its own cultural achievements. Such an appeal to the cultures of other nations is called “the interaction of cultures” or “intercultural communication”. As a rule, these terms are considered synonymous, although each has its specific traits.

When we speak about interaction of the cultures, we mean contacts between large groups of people (cultures and subcultures). In the modern world the development of cultural relations happens in the most various spheres of human life, in tourism, sport, personal relations and so on. Besides, social, political, and economical changes that happened in the recent years lead to large-scale migration of peoples, their resettlement, mixing and collision. As a result of these processes more and more people overcome cultural barriers that used to separate them earlier. They have to get acquainted with foreign cultures, to join them. So in real life the interaction of the cultures happens through the contacts between individuals. In fact, they represent the process of intercultural communication.

The term “intercultural communication” was used for the first time by G. Treyger and E. Hall in their work “Culture as Communication: A Model and Analysis” in 1954. Since that time scientists developed the definition of the term. They say that intercultural communication occurs when a sender and a recipient belong to different cultures, when the participants of communication realize the cultural differences of each other. In fact, intercultural communication is always interpersonal communication in a special context (for more information search for interpersonal communication essay), when one of the participants discovers cultural difference of the other. Such communication provokes many difficulties connected with the difference in expectations and prejudices, which every person has, and they are different in every culture. The signs of cultural differences may be interpreted as differences of the verbal and nonverbal codes in the specific context of communication. In addition, each member of the cultural contact has its own system of rules, that function so that sent and received messages can be coded and decoded. The process of interpretation is also influenced by age, sex, profession, social status of the communicants, their tolerance, entrepreneurship, and personal experience.

Forms of intercultural communication

There are 4 main form of the intercultural communication:  direct, indirect, with the use of different means and without means.

Direct communication means that the sender addresses information directly to the receiver, and communication can be oral as well as written. The greatest effect is achieved by oral speech that combines verbal and nonverbal means.

Indirect communication is mainly one-sided and the sources of information are works of literature and art, radio messages, TV broadcasts, publication in newspapers and magazines and so on.

The forms of communication with the use of different means and without means differ by the presence or absence of an intermediate that plays role of a mediator between partners. A man or technical means can act as a mediator. Communication with the use of technical means can be direct (telephone call, e-mail correspondence), but here the use of non-verbal means becomes impossible.

There are also internal and external communication context within intercultural communication. Internal context is a set of background knowledge, value orientations, cultural identity and the individual characteristics of a person.

External context of communication is time, sphere and conditions of communication. The place of communication that defines the communication process background is extremely important in intercultural communication. Thus communicant being on his territory feels more comfortable and orients better in space of his own culture than a foreigner. Communication at work place or at home will differ according to domestic culture and the influence of personal factors.

Time context is a chronological period, in which communicative situation takes place. In different periods of time the relations between participants (partners) of communication develop differently. According to the time there are the following types of communication: simultaneous that happen via different personal contacts, telephone, and via Internet in on-line mode; and different-time that includes all other communicative situations.

Nonverbal communication. Communication in the social life

Every person takes part in the social life. Any communication act contributes to achieve a goal, to establish contact with a partner and thus to take necessary information, to encourage the interlocutor to action, to satisfy psychological need for communication and so on. Communication is the process of information interchange for efficient interaction. Nonverbal communication, namely communication without words is an essential part of communicative process.

Nonverbal communication is a man’s behaviour that shows emotional state and nature of relationships between communicants. Nonverbal communicative means are expressed in clothes, hairdo, gestures, posture, things that surround a person. Recognition and understanding of such behaviour contributes to achievement of the highest degree of mutual understanding. Such kind of information helps to understand the mood, emotions, expectations, feelings, intentions, and also moral and personal qualities of those who communicate.

Nonverbal means of communication can transfer huge information. In particular, it may concern the personality of the communicator: its emotional state, character, personal qualities and traits, social status, communicative competence, and also self-esteem. The main aim of nonverbal communication is to get the most various information about a person. Such information we can get by observing gestures, facial expression, intonation, because they can express and interpret correctly the human spiritual energy, symptoms and movements.

Types of nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication can be divided into three types:

1) Behavioral signs – they have physiological reactions, such as redness, paleness, agitation, trembling and so on.

2) Unintentional signs – the usage of such signs connected directly with human habits, such as biting lips, leg swinging without any obvious reason, nose rubbing or scratching and so on.

3) Communication signs are particular signs that can transfer particular information about events, objects or condition of a man.

Knowing the types of nonverbal communication it will be easier to understand the ways of their expression, because nonverbal communication is implemented by all the senses.

So let’s consider the main types of non-verbal communication:

Kinesics. This element of nonverbal communication is presented by a set of body movements, gestures and postures that are used to make communication more expressive. The main elements are facial expressions, postures, gestures and sights. These elements are extremely important, because if they are misinterpreted, the unpleasant situations may occur;

Tactile behavior. Different types of touch have different meaning and different effectiveness and significance. There are various types of tactile behaviour: professional, ritual, friendship and love. Each type of touch is necessary for a man to weaken or strengthen the process of communication;

Sensory is one of the types of nonverbal communication based on sensory perception of all cultures. Relationship with partner develops on the base of the senses: smells, sense of taste, the perception of sound and color combinations, sensation of the interlocutor’s body and warmth emanating from it;

Proxemics is a kind of nonverbal communication based on the use of spatial relations. It means that distance and territory influence directly the developments of relationships between people. There are four zones of spatial nonverbal communication: intimate, personal, social and public;

Chronemics means the use of time during nonverbal communication;

Paraverbal communication. The essence of communication depends on the rhythm, intonation and tone of voice, which are used for direct transfer of the information.

Some people have natural ability to effective nonverbal communication. They can easily control their facial expression, gestures, intonation and so on. Others need to develop such skills by themselves. Anyway, ability to understand the signs of nonverbal behaviour is very important to communicate with other member of society and especially with the member of foreign society, of other culture.

Now, having read this essay about communication, in particular intercultural communication essay and nonverbal communication essay, you know better how to communicate more effectively. Using knowledge you have just got, you can master your communication skills and in future communication process will bring you only pleasure and benefits.