greetings

it is a chinese new year again...omg!!
time past so fast...i still remember that we have just celebrated christmas and new year, and now already come to chinese new year.
so, what we gonna do when come to this celebrated day? especially when comes to chinese new year!

of course we have to greet people loudly with auspicious words or phrases...
we will wish them happy chinese new year, 'gong xi fa cai'(Congratulations and be prosperous) , 'nian nian you yu'(a wish for surpluses and bountiful harvests every year).....and etc. we also wish the birthday stars happy b'day, merry christmas when christmas are coming and so on.

instead of greeting people aurally, we can also greet them by sending or giving them a greeting cards. cards with beautiful, creative and meaningful pictures always talks more than what we say. besides, giving cards to the other can also mean more than that. human are always forgetful, they will always forget what they have said or what people have said. with a greeting card, they can feel what you are trying to say and they can even keep it as a memorable things. as we can see, greeting cards are now playing quite an important role.
on the other hands, media are also taking an important role too. SMS, MMS, internet are also very useful now also....we can see that differents types of greeting all over the world.

wish all of you Happy Chinese New Year!!

Human

I wonder why human is such a omplicated living organisms?
besides, why are human was created to be such an intelligent animal.
starting from the very begining, we come here without anything... without name, money and status; at the end we leave this world without anything too. but, why are we chasing all the materialistic things while we can't bring it together when we leave.
However, the fact is, we can't leave in this world without all these things.
when we are getting older and older, our perceptions to this world are getting different and different.

Human have a lot quetions that can't be solve.
i will ask, why human need to talk in language; why are there different languages in this world; different colors of people in this world; why are the white always on top of the black; why someone need to be a leader in the different sector or country; why there are different of personalities/character in every single human; why is the earth is round and not square,not triangle; why every one has a name...and many many more questions....where are all these questions actually come from??
human have many problems, and of course, human create problems too.
human also have many thinking, including good and bad, positive and negative.
human have different kinds of feelings too, angry, sad, happy and etc.
human have diseases and psychological problems too...
everyday, we have to think that what to do today, tomorrow, what to plan this year, year after this....and so on. this will never end until the dya that we are ready to leave this.

Now, can you see that how complicated is human being?!

non verbal communication

well...this has got to be the most confusin and controversial form of communication today. as a young person im sure my fellow peers can relate to what im sayin. its always hard to figure out the next person's feelings,say you like someone and you jus dont know how they feel. what they tell you is one thing but the way they act...well actions speak louder than words right? you can always pick up on what one person is feelin by their facial expressions,the way hey act around you or simply the things they do.

comin from differnt cultures though is when the lines get a little blurred. take for instance my situation,where i come from the youth when you like someone you're extremely open with your feelings,and well its reciprocated but here away from home its much more different. the P.D.A's are much more limited and well you have to take your time to get know what one really feels for you cos they jus dont give away much from their actions or non verbal communication. everyhting is now different,the proximics, the kind of touch and the chronemics...its all different now and in one word its much more reserved.

so personally i think the greatest influence on non verbal communication is culture...our world is diverse and ever changin and thats what makes communication all the more interesting. i mean in france when greetin they kiss on the cheek right...but anywhere else that may not be acceptable...in japan that would be considered inappropriate. jus like how in japan its offensive to hold eye contact with someone for too long...they'd rather you look at their neck,but in america its a differen story all together...if you refused to hold one's gaxe they'd see you as untrustworty.

so it all depends on the culture,nonverbal communication can be simple or it can be oyur worst nightmare...it only depends on how much you're willin to see...

bala seppiso made

the bizarreness of communication

There is more to prophecy than we know aside from that it also happens to be where Harry Potter's poor, poor future lies. What revolves around us though, non-magical equipped people, is the self-fullfilling prophecy which influences communication. Now talk about overly powerful! To live, not only do we need the basic essentials such as food, shelter, clothes, food and everything thats mentioned on the Maslow's Hierachy of Needs but communication which is too one of the most important skills needed to climb the top of the hierachy.

According to Adler and Rodman's book of Understanding Human Communication, self-fulfilling prophecy occurs when a person's expectation of an outcome makes the outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been true. To put this in perfect english, it simply means that if you're already expecting success, thus the confidence might just bag you the goal within reach. However, it may also be vice versa. For example, a explanation by a peer about a certain task and mentioning how you might not be able to fulfill the standards it requires causes you to actually not do well in the end. In the situation given, the respective results happen perhaps because you were discouraged by the level of expectation one has of you. Thus, you did not perform well. Overall, these two types of self-fulfilling prophecies which compromises of when your own expectations influences your behaviour and when expectations of one govern another's actions only occurs as each result happens due to the expectation that it would happen.

Furthermore, acceptance of an remark or evaluation, may also trigger change to their self-concepts in order to include that evaluation. For example, if a teacher sends the message, "Your dumb," you might take it as a challenge and prove the teacher wrongly. Therefore, there are certainly times where you cannot expect a certain expectation to result from a certain situation. Weather, drawing an ace in a card game, etc are some examples to reflect on.Thus, expectations are only what they are because you are a good predictor, not because of the whole self-fulfilling concept.

Nor Fatin Suraiya

listening

listening.

i thin we as humans are a very selfish species. we want things to go our way and if for one second they dont go our way...all hell breaks loose. but have w ever really taken the time to step back and instead of fighitn for what we want,jus listen to what the next person is sayin?? that kind of communicatiob has got to b the most productive one because listening emphatically can help put you in someone else shoes and that way we all learn and get to understand more about others and importatnyl about ourselves. the problem with our communiaction is that we have so many prejudices and bias towards many people our base emotions all too often cloud the better judgement of our choices...thats why you get many different kinds of listeners like pseudolisteners,selective listeners and defensive listeners among others.

also often most people confuse listnein and hearin...the difference bein that when you listen to someone you're supposed to understand what they say,the importance of their message and respond in a way that benefits your communication...but all too often inmamny cases when our parebts lecture us,when havin a conversation with our partners,when in class....we hear but very rarely do we LISTEN. When it comes down to it,snt that why there's all this conflict in the world...i mean it all starts with the smalll things,you dont pay attention to your lover...the relationship falls to the wayside...then it gets bigger,its put on a much larger scale,people in position of power dont listen to the needs of the people,so we have war,we have economcal problems..and still they wont listen to the needs of others...so listening im sure you can all see is quite essential to cmmunication...if not even the survival of the human race...in more ways than one. balamanja sepiso made

does a picture really say more than words...?

this language of ours we were born to,or wait should i say the language tha we have fashioned to ourselves is an amazin yet tricky thing?? in todays society it all depends on how you speak,what you say and probabl how you look sayin it. so in the end you social status would depend mainly on verbal and non verbal commnication. for example...some people are always laughed at or ridiculed unrelentlesly for the way they pronounce their words or their accents...but in all honesty who are we to ddecied the phonological rules?? makes no sense right? but thats the wy it is,the power of language today is remarkable...it shapes a lot in our life. the power of language i feel is always underestimated. im sure we all know o those kind of people who love to speak teir mind,with no regards for the others around them...but sometimes maybe they go a bit too far..and maybe when they think they're excercisin their individuality by speakin their mind they are actually mistakin it for condescending,obnixious or rude language. thats the thing with language...we dont really understand what it can do...but we always have to keep in mind,it much easier to get back a million bucks than a word lost to someone...simply put,its ok to want to be heard,to be outspoken...but sometimes jus think of he consequence it may have on the people you care about the most...you might be doin more harm than good.

another tricky thing about language is we can never truly know the teur intended meanin of word all the time. i mean with communication its never easy to read what a person is tryin to say nad whats more we have a complicated language to make things worse...the thing is most of the time in our life we use equivocal words withou really knowin it,and if we really paid attention to what was bein said one would know that maybe the interpretation we get isnt exactly what one wants all the time...and thats language for you,an inferential statement that simply depends on own opinion statements and beliefs.

bala sepio made

perceptions can be decieving

My God. Aren't we living a complicated life. Why is that, we have this huge assumption which just tells our guts how deeply right we are about someone through body language or conversation? It doesn't matter whether or not the conversation was plainly heard by you or by another party but its the perception we have that blinds us from truly knowing the true content of the conversation. Not to mention the egoistic self in us which just simply sums up a person or a situation by perceptions.

Perception is what is percieved by others through activities which are caused by a few factors such as our narratives, perceptual tendencies, situational factors, culture and our ability and willingness to empathize. Now back to how our perceptions overrules our abiltiy to trust others and how egocentric tendency plays a major role in it too. Most of the time, we like to act like bigshots and with the constant use of equivocal words. However, I personally feel that most of us sometimes don't even know what we're talking about as apparently not knowing the content of our own conversation is not as important compared to how we appear saying it and maybe how we say it.

Hence, this is due to the situational factors which shapes who are when communicating. Degree of involvement, expectations, social roles and self-concept are one of the many situational factors which becomes a block to a civilized conversation between two people or more. Not to say that we're that superficial to actually care for the mere superficialty of how we are percieved but its true, thats just how we are! There are some that just comes off as, 'look, i seriously don't care if you pay attention to me or not, but this is what I've got to say,". However, the matter at hand is really more serious than it seems. All we want is to be accepted in society. Yeah, it would be nice to have a social ranking but there it is, the power of language! Our tendency to cling to our first impressions, judging ourselves more charitably and assuming others are similar to us is why we have a communication barrier causing others or us to feeling ridiculed, offended and hardly ever able to maintain relationships. Now, don't get me started on forging new relationships, since if we can't even tackle, empathize or maybe slightly consider other people's feelings, then we'll only have to learn the hard way to aid effective communication.


Nor Fatin Suraiya

communications?

can anyone tell me how to talk to family??
every time i talk to them, I feel that they are very tough for me to talk to them.
they don't understand what I'm trying to say, n is hard for me to get into topic with them.
there is like a wall between us, a very thick wall.
sigh.....
however, there is no prolems with me when I am with my friends. I can talk about anything, make them laugh, happy and make the situation become more warm.
is very different when i am infront of my family...maybe I should check that what is going on wih me....but I have think and think and think, I still can't find the answer...maybe I need more time imstead

The way of life

Its simple. Communication is human. We're human and whatever is carried out by our body, the actions it acts out, is simply what we call a process. Thus, does this indicate that our actions are merely actions or are they triggered by a certain symbolic representation? This is where, communication is introduced.

Communication is the process of humans responding towards symbolic behavior. Theoretically speaking, communication is continuous, ongoing, transactional and it involves personal history contributing to your interpretation. However, if we were to view this from a different aspect, reality that is, not everything is as happyly percieved as it should be. We have this enormous tendency to land ourselves in misunderstandings and arguements as there always seems to be a miscommunication at one point.

With this, this questions why communication is not always a good thing and how is it that communication does not require complete understanding? For example, in relationships, bantering amongst each other is perhaps the norm and how do we conquer the situation? Well, there is always the classic one line, " honey, we need to talk,". Now, everyone knows, this usually leads to cringing arguments but it also happens to be a miracle worker. Communicating with one another encourages compromising and this will only lead to further understanding of both parties and strengthens the bond forged. Nonetheless, it can also be a disaster in disguise. Too much communication between one another will sometimes bring out the worst in them. Therefore, for those who clearly knows they do not know how to handle such situations, can try to express themselves by using body language. See, this is the beauty of communication. Sometimes just saying nothing at all and yet at the same time show true affection and expressions through actions might just be the thing to break the ice.

Overall, our background, social circle is what keeps us sane. Talking to yourself is perhaps the most important factor as to why we can live a civilized life. Self-reflecting and exchange of ideas and feelings is what makes us human. We should be grateful for sign-language, body language and the many types of communication as how do live without it? Even the mute, depend on communication to live, whereas the blind, the depend on body language as part of living. The way we touch them shows, ensures them trust. Moreover, no matter how we tackle the significance of communication in our lives, we definitely cannot deny how it satisfy our needs which completes the physical health needs, identity needs, social needs and practical needs.

Nor Fatin Suraiya

language language languages..

Languages... easily misunderstood

Misunderstanding exists in all languages.

It is a dream that one day we can completely understand each other...

Even if we are a united world, language misunderstanding is still living in our life. Like today, when we talk or write, we usually speak or use the same languages and words, but they may end up in an entirely new meaning of what you've said or written. Misunderstandings come out. Even in the same languages or words, we have different understanding or level of expressions and vocabulary. It is common that a well-educated man dislikes speaking with an illiterate man, but fortunately today's illterate is less. People of different classes or educational grounds find hard to communicate or maybe dislike communicating.

Examples,

One day while my friend walked in the shopping mall, he couldn't find where the toys were. So, he asked a salesclerk, "Can you tell me where the toys are?" The salesclerk said, "Sure. You go down the stairs, and then turn right. You can see it." My friend walked there, saw a women's room and a men's room and he said, "Oh my God." The clerk thought he wanted the toilet. (Victoria)

My teacher told me this joke. She said, "One day a man wanted to park his car. He asked someone, "Can I park here?" The man listening thought he said, "Can I bark here?" because the man's pronunciation wasn't good. However, the man didn't know that, and he said, "This is a free country. You can do anything you want." (Li)

Examples extracted from :

(http://fog.ccsf.cc.ca.us/~lfried/writing/misunderstandings.html)

Steven Chan

communication

What is communication??

To me, communication = the sending and receiving messages, is more than just words. It involves both listening and speaking. Moreover, it can involve words, gestures, facial expressions, and any other ways we express meaning.

Communication can divided into verbal and non-verbal communication....

Verbal communication

º One way for people to communicate face-to-face. Some of the key components of verbal communication are sound, words, speaking, and language.

Nonverbal communication

º Nonverbal communication involves gestures, facial expressions, body movement and positions or so called body language.

Good communication is important. Do you agree?

Based on my opinion, I seriously think that good communication is really really important in our life.. learning to communicate effectively is vital in forming healthy personal relationship as well... Sending mixed messages can cause relationship problems.. Mixed messages occur when the word a person uses do not match his or her body language and expression. Let's say for example, someone may smile while saying "I'm angry." It is not clear if it's body language or the words that accurately express the emotion. Therefore, we need to learn and practice good communication skills to enable us to send accurate messages.

Steven Chan

Mr.Murali told the class once, putting yourself in ones shoes is not easy. I was thinking back then that I’ve always managed to do that as it is a way of how I understand others and help my friends. More known as Mr. Problem solver, I’ve successfully help lots of people and friends whom I’ve met in my life. Of course this social job that I’ve taken up requires lots of patience and it’s never easy. From my loves ones to friends, helping others could even sometimes lead you into problems. I would also have to sit down and listen to them, spend time whenever they need me, and live my life as well. However, what I’ve learn most importantly is the support and care that you show may not seem much to you but it may mean the world for someone else.

chirag mehta

In a world where there are more than 6.5 billion people, it amuses me how humans communicate which each other in different cultures and societies. Imagine someone comes up to you and sticks out his tongue, you might find him insulting you, but in South America this is actually a sign of saying “hi”. In the European culture, kissing someone on the side of the cheeks is a way of greeting each other but in the Indian or Muslim culture it’s not a norm. Communication is not easy as it requires lots of understanding and when shifting to different areas, one also needs to adapt to its culture and communicate in a way others can understand too.

chirag mehta

perception and the self..

the way we perceive ourselves and others,i feel is greatly influenced by the modern er we live in with everyone now bein more content to conform to society's meaningless rat race than search the individual in us. see what happens is we are greatly influenced by things like the current music culture,fashion and even in school!! everyone wants to fit it at whatever cost...which means changin the impression of oneself among others. but what people dont understand is that it is our own narratives that makes us who we are...they tell our story s in the end its goin to be the story of the life of bala by bala not the story of the life of bala by someones else...so i think one of the most perceptual tendencies we have is letting someone dictate who we are or simply lettib them live throuhg us vicariously. this kind of dilemma is rife mostly in school,the way we judge ourselves a nd others is influence mainly by our external and internal environment(sometimes the main cause for prejudice??). the greatest challenge for youth today i think is individuality...and thats often determined by the way we view ourselves...i mean if you're gonna tell yourself you're gonna fail that math test then its gonna show...i mean you wont make an effort to study,walkin into that test even your body language will show that you're indifferent to the situation...so perceiving the self is all bout what the mind is willin to be told...but if you think like a champion,walk like a champion and act like a champion...then everyone around you will know you're a champion...whats even better is YOU yourself will feel like a champion...and believe me thats half the battle won.

i think everone goes through an id crisis sooner or later in their lives..."oh she doesnt think im popular..should i change the people i hang out with?" or "oh he didnt like my hairstyle today.. should i change it?". the kind of questions that people ask themselves everyday...so why do we manage our identities so carefully?? it is because we want to communicate that we are a someone in this world....we want to have status,we want to be noticed. but bein an effective communicator can get you all that without you havin to change yourself or your ideals. how we manage impressions simply depends on the initial impression we have of ourselves...then communicatin that to others will be a sinch. they'll see it in our body language..the way we ourselves talk and the way handle ourselves.

bala sepiso made

"communication is the process of humans responding to symbolic behaviour".....the first definition i learnt in my first human comms class. but the real question is how do we as humans respond to communication in our lives?? as feeling livin humans communication is a basic need in our lives...if not we die...whether physically,mentally or emotionally...its al the same...without communication we are nothin but worthless mass. personally,when it comes to communication it all becomes very one sided...we all want to talk yet are we jus as willing to listen?? and if not then the the mode of communication becomes jus useless banter doesnt it?? ultimately we become incompetent when it comes to communication. a reason for all this conflict in the world...i.e the war in gaza is because of a conflict in the different cultures...easy to sollve though...if the two sides were willin to communicate...this involving talkin and listening and not jus simply talkin and not lettin the other's views being heard!! i mean if we did i bet we'd realise the cultural emphasis we have on people's lives and they on us likewise...we'd understand that as people we arent that different...so when it all comes down to it,there's no need for the fightin...so why not make music instead of missiles...it is a form of communication isnt it..?!?!;-)

bala sepiso made