Communication is Key

 Part 1

 At the beginning of the experiment, it felt a little awkward. We knew that I couldn't speak so it took about 2-3 minutes for us to adjust to doing what we were previously doing.  While we sat on the bed I had pointed to my sister to pass me the my phone. She however, understood to pass me my remote, I had to point a couple of times for her to finally pass me the phone. She asked me to tell her time. I then demonstrated with my fingers that it was 1:30. This was a little hard because I knew, I could tell her the one by simply holding one finger. I had to figure out how to express the 30 minutes. After I showed her with my hands, she understood. She then asked me how my day was. Now this was a little harder. My first instinct was to verbally tell her. I had to step back and think about how I wanted to respond. I ended up having to tell her my day was so so by moving my hand a certain way. She then asked why it was so so and all I could think of was to shrug. At this moment of the experiment 8 minutes had already gone by. After my shrug she had asked me if we should eat a snack. I shook my head yes. She then asked what we should eat as a snack. I had to the then tell her we should eat some chips and a drink. The drink part was easy to demonstrate with a gesture. For the chips, I did face quite a challenge explaining to her what exactly I wanted. At the end of the experiment I felt like I was playing a game of charades. I could tell that there were moments where my sister got a little frustrated. I could see it in her facial expression. She also mentioned a couple of times she didn't understand what I was saying and to try something else. She did not understand my chip gestures at all, she taught at first I wanted to eat some fruit and then she thought I wanted to eat some cereal. Until I finally started making crunchy noises.  Since I was not able to speak, I felt like my sister had to direct most of the conversation. I had to spend most of my time thinking how I would express myself. The person that is speaking verbally definitely has an advantage because you don't have to think about what you want to say. The words just come out naturally. 

Looking at this experiment from a cultural perspective, I feel like both sides are at an advantage. What I mean by that is that each person is able to use their language within their own population. Their population must be already accustomed to their languages and gestures which makes it easy to understand what you are trying to express. For example our household has certain gestures that we understand and use frequently. I'm sure this would be the case of the two cultures. Certain phrases or gestures are used commonly and understood. The culture that does not use language verbally would most likely face challenges with other cultures or communities. The reason being is that other communities or cultures are not used to the gestures that are commonly used within this population. Their gestures would be seen as uncommon and possibly as confusing. The speaking culture might discriminate the non-symbolic language users because they simply can not understand. They might feel like the people that are using non verbal gestures are speaking ill of them or see it as unusual. They shouldn't discriminate against non verbal languages, instead they should step back and reflect if they can learn something new. An example of individuals in my culture that have experienced difficulty with spoken language is the “No Sabo Kids.” This term is used for kids that are born in the United States and have parents that were born in Mexico or Central America and cannot speak their cultures traditional language. I personally do not like the term because it discourages them from wanting to continue to learn how to speak the language. We shouldn’t judge or make fun of anyone that is trying to learn a secondary language. I have also experienced discouragement when I have gone to Mexico. I visit my family and I sometimes say certain terms that are not grammatically correct. My cousins would laugh and say that's not the way you say it. After hearing those comments it would leave me feeling defeated. Instead of kindly letting me know how to properly say it and teach me. They would laugh. This made me feel like they held the power over all of our conversations. 

 

Part 2

During the second experiment, I came to the realization that I use my hands and body to express myself a lot. I had to catch myself a couple of times in the middle of my sentence and try not to use gestures. Using my hand and body to communicate came naturally to me because my family does the exact same thing. My sister also noticed how often she had to stop herself from using her hands to express herself. She found it a little frustrating that gestures even like raising your hand counted as body language. In the duration of the experiment, we both felt like not using our hands or body was missing to really emphasize what we were trying to say. We felt like our message was not reading across the way we really wanted it to. This experiment taught us that body language is essential in our day to day conversations. We may not realize at the time but body language allows us to gain a better understanding on how the person is feeling. Non speech language techniques also demonstrate the emotions we are exhibiting but are not communicating verbally. When our body language is not communicating what we are saying verbally it is a sign that there is more to what we are saying out loud. A person may sound happy but their body language may show signs of tiredness. There are definitely people on this planet that do not comprehend body languages. I am sometimes one of those people. I feel like it is harder to read someone's body language depending on the environment. An example of environmental conditions where body language is not beneficial is at a mall. Everyone is so busy going from store to store that it is really hard to get an accurate reading on how the person is feeling. Another example would be the beach because everyone there is at the location for the same reason, sun and relaxation. 

Part 3

I honestly think that experiment 1 would have been a lot easier if we were allowed to use written language. Written language between two casual conversations doesn’t really allow us to have much misunderstanding or miscommunication. During the duration of the first experiment, I felt like I spent most of my time either thinking about what I wanted to communicate or having to re-explain myself. Written language has a great advantage within culture because it provides history on what the culture has experienced or overcome. These memories and traditions are passed down from generation to generation because it is written down and recorded. Without written languages the population would have to relearn what has already been established instead of advancing forward. Written language has had a great impact on globalization by teaching history to people around the world. It has also taught how to read, write and story tell. Written language is also used in mathematics, medicine and even at the gas station.