Part 1: This was the easier of the two parts. While it was hard to keep a complex conversation going, because while my partner could convey complex concepts I could only respond in very simple terms. That forced my partner to do most of the talking. She found it very challenging to hold a conversation while trying to keep me involved as much as possible. She had to make complex questions have simple answers in order for me to communicate.
Clearly the people with a verbal language can convey the more complex ideas. To the that culture the ones who only spoke with gestures would be deemed inferior to the people with verbal language. it would also make people who spoke verbally not want to interact with the other culture. A group of people that would be in similar circumstances would be the deaf. While some could communicate with them using sign language most people do not know it resulting in the deaf having an extreme disadvantage. It is easy for the non deaf to communicate with those around them, but the deaf struggle to convey their intentions to people who do not speak sign language.
Part 2: This was the much harder part of the assignment. It is easy to not to talk, but to not be able to show body language made it hard to judge emotion. The only conversations that could be kept were ones of purely intellectual nature where emotion was not needed in order to explain fact, but unfortunately that did not last for the full 15 minutes. My partner was not able to get any real reaction out of me since I could not convey emotion.
Body language is extremely necessary to use body language in a conversation. Without it there is no way to show reaction and emotion without showing it. Conversation becomes bland and robotic and on top of that there is no sarcasm. How can I live without sarcasm? A group of people who may experience this would be the blind. While they still can hear alterations in tone and voice they are still at a huge disadvantage. Body language is necessary in order to know how to react to a person. If a person conveys sadness with their body it is often right response to reply with sympathy, but a person who could not see this, could not respond to it adequately. The only time that it is efficient to not show body language is when giving factual information.
"She had to make complex questions have simple answers in order for me to communicate."
ReplyDeleteInteresting observation. Were you able to initiate a conversation? Change topics? Ask complex questions? What were your limitations in subject matter?
Great discussion on the issue of two cultures.
For Part B, the reaction of the partner is the most interesting part of the experiment. Some students have even had violent, angry responses. How did your partner respond? Missing that description.
Yes, the blind are limited in their ability to read body language, though they can hear vocal intonation and sense movement and direction of the voice/position of the face. Another group who is has great difficulty with body language are those in the autism spectrum.
The final question doesn't ask when reading sign languages isn't efficient. It asks when it might be to your benefit to not read body language and focus on spoken language? Is there any situation where body language might lie to you? Do all cultures use the same body language?
Hi Austin,
ReplyDeleteInteresting discussion between the different cultures. You are absolutely right Deaf people have difficulties expressing to people that don't understand sign language and vice versa with the people that speak and cant communicate. I also did find Part B to be a bit more difficult than Part A. It was hard not to show any emotions.
Great Post!!
Claudia
Part one was hard, and time consuming, found myself getting frustrated, like charades but part 2 I agree, was much more difficult. I never realized how many facial expressions I use while talking. This was an eye opening assignment.
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