“Communicating Differently”

 Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

In answering this question I had to put it to the test to see if I really did or did not communicate differently when interacting with colleagues from work, my neighbors or even my family. The outcome gave me a greater insight of how unknowingly without thinking I really did communicate with others differently based on who they were as people in a particular environment or situation, but not by culture or race.  

In communicating differently with the school director I communicated more professionally as an employer to employee relationship. When I communicate with co-workers, and some colleagues and seeing that the center is a small environment, and that we have become very close I communicated with them on a more casual level. On the other hand the wonderful lady that does all our cooking is from India. When communicating with her I use a more simple clear language and I speak more slowly because she is still learning the meaning of some of the English language spoken even though she can communicate in English. Also some of my neighbors in my community are somewhat older. When communicating with them and other neighbors my interactions are simply, hi, bye or how are you doing today? Our conversations are never very long unless we have time to sit, and even then our communication is only about what’s going on in our neighborhood or health problems they may have. But when talking with my family we talk about everything, and even all at once. I communicate personal information about myself that I would not normally talk about with my co-workers, neighbors or my director.

Therefore based on what I have learned this week about effective communication, and the new strategies I could use to help me communicate more effectively, I believe may help me overall become a better communicator.  I believe when communicating with the lady that does the cooking for us, I could take more time in explaining words that she does not understand of the English language which I believe would help her in comprehending the English language more easily, and when communicating with others. When communicating with the older neighbors in my neighborhood I could communicate with them on a more of a peer level. I believe when people get older, and we as adults ourselves begin to talk to them more slowly like they do not understand on an adult level, which is not true for all older adults. And last the strategy for effectively communicating with my family members is simple, just listen when others are speaking.