SOCU2252 Connection journal 1.docx
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The document discusses politeness and non-verbal communication in different cultures. It notes that politeness involves emotional interactions and helps bring people together. In Vietnamese culture, bowing to elders is tradition, though today's youth may simply say "hello grandma" instead. Western culture avoids private questions about things like height and weight. The document also states that nearly 93% of communication is non-verbal, through elements like eye contact, facial expressions, and gestures. Mastering non-verbal communication and understanding different cultural norms for politeness can make one more confident and successful in the professional world.
SOCU2252 Connection journal 1.docx
- 1. Student name: Vu Phan Lam Anh Student number: s3818473 Assignment 1b: Connection journal 1 Communication is an art, communicating politely, and following the context, satisfactory for each culture is not simple. According to Watts (2003), politeness involves emotional interactions (cited from Holmes, 2012). Thus, being polite in communication helps to bring people together. In Vietnamese culture, bowing to the elderly who are older than us for social status, family rank, and lineages is a tradition. However, today with the rapid development of culture and society, the exchange between cultures has caused young people to just say "hello grandma" instead of bowing suspiciously as before. That is the new standard accepted by modern society. For the West is another aspect, Westerners avoid private questions about height, weight, age, appearance, while these are not too strict in Vietnamese culture. The politeness in communication today is not only expressed in language but also communicated through non-verbal communication. It is simply defined as communication without using words (Liu et al., 2011: 139, cited from Jackson, 2014). Just being subtle in communication, body language (non-verbal language) can convey more messages through facial expressions, vision, moderation, and communication distance. According to Alber (1982), nearly 93% of communication meaning is communicated through a non-verbal communication channel. Eyes are an essential part of humans. Eye contact is a powerful sign of respect and concern. The use of eye contact with the partner is also considered a politeness in communication. If you don't look at someone, they may think you are worried, insincere, or disinterested. Some people even say that if you look at the ground when communicating, your partner can understand that you are shy, nervous, or unreliable. Therefore, Eye contact can help us to understand the feelings of others to behave appropriately. Besides, facial expressions or gestures also increase the other person's attention. For example, in a presentation, language, body language, and eye contact are also a way to attract listeners, it makes words more inspiring, more confident, and convincing. A person who can fluently use body language or non-verbal communication will become more successful and professional through efficiency and messaging. For myself, in a period of integration, understanding different cultures, politeness in each context and in different cultures as well as using body language, (none-verbal communication) will make me more confident, more professional and more competitive in the labor market.
- 2. Word count: 396 words References: Jackson, J. (2014). Language and nonverbal communication. In Introducing language and intercultural communication (pp. 271-337). New York: Routledge. Holmes, J. (2012). Politeness in intercultural discourse and communication. In Christina Bratt Paulston, Scott F. Kiesling & Elizabeth S. Rangel (Eds), The handbook of intercultural discourse and communication (pp. 205-228). West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.