Every day people speaks to each other in a common language while illustrating the different styles of verbal and nonverbal interaction. In term of verbal interaction, the speaker sends his/her message across to the listener through words while the listener receives and decrypts the message through his/her ears and mind. As for nonverbal interaction, it could be an independent source of communication or works as a compliment or even distraction to verbal interaction. Most of the nonverbal interactions are visual, where one understands the meaning of the message through actions displayed by the sender. With these two forms of interaction, the world becomes a platform for information through actions and words.
Since young, I have lived under the care of my parents. My parents come from different kampongs of different countries and brought up my siblings and me humbly. My father is a quiet and logical man, responds to others with composure and assurance. In contrast, my mother is an extrovert woman who behaves more ‘dramatically’ in term of response and words. Once, I was caught in a dispute between the two of them. My mother was talking harshly from the kitchen, with her hands and legs moving actively as she speaks. On the other side, my father was reading the newspaper in the living room, replying to her calmly and with hardly any movements. Emotionally overwhelmed, my mother put down her work in the kitchen and stomped towards my father. Acknowledging my presence in the living room, she cooled down the moment she saw me on the coffee table doing my homework. She went on to have an effective conversation with my father and resolve the conflict quickly.
In the nutshell, different people from different culture shares different forms of verbal and nonverbal interaction. No matter how different they are, respect will prevent any unnecessary discomfort. Ultimately, we should pay close attention to our own verbal and nonverbal interactions in order to avoid dispute and improve communication with people around us.
Last Updated: 12th April 2016
Commented On:
Lin Zaw, Keryl Tham, Yar Zar ( 7 C’s )
WELCOME 
Hi JS, I really enjoyed reading your post as it was very interesting and was based on your experience with regards to your family. Perhaps you could use another word instead of “kampong”. Some readers out there may not understand fully the word “kampong”.
Firstly, I think your post is clear. It demonstrates what you were trying to convey and that is, culture that affects how people communicate. Perhaps you could explain better for readers to understand on your second paragraph where your mom’s hands and leg were active.
Second, your post is concise. It was not draggy and you were straight to the point on how culture has actually affected people in terms of communication.
Third, your post is concrete. You have written your experiences and this allows me to fully understand how cultures affect communication not only in Singapore but in Brazil as well.
Fourth, i feel that your post is correct. I was able to understand what was being conveyed.
Fifth, your post is coherent. It fits well with the topic and the way you described your experience is consistent.
Lastly, I feel that your post is complete. It has everything the readers needs to understand what you were trying to convey and that is Culture. You have provided examples based on your personal experiences and also the culture in Brazil using the hand signs.
Once again, i enjoyed reading your post.
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Thanks, JS, for this post. I appreciate your effort and the disclosure, recounting your parents’ argument.However, your essay is seriously disjointed.
What would make this stronger would be for you to maintain a clearer focus on the assignment topic throughout the essay. You start by giving some good context for the value of nonverbal cues in the first paragraph, and then in the second paragraph you introduce the observed scenario with your parents. You mention their common communication traits, and you give some indication of their style during a disagreement, but you never actually analyze what has happened between them and why they might have done what they did. In short, their is not explanation of what has happened, and there is no connection made between their culture, gender, age, or anything else.
Then you drift on to another topic, with a discussion of how non-verbals can mean different things in different places. What happened to the assignment topic in the process?
There are also problems here with language use:
1) people speaks >>> (subject-verb disagreement) people speak
2) while illustrating different style >>> (need for plurality) while illustrating different styleS
3) Everything about nonverbal interaction are visual… >>> (subject-verb disagreement)
4) … the world became a platform… >>> (verb tense: why past?)
5) Since young, I live…. >>> (verb tense) Since young, I HAVE lived….. (Do you know why present prefect verb tense is better here?)
6) …who possess bipolar characteristics from each other. >>> (meaning? from each other? Do you mean to say that both of them are bipolar?)
7) bring up >>> have brought up (Do you know why present prefect verb tense is better here?)
8) My father is a quiet and logical man, responds to others with composure and assurance. In contrast, my mother is an extrovert woman, behaves much more ‘dramatically’ in term of response and words.
>>>
( a need for relative clauses: please see https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/645/01/ )
9) …as she speaks… >>> (verb tense)
10) …replying her… >>> r(collocation) replying TO her
11) Culture comes with different forms such as religious, environmental, race, etc. >>> You don’t explain the various ‘cultural’ forms, or components with much accuracy. I’d suggest doing a quick Google search and using more appropriate terminology: Cultural components include_________.
This post is in need of a serious revision. Before you do that, I’d suggest you look at some of the more clearly focused posts of classmates (Try Kok Zheng’s, Hany’s or Angela’s.)
I look forward to the rewrite!
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