Communication
How do you communicate with your friends? FTF IRL? Do you call, text, or send video messages? How about with your parents, teacher, or boss? Does the
content of what you want to say influence how you say it? Does what you communicate change depending on whether you speak or write? And what
happens when you get the codes of communication wrong?
Communication is a process of sharing information, ideas, feelings and experiences with other people, which can happen in many different ways. Your
answers to the questions above all involve using some form of language. Despite there being fewer than 200 countries in the world, there are more than
7,000 officially known languages, and countless different dialects. Even when people speak the same language, other differences such as age, level of
education or subculture can mean that people fail to understand each other.
Young children seem unbothered by not knowing each other’s spoken language, and often manage to play and get along using other means of
communication. The older we get, the more we seek to understand one another on a more advanced level. Similarly, we develop a greater variety of skills to
overcome situations in which we initially struggle to make ourselves understood. As the world’s most used lingua franca, English is the language most of us
turn to when we want to interact across language barriers; so knowing English well helps us communicate in many different situations.
However, having a common language only gets us so far, as communication is more than knowing the words. We need to adapt the way we communicate
to the situation we are in, in order to express ourselves in the most appropriate manner for our audience. In addition, culture also plays an important role in
communication. Awareness of cultural differences in communication can help us to avoid misunderstandings that might offend others. Additionally,
tolerance, curiosity and an open mind are beneficial to communication both in our personal and professional lives.
Core element: English
Communication
Communication refers to creating meaning through language and the ability to use the
language in both formal and informal settings. The pupils shall employ suitable
strategies to communicate, both orally and in writing, in different situations and by
using different types of media and sources. The pupils shall experience, use and explore
the language from the very start. The teaching shall give the pupils the opportunity to
express themselves and interact in authentic and practical situations.
-UDIR Kjerneelementer i engelsk
"Who Said We All Have to Talk Alike", by Wilma Elizabeth McDaniel (1985)
Who knows how Neffie Pike’s speech pattern was formed? Her Ozark family had talked the same way for generations. They added an “r” to many words
that did not contain that letter. In spite of this, or because of it, their speech was clear and colourful and to the point. Most people understood what they
were talking about, exactly.
Neffie was her parents’ daughter. She called a toilet, “torelet,” and a woman, “worman,” very comfortably. The teacher at the country school never
attempted to change Neffie’s manner of speaking. She said that Neffie had a fine imagination and should never allow anyone to squelch it. In fact, Neffie
never really knew that she talked differently from most other people.
People in the tiny community of Snowball really loved Neffie. She was a good neighbour, unfailingly cheerful and helpful. A great woman, everyone in
Snowball agreed.
She would have probably lived her life out in the same lumber house if her husband had not died. One day she came home from Marshall and stopped at old
Grandma Meade’s house and announced, “I have got me a job in California. I am selling my house and lot to a couple of retired people from Little Rock. They
will be moving in the first of June.”
Grandma Meade sat in shocked silence for several seconds.
Neffie looked stonily at her and said with her casual clarity, “A widder worman is a free worman, especially if she don’t have no children. She ought to be
free to come and go like she pleases. After all, I am only fifty-one years old. I can do as much work as I ever did. This job is taking care of two little girls while
their mother works at some high-paying job. She has already sent me a bus ticket. I would be a fool not to go. Everyone has been to California except me. I
always hankered to see the state for myself. Now is my chance to see some of the rest of the world. It may sound foolish, but it will sort of be like having a
dorter of my own and grandchildren. I aim to write you a long letter when I get settled down out there.”
A month passed without any word from Neffie.
Bug Harrison was at Grandma Meade’s house when Neffie returned the day after Snowball’s big Fourth of July celebration.
Neffie put her suitcases down and began at the beginning. “Grandma, you was so right about so many things. I knowed I was in trouble hock-deep, only
one minute after I stepped off that bus in California. A purty young worman come forward to meet me and said she was Beryl. I busted out and told her,
‘My, you are a purty worman, even purtier than your pitcher.’ She kinda shrunk back and looked at me like I had used a cussword. She stood there holding
her little girls’ hands and asked me, where on earth did you hear a word like worman, was it a female of some kind? She said, ‘Worman is woe-man,’ like you
say woh to a horse.
“Her remark nearly knocked me off my feet. I felt like a fool, and I didn’t even know why. My stomach started churning. I durst not say anything to defend
myself, because I hadn’t done anything wrong.
“We started walking to Beryl’s station wagon in the parking lot. I told her that I never was blessed with a dorter or son, either. That set her off again. She
said that her children were at a very impressionable age, that I would have to watch my speech and learn the correct pronunciation of words. She did not
want them picking up incorrect speech patterns and something she called coll-oke-ism, something I had, and didn’t even realize. I decided to shut up and
get in the car. The worman had already paid for my fare. I felt that I had to at least give her a few months’ service, if I could stand the punishment at all.
“Her house turned out to be a real nice place, bright and modern with every type of electrical gadget you could think of. There were four bedrooms, each
with a bath. I was so tired and upset over Beryl’s attitude that I begged off sitting up to visit with her and the little girls. I ran me a full tub of warm water
and took me a long soaking bath. I fell into bed and went sound asleep. Worman, I plumb died away, slept all night without waking up.
“I woke up feeling relived that it was Monday. Beryl left for work promptly at seven-thirty. That meant the girls and I had the house to ourselves. Worman, I
am telling you, they was two living dolls, Pat and Penny. I made them bran muffins for breakfast and scrambled some eggs. They ate until they nearly
foundered. It seemed like they had never seen a bran muffin before, asked me if I would cook them the same thing each day.
“I told them, I knew how to cook other good old homely dishes, too. Every day, I tried something new on them, biscuits and sausage and milk gravy,
buttermilk pancakes, waffles, popovers, french toast, corn dodgers, fried mush. You name it, worman, I cooked it for those dolls. It wouldn’t be no big deal
for the kids here in Snowball, they was raised to eat like that, but it was hog heaven to Pat and Penny.”
Grandma Meade had been listening intently, her eyes pinned on Neffie’s face. Now she asked, “How did Beryl like your cooking?”
Neffie laughed heartily. She said, “To put it plain, she LOVED it. I can say that she never found any flaw in my cooking, only made one complaint connected
to it. I boirled her a fine big cabbage and hamhock dinner and made cornbread for our supper one evening. When we started to sit down at the table, I said
that it was a nice change to have a boirled dinner now and then. That set her off like a firecracker. She said, ‘That is boil-ed, not boirled.’ I decided to let that
snide remark pass. I saw she started dishing up the food—she lit in on it like a starving hounddog. That showed what she thought of my cooking, didn’t it?
My cooking sure helped me get through them weeks as good as I did.”
Bug Harrison broke in, “What were your duties during the day?”
Neffie said, “I was hired to take care of the two little girls. That is what I done. I cooked because people have to eat. I always have, always will. That didn’t
put no extra strain on me. The girls and I played most of the day. They would sit on each arm of my chair and listen to me tell them about my life back in
Arkansas. I didn’t hold back nothing. I told them about haunted houses, ghosts, robbers, bank holdups, tornadoes, snakes, tarantulas, times when the river
flooded and we had to float on a rooftop to save our lives. I don’t quite know why I done it, but I asked the girls not to tell their mother about my stories.
They were as secretive as little private detectives until a week ago. They got so excited over one of my stories that they forgot theirselves. I heard Pat tell her
mother, ‘Mom, back in Arkansas where Neffie used to live, they are wormans that can tell fortunes for people. They can look right through your face and tell
if you are telling the truth or a lie. They can rub your warts with skunk oirl and say some words and all the warts will fall off, never ever come back.’
“Beryl blowed her stack. She marched right back to the kitchen with the girls at her heels. She stood in the door and said, ‘I have been afraid of this very
thing. Neffie, I just can’t keep you on any longer.’
“At that point Pat and Penny throwed themselves down on the floor and started bawling like two young calves. Pat sobbed out real angry-like, ‘Yes, you
CAN keep Neffie! She is the best storyteller in the whole world and the best cooker. If she goes home to Arkansas, we won’t never have no more biscuits
and sausage and gravy.’ The tears began to run down her little face.
“Beryl stood there with her face like a flintrock. It looked like she wanted to be nice to me, but that her duty come first with her. She drew in her breath and
said, ‘Neffie, you are as good and kind and honest as you can be, exceptional, but your speech is totally unacceptable. My children are at a very
impressionable age. I have tried to overlook it, but they are definitely being influenced in the wrong direction. They say dorter and orter with regularity. This
pattern must be eradicated immediately. I shall be happy to pay your travelling expenses home. You can look on this trip out West as my vacation gift to
you.’ I could see that her mind was made up and she wasn’t going to change it.
“I did think to ask her if she had some other babysitter in mind. I didn’t want to run out and leave her in a bind without one. She said there was a young girl
from the college who wanted day work, so she could attend night classes. She thought that would work out great. I got her point. The college girl would be
different from me, more to suit Beryl.
“Well, to shorten my story, she put me on the bus with my paid ticket, just like she had promised. She and the girls stood there beside the bus waiting for it
to pull out. Penny looked up at me and blew me a kiss. I heard her say as plain as plain could be, ‘Neffie, you are a sweet worman.’ Then I saw Beryl put her
hand over Penny’s mouth. Right then, the bus pulled out of the depot and I lost sight of them.
“Worman, I done a lot of thinking as that bus rolled along the highway. Things kind of cleared up in my mind, like having blinders taken off my eyes. I saw I
had really been ignorant of some things that other folks knowed. I didn’t talk right to suit some of them, but that wasn’t my fault. I didn’t know we was all
supposed to talk the same way. I thought that people hadn’t all talked the same since before God tore down their tower at Babel and confused all their
tongues. Folks all over the world have talked different ever since then. I guess some of them like Beryl want to go back to pre-Babel days. Anyway, it was
sure an eye-opener to me, hurt me, too. Beryl just plain separated herself from me. It was like she took a sharp knife and cut a melon in half, and throwed
away the half that was me. Worman, who said that we all have to talk alike? Can anyone tell me that?
(Adapted)
How to Speak English
Jean Rafenski Reynolds
The people who speak English decide what’s what. When a large number of people stop using a grammatical structure or rule, it goes away (thee/thy/thou,
for example).
Similarly, when a large number of people start using a word in a new way, that becomes the correct usage.
A dingbat used to be a printer’s ornament. But in the 1970s, the popular All in the Family show started using dingbat to mean a silly person. Look it up
today: the definition is “a silly person.”
A related rule is that “correct English” means “matching your preferred group.” Correct English will carry a different definition depending on your target
audience, be it your close friends, your grandmother, or your co-workers.
English teachers (I’m one!) wish we could be the ones who make the rules. But we’re not. English is going to do…what it wants to do.
Edgar Maines
The correct way to speak English is whatever strikes people as correct. Language has to convey meaning clearly and in a way that makes people
comfortable. Shakespearean or Jacobean English is no longer correct, in that sense. That’s why we name it as a slightly different language. People can’t
understand it now, for the most part, without making a bit of an effort, and it would make them uncomfortable if someone spoke like that.
Correct English, in general, is ‘invisible’. The meaning is transferred without anyone noticing anything unusual about the way you speak or write. The rules
that make language seem correct to people are codified by grammarians and schoolteachers and editors and random know-it-alls, and set as correct
standard English. These people don’t determine what is correct, they identify what most people are calling good English these days. Usage determines
grammar and syntax.
Usually, correct language is clear, efficient, comprehensive (there shouldn’t be things that you are unable to say) and not ambiguous except intentionally. But
how people hear and use language is constantly shifting, and anyone who takes a firm and immovable stand on what is correct will soon enough be left
behind. As soon as “correct English” starts to sound old-fashioned, it’s no longer quite correct.
(Adapted)
Comics
"A glimpse of the future..." To eldre damer går tur. Eldre dame
1: "She was like, 'No waay!' And I'm like, wha' eva!" Eldre dame
2: "OMG! Awesome!"
Sjef: "I appreciate that internal comms is a tough job. And I know employees
ignore your emails, so I get that you're looking for an alternative..." [*viser
megafon] "But how about we keep looking?"
To personer sitter på hver sin ende av en benk. Person 1: "Hi!" Person 2: "Hei."
[tenker]: Why is he talking to me?
Seks personer sitter rundt et møtebord. "Everyone in favor raise your hand!"
Møtedeltakerne rekker opp hånda, men tenker: "Yeah sure"; "This is crazy"; "This will never
work"; "Worst idea ever"; "Whatever".
Six Films
Arrival: In Arrival the linguist Louise Banks tries to find a way to
communicate with aliens.
Her: In Her Theodore finds it much easier to communicate with his virtual
assistant Samantha than with real humans.
Avatar: In the movie Avatar Jake Sully learns to speak Na’vi.
Crazy Rich Asians: In Crazy Rich Asians a lack of honest communication has
consequences.
Spanglish: In Spanglish the characters struggle with cross-cultural communication.
Lost in Translation: In Lost in Translation Bob and
Charlotte face communication challenges on many
levels.
Music
Talk - Coldplay
Oh brother, I can't, I can't get through
I've been trying hard to reach you 'cause I don' know what to do
Oh brother, I can't believe it's true
I'm so scared about the future, and I wanna talk to you
Oh, I wanna talk to you
You can take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that's never been done
Are you lost or incomplete?
Do you feel like a puzzle, you can't find your missing piece?
Tell me, how do you feel?
Well, I feel like they're talking in a language I don't speak
And they're talking it to me
So you take a picture of something you see
In the future where will I be?
You can climb a ladder up to the sun
Or write a song nobody has sung
Or do something that's never been done
Or do something that's never been done
So you don't know where you're going and you wanna talk
And you feel like you're going where you've been before
You tell anyone who'll listen, but you feel ignored
Nothing's really making any sense at all, let's talk
Let's talk, let's talk, let's talk
Top Five Reasons to Learn Languages
1. Connect!
One of the most rewarding aspects of the human experience is our ability to connect with others. Being able to communicate with someone in his or her
language is an incredible gift. Bilinguals have the unique opportunity to communicate with a wider range of people in their personal and professional lives.
Knowing the language makes you a local no matter where you are, opening up your world literally and figuratively. You will be shaped by communities. You
will be humbled by the kindness of strangers. You will build lifelong friendships. And for these reasons alone, you will see the reward of learning languages
for many years to come.
2. Feed Your Brain
The many cognitive benefits of learning languages are undeniable. People who speak more than one language have improved memory, problem-solving and
critical-thinking skills, enhanced concentration, ability to multitask, and better listening skills. They switch between competing tasks and monitor changes in
their environment more easily than monolinguals, as well as display signs of greater creativity and flexibility. If that weren’t enough, as we age, being
bilingual or multilingual also helps to stave off mental aging and cognitive decline.
3. Deepen Your Connection to Other Cultures
Language is the most direct connection to other cultures. Being able to communicate in another language exposes us to and fosters an appreciation for the
traditions, religions, arts, and history of the people associated with that language. Greater understanding, in turn, promotes greater tolerance, empathy, and
acceptance of others—with studies showing that children who have studied another language are more open towards and express more positive attitudes
towards the culture associated with that language.
4. See the World
Traveling as a speaker of the local language can revolutionize a trip abroad. While monolingual travelers are capable of visiting the same places, travelers
who know more than one language are more easily able to navigate outside the tourist bubble and to connect and interact with the place and its people in a
way that is often inaccessible to those without the language. Learning a second language also opens additional doors to opportunities for studying or
working abroad.
5. Gain Perspective
As we explore a new language and culture, we naturally draw comparisons to what is most familiar. Learning about another culture sheds light on aspects
of our own culture, both positive and negative, we may not have previously considered. You may find a greater appreciation for what you have, or you may
decide to shake things up!
(Adapted)
Second Language
Reasons why you should learn a second language: Grasp better knowledge of cultural diversity. Learning
the language is also understanding the culture more deeply, and making a comparison with your own
culture. Increase your vocabulary improvement. The study of another language improves one's native
tongue and increases vocabulary skills. Boost your confidence. The positive feedback from native speakers
will motivate you and boost your ego, plus you can impress people and get plenty of compliments with
your unique communication skill. Global employment & better job opportunities. It improves global
employability, and based on statistics, jobs that require bilingual skills have higher compensation.
Brainpower. Based on studies, learnign another language increases brain power and offers proven
benefits for intelligence, memory, and concentration. It can also prevent the development of Alzheimer's
and Dementia. Enjoy international art, literature, music and film in their original language. Deep
understanding and appreciation of a piece of art comes from understanding its origin and own language.
Make your travel more enjoyable. Knowing how to communicate with a country's locals using their own
langauge results in warm smiles and invitation to drink or celebrate. Use it as a tool for privacy or secret
communication. Speaking in a foreign language can be a great way to engage in private conversations
and can protect sensitive information.
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