VIP Class Notes (Lily) [S/R]

Pronunciation

walk= w ok   talk halt palty Maltese
work= werk tort pork dork cork

I think nowadays more and more people, they communicate through WeChat, and other instant communication tools, on these apps, we cannot distinguish their tones and actual feelings, it’s through words. So sometimes it will cause some misunderstandings. I think face to face is a efficient way for people to communicate with each other.

In the interview, I value more his tone, the way he speaks, because I value a lot whether he or she has enough confident. Some people they speak too slow, they don’t articulate, sometimes they don’t look into my eyes, or they are looking at their nails, they act nervous. This kind of expression will make me think they’re not confident about themselves, maybe they are making something up.

Revised

I think nowadays more and more people, they communicate through WeChat, and other social medias, on these apps, we cannot distinguish their tones and actual emotions, it’s all communicated through words. So sometimes it will cause some misunderstandings. I think face to face is an more efficient way for people to communicate with each other.

In the interview, I value more of the candidate’s his tone, the way he speaks, because I value a lot whether or not he or she has enough confident. Some people they speak too slow, they don’t articulate, sometimes they don’t look into my eyes, or they are looking at their nails, they act nervous. This kind of behavior will make me think twice about their performance. They’re not confident about themselves, maybe they are improvising. 

When we communicate with others, we express our thoughts and feelings not only through the words we choose, but also through our tone of voice, facial expression and body language. In fact, many communications experts believe that far more information is communicated non-verbally (without words) than verbally (with words). “Body language” is an important part of non-verbal communication.

Body language includes many different aspects of our every day physical behaviour: the way we greet one another; how we stand, how we sit or walk; the way we position our arms and legs or use our hands and eyes are some of the most basic.

To learn another language is more than just learning words and grammar, it involves learning about another culture, too. We learn much of our own culture’s body language before we learn to speak, from the time we are children, usually without even being aware of it.  And that body language varies from culture to culture, so it’s something to which second language learners should pay attention.

So, how attuned are you to other people’s body language?  Try this little experiment.  Turn the volume on the television right down while you watch people interact on the screen. You may find it is more difficult to understand what’s happening between people from unfamiliar cultures.

Sometimes, cultural differences in appropriate body language can cause discomfort or misunderstandings too. For example, there are definite cultural differences in how much distance should be kept between two people who are speaking together. If you are used to people keeping their distance, you will feel very uncomfortable, and probably move away repeatedly, if someone keeps trying to stand closer to you at a party!  We call this the “personal comfort zone”.