Hello,
The Language and Culture section in Chapter 10 made lots of sense to me. Put public speaking aside, and focus on individual conversations for a minute. You can tell a great deal about someone's culture just by listening to the way they speak to you. Listening to a speech and listening to someone speak to you are reflections of that person's culture. First impressions are lasting impressions. For example, when someone in the office uses the word "whatever" joking or not, it tells me something about that person's personality. People use jargon in texts such as "OMG!" Jargon in text messages is fine as long as everyone reading the text understands. Euphemisms can be cleverly used to "mask" direct or harsh messages. Cliches might be overused, but when someone uses one, the listener is never confused about its message. If you are speaking to someone and used a cliches they did not understand, they would ask you what you meant. Some jargon are generational. For example, you wouldn't hear a 60-year-old man or woman say, "My bad." Overall, using jargon in the workplace or in a speech is risky, and is best left between you and your best friends.
Cheryl
I love your emphasis on the different way people use their jargon. I listen to different people talk all day and the things I hear would be unprofessional in my office. Our speeches are not suppose to reflect the way we use everyday language, but sometimes in order to get your point across they may understand the jargon quicker than the big words that we try to use in our speeches. In a professional atmosphere we would not say personal words but just note that I have heard a 60 year old woman say "my bad". and if you ask where they got it from they say "my kids say it all the time". I have also heard in an office setting someone say "whatever" too. Our speeches are not always a reflection of how we speak. The speech should be given so that not only are we professional but we are also understood across all the cultures.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you. Coming from a culture that is extremely careful with the language they use, especially in formal setting (such as a speech); I find myself sometimes feeling uncomfortable of how blunt people can be here. I've heard people say certain things during presentations that I would never dare to say, but I do understand that it's just different cultural norms. You also make a great point when you talk about using jargon, cliche or even just sayings. We need to understand as speakers that we live in a multi-cultural country and we never known who we might be speaking too. It has happen to me plenty of times, that I've been left wondering what the speaker means by certain saying. Even though I have learned a lot of saying and "slang" in the years that I've lived here, I don't know all of them. I think that a conscious speaker would keep their language as simple as possible and that way he/she can almost guarantee that he/she will get his/her message across.
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