Culture Case

In order for me to make my interpersonal communication skills more effective, I can be aware of how and when I use my language in certain situations. In more formal setting, formal language would be more appropriate. In everyday home settings or hanging out with friends, informal language could be used as well as slang. Improving my vocabulary would also be another way of improving effective interpersonal communication skills. Learning the "denotative" meaning of words could help improve my vocabulary as well as using a thesaurus to look up synonyms (Sole, 2011).

Someone I have difficulty communicating with is a team leader at work. It seems that each time I tell her to complete an assignment, she have difficulties relating the message and getting the job done. Therefore, the person who is supposed to complete the job come into the office and ask me what has to be done. This frustrates me because I have to stop doing my job or assisting clients to repeat the assignment in which I have already given instructions to do.

To improve my communication skills with the team leader, I could check with her to see if she has a clear understanding of what I said to her and ask for feedback. If she has a clear understanding and relate the message, it would be less frustrating for me. If this method relieves a little pressure from me, we could have better communication skills.

Improving Verbal Communication:

I was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, and spoke in the dialect of the region. From a relatively young age, however, I began to notice differences in not only geographic variances in language, but the eloquence of American Standard English, typically spoken in professional settings (Sole, 2011). It was painfully obvious that I sounded less intelligent when speaking than television personalities such as Walter Kronkite, Eric Severied, or Tom Brokaw. I began to try to change the phonology of my speech in order to improve my communication skills. It has been many years since anyone has heard me utter a rustic colloquialism such as "ain't got no" or "I like this'un."

Another communication improvement strategy that I use is an almost obsessive resolve to expand my lexicon. I am a voracious reader, and when I write or speak, it bothers me to have to repeat my words. With a more comprehensive vernacular, I have a number of words at my disposal, and I can speak without sounding redundant (Sole, 2011).

According to recent research, people have closer and more effective communication when they have similar styles of speech (Bower, 2010). My father and I have never had an adequate communicative dialogue, and it grows progressively worse as I improve my linguistic skills while he chooses