Comm 320

Essay

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Essay

Essay Item A 1

Communication is defined as a way of exchanging information either by speaking or by writing. While the identity of a person can be described by his or her culture, beliefs, and looks. Although by definition both the terms communication and identity looks different yet still there exists a relationship between them. Communication is very important for the identity of a person as without communication no one will be able to understand each other’s personality and behavior. The way people communicate speaks volumes about the character they possess.

Man is a social animal and therefore cannot live solely. To live and survive in a society one needs to communicate with each other. Every person is linked with the other person through emotional connection. This connection in turns forms a group. The main requirement of any group is to be different from others. Due to this reason a group develops a way of communication that distinguishes them from other groups. This helps a lot in making the identity of a person as being a part of a certain group makes him or her different from other people.

Culture can simply be defined as a way of life or group of people that share the same interests. These groups can be formed on the basis of religion, race, and, etc. Culture provides a person with an identity. However, due to the difference in identities, there are certain challenges that a person has to face while communicating across different cultural boundaries. The first and most important barrier in communication is language. Every group speaks a different language so that they can differentiate themselves from others. Due to this many people often find it hard to communicate with other people who speak a different language.

As we live in country people where people are of different cultural backgrounds and ethnicity it is important to step outside of our cultural frame to communicate with each other. It is, therefore, necessary to use simple language without using slangs, jargon, etc. so that people can understand easily (Abrams & Giles, 2002).

Essay Item B 1

Being a social animal, man cannot live alone. He requires to communicate with others to survive. Language is a means of communication among a group of people in a society. It is the tool that helps in conveying values and traditions related to a specific group or society in which one is living. Language is of significant importance in the development of an individual. It is a mean of storing and forming ideas as reflections of reality. Language is considered social by nature as it is connected with people. The words we speak are greatly influenced by our culture and society. It is often observed that culture is determined by the language a person speaks but it is not fully right. Although, language varies by region yet still there are people who speak the same language but have different cultural identities. However, the actual language we speak helps a lot in shaping our identity.

While comparing languages we can determine the differences between them. For instance, in English, we call our grandparents as grandmother and grandfather but there is no word that can be used to distinguish between paternal and maternal grandmother. In contrast, in Swedish morfar and mormor for maternal grandparents’ while farmor and farfar is for paternal grandparents.

As our culture is different from others so our belief varies from others. Some people enjoy learning about different cultures and languages while some perceive other culture-negative and therefore express their negative opinions through language (Jiang, 2000). Specifically talking about cultural bias it influences language a lot. Even today people face discrimination on the basis of race, gender, religion, and culture. Recently it was reported that more people are quitting call centers jobs due to the increase in verbal abuse. It is, therefore, important to avoid cultural bias and respect every culture to maintain peace.

References

Abrams, J., O’Connor, J., & Giles, H. (2002). Identity and intergroup communication. Handbook of international and intercultural communication, 2, 225-240.

Jiang, W. (2000). The relationship between culture and language. ELT journal, 54(4), 328-334.