CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

I communicate with many people of my many walks of life. With my nurse friends we have our own jargon others would not understand. With close friends, I tend to use low language with slang words which we both can understand. Examples are "word", which means the truth and "school" which means to teach a lesson to someone. I am able to be informal with them. I have friends that are Filipino, Asian, Hispanic, Italian, East Indian etc. Close friends and occupational friends are the closest people to me and we understand each other because of our similarities communication is understood fully. Perhaps being more of an active listener will benefit me sometimes because I tend to speak more than listen. This would make me a better communicator with them. Supervisors at work who are sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. I use standard English with proper grammar with them. I can call it politically correct language. I have a tendency to speak low. One strategy is to speak louder, capture my audience and interact fully with them. I sometimes have to speak to Non Native English speakers. I use simpler words, which are easier to understand. I also use accommodation by changing my style of communication to adapt to them. For example when I worked in the Pediatrics ER, I would say "amarillo libro" which means yellow book for immunization book. Eventually I would say "tarjeta vacuna" which means yellow card and the parent would understand fully. One strategy I can use for Non Native English is to look out for non verbal cues if there is an interruption in communication. It helps to be aware of non verbal cues as well as verbal cues.