English Language

I enjoy the English/American language. Probably because it is my primary and only spoken language. I've had some studies in German, speaking and understanding enough to be "dangerous" with it, but not near fluent. What I like about our language and is probably true of other languages is how we communicate in a non-literal manner.

What got me reflecting on this was an e-mail I received. It posed some statements that make sense, yet when analyzed don't really say what we want to say. Here are just a few:

1. Is it good if a vacuum really sucks?
2. Why is the third hand on the watch called the second hand?
3. If a word is misspelled in the dictionary, how would we ever know?
4. If Webster wrote the first dictionary, where did he find the words?
5. Why do we say something is out of whack? What is a whack?

How often do we do this in our communication, using familiar terminology and jargon in our communication without awareness to the understanding of others? Case in point - in my work this week I was communicating with an employee in a Malaysian restaurant seeking to verify employment of a past employee. As much as I tried I could not clearly communicate what I needed. Understanding the employees frustration and mine, I communicated that I needed to speak with the manager. That worked, except the manager was not available.

So what is my point? We have to watch what we say, knowing what we say may be "colored" by our experiences, learning, and culture. We need to note how it influences our communication across cultural, sectional, regional, and international lines.

Language is fun, ENJOY!

An Interesting Occurrence

An interesting occurrence is happening. I am unemployed now for approximately 5 months. I took on a temporary job contacting employers verifying employment of employees seeking loans. While the work is interesting. The people we speak with often fascinating and revealing, this is not what is interesting.

Having read an interesting study in my work as corporate trainer (I wish I could properly quote the study or comment) it identified the most important word to people. You know something that is important to us, something to which we pay special. Any ideas? That word is your name. We like to hear our name spoken.

Now what is really interesting is the fact that in many of the phone calls made daily I find that people, over 40% do not identify themselves by name. Not only do people answering the phone do not identify themselves, the voice mail messages to leave a message are done very fast so it is difficult, near impossible to identify who they are.

We love to hear our name, it is the one important work that makes us feel good, yet we don't permit it to be used.

Interesting.