Miming and Microsoft Sam Are Bad Ways to Communicate

           During the first 15 minute segment, communication was extremely difficult. I also found myself using what I felt was a physical way to say something and very rarely did someone realize what I was trying to imitate or say to them. I found that one of the best ways to communicate was by having yes or no questions asked when the silent person simply nods his head. This was by far the most productive way to communicate. My brother actually slowed his voice down to try to help communicate which made me laugh quite a bit.

            In the case of multiple cultures meeting for the first time, I think that the language that is the simplest as a base has the advantage of communicating complex ideas. For instance, conjugation is an extremely difficult thing to learn when learning a new language. Mandarin might have an advantage to English for first time learners simply because Mandarin really does not have conjugation difficulties in the same sense. This makes mandarin simpler to adjust to. The speaking culture might find an easier and faster way communicating thoughts through speech as opposed to non symbolic language simply because speech helps to avoid confusion. The hard of hearing pose an issue to the verbal language simply because they cannot hear what someone is saying. The use of sign language is a wonderful change to interact with those people, but sign language is another language to learn and is quite difficult. 

           The latter 15 minutes reminds me of the Microsoft Sam monotone voice. I found it extremely hard to not change my tone of voice or gesture with my hands at all. Also, I found out that sarcasm does not work at all without an implied tone or quirky look. My brother also told me to try and tell a joke without being able to change my voice or gesture. That did not work very well at all. This experiment shows an amazing amount about the tone and physical gesturing that we use to try and tell but also show someone what we are saying. The non-speech factors of language are an important part especially in the department of humor.

            There certainly are people that cannot read body language. Anyone that has trouble seeing or even on the phone will not be able to read body language. The only benefit that I can see with not noting body language is that one might actually hear every part of what someone says and not see what they are trying to state. Listening without seeing drops a lot of the assumptions that are made by someone's physical appearance. The only situation that I can think of where not reading body language is a good thing is if the body language can be misinterpreted.  When people misinterpret things, fights and arguments happen. In that case, body language was an inadequate tool utilized that posed no benefit.