Effective Communication Skills

The first words of a baby would probably be “amma”, “ma”, or “mammy”; he would put together the voices in his tiny head and try to address the one person who brought him to the world; his mother. From this day onwards he will be involved in a continuous learning process of various communication skills through out his life. A major part of his personality would be modeled as a result of his communicating nature with the rest of the world around him.

In my part of the world, where I come from, the initial step in learning to communicate is traditionally celebrated as a dignified ceremony. At around the age of 3, the child is being dictated his first alphabet by a respected and educated elder, on an auspicious time. This is believed to be a blessing for the child and a prerequisite for a successful education. Thus, this ceremony symbolizes the importance given to the process of learning and communication in my culture.

Furthermore, the importance of effective communication is highly evident in the context of social networking. The ability to be understood and not to be misunderstood by your friends and colleagues is as important as surviving in the work place. Ideas which are not conveyed properly or not interpreted properly could even give rise to situations concerning life and death. Effective communication is a skill that needs to be developed over time and different techniques of adaptation should be used at different places.

However, common obstacles for proper comprehension are the language and the cultural background. Being the international language, today English is studied by almost every child around the globe. It is like a bridge which crosses one person from the northern hemisphere to reach another in the southern hemisphere. However the standard of English education is not the same everywhere and it is spoken in different dialects with different accents depending on the geographical location. Therefore two people from China and America could be conversing in the common tongue but both could face the serious problem of understanding each other’s exact ideas and expressions.

Hence, learning effective communication and thereby identifying and overcoming the barriers involved in it is of great importance because we need to interact with all sorts of people from all parts of the world in our life time.