Welcome Back

I hope you all had a good week off from discussing topics in the class. I, for one, miss not reading through discussion posts when y'all have a discussion week off. I'm kind of nerdy like that I guess.

This week's chapter reading is on verbal and nonverbal communication. As an educator in the communication field, this is one of my favorite topics to discuss. I'm very excited to see what you all have come up with as personal examples for the second discussion question.

I have spent some time overseas in Kazakhstan, Peru and Russia. I have also spent a bit of time in Mexico and Canada, but of course those locations are not 'overseas'. Observing other cultures and how they interact with both verbal and nonverbal communication is quite interesting. What is comfortable with to you may not be comfortable for someone else and vice versa. This can be especially noticeable when you are in a cross-cultural situation.

The concepts of proxemics (the study of measurable distances between folks as they interact) and chronemics (the study of the use of time in nonverbal communication) are especially interesting to me. Here's where I'm going to let my communication 'freak flag fly'.......

Each of the cultures I have spent time in apply or use these concepts a bit differently. I have had folks stand so close to me when we were engaged in a conversation, that I can tell what they had for lunch.......yesterday. (I'm kidding of course). But when it comes to the concept of proxemics, each person has a distance they feel comfortable with when speaking to another person.

Although I do not condone using wikkipedia as a source when researching due to its current state of flux, I do think it is useful as a jumping off point for gather information (as long as the information can be verified as true). Having said that, wikkipedia is a good source for understanding the concept of proxemics. Click here to go there. It shows a diagram of personal reaction bubbles. It shows intimate space (1.5 feet), personal space (4 feet), social space (12 feet) and finally public space (25 feet). These distances will be different for every person, but an observable difference can be seen across cultures.

It is the same principle for chronemics. Since I gave you the wikkipedia page for proxemics, I may as well provide the one for chronemics. Click here to go there. People of cultures other than our own interpret time a bit differently than we do here in the US. From your experience in traveling or of observing other cultures, what could some of these be?

I have experienced firsthand the differences of time as it relates to nonverbal communication. The one that sticks out the most is, of course, my interaction with time schedules. As the book states on page 119, "Western cultures are particularly oriented toward clock-based times as an organizing principle in the work world (Dobkin & Pace, 2006)." Would you agree?

As you can see, both concepts are highly interesting to me as it relates to communication and as it relates to small group communication. I can't wait to read what you all come up with this week for the discussion.