Last week a colleague and I did a presentation for a group of volunteers at a local Greek welfare agency. The level of English of the volunteers varied greatly so there was an interpreter there. While I have used interpreters in one to one encounters with clients before, this was the first time I had conducted a presentation with an interpreter.
I found myself trying to be as economical as possible with my language as well as thinking more about what I was going to say in an attempt to get it right the first time. I did have extra time to think and also to be more aware of reactions of the volunteers and how they were taking everything in. I have to take my hat off to the interpreter, who had an amazing memory (a staff worker confirmed that she interpreted everything correctly) and couldn't zone out for a second.
This got me thinking about language. Words are one of the most common forms of communication and yet they say it makes up a relatively small part of how we communicate. Words can be used to cut people down and to build people up. Words can cause great misunderstandings and can heal rifts. "Sticks and stones..." is the old adage, but we all know the power of words. If life has taught me anything, it is to not take words out of context, to not focus on throw away lines as the apex of a conversation. This isn't always easy to do I might add, given the influence of the spoken word. It can be a fine line between knowing the power of words yet not being so influenced by them.
It also reminds me of Eliza berating poor Freddy who just wanted to say 'I love you!'
3 comments:
ah yes, words. they can be so simple, yet so complicated at the same time.
and it's not only what you don't say, or how you say it, but what you don't as well.
btw, nice blog - can't believe it's taken me til now to come across it.
luverly!
Thanks Ryan - welcome!
Hi Campbell,
“If life has taught me anything, it is to not take words out of context, to not focus on throw away lines as the apex of a conversation”; that’s a marvelous ideology to strive for in our lives. However, as you said, it isn’t always so easy to do. If the person we’re speaking to happens to “push one of our buttons”, the entire conversation is meaningless because we’re focusing on the alleged affront and are no longer paying attention. We may very well have taken the words out of context but will never know because we’re feeling resentful and no longer hearing what the other person is saying.
One possible way to avoid sending mixed signals with our verbiage would be to concentrate on the listeners’ body language; if the person suddenly tenses up, perhaps something we’ve said has been misinterpreted. Another scenario would be to stop speaking occasionally and ask if the person being spoken to is absorbing what we’re trying to express or has tuned us out. Maybe we’d all be better off using sign language!
Blogging is all about the written word. It’s quite easy to read what someone has posted and put our own spin on the context, not realizing we may be entirely misconstruing what the words were trying to convey. And the cycle continues….
This is a very thought provoking post.
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