Acts of Behavior.

Nonverbal behavior is influenced by gender, culture, and media cues, which can cause confusion with each other. We rely on nonverbal cues when communicating with others because it helps decrease confusion and increase understanding within another. This helps us become successful in our relationships at home, work, school, and socially. What people say could often be very different from what they’re thinking or feeling. Words can be misleading and it’s very easy for a person to say something untrue or insincere, so we cant rely on words alone.

             I like to see things that aren’t being shown. The tone of voice, facial expressions, gestures, and mannerisms say a lot of things. I think nonverbal behavior is influenced by gender. Men are less comfortable with making eye contact than women. It has something to do with power and status because direct eye contact shows a sign of emotion and men don’t like to show emotion like women do.

Women tend to use facial expressions more then men do.  Men seem more relaxed in posture while women appear tenser. I am very big with facial expressions. I love to smile even when they are to random people walking by. I love it even more when they smile back. Facial expressions and gestures can make a bigger statement than actual words. It reminds me of silent black and white movies. There was no color and no sound. These movies were able to captures peoples’ hearts with only their gestures and facial expressions alone. If only we could appreciate these simple things again.

Men also tend to be more uncomfortable with close proximity.  Women are more comfortable with sharing their personal space especially between another female. Both men and women are able to show their interest and affection towards a person they are willing to open and share their personal spaces. The ability to interpret nonverbal communication between people who are attracted to each other often disappears if one or both are trying to hide it. A common situation is when a man and a woman are attracted to each other but aren’t comfortable to tell the other of the feelings they have.  By not being able to tell each other of such feeling, you tend to be blinded by the other person’s cues and signals as clear.

In general, our own body language signals can influence what others may think or feel about you.  

Silent Gestures.

Communication uses both verbal and nonverbal behaviors. Nonverbal behaviors contribute to communication far greater then verbal behaviors. Using nonverbal communication is a powerful tool that can help us connect deeper with others, express what we really feel, work out problems, and build stronger relationships. Gender, culture, and media are great influences for nonverbal behavior which can cause misunderstanding towards each other.

Gender is the biggest influence on nonverbal behavior. As we have noticed in our daily lives we see how different everyone’s perspective of things are. Men and women express themselves in very different ways. I read an article about the differences on how men and women communicate. When a women is asked a simple question such as: “ How was your day?” We like to be very descriptive in telling people how our day was it ends up sounding like a short story. Women like to gather information and dispense it without discrimination. We lack the ability to prioritize information and don’t think life is as simple as men do because we are fascinated by the multiplicity of choices that they see. Men on the other hand are simple and straight to the point. I feel that they like not having to over think about things. The author also questioned why women responded to him joking about girls and math and men didn’t when he commented about boys and English. I found it that women tend to defend themselves on account of who they are as a person. We never like hearing someone say we cant do this or that because we would prove them wrong otherwise. Unlike men, where they don’t care about what others think.

One of the perks of living in the United States is the diverse culture we live in. We encounter people from different cultures and societies that sometimes it is hard to understand them. Some differences are in language, values, gestures, emotional expression, and norms. Culture can make it difficult for us to understand each other and can come off as a culture shock. Nonverbal behavior with touching, emotions, and relationships could be expressed differently. In other countries, certain gestures can be offending and give off different meaning unlike here in the U.S. One example, in the U.S. an OK sign is a rude gesture in Europe because it gives off sexual suggestion.

Nonverbal behavior is an important part of communication. It is a way for a person to connect personally with another. We are able to use our body to communicate and give signals out to others. How we listen, look, move, and react tell the other person whether or not you are interested in what they are trying to communicate to us. A very familiar phrase “actions speak louder then words” is very true. It takes more than words to create fulfilling, strong relationships. Our nonverbal cues show others that we understand, notice, and care.

Successful English.

Over the past few years, I have noticed that whenever I need help from customer service over the phone, it is usually a person with an accent of Indian descent. Also, the older I become, the more I come to notice every time I visit the doctors that there are more and more doctors of Indian descent working in hospitals. What this tells us: the jobs that were once held by Americans are being sent over seas to the people of India therefore making their economy grow. This is a great opportunity for them but it is a constant struggle for us Americans to find jobs. It causes our country as a whole not to expand economically, increase in unemployment rate, taxes, gas prices, foreclosures, and causes stress and turmoil for millions struggling to survive in the U.S.

            The history of the English language in the Philippines has expanded throughout the years. Around 1565, Spanish was introduced after Conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi founded and settled the first Spanish settlement on Cebu. The language began to decrease after Spain left to the United States. This is where the language Tagalog derives from considering that both languages are alike. Tagalog was chosen as the national language in 1937 out of a total of 171 native languages spoken in the country. Tagalog is the official language of education and its major uses are the broadcast of media, cinema, and its use in the military. This native language is often used in the home and communicating with friends and family.

English has strong roots with Philippines and it has been exposed since 1762. Today, it is the dominant language in business, government, the legal system, medicine, the sciences and education. Majority of textbooks are printed in English instead of Tagalog. Filipino’s find English to be more formal and should be used in school, government, and various ceremonies. In America, schools require to take a foreign language mainly the most common one is Spanish and in the Philippines, theirs is the similar but only in English. Sometimes they even speak both at the same time whether its formal or not. It is very common here especially in the United States. Whenever I am around my family they start off in Tagalog and switch to English and then back to Tagalog. This situation has been called Taglish. Representatives view English as the wave of the future, with science, world trade, and the Internet. I agree to this and see how the language impacts the world.

English plays a big role in the world basing it as many see it as a global language and it is needed to succeed. It is the language of business, higher education, diplomacy, aviation, the Internet, science, popular music, entertainment, and international travel. These things could help Philippines in order to gain economically since it has been struggling as a country.

Smaller is Better.

Anyone can be a writer. We all have a different approach to how we want our writing to come off as. The bigger picture is if our readers will be able to understand it. Our job as a writer is to be able to share your knowledge with the reader and persuade them. The reader’s job is to have the ability to open up, listen, and understand what the writer is trying to say even if we don’t agree.

I found my writing to be simple and straight to the point. I’m not fond of those ridiculously complex writings where you have to go more in depth and see the real meaning behind the story. I like putting my life stories into my papers because I find it a way for the reader to connect with not just my writing but also with myself. I am very open to sharing my experiences with people and having them feel as if they are my friend.

Patricia T. O’Conner gave me some great writing tips on her essay “Saying is Believing”. She brought me into her thoughts of what a good writer is. Patricia warns “To not confuse simplicity with simplemindedness” A good writer can express a complicated idea clearly with such ease. She says that if your sentence sounds nice and is easy to understand then there’s nothing wrong with it. Patricia lays out thirteen general principles which were very useful.

The five I found helpful were:

1.      Say what you have to say

Patricia advises that there is no need to prolong what we want to say. If we believe in what we write and lay it all down for the readers’ they will be able to believe it to.

2.      Stop when you’ve said it

When writing I find it hard for me to figure out when I want to stop. I seem to keep going on and on with my sentences fighting the need to put a period. Patricia made a great point and said that we should have one nice inhalation and exhalation per sentence. I think this is very common with some if not most writers because we want to keep going. When its time to start another sentence, do that.

3.      Don’t tie yourself in knots to avoid repeating a word

I see myself getting caught in trying to substitute certain words that I’ve been using in order to change it up. But Patricia says that it’s better to repeat a word that fits then substitute one that doesn’t.

4.    Put descriptions close to what they describe

Writing itself is a battle with me but the biggest problem with writing is being descriptive. I tend to confuse myself and the readers when I describe certain things. Patricia gave great examples to show how a proper descriptive sentence should be.

5.      Put the doer closer to what’s being done

Sentences can be complex and interesting as long as we know how to make it easy to follow for readers. We shouldn’t make it where they have to constantly reread the sentence to finally understand it. This is my second biggest problem because I have a hard time putting the doer closer to what’s being done.

In order to be a good writer you need to be able to express your thoughts and ideas clearly. It is difficult to achieve because to be clear in your writing you have to be clear in your thinking. Patricia opened my eyes to see that writing helps captivate readers and good writing astonishes its writer first and that’s what I want to do. The simplest writing can make such a powerful impact to a reader and it shows that bigger isn’t always better.