Human Communication: A Briefing to Aliens - Essay Example

You must know that thousands of years ago, human expressions were mostly done by gestures and signs that our ancestors print on caves and stones. However, as time passed, we human beings learned and developed language and speech to convey our thoughts and feelings with one another. We use communication to understand each other and maintain our social relationship with family, friends, society, and the rest of the world. We communicate to know what is happening around us. We interact and build connections with our fellow human beings to develop the world and our civilization.

So how does human communication happen? Let me simplify it this way. Humans communicate by transmitting messages to one another – from sender to receiver. Intrapersonal communication refers to the process of communication that occurs in the mind of a person while interpersonal communication is the process of conveying one’s thoughts, ideas, and feelings in the form of speech toward another person or groups of people. The communication process is more like what we are doing now. I am sending the information, while you receive the message.

However, one must also note that alien communication uses another form of communication called telepathy. In telepathic communication, aliens transfer their own thoughts to another being without the use of normal sensory channels. In this process, an alien sender can transfer his thoughts to another receiver using only the mind.  Language, being a communication tool, consists of shared symbols, sounds, and gestures that is understandable to a group or community. You see, in our world, we do not share a common language with everybody.

This is because we come from different social, ethnic, and religious backgrounds which make up the differences in cultures around the world. Interestingly, the earth is made up of 1,500 different cultures as identified in the Encyclopedia of World Cultures. We use the term intercultural communication in reference to the interaction between people of different cultural backgrounds. Cultural differences around the world do not only arise because we are made up of national states –for instance, we refer to Chinese culture in the country of China.

We may also speak of other cultural groups that are distinguishable over a longer period of time such as male culture, teenage culture or working-class culture. According to the communication scholar Jens Alwood, the cultural differences between groups of these types are often just as great as or even greater than those that exist between national cultures. The importance of intercultural communication has been greatly recognized because we have become increasingly globalized due to the unprecedented advancement of our technology, transportation, and communication.

As such, acquiring intercultural communication skills is important to avoid misunderstanding and mistakes when dealing with people from other cultural groups. To deal with our differences, communication scholars have categorized an individual’s intercultural communicative competence based on knowledge, motivation, and skills.