Primary Methods and Barriers in Communication - Essay Example

The modes of verbal communication can be many but the underlying principle or the medium remains the same (language). Some other verbal modes of communication can be: Face to face communication, Recorded (voice recordings, voice mails e.t.c), Telephone, Voice chat. But as mentioned earlier, the verbal method of communication is not the only method of communication equally important (though not very obvious a lot of times) is non-verbal communication methods. Non-verbal communication can further be divided into two parts; written and non-written communication.

Some researchers put written communication into the category of verbal communication (due to the fact that it is based on language) but in my opinion, it is different from verbal communication. The reason being, the sensory function used in written communication is that of sight but most verbal communication methodologies make use of listening skills (sometimes with the combination of sight as well) however the major emphasis is on listening. Written communication can be in many different forms such as books, letters, E-mail, facsimile, On-Screen Display, printouts, chatting e.t.c.

It is important to note here that many of the written communication modes can be one-way. This method is probably the most covert, not-so-obvious (most of the time) method and it includes things such as Paralanguage, gestures, facial expressions, drawings, and many others. Interestingly enough this method of communication is probably the most primitive of all methods. What did man do before the arrival of verbal communication (before a proper language was born), obviously non-verbal, non-written communication must have been the mode.

In the modern world an artist expresses his or her feeling through art; didn't the cave-man do the same The main issue with the usage of non-verbal communication is that it can be ambiguous. Gestures, for example, can mean different things in different time-place contexts.Potential Barriers to CommunicationGender DifferencesGender Differences can cause difficulties because women and men communicate and perceive things in different ways. For example Robin Lakoff in his book "Language and a Woman's Place," studied differences in how boys and girls are taught to communicate, he came to the conclusion that girls are taught to use passive, empathetic voices and are more encouraged toward active listening.

Boys, however, are encouraged toward competition, using forceful, active tones.Culture:Cultural Diversity can serve to be a very big hurdle in communication since different cultures have different morals and ways of life. One action, word or gesture could mean one thing in a culture and have completely opposite meaning in another.