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Language Barrier

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Language Barrier
It is not easy for someone who is not familiar with the language to communicate with the people surrounding him/her if in term of cross-cultural/linguistic differences. Why did I include here culture? Is it not too broad for it to be part of this research? Well if may ask a question, does language affects culture?
In a research study formed by Johannes C. Cronje (his research involves African students being taught English by his co-assessor) According to Cronje (2009) even though the students can understand them, and capable of reading and writing in the English language, they weren’t able to express it well because of being shy. Another factor that affects their inability to apply their learning is because of their poor handwriting and we know that African alphabets slightly differ to the English alphabets. He even said that “if students cannot express themselves in the language of the assessor (English) and if the assessor is not familiar with the cultural constraints within which students operate, it is difficult for the assessor to collect evidence of adequate performance.”
In this time, one important thing to remember is one should be able to appreciate and be aware of the differences in terms of language and culture. At least understanding other languages will able to expand the learning, enriches our minds, and develops our creativity.
If you’re planning to have a vacation in the other country, you might want to study how the manner of people there talks. For instance, if you’re going to visit Saudi Arabia, people there talk in a manner of you-think-that-they’re-mad-at-you-but-they’re-not. It is because of the accent that was being projected.
Even gestures play a vital role in communicating. I have observed that in my Korean classmates that whenever they talk, it involves a lot of hand moving, hand raising, hand slapping, hand pointing movements and by simply looking at them talking to each other, you can determine what they’re talking about. (Well it is not applicable anytime.)
Now, what is more important, Communication or Language? Why, we all know that they are both essential in communicating. You need to learn the language in order to communicate. For me, communication is far more important than the language. Why did I say that? We all knew that language plays a vital role in communication. Of course you will not be able to understand the person you’re communicating with if you can’t understand him/her right?
Observe the infants or babies, they can’t talk yet but their parents could understand them. Crying Means he/she is hungry or hurt or in pain, laughing shows interest and joy, silence means dead (or maybe asleep)
To further elaborate things here, the term “Communicate” means for me that even though you can’t understand a thing of what these people are talking about, simply looking at their gestures, eyes, sound, and pitch of the voice, you will be able to determine the idea of what these people are talking about by simply looking at their movements.

Why are we interested in learning other language? Example for me for instance, I have a lot of Korean classmates and I often ask them stupid things or asking for translation for my stupid words like what is the Korean word of “I will kill you” or “Ugly” or some foul words. I find someone “cool” if he/she capable of speaking 2 or more languages. Well the fact that I too speak 3 languages makes me “cooler” (English, Filipino, Kapampangan and some Spanish words from Dora)
‘Limited conversation’ eloquently described the use of simple words and sign language to address the lack of shared language. McCarthy (2013) ‘Limited conversation’ means rather than talking in a deep specific way, the use of gestures and simple words are the simpler way.
Being able to speak in different languages possess both challenges and opportunities for further more improving oneself. If you work in a business, being able to communicate with foreigners with complicated language (German, Japanese etc.) may impress them and you might win the deal.
One tip that might be useful in communicating with is by looking for an expert who is capable of speaking and understanding the specific language or by asking someone who know whom to ask for an interpreter.
References:
Cronje, J. C. (2009). Qualitative assessment across language barriers: An action research study. Education technology & society, 12 (2), 69.
McCarthy, J. Graham, M. M. Touhy, D. (2013) Conversations through barriers of language and interpretation. British journal of nursing (BR J NURS), 2013 Mar 28; 22 (6): 335-9 (28 ref) 336
Pomeroy, E. C. & Nonaka, A. (2013) Language and social work: are we really communicating effectively. Social work (Soc Work) 2013 apr; 58(2) 101-4 (3 ref)

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