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Communicating Your Message to Those too Busy to Listen

AuthorHouse

Contents

Introduction....................................................................viiA Brief Note on the Fast Facts and the Earth Voyage Journal.....................xiChapter 1 - Language............................................................1Chapter 2 - Culture.............................................................25Chapter 3 - Dealing Directly with the Other Party...............................49Chapter 4 - Communicating More Effectively......................................99Chapter 5 - E-mail..............................................................165Chapter 6 - Final Thoughts......................................................235

Chapter One

As you begin reading this book, know that there are more than 450 official languages being spoken by human beings throughout this world.

Take a moment to think about that - 450!

From a cultural point of view this is a fascinating statistic; what better way to illustrate the incredible diversity of the human race.

From a business point of view however, this is a disaster.

Why a disaster?

Simple.

If two parties speak the same language, then they have a chance to do good business. If two parties do not speak the same language however, then they do not have a chance to do good business. It's as simple as that.

Taking this example a bit closer to home, think about those people with whom you speak on a regular basis. Do you usually talk with people you can understand, or do you talk with people you cannot understand? My guess is that, unless you happen to be extraordinarily patient, you tend to limit your speaking partners to those whom you can understand.

Granted there are some exceptions. Many of us talk to babies, to plants and to pets, and we often do this on a regular basis. However, I'm guessing that few of us actually conduct any real-world business with babies, plants and/or pets (animal trainers excepted of course).

Speaking the same language is really only part of a much bigger picture. Even if two parties appear to be using the same words and phrases, they may attach vastly different meanings to those words and phrases. Put another way, it is possible for one person to hear something that another person never actually said. I'm sure this has happened to you on occasion.

Why all the difficulty?

Well, despite the fact that human beings have been using spoken language for thousands and thousands of years, language is hard.

How can this be, you may wonder.

Let's take a look......

Language is Hard

Language is hard - now what can this possibly mean? How can something nearly all of us use almost every day of our lives be hard? Truth is - it just is. Don't believe me? Then, consider the following points:

1. Language is Evolving

People change over time. Those who bump into a person they have not seen in years need no convincing of this. People change, and they change in many ways. They do not simply get fat or thin or grey or bald - their personalities change as well. While an individual might be daring and somewhat foolish in youth, that same individual might well become conservative and a bit fastidious later in life.

There is nothing wrong with this; in fact it's all part of human nature. It's all part of the way the human species successfully adapts to changing circumstances.

Human culture is similar. In fact, changes in human culture are simply reflections of the changes taking place amongst thousands, or millions, or billions, of people as they react or adapt to changes in their environment.

Picture in your mind an autumn landscape where the hills and valleys change color from green to a golden yellow-brown. It's beautiful isn't it? But what is really going on here? The hills and valleys themselves aren't changing color. What's happening is that the leaves on each individual tree are changing with the seasons, and it is the combination of all the many leaves on all the many trees that adds the color-changing beauty to the landscape.

Keeping this in mind, one must also consider that human language is closely linked to human culture. As a culture grows, develops, evolves or devolves, it takes its language with it.

What, precisely, does this mean?

What this means is that language is a moving target. What you learn today might not be applicable tomorrow.

Need an example? Let's consider William Shakespeare.

As you perhaps know, William Shakespeare was a playwright who lived in England from approximately 1564 to 1616. His claim to fame is that he is regarded by many as the greatest writer in the English language of all time.

Think about that. The greatest writer in the English language of all time. That's quite an accolade. What this means is that neither you nor I will ever likely meet anyone who has a stronger grasp of the English language than this fellow who died in the seventeenth century.

Let's take a moment to sample some of William Shakespeare's work. What follows are a few passages of dialogue from the famous balcony scene in Romeo & Juliette (one of William Shakespeare's best-known plays):

Romeo: She speaks. O, speak again, bright Angel, for thou art As glorious to this night being o'er my head, As is a winged messenger of heaven Unto the white upturned wond'ring eyes Of mortals that fall back to gaze on him, When he bestrides the lazy pacing clouds, And sails upon the bosom of the air

Juilette: O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

Communicating Your Message to Those too Busy to Listen Deny thy Father and refuse thy name, Or if thou wilt not, be but sworn to my Love, And I'll no longer be a Capulet.

Beautiful, right? But what is really being said here?

People may or may not have spoken like this while William Shakespeare was alive, but one thing is certain: People don't talk like this today. You say something like this to your loved one in this day and age and you're more likely to get a vacant expression than loving adoration.

True, we can tell that the language being spoken is English, and we can identify most of the words with ease. Nevertheless, the spellings and sentence structures are significantly different from those we use today, so much so that we must concentrate a bit harder than normal to understand what is really being said.

Why?

Because language is hard, and because the English language has evolved over the several hundred years since William Shakespeare's death (although some would make the claim that it has in fact devolved).

2. One Word - Different Meanings

Common sense might lead a person to suspect that every word has a single, unique definition.

Right?

Building on this, if you wish to describe two different things, you would have to use two different words.

Correct?

Not necessarily.

Take, for example, the simple three-letter word "can". If I were to ask you to use this word in a sentence, what would your sentence be? Perhaps you might think of something like the following:

"I am holding a can of soda."

Is this correct?

What if I told you that "can" was not a noun at all, but a modal verb, and...