It's written all over your face.

When talking about facial expression in Intercultural Communication, we all laughed about it.  Half of us were on the side that we could control our facial expressions, and the other half said we couldn't.  But I'm serious.  This is one non-verbal expression I can't fix.  

So when there's a kid in class that just blurts out something non-related to discussion?  Yeah, they get a look; I can't control it.  So, I decided to do some research.  In a study done by Howard Berenbaum and Ann Rotter (titled The Relationship Between Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion and Voluntary Control of Facial Muscles), they state:

"It is possible that some individuals are more facially expressive than others because they are more likely to have emotions elicited in them than are other individuals. It is also possible, however, that some individuals are more facially expressive, not because the emotions that are elicited in them are more numerous or intense, but because the same input to the motor system leads to more intense output."

I agree with this statement. I do think it's some sort of 'motor system' reflex.  Even when I try to control it, I just end up looking silly, start laughing, or someone asks me what's wrong with my face. (I tried it the other day..)  

I think it's something we've been doing for so long, that we can't control it.  When something surprising happens, we can't help but let our jaw drop.  We've all had points where we're mad and we keep trying to hold that serious face while a friend is trying to get us to smile.  It's just those shocking, sad or happy moments that happen unexpectedly - we can't help but show our non-verbal message.

So we know what we show?

I'll compare singing and acting.  

While I believe both singers and actors may learn how to try and control facial expressions, I believe it's harder to do for singers.  When you're trying hard to hit those notes or sing a sad song, it's a different kind of emotion than when you're 'acting' a part.  It's like smiling and being surprised.  You can control a smile, it's something that tends to come naturally.  But when you're surprised, it catches you off guard.  Therefore, I don't believe it can be controlled.

Does gender matter when expressing emotion?

In a study done by J. Hall (titled Smiling and Gazing), he states that "women are more facially expressive then men.  Women may be less expressive than men with displays of anger, yet more expressive with positive feelings and smiling."

I disagree with this statement.  I know women who can get really angry and men who are positive and frequently smile.  I think expression as form on non-verbal communication has nothing to do with the sex of a person; I feel this statement is a gender stereotype.

No matter if you're surprised, angry, happy, confused, man or woman I believe facial expressions are hard to control--and even if controlled will still have a micro-expression.  I've never met a person that hasn't shown a sudden facial reaction to something around them, and with studies done to prove that some sort of reaction comes from everyone, it's hard to say this isn't true.

:)

Why do language barriers happen?

Language and life-

The key to communicating effectively is language.  If two people don’t speak the same language, chances are, they won’t communicate very effectively.  If a person is traveling abroad, say in Japan, and they are lost, how do you communicate effectively?  You start asking those around you if they speak English, until you find someone around you who can help.

Will this eventually not be the case?  It’s hard to say.  If people become more interested in being bilingual, I think we can eventually communicate effectively.  With the amount of people who speak Spanish in the United States, we are becoming more bilingual each year.  In my high school, we had to take two years of a foreign language, and they really pushed Spanish on their students because we are becoming more of a bilingual nation.  I think as more people have to learn a language to ‘survive’ and communicate effectively, these are the steps to, in a way, bring us all together.

How do we construct this type of society?  I think this is all about multiculturalism and accommodating the rights of our minority groups.  If everyone was an ethnocentric, (having apathy towards all groups outside of their own) we wouldn’t have patriotism, we wouldn’t know what it’s like to being able to sacrifice for our own cultural groups.

Language and Sapir-Whorf-

This hypothesis stresses that thoughts and behavior are determined by our language.    That ‘one cannot think outside the confines of their language.’  This is divided in two different groups – linguistic determinism (how one thinks is determined by their language) and linguistic relativity (states that the difference in language reflect the different views of different people) 

Whorf thinks that the type of society where we all would understand and live together as we are cannot be done.  He believes that in our world view, people are so severely affected by their structure of language, therefore we can’t live in a cross-cultural society.

Language and technology-

But as the years continue, I believe that our gap is slowly closing with the help of technology.  With technology, many people demand things be translated in different languages.  Companies realize that their content should be visible in many languages.  This is also true with search engines.  If a web site operator couldn’t translate himself, he would pay to have it translated to another language.

People will always want to translate what they find interesting.   I think that over time, when something is google’d, there will eventually be sites that will come up in different languages, or have the option to select a language when you enter a site.  I think this will also interconnect us because it will have a larger audience.

Language and non-verbals-

Non-verbals also come into play when talking about language barriers.  There are many many things that mean the same thing in other countries.  We don’t always have to speak to get what we want or to get our point across.    In the article titled ‘The Whorf Hypothesis Examined,’ Amy Stafford states that ‘there is no question that the lexicon of a specific language mirrors whatever the nonverbal culture emphasizes.’  Like the author, I agree with the statement.  If we have enough describing words for the word snow, we can get a point across.  We can make phrases to get people to understand them as well.  I would agree in saying that this doesn’t make our ‘cognitive world perception’ any different than, say, someone who lived in Japan.

Why International Communication?

People from different groups have different ways of communicating.  Difficulties arise when conclusions are drawn from those different ways of communicating.  In an argument an unexpected tone of voice can cause misunderstanding, someone can stereotype that person. (Communicating through interethnic communication.)

In the reading by Matthew Scott and Grant Sherson titled ‘Intercultural Communication as a Dominant Paradigm,’ the writers say this is because we are of two broad groupings.  The first one titled the mentalists believe that aspects of culture exist in the mind; through they are evidenced in the world.  This would include beliefs, concepts, values and rules.  

The second group extends the boundaries of culture into the external world to the outcomes of the interior beliefs—even through physical artifacts.

The passage above is a good example to describe international communication.  One group (the mentalists) are interested in explanation, while the other group wants us to be effective communicators, taking us into the external world.

I think both of these groups describe why intercultural communication is important.  We should want to know all of the above; what is cultural and what is interest.  All of us have a view of what culture is because of what we’ve been told or raised to believe.  However, we might not really know without seeing it firsthand, without traveling, without that external world to guide us.

Edward T. Hall’s study of the history of International Communication within the United States and Japan can be tied in with what I said above.  In his findings, Hall discovered that systems of beliefs, values and worldviews are involved in the exchange of words and in non-verbal communication.  I believe this is saying that many of the people in Japan may have been mentalists before the 1960’s.

But Hall also said that in dealing with English-speaking people verses the Japanese, introducing concepts such as intercultural communication were needed.  Here, he extended the boundaries by saying that the Japanese explored international communication non-verbally by facial expressions, hand gestures, bowing, (etc.) in their lives, because he said the Japanese were said to rely less on verbal communication than English-speaking people.

Once again, all of this ties together with the very first statement I made.  For example, the Japanese and English-speaking people have completely different ways of communicating, and depending on which you are, or how you were raised—your view on this is different.  You could be a mentalist, and stick to what you were told—or you could explore and physically find out the boundaries between the two.  It’s important to notice the different ways that other counties communicate, or we could get lost when taking that physical leap into another country.  International communication means simply understanding not only the cultural differences, but why they are that way.

What is communication?

We need meaning for our words, so we search for it through some sort of communication.  Communication is our window through academics, relationships, friendships, etc.

Where would we be without Skype?  Facebook? IM? E-mail?  Even this blog?  Simple things we don’t seem to think about anymore are here because we need places to communication to each other.  And while these places may not be ideal for some, no one can deny their popularity and the fact people are using them at some point in their day-to-day lives.

It’s a two-way process.

We are born with the ability to talk and speak with each other, however, the way we communicate is learned.  When we’re in a group of students some of us may sit back before we add to conversation because we want to observe the communication methods of our peers.  If we do not communicate with our professors, do not speak appropriately in our papers, our way of communication is misunderstood.

You wouldn’t talk to a friend the same way you’d talk to your parents.  This is because over time, we’ve developed different, and newer ways to communicate.  Skype gives people the option to video chat at any moment in time, with anyone.  Instant messaging, text messaging and various other web sites provide a way of communication that our parents never had.

Does this mean our parents are better face-to-face communicators?  Does that mean we’re better on the Internet?

Non-verbal communication is also a huge part of communicating.  This is how a relationship, or a friendship starts.  That wink you give someone across the room can say more than needed when you’re trying to grab someone’s attention.  Once a relationship or a friendship starts, communication is key to keep it together.  Talking on a daily basis, learning about each other, it’s all part of communicating and keeping things together.

When we travel, we may often step out of our comfort zones when we visit another country.  What we are so use to in our day-to-day lives is now completely thrown out the window.  A wave in the states may mean a friendly hello, but in another country; it could be some sort of terrorist symbol.  Just like we were brought up to communicate the way we do, in other countries, they were taught the same overall concept, just with different meaning.  The way we would communicate in other countries is similar, in terms of the technological aspect.  Skype, social networking, and e-mail are also popular in other countries.

In today’s job market, if you’re bilingual, your chances of getting a job are a lot better.  This is easier to do, as you can minor or even major in another language while you're in college.  This is because as we’re growing, more people are moving to other countries.  As this happens, our need for another language will become more ideal in society.