Self-confidence

Well, it's already week 11 for this semester! Sigh, it was fast, wasn't it? During these few weeks, we will see lots of students dressed in formal. Usually presentations for every subject will held on these days. And my mind always pop up with a question, why do people bother to dress up formally (I know we are obliged to do so)? My sisters and brother were puzzled when first to hear that we need to be dressed in formal for our presentations. Because they don't do so while they were like my age.

First of all, according to some lecturers, they claim that formal attires looked presentable. But how could you measure how presentable it is? Does formal attire gain more respects from our lecturers or other presenters? Hmm.. I can answer this. From my opinion, I think my answer is 'Yes'. Especially most of the subjects are changing the system of marking presentation. I remembered two semesters ago, my presentation was judged by a lecturer, only. Yet, as those seniors graduated one by one. Lecturers started to come out with this evil idea! Classmates are supposed to get involved in marking section. Not only the attire is important, but we must convince every 'judges' in our class. Because all the marks will be totaled up. Therefore, marks are even harder to gain. I'll say, attire will gain some marks besides our presenting skills.

Well, but this is not my main point. Girls tend to dress sharp and wear high heels to present ourselves. Not only we will then looked presentable but we are more confident in standing in front of crowds. Hence, handle the presentation perfectly. High heels do the trick. Maybe guys may not understand this feeling. I believe all the girls love these feelings. =D My conclusion is, dressing and appearance are very important. Appearance changes what you think about yourself because no one is more conscious of your appearance than anyone else. "When you don’t look good, it changes the way you carry yourself and interact with other people" said by an editor from the website, Pick the Brain. Log on to http://www.pickthebrain.com/blog/10-ways-to-instantly-build-self-confidence/ for more information about building confidence. =D

Language: The Bane of International Harmony?

*Spoken in a deep V for Vendetta voice*
Why is it that there exists a myriad of languages to serve the purpose of communication when there is only one race of human beings? Why do we as human beings strive to complicate matters by having so many languages when one language alone is so complex and misunderstandable to even the most prominent of users of that language?

Why do we throw away the idea of international harmony that can brought upon us if only one language were understood and used by the entire populace of this blue planet for petty things like respect and honor for one's origins? Is not the safety of our people more important above all? The people who say they'd rather die than throw away the language of their ancestors for the language of a foreign country need to open their eyes to see the bigger, glorious picture that is this world, basking in the holy lights of harmony, brought upon us by the use of a single, simple and easily understandable language that every single infinitesimal human on this earth will know. If they do not, Vengeance will be inevitable.....Remember, remember, the 5th of November

*switches back to normal voice*
*cough cough* ahem, sorry, couldn't resist doing that after today. Anyway, what I'm getting at is simply speculating how the world would be if there existed one language that is understood by all. As of now, the only people who are able to talk to every person on this planet and negotiate and reason with them are people have a career in studying languages i.e linguists and interpreters. Peace talks between nations are only possible if both parties know each others languages (which most do not) or each of them hire an interpreter. What would happen if one or both interpreters aren't there? Nothing! Absolutely nothing will happen except for the two parties attempting to communicate and probably end up causing a misunderstanding and prolonging and intensifying the war between the countries they represent. I cannot even begin to imagine how a world with one language would work, but I can only hope that it is a much more peaceful world than the one we live in.

The Joy Luck Club

Have you guys ever heard of the Joy Luck Club??....well, you can say it was a really old movie as it was screened in1993. If you do not want to watch the movie, you can always get the book. It was written by Amy Tan and it is a very moving book which i would recommend to all the readers out there. It focuses on four Chinese American families who start a club known as "the Joy Luck Club," playing Mahjong while feasting on a variety of foods. They would then tell stories of their past and how they got away from the difficult situations in China. There are many conflicts between the mothers and their daughters as both the generations were brought up in very different cultures and background. The mothers were brought up in high context collectivist environment of China where as their daughters were brought up as individualists in the Western world. Many of the daughters could not communicate and they didnt want to try to communicate with their mothers who they think is old fashion and unknowledgable. The book is very touching and it really makes you think twice before you judge a person from the older generation.

Micheal Jackson: Spreading messages through song

Since someone else has already reviewed Ice Age 3 (of which I just watched yesterday), I'll talk more about the late and great Micheal Jackson. Despite the huge mess over whether MJ is a child molester or not (Of which I firmly believe he is NOT), MJ will, in the end, be remembered for all the amazing songs he has given us in the good old days.

Ever since he was 10, he sang songs in the Jackson Five like 'ABC', which was enough to get your feet dancing. If theres one good thing that language and communication has made possible, its song. Who knew that words said at different tones and to varying rhythms could be such a wonderful thing. And Micheal Jackson is pure proof of that.

Songs can be nice to listen and dance to, but sometimes, they can also convey deep and moving messages to listeners and can motivate people to go on. Songs that MJ sang like 'Heal the World' and 'Man in the Mirror' were about helping the poor and making a personal change to change the world respectively when you pay attention to the lyrics.

When listened to closely, almost all of Micheal Jackson's songs have a deep meaning and they all tell something about his personality and his life. Besides MJ's, many other songs by other artists convey alot of emotions and meanings. I guess this is why there are so many love songs, because songs are the best way to convey true emotions. Despite all of mankinds wrong doings, we can make some pretty wonderful stuff with just words and music.

R.I.P MIcheal Jackson, King of Pop

Indeed it has already been at least 2 weeks since the unfortunate and early demise of the legendary Micheal Jackson. Seeing his memorial a few days ago showed how much communication can truly affect people.

Even if it was mass media communication, when MJ's little girl grabbed the mic and said while sobbing and crying "I just want you to know, that my dad is the best dad I could ever have" was enough to move me to tears, and I'm sure it did the same to anyone else who watched that. The raw emotion shown in her statement conveyed exactly what she felt and also showed that she truly meant what she said.

Even before that, the speech by one of MJ's brother was heartfelt and I'm sure everybody who watched will agree with all that he said about Micheal. The entire memorial itself showed that songs, genuine words and participation can show the true feelings of people towards Micheal Jackson. Rest in Peace MJ, we'll miss you.

All we need is teamwork.

When i was at Sasa camp, we were all split into 2 different teams. We had to complete a series of tasks and one of them was to build a mud house. Ok, maybe i'm just exaggerating. Our goal was to complete 2 walls of the mud house. We started by mixing the water and the sand together, trying to achieve Mr G's "perfect chocolate cake" mixture. It took a lot of teamwork to mix everything together as it was a tough job to do. Eventhough we all didnt know each other well, everyone just put aside their differences and start working together to make the wall. The guys rolled the stack of straw to the house. Then every one worked hand in hand to bring the sand and water to the tub and started mixing. After the mixing was done, we were divided into a few groups to work on the different tasks which is covering the straw with mud, placeing the straws on the wires and smoothening out the wall. Everything was going so well until Kah Meng threw mud at my face. I threw back but it missed him and hit Mr G instead. Then the mud fight began. Everyone had a lot of fun but we forgot about the wall completely. Sadly, we didnt complete the walls and it was only halfway done. Come to think of it, if everyone didnt work together, nothing would be done at all.

Meeting new friends

I just came back from my Sasa Camp yesterday. I had loads of fun but it wasnt so fun before. On friday morning, we gathered in the main block at 7am in the morning. I started to panic as i didnt see a familiar face among the crowd of people. The majority of students from Sasa were from A-Levels, there was also a bunch of students from HICT, and there was me, the only person from HMC. Apparently all the Sasa HMC students could not come except for Kit Yang but she was no where to be seen. I gave a sigh of relive when i saw her. At least i know someone there.

We sat together on the bus and started to get to know everyone on the bus. Everyone was really friendly and i guess one just has to get the courage to say hi. We started making new friends with the students from A-levels and HICT during the activities. All in all, the camp has been a great experience for all of us and everyone went home with new friends.

Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

I felt glad yesterday wasn't another lonely friday. I watched Ice age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs at Pavilion. Teehee.. it's the coolest animation ever! I watched the 3D version, and I almost got blind. Even with the glasses on. Hmm.. no worries. I won't be the spoiler here, just in case someone is going to watch. And I noticed every movie has some theories that we can refer back to our textbook. Some similar communication skills that we learnt in lectures. In this film, Manny and Diego have the so-called 'man-talk' which Ellie doesn't seems to agree with that way. And the outcome was just like Ellie's expectation-Manny used the wrong type of communication skill when a friend needs a real concern. Another scene that I found it funny was the part where Manny and his friends stepped on a giant carnivorous flower while they thought it was a harmless plant. In this movie, it taught me there is a chance that the natural enemy or predator can be our best friends too. For instance, dinosaurs can be a friend of their prey. A shallow knowledge can lead to the worst case ever. This was shown where Manny thought he was the biggest mammal in the world. But this proved to be wrong until Manny meets the dinosaurs. There are a lot of lessons that we can learn from this film. It's worth to watch though.

Malaysian Culture Event on Wednesday!

As the title shows, my group-mates and I are organizing an event on promoting Malaysian Culture. P.S. I know it sounds boring, but please, it's a compulsory event that in fact contribute loads of marks in final result.. So.. please please... just spend a little time to come over our booth and take a look, at Lower Foyer. 12.30 to 2 this Wednesday(I guess everyone would be free at that time) Lecturers are welcome =D. I need your participation!!

Trust me, it's not going to be THAT boring. We spent almost thousand to organize this event (I'm gonna talk more about the progress of getting the dancers to HELP! *calming myself down*). Besides traditional dances - there about 6 dances =D cool huh? And we will set our booths for Malaysian Art at the same time- Malay, Indian and Chinese, of course. For Malay culture, we will have this 'Batik' colouring section, which you can colour your Batik with your own selection of colours- just pay RM3 =p (P.S.We are NOT making money, it's the cost) . For Indian culture, we will have this 'Henna' drawing. Patterns will be drawn on your palms or any part of your body (not somewhere else). And so on... loads and loads stuff to find out!

Oh yes, one more thing. Free Food is Available! Snacks and Kuih Muih.. YUMM! =))

And ONE last thing, FREE ENTRANCE! See you there!

Perfume: The Story of a Murderer.

All these things going on with the human comm project made me feel like writing about a movie that i watch many years ago. It was a really great but creepy show. It is called Perfume: The Story of a Murderer. I bought and watch the show when it first came out in 2006. I hope you find the synopsis of the movie interesting and try to get hold and watch the movie.

Perfume centers around the life of an unfortunate boy, Jean Baptiste, who was born in the slums of a Paris fish market. He is an odd child and grew up to be a social outcast. He is blessed with outstanding olfactory senses: from early childhood he displays an uncanny ability for discerning the individual smells of everything around him. The twists and turns of his early life are one continuous tragic story. His went on a quest is to learn the art of perfume making and he Jean Baptise desires to make the ultimate perfume. On his journey to create the ultimate perfume, he seeks alternative ingredients to his perfumes and, in doing so, leaves a grisly trail of dead bodies behind.

In the whole movie, Jean Baptiste spoke very little and he prefers to be alone. I fell that if he communicated more instead of being an outcast, he would not have became what he was in the movie. I also noticed that he has very awkward non verbal gestures. You should watch the movie so you will understand what i mean

All you have to do is start talking....

While doing the Introduction to Human Communication project, Jesslyn said something that made me think. She basically said that if it weren't for Human Comm and the way that a certain lecturer *cough* paired us up with random and unknown members on purpose, we would never have talked and got to know each other better and become friends (at least I think thats what we are :/ Right Jes? Wan Hoong?).

With so many people in this world, it can be daunting to get to know and befriend each and every one of them, but never think that you can't get along with them. All it takes is the initiative and the interest to really get to know a person even if he or she is unfriendly or grouchy. There have been many movies (espeacially Disney movies) about grouchy or unfriendly characters actually being very caring and great people once you get past the first impression and start getting to know them.

There are so many people in this world that could become my friend or your friend, you just need to talk to them. On friday, we got together to do the project and during that, we manage to talk quite a bit and finally get to learn more about one another and started working better as teammates. So if you see someone you wanna make friends with or looks like they need a friend, just start talking, you never know what to expect :)

50 First Dates

50 First Dates, which directed by Peter Segal was released in 2004. Starring Adam Sandler (My favourite guy =D) and Drew Barrymore (Such a sweet girl). A touching love story that most girls could cry for it. Henry Roth (Adam Sandler) is a wildlife veterinarian in Hawaii, who meets Lucy Whitmore (Drew Barrymore) a woman who has a short-term memory loss from a car accident a year earlier. Henry is a ladies man on the island who has been breaking the hearts of female tourists for years. Henry meets Lucy at a local cafe and takes her out on a date. Henry falls in love with Lucy, but there is one problem when she awakens in the morning, she can't remember him or anything that happened that day. Henry must devise a plan to meet Lucy everyday and try to get her to fall in love with him again and again. He had experienced rejection by Lucy at first, and caught her attention by injuring himself, he tells lies, all he does are trying to help her to recall their memories. But all these seem to fail and doctor announces that her condition may gone worse. Yet Henry never seems to give up, he films a video by recording the days and moment they went through together, and plays it every morning when Lucy wakes up. They gets married and had a daughter. But Lucy still lost her memory ever since she awakes on her bed. But I do believe they live happy ever after =D...

The friend 2

Talking about my friends again, i did some catching up with them when i went back to penang. They asked me what i was studying and i told them i was studying human communication. They looked at me with a confused look and asked me why i choose human com. They actually thought that I, from all the people in the world had trouble communicating with other people and needed to take a subject to teach me to talk. I told them more bout it and i told them about Mark Knapp's development model. All of them were actually interested in what i had to say about the model and started analyzing their relationships. One of my friend said "OMG, im only at the intensifying stage!! I'm so far from the top!!!!". I actually had to explain that she had to get married to reach the final stage. She just replied with a big smile and said, "I so got to do that. I wanna reach the top!! All of us there just stared at her and started laughing really hard. Her boyfriend laugh as well but i think he had other things racing through his mind.

The friend

I actually went back to penang last week on wed, straight after my exams to see a friend of mine who needs all the comforting she can get. She just broke up with her boyfriend of 2 years. She told me the story of how they broke up. Having to think, i actually put hum communication into the reasons why they broke up. Again, miscommunication is the main killer of this relationship. The guy, says he needed the space and said she had an attitude problem so he said he is going to give her a month to change. She, on the other hand actually screamed "GIVE ME ONE MONTH TO CHANGE???? IM NOT AN ASSIGNMENT OR SOMETHING WHICH HAS A DEADLINE!! iM A HUMAN!!" Without talking it out, she storms out and never gave him another chance to talk. The miscommunication here is that he listens to his friends that said he should break up with her because she had an attitude problem. Without actually talking it out with her, he concluded that his girlfriend had an attitude problem. His friends apparently only cling to their first impression of her. The fact was when they first met her, she was not feeling herself and had ignored them. I feel that that is just the problem with everyone. They should not just cling to first impression but then take the time to know a person before judging the person.

Advertisements and Communication

I'm sure you've seen and advertisement (unless of course you're blind........wait if you are, then you can't read this post either.....oh well) When you're surfing the net, you see annoying pop-up ads, when driving along the road, you see massive advertisements everywhere you look and even in magazines there are colorful, out of place ads that disrupt you from the actual content of the book.

Sometimes you see ads with alot of words on it, but it usually doesn't get you to buy it, but the more professional ones only have 3 or so words and it will usually compel you to buy that product. For example: Nike. They're ad just says "Just do it!". 3 words, 3 simple words and a picture of a Nike product is enough to make at least 100 people buy it.

And then on one of those billboard ads, there'll be a picture of a famous celebrity with a milk mustache and next to him/her/it there would be two simple words: "Got milk?". The fact that this ad style has been used for years is proof enough on how well it works.

Psychologically speaking, this method works because it imprints the image of the product in our heads, and the words will make us recognize it better. And so, when we see milk, or a Nike product, subconsciously we feel like buying it because of the advertisement. How much words and pictures can affect a human mind can be very frightening and useful at the same time, but that's the power of communication. So be it psychological or just very convincing, this one-way form of communication used by big buisnesses works and it works well.

Terminating

I don't understand why people choose to terminate their marriage when at the same time, their children had grown up. Recently I get to know my childhood best friend's parents are about to terminate their 30 years marriage. Both her parents are so close to my parents that they used to own a company back in 10 years time. I would say my parents were lucky enough to build their own business and went through successfully after that. Yet, this man ( my best friend's father aka my dad's best friend) started to develop his business by borrowing capital from many people, including my dad. He didn't seem to tell his wife either because she didn't know anything till the day he was totally broke. His business was failed of course, due to some reason that I think it wouldn't be appropriate to tell here. Her wife was told by one of his husband's business partner recently. She was shocked, for giving his husband 200 thousand to support his business. But still his husband did not let her know that his business had closed down. My friend told me her mother was suffer from depression, and she can feel the melancholy. They(my friend and her mother) decided to shift to her home town, tried to avoid her husband and as well as the so called 'loan shark'. I did not know till i read those form my friend's blog. I tried to call them, my mom too. But they seemed didn't want us to interrupt. So, are they going to terminate their marriage which last for more than 30 years? Wouldn't it be so saddening? =(((

The Secret

An interesting book- The Secret- that I bought last year from Kinokuniya. I believe most of you have heard of this book, or maybe you actually owned it. At that very moment, while I was flipping through this book. It did remind me of some psychology theories. It looked interesting to me and therefore now is on my bookshelf. After studying few chapters of Human Communication. A theory that rings the bell in my mind! If you had gone through the content of The Secret, you will know that all they said are mostly about the Universe. For those who don't read it, is in fact a book that teaches you (or reminds you) to achieve your goals by mutter to yourself so many times that you could imagine it really happens. What the author explained was, when you keep repeating the same wish in your mind, your mind will connect to the Universe and finally things will happen as what you wish. Sounds creepy huh? =/ black magic, that was my first impression, LOL. Self-fulfilling prophecy would be a better theory to explain it, I presumed. Let me recall the definition of self-fulfilling prophecy. It is a prediction or expectation of oneself that makes an outcome more likely to occur than would otherwise have been the case. I remember that's few pages in the book writting about a girl that was desperate to get a perfect husband. One of the authors of The Secret told her to do what he/she (couldn't remember) insist. Do you know what the author tell her what to do? Instead of mutter to herself billions of time that she would like to marry a nice man; she in fact live like she already had a husband! She bought a king-size bed and slept on a side and left another side empty (pretending the 'husband' was sleeping beside her), she cleaned up her cupboard so there will be some spaces (pretending the 'husband's clothes had actually occupied the spaces) and so on. And well, of course you know the final result. She married to a man who she always meet in her dream. There are many examples given in the book. Hmm.. can't really recall most part of them.

This book is in fact a nice book that you can try, I don't mind to lend you. Because that book costs RM80! Dare not to get another one. =/

Facial Expressions

OK, we've talked alot about non-verbal communication like body language, but one particular area of the body can tell you alot about what a person is feeling or thinking. A raised eyebrow can indicate interest or confusion, a smirk could indicate amusement or the person could be scheming something...

For example, today at college, a friend a pack of cards and we played a friendly game of Black Jack (I've always wondered, why BLACK Jack? Racial prejudice??). When my friend drew another card, his face distorted to a frown and squinted eyes. This obviously meant his cards were a bust. My other friend however, when he drew a card, didn't change his facial expression at all. After drawing my cards, we revealed our hands and, as it turned out, I was right about my friend busting but my poker faced friend had a 20 with three cards while I had 19 with the same number of cards.

My point is, just the face by itself can provide a myriad of information on the unspoken words of that person. There are also various games besides Black jack that rely on watching peoples facial expressions to win. Facial expressions can tell you if that person is lying or hiding something. So the next time you're with a friend or family member, try paying attention to their facial expression and try to decipher what they may be thinking.

Conflict Resolution

Win-lose situation happens while one party lose and another party win. This reminds me of those conversations I was having with my mom, hmm... or maybe my siblings. Since I'm the youngest. All I heard was rubbish and trash went into my ears. Sometimes I don't even have a chance to voice out. Everything they said must be true and the greatest, and they expect me to listen them fully and do what they said. These show they have power to control the younger ones. Therefore, I'm always the lose side because I always give in.

Lose-lose situation also often happens within my family. We used to have this family dinner every Sunday. And it's also because of this family event, we usually will come up with different ideas for our dinner. My brother likes Korean BBQ, my dad loves Chinese food, my sisters like Japanese food and others are fine with anything. Therefore, they tend to argue so much on the dinner. While any two parties or three parties fight against their 'great' ideas, my mom will suddenly stand out and suggest Western food. Where both parties give up their stand and all of us go for an alternative choice which is given by the 'authority'.

Compromise usually happens when we negotiate the prices while we are buying stuff. When both parties, the consumer and seller do not agree with the prices which is given by each of them, they may come up with a plan which satisfy partially for both parties. For example, the product's price is $40 which we may think it's way too expensive to buy, so we may probably suggest $20. Yet, this is when the argument begins when the seller does not satisfy with that price, which is too low. Therefore, they may come up with a suggestion, which benefits both of them but also lose at the same time. And this is when they are both agreed to decrease the price to $30.

Communicating without words.

I wanted to write a blog post bout camp...but i guess someone beat me to it....well my camp is different from his as i want to Gopeng but not Trolak. The leadership camp was reli a once in a lifetime opportunity for many of us. You guys may ask how can i relate this to human com. Come to think of it, there are many events that happen during the camp thet i can relate to human com. One of them is during a game where we had to find partners and then be alert during the game. Without expecting it, the instructor will ask us to change partners without really talking. It was hard for many as you can see many people running around like mad cows trying to find a partner. The person who cannot find a partner will have to be forfieted from the game and enjoy getting his or her face painted.

There were also a bunch of us who secretly planned our strategy so we do not fall victim to face painting. a bunch of us actually stood together and rotated among ourselves so we were never without a partner. Majority of us were from my human com class but I'm not going to mention any names. I have this feeling that maybe through human com., we understan how to use non-verbal communication to our advantage by using our eyes to communicate with our friends or just merely using our hands to point. All this paid off because none of us got our face painted in the end.

Words can be empowering

After what felt like a looooooooooong weekend, I came back from HELP's leadership camp in Trolak, Sungkai, Perak. As it was my first ever camping trip to anywhere, I felt mixed emotions about the trip. Obviously, I was excited to be able to go to a camp with all of my friends for 3 days, but I also felt a little worried at what we are the activities going to be like.

In the camp, we were split into 4 teams. My team named ourselves Team Alpha and, after some unexpected events, I was appointed as leader of the team. Seeing as this was a leadership camp, I took this as a test to see if I could be a good leader or not. Thus, in certain activities like the High rope and Low rope activities, I had a team member who was afraid of heights. So, that team member naturally had trouble even starting to do the High rope activity.

To help my team member, I gave words of enouragement like "You can do it" and "This is the time to get up there and get rid of that fear". After a few more of those, my team member finally got up the courage to do it. I, along with my other team members, cheered her on until she made it all the way through to the other side. In another instance, I was having particularly alot of trouble with one obstacle in the Low rope activity. On my second try, I would have fallen down and given up if not for the cheers and words of encouragement from my fellow teammates and advisors that emboldened my resolve to finish the course.

To summarise, words can not only convery messages and emotions, but can also reignite the fire in peoples hearts or steel the resolve of a person willing to give up. Using the right words at the right time can spur on a friend, family member or coworker to stand up and get through or finish what you started.

How my parents communicate

Non verbal communication is in fact an important communication among most of the elderly. Especially couples who married for more than 30 years, they usually communicate without speaking in order to express themselves! You may often seen old couples having their morning tea at a coffee shop, but they usually read their newspaper and drink their own tea. They seldom speak while they're together. They can even detect each other's eye signals or body signals and react at the most suitable way. They are very distinct from young people like us. Young couples usually are more enthused and convey their messages through verbal communication. In fact, these old couples had gone through many things and they eventually had lack of topics to talk about.

This has actually happened in my home. Both of my parents were married for 35 years. They do speak to each other, but usually are related to politics news. Yet, simple things are often communicated non-verbally. For instance, my father often found some interesting articles on newspaper; he will place them on top of dry kitchen. And my mother eventually pick them up and read them! Another example, one fine day, my father found a clock had stopped moving and I assumed that he was lazy to change the batteries. So he put that clock on top of dry kitchen again, and expect my mom will see it. I was surprised to see that the clock was gone missing at the next day! I went to my parent's room and saw the clock was nicely placed on the TV cabinet; with new batteries in it =D P.S. All of us saw the clock, but none of us could think of changing the batteries. Wow! my parents can really click!

Foreign Accent Syndrome

You guys out there had heard about many different accents right???....but do you know that there is such a disease called a foreign accent syndrome???...I actually got a shock when I heard that there was such a disease. I was so interested in it that i decided to check it out a little more....Foreign accent syndrome is a rare medical condition involving speech production that usually occurs as a side effect of severe brain injury, such as a stroke or a head injury, though two cases have been reported of individuals as a development problem.

To the untrained ear, those with the syndrome sound as though they speak their native language with a foreign accent; for example, an American native speaker of English might sound as though they speak with a south-eastern British accent, or a native British speaker might speak with a New York American accent. However, researchers at Oxford University have found that certain, specific parts of the brain were injured in some foreign-accent syndrome cases, indicating that certain parts of the brain control various linguistic functions, and damage could result in altered pitch or mispronounced syllabus, causing the speech patterns to have a different sounding accent.

So, to you guys out there, have you notice that maybe one of your friends has this disease??...go check n see. If you are "lucky", maybe you will find one in your midst. To see about this syndrome, go check out this video in youtube. URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Z_WV_NE8Q
I apologise for not being able to upload the video.

Eye contact

A direct gaze on a person may be creepy, and annoying sometimes. We are not 100% gaze on a person's eyes when we talked, literally 100% I would say. I believe we still need another few glance on the other side when we are recalling memories, we tend to look at the right hand side. Yet the frequency of staring a person while talking can tell us how much we are focusing on that conversation or the intention of listening to the conversation. A daily life experience that we would encounter. We would probably talk to some of our family members while they are watching TV. If they reply us by turning their heads towards us, it shows a higher intention of continuing the topics. Whereas, if they are still facing the TV yet answering us, it is more likely to make us keep repeating our sentence, as they focus more on the TV show; or even they would ignore us.

I also noticed that eyes can actually give instructions! For example, move our pupils to left direct a person to look at the left side or maybe we are pointing on someone or something on our left hand side. And vice versa. We will play this part when we are not allowed to talk especially during exam or class. Lecturers may communicate with us by using non verbal communication so we won't disturb others. An often part is when we are trying to point at someone secretly, eye contact would be perfect since it is not easy to detect by others.

Communicating with different languages can lead to funny moments!

Foreigners who are on their first ever visit to Malaysia, can be very shocked when listening to what people say in the local coffee houses and restaurants in Malaysia. With all the different languages spoken in Malaysia, I can't tell you how many times I've had a good laugh watching how my foreign relatives have reacted to some of the words spoken in this country.

A good example is when my uncles from Australia was here to visit and we were in a local Chinese restaurant, my father, and almost every other customer, was calling the auntie who owns the establishment 'Aso!' which means 'auntie' in Cantonese. After my father had ordered the dishes, my uncle leaned slowly towards my father and asked "Why the hell do you keep calling that woman an 'asshole'?!". I overheard that and I laughed out loud along with my father and explained properly to him.

Another instance is with yet another foreign relative, from London, in yet another Chinese restaurant. After ordering chinese tea for the family, the waitress asked (in cantonese) "Oi Shuit moh?" (Do you want ice). Now, of course, my relative (who knows a bit of cantonese) quickly asked us after the waitress left "Did she ask if we want shit?!". The fact that he asked that with a complete british accent only made it funnier. In the very same dinner and my dad ordered 'Fu Kin chou' which is a type of noodle, and of course my relative, with his foreign ears, thought it sounded a lot like 'Fu**ing Chou'. XD

In the end, miscommunication and misconception goes hand in hand when it comes to communicating with people with different languages. Its notable that this happens so much that theres even a website dedicated to showing funny sounding foreign words and unintentionally funny mistranslated signs called www.engrish.com.

ures or mine???

I just found out that many things revolve around miscommunication. Everything that goes wrong is the result of miscommunication. Miscommunication happens when I think of something and you other people out there think of something else. One classic example i could think of is always the doubles tennis match. Playing at the spots carnival yesterday reminded me of the miscommunications i had with my doubles partners throughout my years of playing tennis.

One of those dumb miscommunication is when the ball comes in the middle of the court and I assume my partner would take it and vice versa. This ends up in a hilarious ending as none of us took the ball and we lost the point. Soon, we will be fighting and making excuses on why we didnt take the ball and our opponents will be laughting at us behind our backs, hoping we would repeat the same mistake. Next time, we must always remember to call whether I will take the ball or you will.

Anyways, I was lucky that that that miscommunication didnt happen yesterday during our matchs. I actually thought it would happen and ruin our game as ive never tried playing with him before. Surprisigly, we played a good game. So now I know that miscommunication can be avoided if we just communicate more and try to listen more attentively to what the other person is saying.

This picture shows two people miscommunicating and

trying to get the ball at the same time

Mom, Dad, are we looking at the same thing? =/

There was once a hilarious (I wonder if you find that funny? :/) incident happened on my way back from family dinner. My mom was driving, I was sitting beside her and dad sat behind me. While we were waiting for the traffic light, I took a glance on the shop lots on my left side. There was a banner advertised on furniture hang on the wall and it's written 'Home Design Sdn. Bhd.' From my perspective, I thought that the furniture shop could be somewhere nearby. Well, usually those furniture shops do this in front of their entrance.Yet, there wasn't any within my sight. Then I voiced out and asked my dad for curiosity. He said that was promoting purpose, and I was like 'duh? Shouldn't that's the intention of an advertisement?' He saw me kept quiet and puzzled, he continued 'It would only be there for few months.' So I assumed that is a billboard. But.... wait a minute... Billboard on the shop lots? But I chose to believe in my dad after few minutes.

The light finally turned green, and my mom said 'Shouldn't that be a curtain shop? Or else there would not be a curtain photo. It's a curtain designer firm. It's a 'home curtain designs' dear, that is why it calls 'Home Design' I stunned again. WHAT? Curtains? I turned my head and looked around. Oh well, it was true that there was a curtain shop. So it was proved that my mom received my message mistakenly and we weren't looking at the same thing. So I clarified my words. All of the sudden, my dad interfered our conversation 'Hey, hold on. I thought you were talking about the cartoon balloons?' I explained my sentence once again. We laughed and I wondered how could both of them received my message differently. They were both interpreted my message in different ways , therefore they looked at different things. How amazing, I thought this would not happen between us. Especially they are someone who know me so well. Even my parents? =/

Listening: An art or acquired skill?

I'm sure you all know the difference between hearing and listening, so I'll just skip to the listening part. Listening is when your paying attention and interpreting what your hearing. This naturally occurs when your listening to something that interests you. Sadly, this also means that you barely pick up and remember anything you heard that doesn't interest you.

This can be especially inconvenient in school, college or any situation that requires you to pay attention and learn something. In college, there are subjects that have to be taken by us not because we want to, but because we have to. This can make students feel resentful towards the subject and refuse to listen to anything taught in it. While students may not realize it, but sooner or later, they will have to start listening or they will fail that subject and will have to retake it.

This is where listening becomes an acquired skill. Students will have to find ways to make themselves pay attention and be interested in the subject. They could read the textbook more and realize that the subject is quite interesting or surf the internet for information about it and find interest in it. Thus, the students will slowly start getting used to paying attention and listen properly without concentrating so hard in every class.

In the end, listening can occur naturally if you genuinely enjoy the topic of discussion and the interest is there, but it can also be "turned on" on purpose (mostly during academic activities) and usually people who can do that for any subject, regardless of how interesting that subject is, excel pretty well academically.

Listening.

When someone is talking, have you guys out there ever wondered if you are listening to them or merely just hearing their voices??...well, we usually listen to conversations that we are only interested in. On the other hand, when a person we dislikes talks to us or an uninteresting topic comes up, we would just form a wall and block those voices out. We would pretend to listen and ocassionally nod to show that we are listening. A few "ohh" and "really???" can really show that you are listening....eventhough your not. We usually do that so we do not hurt a persons feelings as well as to "save face". How would you feel if someone was talking to you and he/she notices that you are not listening. The phrase "ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME??!!" can cause a few heads to turn.

Come to think of it, I actually notice many people doing this in college. I mean, when someone is talking to them and they are not interested in the topic, the would actually let the person continue his story eventhough they do not want to hear it. Some have the impatient and or bored look on their faces, looking for a way to escape from listening to the some old boring topic. Usually people do not notice this. So, try to take a while off your hectic lifestyles and open your eyes wide. If you open your eyes wide enough, you will see what i'm talking anout.

I think that there are many pseudo listeners in the world, yet alone my college. This type of people are so good at pretending to listen that they actually fooled others into thinking that they are listening when they are actually not. Well, do you want to catch some pseudo listeners?? Well, thats just easy. Come up with a really boring topic and go to a person and start talking about it. You must remember to check out for the clues. A pseudo listener will look like he/she is interested in your topic and they look very attentive. At the end of it, shoot them with a few questions about the topic. You would notice that that person would not be able to answer any of your questions or he/she will make lots of excuses.

A Good Listener

Listener, originated from the word 'listen'. Listen means to transform received message into meanings that we are able to understand. Listener is the person who is on going this process. I believe it is not easy to be a listener since it needs lots of efforts. In human communication, we learn how to listen more attentively and respond in an appropriate way. On the other hand, we usually say 'listener' as people who listen and understand the others' deep feelings and nags. People judge a good listener by how a person listen to others problem, analyze it and to solve the problem if possible. When some friends are in great depressed, we may want to be their temporary listener to let him/her pour out his/her unhappiness.

It is not easy to be a good listener. It is not some job that we can perform it naturally, it needs experiences and training. A listener should understand others point of view very well by empathizing. Most of us can only sympathize but barely empathize others situations and problems. We would not able to empathize unless we experienced the same thing or we put ourselves on their sides. Empathy makes communication better with friends who have problems. Listener is not only a person who hear what a person's speaking, but to listen and understand. Then we make an action based on what they know.

To 'Lah' or not to 'Lah'

Recently, my cousin, who was born and raised in London, returned to Malaysia after 14 years of absence (hes in his 30s). I have close to no memory of him and meeting him when he came back was like meeting him for the first time. Its a weird sense like deja vu, it feels a familiar but at the same time, it feels new.

My family took him out for dinner to commemorate his return to Malaysia and it was during this dinner that a very small event transpired and inspired this post. During our 'catching up' conversations with my cousin, I heard him clearly say the word 'lah' at the end of one of his sentences. This amused me as well as made me think alot about how deep a slang can rest in a person. My cousin had a fully developed British accent, grew up in London and he hasn't been back here for at least 14 or so years and yet, he still has a bit of the Malaysian slang.

Slangs play a very important part in human communication, it shows the true origins of a person who uses it. Another example is my best friend since kindergarten. Right before starting primary school, his family had to move to London because if his dad's job. He was in London for over 10 years and now he has moved back to Malaysia. When I caught uo with him, I realised that he already has a british accent but here and there, I still here 'lahs' and 'mahs'.

In the end, theres no escaping slang. Wherever a person may live, the slang that that person grew up with when young will be with that person till the day s/he is six feet under!

Credibility

I have been realizing something unusual, well at least it is unusual for me at that very moment. During my first semester of foundation, we were told that presentations contribute partially in the final result. And I believe most of the students got anxious especially Chinese students who are not fluent in English Language, and most of us were not experienced to speak in front of crowds. When the day came, everyone dressed in formal and got ready to present.

Some students made good slides and presented excellent ideas. Yet, they tend to mumble their points, so it was not influential enough since everyone could not understand a single word. This made a big mistake since he/she failed to catch the audience's attention. Whereas some students who spoke English fluently yet presented common points succeed to lure the audience and judges' awareness. When I did the comparison, these talented students spoke confidently with whatever they wanted to convey. They also mixed with jokes and expressed them with impressive-sounding language. Therefore, audience listened more intensively to their speech.

Research also shows that audience judge the speakers based more on the credibility that arose from his use of language skills than from the ideas he expressed. Therefore, it is significant to learn to speak confidently than knowing what the ideas should be presented. A successful speech must consist of READABLE and CLEAR words. Practices make perfect =D I believe no one born to a good presenter.

Jargon talk

Jargon talk is defined as meaningless talk or gibberish. It is also defined as the specialized vocabulary that functions as a shorthand by people with common backgrounds. People now, i mean teenagers are more into the hip hop kind of talk as in " Hey, wats up man!!" or " Dude, lets go 4 a game of bball.". Some people also uses shorthand to communicate like brb for 'be right back', lol for 'lots if laughter", btw for ' by the way' and many more. Some may be more descriptive. Here, i have uploaded a video about jargon talk. Its about someone socializing at a meeting. This serves as an advice for people who are trying to mingle around.

As you can see, the guy ask the woman about her job. The woman replied by making her job sound fabulous and professional. As she goes on and on, you can see that the guy is speechless and when he tries to talk, she cuts him off.

Accents...

An accent is a manner of pronounciation of a language but it is often confused with dialects. Dialects are usually spoken by a group united by geography or social status. Accent varies from country to country and one is able to identify other peoples' origin by just listening to their accents. Accents could be changed. 1 huge example is when actors and actresses tries to immitate different accents for their roles in movies
This is a video from 1 of my favourite movie the pink panther and it reli catches me. This is prove that the accent of the people from France is relatively different from the American accent

Language can be a pain...

Greetings and salutations readers, this would mark my first blog post ever as I have never made or kept a blog until this one. On the 3rd week of Human Communications class we learned about Languages in Communication and the topic I'm gonna touch on in this post is Phonological Rules and how it can make communication among humans a real pain (especially in the English language). Phonological Rules are basically the rules that govern words with the same pronunciation and spelling but can have completely different meanings.

Take for example the word object. It can mean an item or a thing you're referring to, or it can mean to disagree or refuse a statement or argument. Every year there is a new meaning to a word that has been used for a long time such as the word apple. To many, an apple is that red (or green) fruit that we eat to keep the doctor away, or as the fruit that dropped on Isaac Newtons head which lead to him discovering gravity. Today apple could mean the Apple Macintosh computer operating system. The same applies for Windows. Next thing you know, there'll be Doors operating system and a new definition of the word door will be added in the dictionary.

As we go on in life, languages tend to become more and more confusing. I recently found an article that revealed 8 everyday words that have very racist meanings. That very article can be found here http://www.cracked.com/article_16967_8-racist-words-you-use-every-day.html. I was especially surprised with the true meaning of the phrase "Hip Hip Hooray" Who knew that people who were celebrating with that phrase was actually saying "Let's go kill some Jews".

Phonological rules are one of the main reasons that foreigners find learning english difficult. Words with dual or more meanings are confusing even to us english speakers. Just imagine how confusing it will be to foreigners who are learning english! The Woodchuck tongue twister alone (How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?) would leave foreigners baffled as to why the word "Chuck" is used so many times. So to end this post, language can be a pain, but it is essential in our daily lives. Phonological Rules may be confusing and could lead to some extremely awkward moments, but it could also lead to some very humorouse moments that you'll probably cherish for a long time.

Power of Language

We tend to underestimate the power of language because we don't understand how does that work within our daily life. Words can be added or removed from a conversation to make it more influencial and effective. It also depends on the communicator's capability of conveying the messege. There are two ways of conveying our messege- the powerful language and powerless language.

Powerful language tend to be used when we are ordering, instructing or demanding, and usually leads to an unsatisfy outcome. This language is usually use by authorities or elders and is seldom use when we are communicating with our friends. Unless, we are intend to offend them. An example of powerful language: 'Collect the plates and cups from the table!', this can usually hear from our mother/father/granny after taken our meal. We will grumble and mumble the unwillingness; or we even pretend not to hear anything. These will be the unsatisfy outcome. Outcome is less satisfying therefore it's less effective.

Powerless language is usually used when we are speaking to the elders or somehow begging for something. Words like 'please', 'thank you', 'excuse me' do contribute in the final outcome. It sounds more repectful and acceptable especially when we are appealing for an application or requesting something. An example of powerless language: ' Could you please collect the plates and cups from the table?', an additional 'please' would change the effectiveness of this statement. Reciever are more willingly to do what he/she offered.

In my opinion, the power of language does make a big different in communication. We don't instruct our friend to do something but we ask politely instead because we knew that different person may need a different level of language power.

Culture Differences

Distinct cultures do build us a different person. Lets start with education.From the day we are born, we had been told the dos and don'ts. Parents tend to teach us be humble to everyone; we are supposed to thank whoever that help us; respect the elders. Sometimes parents too form us an irresponsible person. For instance, how many parents will scold their children of littering? Or would they even ask them to pick up the rubbish and throw it to an appropriate container? The answer would be a NO. Do we thank to people like servant, waiter, toilet cleaner or even a taxi driver? Well, we don't, as a asian culture. We often thought that those people should serve us because those are their job and they get paid. As a western culture, they are likely to appreciate them even though their job level seemed to be low. P.S. in western countries, they get high payment =/.

Culture do shape us a different character too. A simple example will illustrate this. Imagine, well you don't have to, it happens in everyday in fact =/. A lecturer may ask us questions during lecturers, or he/she may ask us to write it on whiteboard, to show everyone the answers. You would observe the Asians put their heads down all the time and mumble, 'Not me please!'. Whereas you might found the Westerns answer the lecturer with details. They are more open-minded, you can say so. They don't think making a mistake is embarrassing, they eventually learn things from failures. Yet, Asians are afraid to lose.

Another issue that we can always see in Asia countries is grown up and married children used to live with their parents, especially the sons. This do not practise in western countries. In fact, they usually leave their parents at the age of 19 to 21. They will then have their home and life separately. They are more independent since they live with their own in a young age. In contrast, Asian parents still think that the age of 19 is young and immature to live in their own. It is obvious when you compare a 19 year old Malaysian and an Europian. The Europian is far more mature in both mindsets and characters.

Yesterday, I saw an article posted up in internet and it says that London Evening Standard(London newspaper) apologizes to the public by pasting slogans like 'Sorry for being negative', 'Sorry for taking you for granted', 'Sorry for being complacent', 'Sorry for being predictable' at everywhere. Londoners can find all these posters all along TUBE(the trains), on the sides of buses, wall and so on. According to UK news, the new owner of London Evening Standard is trying to reconstruct their readership because recent research shows that Londoners no longer feel positive to their paper and they failed the capital's needs. Full stop. After reading this, instead of evaluating whether this action is neccesary, do think of whether this happens in Malaysia. We can hardly see people apologize in local. Well, is that true that we don't trained to apologize?

This is an picture of the posters that shows on the sides of undergrounds.

In conclusion, cultures and custom are not only stucture a person's character, perceptions, and as well as mindset. Usually we can't compare which of these cultures are way better than another. But it will be better if we learn the down and positive sides from each other. As I mentioned above, we should learn to apologize to whoever, whatever and wherever.

Life without human contact

Have you ever wondered about life without any form of communication?? Well, I feel that communication plays a very important role in our lives. We may not notice it as it has been part of us since we were born. Communication comes to us easily just as it is in our nature to breath. What will happen to us if we cannot communicate? I heard of this story once so I would like to share the story with all of you.

There was an old fashion house sitting in the middle of the countryside. The house had been abandoned for about 4 years as everyone thought the house was haunted. Shrills and cries could be heard from time to time in the house. When they checked the house, they could not find anything in there. One day, there was a family that decided to move into the house. That night itself, they heard weird scratching noises from under the house. It was like someone was under the house. Without thinking twice, they ran out of the house and put up a night in the nearest motel.

The next day, contractors were asked to come and tear up the floors of the house. Under the house, they found an old room. When they checked the underground room, they found a mattress, and some old toys there. To their dismay, they saw dried up blood and rat carcasses everywhere. Then they heard a whimper from the corner of the room. A contractor shone his torchlight in that direction. He screamed with fright when he saw her. She was as pale as a ghost with dark circles under her eyes and her hair was so messy. She screamed in pain and crouch into a tight ball when she saw the light. She had been so used to the dark that her eyes burned when she saw the light. Her head twitched to the side when she heard the squeaks of a little rat. Her hearing was as sharp as a bat. She got into a crouch and pounced on the rat. With her bare teeth, she ripped the rat apart and ate hungrily.

The contractors ran out of the house in fright and called for help. That woman was sent to the hospital. It was said that her mother was raped by her grandfather and got pregnant. Her grandfather was ashamed of his pregnant daughter so he locked her in her room for nine months until the baby was born. Since the mother was locked up all by herself, she had depression and committed suicide. She hung herself after the baby was born. Soon after the baby was born, the grandfather created a room under the house and the baby was locked in there. He would send food down to her every meal. When her grandfather died, she had no food so she had to live on rats to survive.

She had been staying in that underground room for all her life and she had never seen light or had any human contact. She was like an animal. She even acted like one. Many tried to help her but she didn’t know how to talk or communicate. In the hospital, she would just start screaming and screaming if any light was turned on. At times, she would be sitting by the corner of the room, rocking away. If anyone tries to talk to her, she would just utter cries and she would attack them for no apparent reason. This is what happens when someone is kept from all means of communication. They would not know how to speak or what you’re saying. They would also act like an animal and they do not know that they themselves are human beings.

Pictures of the types of communications

MASS COMMUNICATION

PUBLIC COMMUNICATION

SMALL GROUP COMMUNICATION

INERPERSONAL/ DYADIC COMMUNICATION

INTRAPERSONAL COMMUNICATION

communication among humans

This is the 2nd week I have entered my Human Communications class and this is my 1st post. Human communication is not new to us as we communicate with each other all the time. After entering a few classes, I feel that my perception of communication may be shallower than I thought and the lectures have told me that there are more to human communication that meets the eye.

Human communication as a subject is new to almost everyone so I will start by saying a little bit about human communication as an introduction. Like Mr Murali said, human communication is a process. It is not something we can do by ourselves and it is never a one way thing. We have to address one another to begin a conversation. If there is no response, then its no longer a conversation.

As we all know, there are many different varieties of communication, which are, the intrapersonal communication, the dyadic communication, the small group communication, public communication and mass communication. By the end of my post, you will definitely know more about the different types of communication.

Firstly, we have the intrapersonal communication. From the word intrapersonal, you would have guessed that it means one person. Many people talk to themselves and I know that you are no different. People talk to themselves to give themselves some encouragement and to gain confidence.Next, we have the dyadic communication which is also called the interpersonal communication. It is a communication between two people like when you are talking to a friend.

The third type of communication is the small group communication. A small group cannot be define as the perspective of the word "small group" varies from one persone to another. To us, a small froup range between 3-5 people. On the other hand, a public communication is when an individual tries to communicate and reach out to a crowd. For example, it could be a motivator giving a speech to a hall full of people or a lecturer teaching a class.The final type of communication is the mass communication where an individual communicates and reach out to millions of people. It could be via electronic or printed media.

I have explained the types of human communication so I hope you will understand more about human communication.

Identity Needs

Well, from the first chapter of Human Communication, I can really see my topic. The identity needs, which reflects what is really happening in our life.

As time past, have you ever noticed that girls are getting better in dressing? Few decades ago, women used to fully dressed, they would try their very best to cover every single part of their skin; to a certain extend, they would even cover their faces with scarfs; dresses and blowses cannot be too short or low; a particular body/walking gesture, they shall not walk too fast or slow. Every rules and regulations had shaped women in a 'natural' way. People thought that women were supposed to be courteous and refined.

As we compare to women in our century, that would be a different picture. Young ladies dressed in shorts, high heels, thick makeups, silky smooth long hair and so on. Girls are no longer depicted as 'polite' or 'courteous' but with words like 'sexy' or 'hot'. These changes ain't appeal for no reason. Through out these years, men had been making comments and opinions on girls' appearances, it apparently had became a hot topic among guys. Yet, this is not the end. Mass media had been promoting girls should have model-like (skinny) body; body should be as slender as celebrities. Magezines had been teaching us how to be trendy, up to date with new hairstyles or any new dresses from Beyonce, Angelina Jolie, Alyssa Milano and so on. It had become a pressure.

These pressure are not just a motivation but a comfirmation for women to be like what the public want them to be. Opinions form us identity. Imagine there is no human in this world, would we bother to dress up? Would there be someone to comment about our appearance? Would media still concern on women's looking? And there it goes, we will lost our identity because we do not know what we are without human exists. Communication is transactional. We dressed up to wish someday, some random people will give us feedback, doesn't matter if it is verbal or nonverbal. But feedback meant a lot for us! Not only can boost our confidence but we can learn things from their comments. Besides, it can slowly structure our identity that can fit into our society someday, whether we are 'hot', 'sexy', 'gorgeous' as OUR identity.