Is it really so? Dilip Barad, Ph.D. Department of English, Bhavnagar University. Gujarat. (India) dilipbarad@gmail.com www.dilipbarad.com 12th February, 2011 Saturday
3 College, Bhavnagar No Petrol / Diesel Day – 14th Feb • Fight against Govt’s policy to liberalize price of Crude oil. • Ecological reasons – Save Environment! • Ambush marketing of Valentine’s Day! • Cultural attack?
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4 College, Bhavnagar Communication !?! • “Please communicate this message to all employees"; • "He communicated his anxieties to the psychiatrist" • "communicate a disease" wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
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5 College, Bhavnagar Mr. A (tom, dick and harry) married Ms. B (jill, jane and julie). • ‘Sania married Shaoib. • So and so Minister married some Beautician. • Preeti Zinta married Yuvraj • Amitabh married Rekha.
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6 College, Bhavnagar • Cna yuo raed tihs? Suteids sohw taht olny aoubt 55 prcenet of plepoe can. I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I am rdanieg. Tihs sohws us the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset of the txet can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but isntaed raeds the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? Yaeh and we awlyas tghuhot slpelnig was ipmorantt! National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 7 College, Bhavnagar Shouldn’t this student get 10/10?
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8 College, Bhavnagar What message is conveyed by this example • If milkman wants to sell 10 liters of milk and cow gives only 6 liters, how much water will he have to mix with milk? • 10 – 6 = 4 Liters.
• The message conveyed is - ‘there is nothing
wrong in mixing milk with water to increase sales’. • Raises questions – ethics in business – ‘Aren’t our best models of entrepreneurship dealing with mixing milk and water as ethical practices?’ National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 9 College, Bhavnagar Is communication skill English language skill? • No where the above definitions speak of English as language for communication. • C.S. is more about negotiations • … about convincing people… • … about understanding difference between argument and discussion (A discussion is an exchange of information, but an argument is a contest of wills.)
• … about making people believe in what we
believe. • One should has CS in mother language first… National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 10 College, Bhavnagar Some say Picture is worth a thousand words: Tigermomism
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11 College, Bhavnagar Image of INDIA:
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12 College, Bhavnagar Pictures also communicate in context
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13 College, Bhavnagar What we want to teach is BC in Business letters / emails. Are we teaching email writing or …….. ???
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14 College, Bhavnagar National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 15 College, Bhavnagar Let us check general knowledge: • What is Jawaharlal Nehru’s son’s name?
17 College, Bhavnagar Myths of Communication • Myth: • CS is English language skills. • Language communicates… • Language & Communication - two sides of a coin? • Reality: • CS is not all about English language, it is about soft skills in mother language. • Language does not communicate… it is ‘context’ that gives/defines meaning… • The context is not two dimensional, it is multidimensional. • It is context that gives meaning – not the language. Communication happens because of context – and • Aprior understanding of the words is necessary – words are predefined (conditioned/programmed) and its predefinition gives meaning. National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 18 College, Bhavnagar • Watch this video: • Your observation is at test • At the same time the idea that ‘seeing is believing’ – is challenged.
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19 College, Bhavnagar • Language in any form – verbal, non-verbal, animated – does not communicate. • Language is double-edged sword – it seems that it is power – it seems that it strengthens us – in fact, it exploits us. • The people in the ‘centre’ (power) uses language to exploit the ‘other’. • Important thing is to be in ‘power’ (centre) from where one can define language. National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 20 College, Bhavnagar Source: • Western discourse on psycholinguistics – Lacan and Kristeva – ‘Otherness of Language’ and ‘Strangers to Ourselves’. • Indian Aesthetics – Shabda Brahma - meaning of a word has four layers – par, pasyanti, madhyama, and vaikhri.
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21 College, Bhavnagar To conclude, I make two statements… • Language does not communicate… • Language is used to ‘condition’ mind (identity), not to communicate…
• If you do not agree with me, the first
statement is true… • If you agree, second is true… National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 22 College, Bhavnagar Finally, • To be effective communicator in 21st Century we should have two characteristics: • One, while communicating keep all our senses open (even common sense), so that none can exploit and subjugate us. • Second, learn the skills to use language to exploit others.
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23 College, Bhavnagar Thank You! • The topic does not end here, it begins from here… • Your comments, observations, suggestions are invited on virtual world: • Please share your views on ‘Discussion Board’ on Facebook. • Search for ‘Dilip Barad Page’ on Facebook and click ‘Discussion’… • dilipbarad@gmail.com National Conference -DevCom- by SSCCM 24 College, Bhavnagar Reference • http://www.people-communicating.com/what-is-communication.html • Monipally, Matthew. A Craft of Business letter. TataMcGrowHill. • Seturaman, V.S. Indian Aesthetics. Macmillan. • Besley, Catherine. Poststructuralism. A very short intro series. OUP • The Times of India. February, 2011. • www.indiatimes.com • Microsoft Encarta. 2007. • Barad, D.P. To Spell or Not to Spell. Voices. IATEFL. 2008. • www.youtube.com • Whodunnit? Video released by Transport of London. • www.wikipedia.com • www.dictionary.com