Language Blog

Not being able to speak in a conversation for two was not as easy as I thought it would be. There were many times I had to catch myself from verbally communicating the point I wanted to get across. I found it increasingly difficult to express myself when asked anything that required more than a yes or no answer. It was easy to see that in response to my lack of verbal communication, my partner found herself “dumbing” down the conversation as it was quite apparent we would not be delving into the theory of relativity. I can only compare this part of the language experiment to a game of Charades. What followed every thought or response I put forth (non-verbally, of course) was yet another round of questions, “Did you mean…?” and “Are our 15 minutes up yet?”

In my opinion, the culture with the ability to use verbal language would have a greater advantage over those who don’t. With a much broader range of words to choose from, thoughts and ideas can be expressed more freely. When dependent upon the use of physical movements and facial expressions only, one is severely limited at the ability to communicate. As I experienced with my speaking partner “dumbing” down the conversation, I could easily see how a speaking culture might consider the non-speaking culture inferior and less intelligent. This can be seen when dealing with people who may not use English as their first language. I’ve been witness to conversations whereas the ones speaking to others not as familiar with English begin speaking slower and sometimes even raising their voices as if the idea of yelling might portray their message better.

Spending 15 minutes as a robot was much more difficult than I could have anticipated. Feeling relieved at the prospect of being able to communicate verbally was a comforting thought…until I actually tried it. Even giving an example of what I was trying to do tripped me up as it was just too natural and habitual for me to use inflexion in my voice. As far as the effect this experiment had on my partner, let’s just say she had quite a difficult time keeping a straight face. After a few minutes, it was very difficult for her to take me seriously. I can only conclude that physical communication and verbal communication are both complimentary to one another. Without one or the other, it is not easy to fully convey your thoughts and ideas.

And sure, there are plenty of people incapable of reading body language. I can think of at least a dozen bad dates where my desire to leave and cut things short went completely unnoticed by gentlemen who thought that “this was the Best. Date. Ever.”