When I look at the topic male-female communication, the first thing that comes up to my mind is that man and woman must have a very good communication, because there are only men and women in the world. But as I think a little bit deeper, there is something different between a man and a woman, different types of talking styles, different ways of thinking, and different point of views. For instance, if a guy thinks that he spends too much time on his girlfriend, but somehow she might think that he doesn't have enough time to be with her, so that if they are not willing to communicate to solve this problem, they will break up very easily. So when two different kinds of people get together, problem and conflicts will appear between them. There are two articles "His Talk, Her Talk" by Joyce Maynard and "Man To Man, Woman To Woman" by Mark A. Sherman and Adelaide Haas. Both articles talk about the same topic male-female communication.…
In the article, “But What Do You Mean?”, author Deborah Tannen discusses what she has observed to be differences in ways that women and men communicate. She concludes by stating that neither communication style in incorrect, however, to alleviate miscommunication women and men should use language that is understood by both parties. While I don’t disagree with Tannen’s observations I find some flaws with her solution. Women and men are not significantly different, as recent brain studies have shown, I believe that the differing socialization of women and men as children breeds the stylistic communication differences Tannen describes. So while limiting one’s speech to common language may work in a pinch, there is a long term solution that could…
There are some distinct differences between how men and women use and understand communication. There are differences in how we approach, laugh, or relate to a conversation based on the genders of each party that may arise in some challenges. Understanding of how each gender interacts with certain topics makes…
Deborah Tannen in her essay "Why Can't He Hear What I'm Saying?" relates to a problem that every person regardless of age, race or sex, will have to face many times in his or her lifetime. It explains the author’s theory that both men and women are listening to one another, but because they have been taught different ways of communicating, different values and to have different purposes when speaking, they feel as if they are not communicating.…
Communication skills are different among men and women in respect to, and because of, their various occupations and experiences. Women use terms that are more descriptive and take longer to get to the point, while men tend to start with the direct point and fill in as needed. There are also differences in how each gender interprets some phrases. This paper further discusses some of the differences, how these differences relate to miscommunication, and ways that these issues can be dealt with effectively.…
In this chapter, Floyd (2011) discusses the many ways that gender affects interpersonal relationships. He describes is as a “defining feature of our identity, shaping the way we think, look, and communicate” (p. 51). It is explained that each gender culture puts emphasis on different parts of the relationship. Women come to value communication and closeness, while men value taking part in activities together (Floyd, 2011, p. 57). This makes sense when I think about how I communicate with men versus with women.…
As the society changes to individualism, there are a lot of people having problem with communication. Become a big issue that although communication is a very important skill in our life, some people are just living with ignoring this fact. Researchers try to find the what causes are affected to people and some of them found the issue was from between men and women that using differences brain function which is men used left half of their brains while listing to the novel, while the women used both halves of their brains. However, I would be hard to agree this research. Although researchers found men and women uses different brain function, I think the most important thing is their environment, we would not say that who is a better listener by gender because a person’s behavior shows up from their personality. Particularly, it is caused by their friendship or from parents or it can affect his or her cultural style.…
Deborah Tannen is the author of the book You Just Don't Understand where she analyzes the different meanings of communication between men and women. Her research shows that women and men use the same words and phrases and yet can interpret and react to those same words and phrases differently. Tannen compares the two sexes to find men use their conversation as a type of competition or to preserve their independence. For example, men talk about their knowledge regarding sports, cars, women, exc. Meanwhile, women try to foster intimacy through communication. For instance, women often talk and relate on a personal level. Throughout Tannen's book she uses "cross-cultural communication" to describe the differences between the language of men and women. Tannen observed that, "For males, conversation is the way you negotiate your status in the group and keep people from pushing you around; you use talk to preserve your independence. Females, on the other hand, use conversation to negotiate closeness and intimacy; talk is the essence of intimacy, so being best friends means sitting and talking. For boys, activities, doing things together, are central. Just sitting and talking is not an essential part of friendship. They're friends with the boys they do things with" (Tannen 95).…
That men and women are on different wavelengths when it comes to communicating is probably not news to you. However, "Can We Talk?" the cover story of the December issue of New Age Journal, provides some excellent new perspectives on this age-old problem. The author, Peggy Taylor, interviewed sociolinguist Deborah Tannen, who has written a book called You Just Don 't Understand: Women and Men in Conversation. Tannen 's research shows that the differences between the communication styles of men and women go far beyond mere socialization, and appear to be inherent in the basic make up of each sex.…
Nowadays, sex differences have become a controversial issue, especially when it comes to language. It has raised many concerns about how it is different between men and women when they talk to each other on a daily basis. In “Sex Differences,” Macaulay addresses the notion that differences in the manner and frequency in which men and women talk are nonsense. Ronald Macaulay proves that such stereotypes should not be used in language because differences in language usage, personalities and social environments are to be considered the most distinguish points of the language usage between men and women.…
Communication is a very important factor in human life. Without communication our lives would be dull because we wouldn't learn from each other or keep up with what is occurring around us every day. Men and women communicate in the same form, but each of them oppose in certain aspects of communication that may cause interference between both sexes. Why do we differ so much to often cause uncomfortable social situations between each other? This question is often answered by understanding simple social observations of both sexes as adults and as children.…
Men and women communicate differently in almost every situation. These differences may be as simple as facial expressions, or as complex as the true emotions hiding behind them. Men and women communicate through opposite, but equally effective techniques that demonstrate the distinctive cultural values of the society they were raised in.…
CRASH! The third flower vase bites the dust as another brawl breaks out. The tension accelerates between a married couple when he had a lousy sales day, and she then tries to talk about it. He pauses and thinks about it, and she think he’s ignoring him. Offended, she lashes out at him, and she then storms off. He has a short fuse as well and has had enough. This is a typical scenario for a married couple who do not yet have the skills of understanding their partner. Men and women have different ways of perceiving what you are trying to get across because women want to talk, men seek advice.…
To begin with, I will be stating mine; for me after I have researched on this topic I found that both male and female use language in a special and unique way, whether its spoken, written or even body language due to tremendous factors that I have mentioned during the writing of this research and thus making us as unique males and females using language to communicate and deliver our messages in the way we would have want to deliver them. In spite of this, sometimes the messages may not be delivered in the way we want due to the communication gap present. Here are the other people’s opinions on this area of the communication gap. Person 1: Yes, they do. Almost all sociolinguists would agree to some extent as they have proved during their studies and research. Person 2: actually to me, there is some word, not much of part, otherwise for both have same ways and may be similar in some of the communication styles. Person 3: I think they are both different because each of the females and males brains is biologically different each one has a special method to communicate. Person 4: I think in the field of psychology and human science if we take a proper look at this issue we could really find out that men are from Mars and women are from Venus as each one wants to understand what he or she wants to understand and this may not be necessarily what is being delivered to the…
The issue of the relationship between language and gender has been studied for many years and its tradition is longer than feminist linguistics. During the years of studies it became a distinct discipline of knowledge consisting of linguistic studies, concerning communication patterns connected with gender-related differences and cultural roles of genders. A human learns how to speak and communicate from the first months of his/her life. The young children have their own way of communication and every baby babbles in the same way but when they start playing with peers they watch older children and parents and begin to modulate their voices as to speak more like a man or more like a woman depending on their gender. Communication, which is a process of sending and receiving messages, consists of two types: verbal and nonverbal one. The verbal communication helps to distinguish speaker’s gender and age as well as educational and ethnic background. Nonverbal communication is everything which accompanies the language, including mimic, gestures, look and the tone of voice. In both fields a significant difference between men and women can be observed as they have different tempers and manners. In every community there are different stereotypes about gender and according to them, women talk a lot and are sensitive whereas men are aggressive and dominant. Many researchers dealing with communication try to describe gender-related differences in communication patterns.…