Verbal Communication

This analysis is on the difference in verbal communication differences between countries that have different cultures and various ways of speaking. I conducted an interview with someone from the United States because of the huge difference in their verbal communication from my home country Jamaica. Not only the accent, because Jamaica was last colonized by Britain, the Jamaican accent is close to that of a British accent, but Americans also use very different expressions, saying and even specific words have a different meaning than in Jamaica and it would be very difficult to grasp the meaning of different words being used to mean different things.
In my interview we spoke about a variety of things ranging from his daily routine, to hobbies, sports and basic interests. I found that my interviewee used many expressions that I would either not use, or would have a different way of saying them. While talking about sports, he used the word “soccer” for “football”. Americans have American football and “soccer”, whilst Jamaica only has football. Also an expression we use in Jamaica for disappointment is “bait up”, which would be understood as “bummed” to Americans. While we continued to speak about “soccer” he used the word “cleats” to describe “football boots”. We spoke about the new I pad that will be released soon, and he used the word “dope” to describe it as being very good, in Jamaica we would use the word “sick” instead of “dope”. These are completely different specific words but with the same or different meaning.
I have also noticed that during our interview, he would use words such as “like”, “really” and “totally” very frequently. It is used so often to place emphasis on the topic at hand, a way to dramatize or convince whoever is listening of the degree of importance or truth in the discussion, according to (Varner, I, &, Beamer, L.), “The general preference in the United States is for exaggeration and overstatement”. For example, when speaking about his job, he said “Like my job is really easy, like I literally do nothing, like all I do is chill”. This repetitiveness of the word “like” is very common among American’s use of language when describing and placing emphasis on a certain event.
The use of language is a vital part of conducting business between different countries with different cultures and thus different ways of speaking to express one’s self. In order to direct, negotiate and agree on decisions between different countries, one has to understand their way of speaking, and what specific words, sayings and expressions mean to them, “all business functions require communication”, (Varner, I. &, Beamer, L.). It is also vital to understand others way of verbal communication as certain practices may not be admired in other countries. In the United States, bluntness is admired and interrupting each other while speaking may be a norm, however in another country it could be seen as rude and inappropriate.
Therefore I have come to accept that language is a part of culture, and people who live in different cultures will have different ways of speaking and expressions. It is important for individuals and corporations to understand these differences in verbal communication in order to clearly and effectively communicate with individuals from different countries. Otherwise we would be restricting the potential relationship one could have with others from different cultures.