Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Through Spanish 101, I have gained a better understanding of the unique cultures and traditions practiced in many Spanish-speaking countries. One of the most important things practices is the intimate sense of community. As an American, a community is a positive, but not a required part of life. Yet in many Spanish-speaking communities, building a strong community is almost required. A hug and kiss is a very friendly and unique greeting seen in many Latin American and European countries. This greeting builds a somewhat sense of intimacy in greeting which builds a relationship. The influence of music and dance is a very important part of Latin American culture. Many countries and regions have vibrant and diverse musical traditions. Many holidays celebrate community and life. Each country may practice a completely different holiday, yet they all encompass the beauty of being together.

Engaging in Communities

Engaging in your immediate community allows you to connect with and understand the people and organizations around you. At the global level, engaging with your community will allow to gain a better understanding of the world and the diverse perspectives. Overall interacting with both will help you grow as an individual and build a stronger and inclusive community.

Interpersonal Communication

I found communicating in Spanish to be quite challenging at most times. I felt that I didn’t get the chance to openly practice since I have no family members or friend that could reciprocate or add to the conversation. Although, I would challenge myself by watching videos in Spanish and working out the key words before the sentence was translated. Alongside that, I would often read the assignments out loud to myself to practice my pronunciation. Then I would double check and correct myself if needed. I found it interesting how I was more compelled to watch some familiar shows in Spanish, as it expanded my vocabulary and I was able to listen to simple conversations.

Presentational Speaking

This semester I did not complete many presentational speaking activities. During our Flipgrids I had trouble getting over the anxiety of speaking Spanish and found it very difficult to get through it. To get better at speaking I tried my hardest to go back over assignment and truly listen for keywords that were causing me trouble. It is very difficult to “think and speak” in Spanish without translating first. I still struggle with translating however have found certain words easy to think in Spanish. Instead of translating I think of the words similarly to synonyms of words. I currently still struggle with speaking Spanish

Presentational Writing

I do not have any writing artifacts to provide that I have completed. Writing in Spanish however is very entertaining to me. There are many specific grammatical structures, accent marks, formalities, and articles that can be quite difficult to grasp. However I treated every writing as a puzzle with its different layers of complexities to figure out to create a grammatically correct sentence. Learning to ask questions, infinitives, and “to know” were quite difficult and I still somewhat struggle with.

Interpretive Listening

Similarly to speaking, I did not complete many direct listening assignments. However I did not have problems with anxiety for listening. I mostly struggled with what was being said and asked overall. It is very overwhelming hearing Spanish at first, especially when the speakers are talking fast. However over time, as I mentioned in the speaking portion, I learned to pick up key words and from there dissect what the question or statement was saying.

Interpretive Reading

Reading in Spanish came a little easier to me. Overtime, I was able to pick up on key definition terms and apply them to different conversations. I could always understand the topic of the conversations. Writing was also an interesting element to me, since I better understood sentence structures. I would say I’m stronger with reading and writing over speaking. The assignments at times could be challenging, but I would go for the key words that I was familiar with, then piece together the sentence or paragraph word by word.