Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Luckily my wife’s side of the family speak very fluent Spanish. Through being around them more frequently I am able to see things from their cultural perspective. Although we have different perspectives on many different cultural topics, we can all agree on one thing, and that is that they have the best food!

At first, I did not really understand the hispanic culture due to the fact that I had only been exposed to bits and piece of hispanic culture, because I had friends that were first generation Mexican-Americans. Through being around my wife’s family, I have had a chance to embrace their culture and learn more of their language along with some of their cultural values. One of the major things that I have learned being exposed to the hispanic culture is how important family is. In their culture family comes before almost everything else with the exception of work.

Engaging in Communities

I believe that it is more important now than ever to have a general understanding of the Spanish language, because Spanish is one of the top 10 most spoken languages in the world. If one does not understand English, then it is highly likely that they know bits and pieces of a Spanish language.

Reflect on your experience and participation in these communities. Include artifacts such as photos, audio/video clips, etc.

Interpersonal Communication

I believe that the TalkAbroad was very helpful along with the reading and writing portions done both inside of class an outside of class. The TalkAbroad portion was very good, because it gave us a chance to speak with someone that is fluent in Spanish. It also helped a lot in the TalkAbroad when the speaker would use hand gesture in order to help convey what they were talking about.

Through the TalkAbroad, I was very nervous because each time I had life events happen that were out of my control, however, being able to talk to someone that is a native speaker definitely is beneficial. I think what is most beneficial about the TalkAbroad is that you can speak with people from different countries and learn a little bit about their culture in the process. For the in class and out of class reading and writing assignments, I believe that they helped me refine my abilities to both read and write in the Spanish language. Overall I have grown leaps and bounds with my abilities to speak, read, and write in Spanish. The most difficult part for me was the TalkAbroad, because I know a good bit of Spanish, but when it comes time to speak it for some reason I draw a blank. From these experiences, I learned that it is better to be over prepared than under prepared.

Presentational Speaking

Throughout the semester, we completed several in class assignments in which we had to speak strictly Spanish. These exercises ranged from pairing up in groups to decipher what or how to conjugate Spanish verbs and what different passages meant.

At first speaking Spanish in front of the class was very intimidating because I am always nervous about speaking Spanish and messing up. However, as we progressed and I learned more Spanish vocabulary and grammar I became more confident in my abilities to speak the language. I believe that I did great in most of the course because of the strong foundational knowledge of Spanish that I already had.

Presentational Writing

For this class we had a wide variety of presentational writing that furthered my understanding of the topics discussed in class.

My favorite presentational writing that we did in class was the pamphlet about health. For my topic since I am an Exercise Science major was about staying in shape. At first it was difficult, because I had not yet learned a lot of the vocabulary along with the conjugation of some of the verbs. As we progressed through the topic of health it became much easier to properly form sentences in Spanish about maintaining health.

Interpretive Listening

For interpretive listening we did a lot of activities in class in which we had to listen to native Spanish speakers and interpret what they are saying. I also listen to a good bit of Spanish music as well which helps understand the language a little bit more.

Through listening to native Spanish speakers in activities inside and outside of class has made it easier to understand different Spanish speakers from different places. I think the most difficulty I had with interpretive listening was understanding Spanish speakers from Cuba, for some reason or another I just can not seem to ever understand what they are saying. However, I do really enjoy listening to Spanish music and I believe that it is very beneficial because I have learned many different words and can somewhat understand it.

Interpretive Reading

There were many activities on our online homework in which we would have to read a passage and then answer questions about what we have read.

At the start of the semester these passages were difficult to read through due to being unfamiliar with different verbs and tenses of verbs. As we progressed through the semester, it became easier to read through the passages because we had expanded our knowledge on different verbs and the form of th verbs. I am now able to read a passage in Spanish and pick up on key words and phrases that I know in order to come to a conclusion on what the passages are saying.