Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication

Exploring Culture

Through assignments done in class and through personal experiences, I have been able to better understand many cultures, including Hispanic cultures. In class, we were able to briefly research questions such as “what is a climate issue in ___ country” or “what are ongoing social movements in ___ country”. Through these questions I was able to learn what certain countries struggled with, but also what they all value. Additionally, through talking with people in Spanish, I was better able to understand different dialects and slang in different Hispanic countries.

I was glad to learn and look into questions about other countries as they reminded me that every country is at a different level of development. One environmental issue in Spain involved pollution and coal factories. I was surprised by this thinking that the United States has already dealt with coal factories and found healthier alternatives for the environment. This was a humbling experience as I had to remind myself that every country is at a different level of development and that each country has their own set of current problems they need to address. I was also reminded of how in Hispanic cultures, calling someone something like “gordito/a” is not used harshly or meanly as it would be taken in the United States. While I lived in Korea, I discovered that people in Korea have similar ideas when they call someone chubby. They view it as they are helping you know that you are “chubby” so you can do something about it rather than they are simply insulting you. One idea I seemed to struggle with was I believed that if I spoke quickly when I spoke Spanish I would sound more fluent. However, more often than not, when I spoke in Spanish I would accidentally mesh my words to try to sound quick. Therefore, the other person wouldn’t always understand what I was saying and I would repeat myself multiple times. I finally came to the realization that I needed to speak a little slower and more clear. I was worried this would make me seem less fluent, but it actually improved many Spanish conversations I had and didn’t take away from whether I sounded fluent or not.

Engaging in Communities

Many miscommunications occur because people either are not willing to listen to each other or don’t know how to really listen to each other. By learning to clearly communicate with each other, people can feel more connected and heard. Also, as the world learns to speak more with each other and learns to understand each other we can feel more united. Unity is a wonderful gateway to peace.

While in Italy, my father, brother, grandpa, and I were waiting on the lady giving us our key for our room we rented in Venice. Her husband had already arrived and he only spoke Italian and Spanish. My brother and I at this point only knew a little Spanish, but that did not stop my dad from telling the man we could talk to him. The man talked to us for a little bit and my brother spoke mostly. I would say what I knew how to say here and there. Halfway through the man was trying to tell us his wife, the lady with our key, was walking over. My brother couldn’t figure out what he was saying and I couldn’t at first either. However, I sat there and kept listening to key words. Finally it clicked for me and I interrupted my brother telling the man I understood and then repeated what he said to make sure I understood correctly. While the man was slightly annoyed, he was also relieved. This was my first real Spanish-only conversation and due to it, I will never forget the word “esposa”. Had my dad not thrown us under the bus, we would have never realized where the husband’s wife was and if she was still coming. The photograph below is of the man and his wife. Since then, I’ve had small moments where I will speak to a customer in Spanish. Whenever I speak Spanish to a customer that only speaks Spanish, more often than not, the person usually smiles with relief. I try to speak in Spanish with others when I can as I remember struggling in Korea and always having that feeling of relief when people spoke to me in English.

Interpersonal Communication

Within this semester, I completed two TalkAbroad assignments. Additionally, I participated in multiple projects and Conversación assignments with other students. I had conversations with my teacher and my brother in complete Spanish. Additionally, I participated in discussion boards where my classmates and I wrote and responded to each other in Spanish.

I was very nervous to do the TalkAbroad conversations considering they were with people I didn’t know and I tend to be very nervous speaking Spanish to people that are native Spanish speakers as I know they are more likely to catch when I mess up. However, it was a fun and good experience. I made sure to catch on to every word I could, but I was also reminded that I need to always review my notes to make sure I don’t forget certain words here and there. I was very thankful when the person speaking with me was willing to help me remember a word. I also enjoyed learning new words. Through the discussion boards, projects, and conversations I was more willing to say more as I knew that the other students were learning too and that we could both help each other improve. Working with other students also helped as we helped each other think of multiple ways to remember certain vocabulary or grammar. the video I included is of a project involving a misunderstanding a classmate and I did. While creating it and preparing it, my classmate helped me think of new ways to better translate Spanish in my head. That way translations would come quicker to me. I enjoyed speaking with my teacher as well as I got to have fun conversations and learn new words. This was the case with my brother as well as he taught me some Mexican slang and helped me learn of the culture and how they speak in Mexico. This included the fact that he stated the “tú” tense is rarely used in Mexico. I was very surprised as that is a tense I used often.

When I have conversations with people, I tend to struggle with hearing everything they are saying. I can say sentences and what I want to say just fine, but when people speak to me I sometimes only hear half. Over the semester, I’ve learned that if I try and repeat back what I understood I am more likely to understand what we are talking about. Additionally, when I give more feedback I am able to understand more as the conversation is more broken up and I can absorb each few sentences at a time rather than a whole verbal paragraph at once.

Presentational Speaking

During this semester, I presented a few speaking presentations. Two included talking about an ecoturismo destination that I’ve been to. Another one was on the history of the Museo del Prado. The video below is on traveling to Thailand.

The two ecoturismo projects were very fun to do. My biggest challenges were just making sure I always used the tense that sounded best for each scenario and place I referenced as distinguishing between imperfect and preterite was hard for me. During the assignments, I made sure to look back at my notes on when each tense is to be used to make sure my examples lined up and that everything sounded correct. I enjoyed being able to use expressive words like “encantarse” and “disfrutar” as I use some of these expressions and words often. With the “Museum” assignment, I struggled to figure out all of the words I needed to properly convey what I wanted to say. I ended up searching up a few words here and there. For some words that I didn’t know, I tried to find a different way to say what I wanted to say. Although this way made some of my sentences seem odd, I was able to still say what I needed to with most of the vocabulary I knew. Next time, I could consider looking up my research in Spanish. This could help me practice my comprehension skills and I would learn new words.

Presentational Writing

This semester, I had the opportunity of writing my own ending to a book, “Finita la Gringa”. I also wrote of how my wife and I got married and the rocky road leading to it. Along with presenting my ecotourism project for Hawai’i, I created a small ad and online pamphlet for it. I also created a “text” scenario in a “texting” language through Spanish abbreviations. Below is my “historia” for our wedding.

For “Finita la Gringa” I learned the writing style of a book in Hispanic literary culture. I also had to become better at simplifying what I want to say. I became a lot better at this for the book, but still struggled with writing a little too much for my “historia” about my wedding. I enjoyed writing both pieces, but I do wish I added more imagery in my story about my wedding and that I repeated what I said less. Through these assignments I better understood when to use imperfect versus preterite as there were a lot of examples in “Finita la Gringa”. I also liked learning more words for imagery. I once again had to practice writing short for the ad to make it seem more like a realistic ad. I did a lot better with writing less and being more direct by writing the ad and pamphlet. Next time, I would probably still write less for the pamphlet. I enjoyed learning the Spanish text abbreviations and plan to use them now with my brother. Some of the abbreviations were easy at first. My only struggle with them was remembering which abbreviations meant which since some seemed very similar. For this, I plan to practice using them more. This will help me better remember which abbreviations belong to which words.

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Interpretive Listening

In this semester, all of our vocabulary and grammar videos on Black Board were in Spanish. Additionally, for a Discussion Board assignment, we had to watch a children’s learning video about Columbus and America. Our examples on our Contraseña online textbook were always in Spanish as well such as the “texting” video, the ecotourism video, and more.

Along with these assignments we had and videos we had, I also watched Encanto in Spanish and I listen to music in Spanish regularly. With the teaching videos, I was at first frustrated since I didn’t think I would be able to learn about a new concept in Spanish if I didn’t understand what they were explaining to me in English first. However, this method was more beneficial. This forced me to use context clues and to learn even more new vocabulary. I started to write more of my notes in Spanish as well. As I wrote more in Spanish, I became better at understanding context clues. In terms of music, the more I listened, the more words I realized I recognized. This semester helped me as we learned new grammar and I started to better understand my music. Some things were still confusing at first, so I would look up lyrics to the songs. I realized some of the songs also used phrases that meant one thing in Spanish and another in English. A great example of this is the song Loca by Shakira. When she says “Yo soy loca con mi tigre” I thought I was simply misunderstanding her. I later found out that that is a Dominican phrase she used.

Interpretive Reading

For this semester, we started off reading a fashion guide that led us to creating our own fashion guide. We also had to read the first half of “Finita la Gringa” in order to write our ending. Below is my ending for “Finita la Gringa”.

For the the fashion guide, we started off reading it before learning any vocabulary for it. This was hard for me as I was confused at times, however, by using the pictures in the guide, I was still able to get a good idea on what each section was about. I enjoyed creating a fashion guide for someone we got pick. For “Finita…” we had to read the first half and really understand it in order to finish it. I enjoyed finishing it and I liked the vocabulary we learned for it. Like the assignment before, I mostly used visuals and context clues to understand the story before we learned more vocabulary. As I studied the words and phrases more, I had less problems finishing the assignment. I liked learning the vocabulary and learning how to write that people are talking in Hispanic literature.

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