Interpretive, Interpersonal, and Presentational Modes of Communication
Exploring Culture
Throughout my semester, the three talk abroad conversations that I attending allow me to gain a better understanding of cultural perspectives. By better understanding their cultural perspectives, I have grown to appreciate their countries and their language.
When talking to people from Spanish-speaking countries, I got to learn so much about traditions and common family make ups. Compared to families in the US, families in Spanish-speaking countries values traditions more. Out of the three people I had a conversation with, they claim that family sizes are about as normal as those in the United States. One common question that came about was, If families are very similar in both countries why is it that traditions are more valued in those Spanish-speaking countries? This motivated me to learn more about both my culture and theirs which broaden my cultural knowledge and my personal opinions.
Transcript
Adriana: Como es tu familia? (what is your family like)
Zaria: Mi familia es pequeña. Yo tengo una hermana y un hermana. y tu? (My family is small. I have one brother and one sister. and you?)
Adriana: Mi familia es pequeña también. Yo tengo dos hermanos. ( my family is small as well. I have two brothers.)
Engaging in Communities
As the world is constantly evolving and very diverse, it is important, in my opinion, that everyone learn a second language. With Spanish being the second most common language in the U.S., I took advantage of the Spanish classes taught at Old Dominion and continued my education in Spanish. In English, give a brief description of the value of, and importance of, engaging in your immediate community and the global community.
For the past two years, I have been working at a clothing store named Hollister. Many Spanish-speaking families come in to shop, and I am unable to help them effectively. After taking Spanish 121, I can better communicate with these families to ensure they get the best customer service possible.
Interpersonal Communication
During this semester I participated in three talk abroad conversations. TalkAbroad is communication website that allows you to communities with people from all across the world to learn and grow in new languages.
The three conversations were One 15 minute and two 30 minutes long. These conversations allowed me to grow exponentially because I talked to people who speak Spanish fluently which forced me to speak entirely in Spanish. When I completed my first conversation, it did not go as well as intended because I was nervous and afraid to mess up. By my second and third conversation, I was speaking fluently and I was able to keep the conversation going. I learned that I should not be afraid to make mistakes because I am learning. I am now able to confidently talk to someone even with the few mistakes I make because the fact that I am trying at all is most important.
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Presentational Speaking
One project that I was able to practice Presentational Speaking with was Mi Guía de Estilo. After completing the rough draft I was instruction to verbally present what I had to my classmates.
While speaking about my project among the class, I learned that I was limited myself to only using the basic information I need to get my point across. While that may be good in some cases, It was not good for others. I needed to be more descriptive and use more detail to fully assure my teacher that I knew how to present. After getting feedback, I was able to add more description and make my project more vivid which will be further explained in the next section.
Rough Draft: “El conjunto consiste en un suéter corto rojo, unos pantalones rotos azules, unos botas corta negras, un cinturón negro, y pendientes cortos. El conjunto tiene informal pero elegante. La puede llevar cuando hace viento o en el fines de semana. Porque a ti te gusta mostrar su cintura, te sugiero un suéter corto rojo. Cuando quieres mostrar su piernas, puedes reemplazar los pantalones rotos con una falda corto negro. Cuando hace frío yo recomiendo un abrigo gris con piel.”
Presentational Writing
This semester, one of the projects that I completed was Mi Guía de Estilo. This projects focus was to create a style guide for one chosen person and recommend outfits based on their likes and dislikes.
This project has allowed me to build my descriptive vocabulary. I used to confine my vocabulary because it was a comfort zone, and I never wanted to mess up. By creating the style guide, I learned new words and phrases to effectively recommend detailed outfits. It became easier to use new words to make writing effective and relatable. By completing projects like these, I’ve learned to step out of my comfort zone and be confident with my writing.
Mi-guia-de-estiloInterpretive Listening
One project we completed this semester was Ayer Comí. To prepare for the project we watched a video which allowed us to listen to the language and try to comprehend what was being said.
Watching this video allowed me be to be able to better interpretive the language verbally. In my opinion Spanish is a language that is spoken pretty quickly. When I first watched it, I struggled because I missed many words that were pertinent to understanding what was going on. Being able to listen to it more than once allowed me to grasp all of the words and better comprehend.
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Interpretive Reading
Early on in the semester, my class completed a project in groups about people en español. Te interpretive reading assignment allowed us to analyze and comprehend in Spanish.
In my group, we decided to read an article about Zoe Saldaña. She is an American actress whose origen is from the Dominican republic. The article begins by talking about her famous role in Avatar and how thing were put on hold due to COVID. This article also expressed how her and her family are dealing with COVID-19. Reading and analyzing the article allowed me to grow analytically and expand my critical thinking skills.