Reflection on “Summary of Normative Communication Styles and Values”

Have you ever felt like you can’t communicate with people in your surrounding? Well that is what happened to me when I arrived to the United States and I didn’t know English; and the worse thing is that I didn’t know the culture. There were times that in a conversation I felt like invisible, and that happened because I didn’t know the language that well, so I couldn’t be part of a conversation. The reading “Summary of Normative Communication Styles and Values” explains how people from different ethnicities have different ways to communicate and how not knowing the differences of communication can cause misunderstanding and destroy trust among individuals.

            The reading shows how sometimes stereotyping people might not be the best way of communicating. We should avoid stereotyping and do not assume that people has or lacks of a particular communication skills just because they way they look; we have to see beyond the looks. For example, I have being stereotyped many times, when I had a meeting at work they would think that I will be the last one to show up; but just because I am Latino they can’t just assume that. Not all people from the same ethnicity will have the same good or bad habits. I disagree with the reading when it talks about people having a group of pattern depending on their ethnicity, because every person is different no matter if they are from the same country. In the other hand, I do believe that people tend to follow what others do in their environment, independently of their ethnicity. For example, it is well know that a lot of people from Latin America do not strive to get a degree, while most people in Seattle have a career; that influenced me to get a career because I know that without a Bachelors degree it will be hard for me to get a good job.

            Based on the reading some people have biases about what normal should be. We should not have biases about what we think is normal for us. Instead, we should learn how to adapt to other people “views and behaviors to the needs of others”. For example, when I came to the United States and started working at my current job, my boss used to talk to me looking at my eyes very closely; and I used to get nervous because I was not used to do that. Then, he asked me if that bothered me and apologized because he saw how uncomfortable I felt; he made an effort to look beyond what was normal for him and changed his way of talking to make communication effective. What this means is that we have to be careful when we are talking to a person that is not from our same ethnicity, because what we think is normal for us it might not be for them.

            It will be good that we could learn from other cultures and the way they communicate, that way we don’t make others feel uncomfortable or give them a hard time. I have experienced the feeling of being excluded from social groups, and it wasn’t a pleasant experience. That is why it is good that we can learn and trust our instincts when we are dealing with people that are not from are same ethnicity, that way we can have a better communication experience.