Reducing barriers

M 1:

These barriers will prevent effective communication from working and will need to be minimized as much as possible. Here is how to minimize the effect of there barriers:

Terminology –

Terminology can have an adverse effect on communication if words or phrases are used that people won’t understand so the best way to combat this barrier is to use plane English and only use each word for its actual meaning and avoid slang and fictitious words. For example, here we may use the word “quid” when we mean a pound but people from other parts of the world won’t understand this and may become confused as to what we mean.

Cultural differences-

Some gestures or words which you consider to be harmless may come across as offensive or inappropriate in another language, to combat this you will need to stick to plain English without any slang words and you will need to make sure your gestures are not offending anyone. You may need to research to see if there is anything that should not be mentioned in to a particular group of people.  If you know that the audience will belong to a certain culture you should do some research to make sure that words we use every day will not offend them.

Disabilities-

Sometimes barriers that are caused by disabilities can be hard to overcome but things like sign language can help to overcome these barriers. These barriers can be over come with the help of sign language or text to speech software which can help people to communicate more effectively. Depending on the person who has the disabilities specific needs you will need to adjust your speech. Some people may have hearing difficulties so toy may need to talk louder so they can hear you. Or if someone has sight problems you should not rely so heavily on body language.

Background Noise-

Reducing the impact of this can be very difficult and sometimes out of your control but in some occasions you can move to a quieter place or stop whatever is making the background noise.  Before you start a conversation you should make sure that background noise is not going to become an issue, you may need to do things like ask surrounding people to be more quiet or turn down music.

Body Language-

You can reduce the negative effects of body language by reducing the amount it is used so that it is not distracting. But if you are finding the body language detracting you may want to ask the person who is talking to use less body language.  You should also try to avoid using body language that only certain people or groups will understand unless you know the audience will understand it.

Context-

The impact of this can be reduced very easily. You must make sure you know what different words are phrases mean before you attempt to use them in a conversation.  You may not be sure what someone means when they use a phrase or word so you may want to ask them what it means to expand your vocabulary and can implement them into your own communication. If you are not sure where a word or phrase will fit into a sentence  do not attempt to use it.

Spelling and Grammar-

This can be reduced by getting someone to read over your righting and look for spelling and grammar mistakes.  Most word processing packages on computers will have a spelling and grammar correction function which you should use to make sure that all the mistakes have been corrected.

barriers to communication

What are barriers to communication…?

Barriers of communication consist of anything that hider’s communications or makes communication between people difficult. A barrier of communication will prevent you being able to communicate effectively

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1.    General Communication Skills

Terminology –

People may be slang words that the other person may not have heard before which will cause them to become confused and will make communication difficult.  If one person is using technical terms or jargon that the other person is not familiar with it will cause communication to become difficult.   There are some terms used by people in one country but not in others and if there are used in a conversation it can lead to confusing and cause a barrier to communication.

Cultural differences-

If there are any cultural differences between the speakers and there audiences it may make communication difficult as some words may not mean the same to the speaker and the audience. They can cause problems particularly if some words are offensive to one person and not to the others. There are some words and gestures which can be harmless in one culture but offensive or rude in another and these can lead the speaker to restrict to what they can say or do which causes a barrier.

Disabilities-

Someone may suffer from a hearing or sight disability which will make it hard to communicate to them effectively.  On the other hand someone may suffer from a speech problem which makes it difficult for them to communicate to others.  If someone can’t hear or see the speaker clearly it will become very hard to understand what they are trying to say and it will be hard to know how they are saying it.

1.    Interpersonal Skills

Background Noise-

If there is too much background noise it can make communication very difficult. It can make it very hard to hear the person who is speaking; this leads to misunderstandings which can make the whole conversation useless or even counterproductive.  If there is too much background noise you may not be able to hear the tone of the speaker making it hard to understand how they are talking making things like sarcasm difficult to detect.

Body Language-

Body language if used incorrectly can be a distract the audience which can lead top them losing interest in what is going on and then them not understanding what is being said which can cause a conversation to break down.  Some body language may not be understood by the audience or may be taken the wrong way.

3. Written Communication

Context-

Someone may use words or phrases out of context which will lead to sentences not making sentence and being very hard to understand. This will lead to the reader becoming confused and not understanding. If phrases and certain words are used out of context it can make the sentence mean something else entirely. 

Spelling and Grammar-

Poor spelling can cause the reader to not understand certain important words which have been misspelled which means they will not understand what is being said.   Poor grammar can also lead to the reader not understanding what is being said