What is communication? Communication is an act of exchanging information or news and plays a very important role in our everyday lives. Developing a good communication habit is an essential skill that will benefit us. Many people have different ways in communicating, be it their culture language, hand signs and so on.
I believe everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses when it come to communicating. For me, one of the strengths that I possess in communicating is that I am an active listener. I would pay very close attention to what the other party has to say. My guess is this is probably because of the sincerity that I provide when listening to them. I would simply listen, maintain eye contact and only comment or speak when the other party is done talking. From there, I am able to view things from the other party's perspective and understand what he/she really meant.
I do too possess weaknesses in communication. It may sound coincidental due to the pronunciation of my name(Syai has the same pronunciation as shy), as I am actually quite shy when speaking to others. This is probably because I may not have much to say or sometimes I might lack confidence here and there to just speak up. Perhaps I should pluck up my courage and speak up a bit more than how I usually do. I should work on these issues to be efficient in communicating. I do hope I can improve on my communication skills throughout this course.
Commented on:
Yar Zar
Marcus
Mei Ying
Hi Syaifudin, no one is born with the confidence to speak in crowd or with the ability to just say whatever they want. However, this trait can be improved on through practice and preparations. Try embracing every opportunity you have to speak up, whether it is in class or just within your group of friends. Through practices and experience, your confidence level will rise up and naturally you wouldn’t be fearful of speaking what you want. Confidence can also be built up through preparation, for example running through what you want to say in my mind first. This will lessen any possible stammering or stuttering, which will help build up your confidence. All in all, if you don’t believe in what you are saying, nobody else will. Hope my advice helps, and good luck in improving yourself during COM150. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Angela, thank you for your remarks. I agree with you that no one is born having the confidence to speak easily or confidently in a crowd. I will definitely look into it to speak up. However, i also feel that one of the important points that one could take note in improving their communication skills is by observing how others communicate effectively. A person who demonstrates good communication skills would be yourself. I have observed your presentations skills for last semester was superbly good. You spoke clearly, loudly and also in a consience manner. While you were presenting, I also took down notes on your body language like how you stood confidently and use hand motions in a timely manner. I believe this is also one of the ways that one could take to improve on their communication skills. Wouldn't you agree so?
ReplyDeletethanks for the compliment, syai. I agree, that is definitely one of the ways to improve or show your confidence in front of others. those gestures could be practiced, like a planned hand gestures like pointing your arm towards the slides, could direct their attention to where you want it to be. although, it is a planned hand gestures or things that you do to appear confident to others, there's a saying, that you can fake it until you make it and confidence is definitely one of those things.
DeleteOut of curiosity Angela, do you fake your portrayal of confidence or are you already confident in speaking to others? This is because you seemed perfectly confident when speaking or presenting to others. I will definitely take notes of this point of yours and try to look confident to others. Hopefully, i will improve myself and be more confident to others when i am speaking or presenting.
DeleteHi Syai, I do face the same weakness as you as I am also someone who lack of confidence when speaking, especially to someone who I just met/know. But tell this to yourself if u don't step out of comfort zone you wont be able to change. But I know you can do it ask long as you keep trying!!
ReplyDeleteHi Syai, i agree that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses, and i believe everyone faces the same weaknesses that you face at some point in their lives before. Actually from what i noticed about you, you don't seem to be lacking confidence to speak up, maybe that only applies to strangers. But don't we all? Practice makes perfect. Let's work towards building more confidence in our communication skills. All the best.
ReplyDeleteHi Marcus, thank you for swinging by and leaving a humble comment on my post. I agree with you that everyone will have to face their own weaknesses at some point of time. But i strongly believe with practice, our communication skills will get better. But to practice, one must have confidence to speak up. To be honest Marcus, i am a very shy person. And yes, i do lack confidence. Maybe those times when you see me speak up are the days where i tried to be confident and to speak up. If you notice, i might stumble or stutter whenever i am speaking. And this is the my lack of confidence part.
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ReplyDeleteThanks, Syai, for a good initial post. You contextualize the topic and your task with a short intro. That appropriately frames the discussion. Then you focus well on two areas, one a strength, one a weakness. What is good in each of these brief discussions is that you elaborate with an explanation.
ReplyDeleteThe only thing I don't understand is when you mention the irony of your name. What is that reference to?
Here are a few other comments:
1) From there, I am able to view things from the other party's perspective and understand what he/she really meant. >>> (verb tense inconsistency)
2)a few confidence >>> 'confidence' is non-count
3) ...and speak up a bit more than how I usually am. >>>
and speak up a bit more than how I usually do.
I look forward to reading more of your writing
Hi Brad, thank you for the reply. I'm sorry for the delay in replying your post. I assumed that we were only required to edit our blog post when you have given us some inputs on how to improve our blog post. My sincere apologies and i will take note of this in future.
DeleteRegarding my earlier post, the part where i mentioned based on the irony of my name, it was actually supposed to mean coincidentally. My name has the same pronunciation as shy which pretty much sums up my character. I've edited my post and mentioned the coincidental portion.
Thank you, Syai!
DeleteThank you Yar Zar for the sincere comment. I will definitely put in more effort to practice my communication skills. I sure do need confidence. You for one, are a very confident person. I have always looked up to you when you present during class presentations. You are definitely an admirable person to look up to when it comes to presentations.
ReplyDeleteHi Syai!
ReplyDeleteI agree about your strengths. You are a really good listener and I've always enjoy talking to you.
Whenever we are in a conversation, you demonstrates non-verbal cues such as eye-contact and positive body language whichs tells me that you are truly listening and not just hearing what i am saying.
Not many people have listening skills like you do, so do keep it up as listening skills are essential in everyday’s communication!
Btw can you share some tips on how do you keep yourself from being distracted when you are in a long conversation? Sometimes when the topic’s dry and very long, my attention might drift away from the speaker.
Regarding your weakness, I can relate to that as I am an introvert. I'm quite shy to approach and talk to people. How i overcome it is that by joining CCA clubs that can improve my communication skills like Toastmasters. The club is a platform to improve your skills in talking with people. I can share with you more about the CCA when we meet in class.
Regards,
Hany Humaira