What is Communication?
Communication is a skill acquired by an individual to exchange messages, facts, ideas, opinions and even express emotions. This skill is acquired either without any conscious effort, or by conscious effort through education. When the skill is acquired without conscious effort (like a child acquiring its mother tongue), it creates a certain profile for the individual. That is why some people appear aggressive, some others timid and a few others sly and cunning. Examine the following situation:
You are standing in a queue to buy a ticket and some person makes an attempt to jump the queue. You can react aggressively by shouting at him, or you can timidly wink over the violation, or you can murmur and complain to the counter-clerk, or you can firmly and politely ask the man to follow the queue norm. In the first instance, you are aggressive, in the second you are non-assertive, in the third you are covert or sly and in the fourth instance you are assertive. If you have an assertive profile, you always succeed. An assertive person believes in his rights and recognizes the rights of others. He is polite and firm in his opinions. But in a situation of conflict, he is flexible to a reasonable level. He can say 'No' to a suggestion or a request without offending the person with whom he communicates. The assertive person has a problem solving attitude. It is your communication skill that helps you to succeed. But, all these varied communication behaviours reflect the individual's mindset, attitude and even culture.Why do we communicate?
Communication is a tool with which we exercise our influence on others, bring out changes in our and others' attitudes, motivate the people around us and establish and maintain relationships with them. Communication makes a major part of our active life and is a social activity. This social activity is pursued verbally through speech, reading and writing or non-verbally through body language Factors that condition communication skills
Communication skill is not language specific. It is not as though speakers of a particular language have refined communication skills whereas, the speakers of some other language have unrefined communication skills. But communication skill is related to the culture of the group to which the individual belongs. All messages that we send or receive are processed by a mental-filter. This mental-filter or the mindset is forged by our family, friends, neighbourhood, the school and society. In India, even caste and community contribute to the making of this mental-filter. This mental-filter or mindset makes us understand each other better or even leads to misunderstanding. Unless, we understand the attitude, the mindset and background of the person with whom we interact, our communication skill would be imperfect and ineffective. Complex Nature of Human Communication
Though communication exists even among some species of animals, birds and even insects, it is limited to certain noises like chirping and crying, or movements and is related to their instinctive needs like hunting, preying and mating. Human, communication is more complex, varied and has several objectives. It is complex because of the use of language, a repertoire (Store-house) of previously accepted and agreed upon oral and written codes. It is varied because it ranges from simple gestures or facial expressions to themost advanced e-mail technologies.
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