Reflection Week 2
Start Date
10 February 2009
Reflection
Reflection
In the second weeks seminar we discussed English as a Global Language, this debate particularly fascinated me as I often travel to Germany. In Germany I face many language barriers because of my limited knowledge of the language. In my experience I have found although through the use of English I am usually able to convey what I am saying it is always more difficult, less polite and there is room for some misunderstanding. However on the other had in my travels I have met many people from different cultures who speak different languages and I have found their common ability to speak English unites them, demonstrating English as an effective language for multicultural communication.
In this session we also undertook the ‘Gamelan Lecture’ task which surprised me because I thought it would be assessing our ability to understand another language. However the fact it was English showed me that it can also be hard to understand my own first language.
Plan
From this lecture I have decided it is important to learn basic manners in the language of the country I am visiting so that when communicating, often in a direct way, I can avoid seeming impolite
Also re-read any messages I post/send to my virtual group making sure that even though I have used correct English, the way I have written them and the language I have used will not be hard to understand considering I will be working in a multicultural group where English may not be everyone’s first language
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Comments about this
Posted by: MATTHEW EDWARD DYSON on 17 April 2009 23:17
Since setting some small aims after the session in week 2 I think I have made a good effort to complete them. Firstly I have been trying to get into the habit of proof reading correspondence like I was operating in a business environment. I have been using my virtual assignment for this proof reading all the messages I post on the Brookes Virtual discussion and trying to write them in a receiver orientated manner.
Secondly I have recently booked a one week intensive language course to learn some more German to help me on my frequent travels.