Cultural Communication

In class this week, we learned a lot about cultural communication. My professor had us do an activity to simulate for a short amount of time what it might feel like to have a communication barrier. The class divided into small groups of 4, and split up into teams of 2. Each group of 4 was given a deck of cards, and a folder containing the rules for a card game. The rules stated that there was no verbal communication allowed, including mouthing words! Some of my classmates were designated to make sure that this rule was being enforced.

Once the card game got started, the rules were collected and put away. Our group played the game fairly quickly, because we had understood the rules. When my partner and I won the match, we rotated to another group to play against someone else. When we got to the other table, we smiled and waved, not being able to say anything. When the game got started there was some confusion because my partner and I seemed to disagree with our opponents on what the correct rules were. After playing the game with a few other pairs, we realized that each group was given a different set of rules, and we were all trying to play the same game!

Looking back at the exercise, I remember the frustration of not being able to communicate what I wanted to say to the other group. I really wanted to let them know that we had different rules but I couldn't without speaking or moving my mouth. I felt misunderstood when I tried to communicate and the people around me could not guess what I was trying to say. I also felt very confused when the other team thought that they were winning, and we thought we were winning as well. As the game went on with each team, my partner and I began adapting to the rules of the table that we were at. I became good at reading people's reaction after each card was played.

I can see how this activity relates to different cultures while trying to communicate, and I was able to experience some of the feelings associated with cultural communication barriers. This was very helpful to me as a future professional working with people because it enforced the importance of patience and understanding.