Part One – Description of Interaction
Working at a Hotel’s reception, I personally interact with over one hundred people a day, possibly more. I experience many cultures and customs and you have to quickly assess and apply this to each individual guest.
One scenario, where I have misunderstood a guest, was Mr Wilson. Mr Wilson was French and his English was very scarce, and the same applied in regards to my knowledge of French. From his non-verbal communications and his few words of English I ascertained that he wanted a late check out. He smiled and nodded. I asked Mr Wilson what time he would like to check out, but he did not understand, so I asked again pointing to my watch. Mr Wilson, smiled, nodded and said ‘Twelve’
At this point …show more content…
Both of these factors can give other people an idea of how you are feeling, especially if they are at a distance and unable to see your face. Gestures, primarily using your arms and upper body are used ‘basically for two purposes—to illustrate speech and convey verbal meaning’ (Matsumoto, Frank & Hwang, 2013) whereas, body language looks at how you sit, your posture when you walk and communicate ‘attitudinal states and general affect, as opposed to the very specific emotions communicated by face and voice’ (Matsumoto, Frank & Hwang, 2013). It is has also been found that using hand gestures, and body language relives our cognitive loads, for example when someone is counting something, pointing at it, or even nodding helps that person more accurately count work out what they want to achieve, or when someone is to describe the size of an item, or otherwise they can you gestures to show this, rather than trying to find descriptive …show more content…
If someone walks into a room and stands in front of you with their arms crossed, we can generally assume that this person is angry or annoyed at something. This can also be applied if someone is lying back on the chair, arms behind their head; they are in a more relaxed state of mind. In the case study, while there was that language barrier, we were able to ascertain each other’s communication through gestures and body language. To see what time Mr Wilson wanted to check out, I pointed to my watch, so he knew I was asking about the time, and when we asked each questions, we nodded or shook our heads, which almost seems to be an international language for yes and no. These gestures and body language are integral to understanding a person’s emotions and level of comfort in a situation, both elements of a person that they would never tell you, especially if it is the first time meeting you, but information that is important to a
Working at a Hotel’s reception, I personally interact with over one hundred people a day, possibly more. I experience many cultures and customs and you have to quickly assess and apply this to each individual guest.
One scenario, where I have misunderstood a guest, was Mr Wilson. Mr Wilson was French and his English was very scarce, and the same applied in regards to my knowledge of French. From his non-verbal communications and his few words of English I ascertained that he wanted a late check out. He smiled and nodded. I asked Mr Wilson what time he would like to check out, but he did not understand, so I asked again pointing to my watch. Mr Wilson, smiled, nodded and said ‘Twelve’
At this point …show more content…
Both of these factors can give other people an idea of how you are feeling, especially if they are at a distance and unable to see your face. Gestures, primarily using your arms and upper body are used ‘basically for two purposes—to illustrate speech and convey verbal meaning’ (Matsumoto, Frank & Hwang, 2013) whereas, body language looks at how you sit, your posture when you walk and communicate ‘attitudinal states and general affect, as opposed to the very specific emotions communicated by face and voice’ (Matsumoto, Frank & Hwang, 2013). It is has also been found that using hand gestures, and body language relives our cognitive loads, for example when someone is counting something, pointing at it, or even nodding helps that person more accurately count work out what they want to achieve, or when someone is to describe the size of an item, or otherwise they can you gestures to show this, rather than trying to find descriptive …show more content…
If someone walks into a room and stands in front of you with their arms crossed, we can generally assume that this person is angry or annoyed at something. This can also be applied if someone is lying back on the chair, arms behind their head; they are in a more relaxed state of mind. In the case study, while there was that language barrier, we were able to ascertain each other’s communication through gestures and body language. To see what time Mr Wilson wanted to check out, I pointed to my watch, so he knew I was asking about the time, and when we asked each questions, we nodded or shook our heads, which almost seems to be an international language for yes and no. These gestures and body language are integral to understanding a person’s emotions and level of comfort in a situation, both elements of a person that they would never tell you, especially if it is the first time meeting you, but information that is important to a