The greatest ingenuity of the
Homo sapiens breed has been development and evolvement of language over time.
Looking at the long standing human history of more than 60,000 years, semantics,
we can argue is not older than 15,000 years. In the gap of 45,000 years, our
ancestors developed sign languages, stone carvings and the likes to communicate
with themselves. Such act tells us something that has been inborn with
humans—their ability to communicate, and their ability to communicate
effectively. It also highlights that communication, since its discovery has
been an integral part of human history. It also has become a meter that
differentiates us from other living species that inhabit the earth.
While communication has helped us
to express ourselves amongst our peers, it also has come with a drawback—the
inability of a speaker or a receiver to express and understand the message.
This faultiness leads the receiver to
The virtues of effective speaking
can be very appealing and its power is greatly realized. However,
miscommunication, as shown by a recent communal riot of Muzzafarnagar, an
Indian town where many people lost their lives due to a spam video posted on
Facebook, gives us a glimpse of what miscommunication could lead to. The
incident also brings forward numerous concepts that communication theorists put
forward to answer communication barriers.
A person is a reflection of the
society that he inhabits. The cultural values, social mores and norms,
traditions, upbringing, beliefs, religion and attitudes, all define a person
and his thoughts. Such social institutions, then, plays an important role in
successful communication or its lack. Moreover, in modern times, the
heterogeneous audience that the media attracts across the world further
intensifies communication barriers.
Technical jargons, emotional
barriers and taboos, inattention, distraction or irrelevance of a subject to
the receiver also affects desired content delivery. Moreover, expectations, and
prejudices which leads to false assumptions also hinders communication process.
Briefly, these hurdles can be categorized into six headings; language barrier, psychological barrier,
physiological barrier, physical, systematic and attitudinal barriers.
Language barrier incorporates the
inability of the receiver or the speaker to effectively put one’s word to
express ideas. This barrier includes technical jargons and abbreviations,
regional colloquialism and expressions. For example, a person who is attending
a lecture on health issues is unlikely to understand specific words related to
medicine.
Moreover, the psychological state
of a speaker or a receiver also affects the reception of desired message. To
illustrate, a person disturbed by certain incidents is unlikely to listen and
grab the news he is hearing on a radio. In doing so, he is likely to recall
certain words from the news and react accordingly.
Physical barrier, likewise, could
obstruct sound content delivery and its effects. People who have hearing
problems are unlikely to grab every word spoken. In turn, he misunderstands the
message and reacts differently. For example, I have a relative who has hearing
problem. In turn, he, often times, misses the words and replies to what he
“thinks to have heard”. Consequently, the message goes undelivered.
A systematic barrier in
communication arises in organizations when there are undefined communication
channels or when there is lack of understanding in roles and responsibilities
of staffs in communication process due to improper management.
Attitudinal barriers comprise
behaviors from the receiver or speaker to a specific content. Biases,
preconceived notions, and one’s inability to judge contents impartially also
hinders communication. Attitudinal barriers also includes a person’s resistance
to change. For a successful communication to happen, both the speaker and the
receiver should overcome their biases and act consciously.
To sum up, we can therefore say
that while communication has played a vital role in expressing oneself, its
inability could also affect effective content delivery. Our perceptions,
thoughts, beliefs, social values, customs, and rituals also assists or hinders
the communication process.
