Hablame.

We talked about communication today and how to interview someone effectively. It's beneficial to understand how gaps in a conversation work and what they signify, along with what questions to ask and how to probe the interveiwee for more information.

I've noticed myself developing these skills while working at my job at the math lab. Everyday I have to explain new and complex ideas to students who have never seen anything like calculus before. I spend a few minutes with each person helping them with homework. Each student responds in a very different way to what I say--sometimes aggressively. Some are quiet and want me to do all the talking. Others simply need someone to discuss the concepts with. Every time I sit down with someone new, the way I explain the problem has to change depending on the type of learner he or she is. Oftentimes I find myself growing frustrated with the types of learners who have to go through every single step and insist on going through it very slowly. Other times I am thrilled by the progress the student has made and can't wait to explain it in more detail. All of this boils down to the different ways that people learn. It's up to me to adapt.

I think that this chore of looking for the ways in which people respond to me will be very helpful in the field. I will know when to keep quiet and let another person talk or when to clarify the points they are making. I've become less shy around people I don't know, and I'm able to get to the point of the conversation while still being polite.

The opposite is also probably true. For example, I have a roommate from Brazil. Her and I get along pretty well, especially when talking about boys, but there are some things we say to each other that the other doesn't understand. We were talking one day about how a certain boy was smitten over this Brazilian roommate and she didn't know what the word meant. We tried to explain it to her, but found that although the concept was not difficult, finding words to express it was. Not to mention the fact that "to smite" someone has a very violent connotation. This same roommate also says things to me that I don't quite understand. Sometimes I'll ask her a question and she responds with, "Mmmm?" I'm not sure if that means "Yes," or  "What did you say?" or "Hmm, that's a good point." What I'm getting at is that while I may think that I understand people fairly well in America, I might have no idea how common phrases in Tongan are used.

The other part of the conversation in class that threw me for a loop was when we talked about a student in the field who couldn't execute a project accurately because of the language barrier. It seems unfair that we go to such great lengths to understand a culture and its people, only to be barred from entry because we can't understand the subtle native nuances of the language. Fortunately, I believe that enough people in Tonga speak English that I'll get by okay...and fortunately I'm not studying human interactions and the role each citizen plays. That project would be very complicated unless I was already fairly immersed in the Tongan culture. I think that while studying plants, the only thing I'll have to understand is where and how the plant grows, what it function is, and who grows it. Beyond that, the Tongan language should not prove to be too large of an obstruction to the "success" of my project.