How Clear Is Your Message?-The History , Science and Art of Communication

George Bernard Shaw once said:
“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place”.
Man ,a social animal as he is often called ,learnt to communicate as soon as he found that we cannot live without expressing our thoughts to the person we are confronting.This led to development of various means of communication including sign language. Gradually he found means to communicate in various other forms and today we are communicating in various languages in different parts of the globe.But the question still remains that are able to convey our message completely and clearly? Was the early man more successful in doing so?
This skill of communication in the modern day world is one of the most important elements .There are many students who do remarkably well in academics but fail to succeed in their career for want of adequate flair for communication. The most common misconception is that a rich vocabulary, correct grammar and right pronunciation is all that is required for the communicator but that is not so.
The way in which you transfer your views to the other person and receive information from him through a common system of symbols, signs ,behaviour speech, writing, body language and signals is not just an art. There is a humorous quote:
“When all other means of communication fail ,try words”.
The most important thing in any communication is that the recipient should understand what the speaker intends to convey.It is a generic process of translating information from one domain to one or more domains through a medium.
How many of you have thought listening is the most integral ingredient in effective communication? This is a central aspect and you can hardly get any special hints from your school teacher. As a part of usual learning in schools and colleges you are exposed to only fine points of reading ,writing and speaking.
If you think in effective communication ,selecting appropriate words or expressions to convey your thoughts is what you need then you need to think twice over your thoughts.
In any form of communication, content ,form and destination are required and a good communicator should be able to apply all the three in the process of communication for it to be effective.There is a gap between what the sender wants to covey and what the receiver actually receives.Your process of forming words to express your idea can be called as decoding. Sometimes it may be in the form of picture, chart, sound, screen presentation or some other medium.
When the receiver looks at the medium he is able to understand the idea based on the meaning and forms a clear conception. This can be called as decoding.
Effective communication can be achieved if a deliberate attempt is made to reduce the gap with special care.The medium should be used carefully keeping in mind the type and background of the receiver of the message.the meanings given in dictionaries may not apply in all circumstances or the usual meanings may have little relevance.Before we start our discussions sometimes it becomes necessary to define the terms that we would use during the course of conversation.
These are just the basics but what remains is how long can you keep the listener involved in your conversation.Is he really interested in what you are trying to convey?It always becomes important to get your point across in different settings.And this requires a lot of practice to bridge the gap between the content of the medium and the idea grasped by the receiver. With practice one can master skills of effective communication.

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