When you hear the word barrier, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Perhaps a fence separating backyards, a construction sign blocking the road from traffic, a crowd of fans obstructing the view of a concert singer, or a blockade preventing ships from passing through a channel. Whatever it is, each follows the rudimentary definition of a barrier: Anything used or acting to block someone from going somewhere or from doing something, or to block something from happening (Cambridge). Regarding speech and communication, barriers are considerably the same; they are averting understanding from reaching another individual. An alternative term for barriers found in communication is noise. Noise distorts or interferes with a message from reaching…show more content… Slang is “language used by particular groups that is highly informal, nonstandard, and often considered improper” (DeVito 432). To illustrate, Isaac went to town for a haircut at my Uncle Rob’s Outback Barber Shop. Right from the beginning, my Uncle Rob asked Isaac if he was “learning the ropes.” Growing up here in the states we would be able to translate this message into another question such as, “are you beginning to understand the ways of life around here?” Yet Isaac couldn’t comprehend what these phrases meant. Therefore, a communication adjustment was required of our vocabularies for effective communication to occur (Devito 12).
This example of mistranslation can be considered as a barrier called semantic noise. Semantics is the study of language that deals with the meaning of words (DeVito 432). So, semantic noise is created when the same word or phrase has a separate meaning between the listener and speaker (DeVito 10). Therefore, while Rob was asking Isaac if he was “getting the hang of things,” Isaac was thinking about a large cord or string. Also, this can be considered a cultural barrier for Isaac, since applying these slangs in regular communication is built into our culture, and it was required of him to overcome…show more content… However, instead of moving away from the distractions, occasionally I was able to move the distractions themselves. By telling the younger kids to quiet down or sending them to play somewhere else, I was able to alleviate the barrier. Whichever method was applied to solve the problem, each one would be classified as a corrective solution since they were dealt with after the problem had already occurred. Telling the kids to stop or greatly distancing ourselves from the distractions would have been the optimal choice for the communication to continue. However, at a Christmas party, it was typically chilly outside, hence moving across the room or simply leaning in closer were usually the options we were stuck with. These measures made the situation a little better, but they weren’t
