Introduction

Communication is an essential part of human interaction. The benefits of effective

communication are many and obvious as they enhance all aspects of our personal and
professional lives. Ineffective or misunderstood communications in our personal lives may give
rise to problems or embarrassment but in our professional lives the results of misunderstandings
may have much more serious results. In the world of international shipping, with seafarers from
many countries sailing on ships trading to all parts of the world, effective communication
between those on board and between ship and shore is vitally important.
The importance of communications
Although used in a slightly different context, a phrase from some British propaganda during WII
Neatly sums up the dangers of ineffective communications: ‘Careless talk costs lives’. That may
be over-dramatic in most cases where communications between seafarers or between ship and
shore go awry but it does illustrate the importance of effective communications and the real
dangers if they go badly wrong. IMO analyses reports of casualties and accidents to see if there
are any lessons to be learned for the future. Many accidents are found to be due mainly to
operational issues of proper procedure, maintenance and design, rather than to proper
implementation of regulations but effectiveness of bridge resource management and particularly
ineffective relationships between masters, crew and pilot are recurrent themes. Communication
difficulties often occur in these areas due in part to cultural differences but also due to language
‘barriers’. Some examples from recent analyses illustrate the problems.

List Of Communication Skills

The ability to communicate effectively is a trick learnt by many, but practiced perfectly
by not too many. This is because for most communicating is simple process. However, it
is not so, it a rather simple-complex-networking system that has varied undercurrents
flowing between the speaker and listener/s.

Given here is an interesting list of public speaking and communication skills that
one should be aware of in order to better their ability to convey their valuable
messages...

Taking responsibility for one's messages

Claiming ownership for one's messages
Preparing to listen
Encouraging the speaker to speak more
Reflecting on what the speaker has to say
Adapting to difference of opinions
Being open minded
Acknowledging differences
Assessing without being judgmental
Accepting feedback
Being assertive
Ability to share one's thoughts
Sharing one's feelings
Conveying to others a message without commanding or dictating terms
Being aware of the information coming in
Maintaining a communication wheel of conclusions, sense data, emotions, impact and
desire
Calm repetition to drive in a message
Addressing people by their name
Ability to explain a concept differently so that all those present understand it at their level
Ability to resolve conflicts so that it is a win-win for all
Ability to be concise and clear
Ability to convey thoughts in a focused and concrete manner
Ability to confront a situation without ruffling any feathers
Ability to convey with and empathetic statement
Ability to explain objectively without evaluating
Ability to provide specific details supported by concrete examples
Ability to monitor emotional reactions and filter out irrational thoughts
Ability to project oneself into the audience's point of view

Communication Barriers
No matter how good and effective a communicator one maybe, yet the fact is that one
does face certain barriers, from time to time, which forces them to work on becoming
even more effective in their skills to communicate. Given here are the communication
barriers that occur while listening, speaking and in the case of non-verbal
communications...

Listening barriers:

Interrupting the speaker

Not maintaining eye contact with the speaker
Rushing the speaker to complete what he/she has to say
Making the speaker feel as though he/she is wasting the listener's time
Being distracted by something that is not part of the on going communication
Getting ahead of the speaker and completing his/her thoughts
Ignoring the speaker's requests
Topping the speaker's story with one's own set of examples
Forgetting what is being discussed
Asking too many questions, for they sake of probing

Barriers while speaking:

Unclear messages
Lack of consistency in the communication process
Incomplete sentences
Not understanding the receiver
Not seeking clarifications while communicating
The other barriers include:

An individual's subjective viewpoint towards issues/people, which leads to assumptions.

An emotional block, which can lead to an attitude of indifference, suspicion or hostility
towards the subject.
An emotional block or bias that is based on a third party's view point or on what you have
read/heard.
Words can have different meanings to different people, thus blocking communication.
Use of negative words

importance of audience and purpose in communication

• Audience is the person or people who will be reading your essay
o Even before you write one word in the planning stages, ask yourself:
�What do my readers know about my topic?
� What will they want to know about my topic?
� What level of language is most appropriate for this particular audience?
• Tone is how something is said in a piece of writing
o Once you have determined your audience, you must decide on the tone of
your
essay
o Your word choice can be divided into five levels:
1. very informal—like you talk to your friends
2. informal—like you talk to your parent or guardian
3. formal—like you talk to your teacher
4. more formal—like you talk to the principal or your boss
5. highly formal—like you would talk to a college professor or the President
o Generally, the tone of your essay should be a 3, 4 or 5
• Purpose is your reason for writing
o to entertain
o to persuade
o to analyze
o to describe
Directions:
Communication
Communication is a process of transferring information from one entity to another.
Communication processes are sign-mediated interactions between at least two agents
which share a repertoire of signs and semiotic rules. Communication is commonly
defined as "the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech,
writing, or signs". Although there is such a thing as one-way communication,
communication can be perceived better as a two-way process in which there is an
exchange and progression of thoughts, feelings or ideas (energy) towards a mutually
accepted goal or direction (information).[1]

Overview

Communication are a process whereby information is enclosed in a package and is

discreeted and imparted by sender to a receiver via a channel/medium. The receiver then
decodes the message and gives the sender a feedback. Communication requires that all
parties have an area of communicative commonality. There are auditory means, such as
speech, song, and tone of voice, and there are nonverbal means, such as body language,
sign language, paralanguage, touch, eye contact, and writing.

Information communication revolutions

As time progress, so does technology. Technology has made things much simpler for
humans, including adding new ways for us to communicate. Researchers have divided
how communication works into 3 revolutions.

The 1st Information Communication Revolution: The 1st written communication began
with pictographs. These writings can be found on stone, which were too heavy to
transfer. During this era, written communication was not mobile.

The 2nd Information Communication Revolution: The Gutenberg press was invented.
Gutenberg printed the 1st bible. The books were able to be transferred for others across
the world to view. Written communication is now storable, and portable.

The 3rd Information Communication Revolution: Information can now be transferred via
waves, bits, and other electronic signals.

Communication is thus a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt

to create shared understanding. This process requires a vast repertoire of skills in
intrapersonal and interpersonal processing, listening, observing, speaking, questioning,
analyzing, and evaluating. It is through communication that collaboration and
cooperation occur.[2].....
There are also many common barriers to successful communication, two of which are
message overload (when a person receives too many messages at the same time), and
message complexity.[3] Communication is a continuous process.

Types of communication

There are three major parts in human face to face communication which are body
language, voice tonality, and words. According to the research:[4]

• 55% of impact is determined by body language—postures, gestures, and eye

contact,
• 38% by the tone of voice, and
• 7% by the content or the words used in the communication process.

Although the exact percentage of influence may differ from variables such as the listener
and the speaker, communication as a whole strives for the same goal and thus, in some
cases, can be universal. System of signals, such as voice sounds, intonations or pitch,
gestures or written symbols which communicate thoughts or feelings. If a language is
about communicating with signals, voice, sounds, gestures, or written symbols, can
animal communications be considered as a language? Animals do not have a written form
of a language, but use a language to communicate with each another. In that sense, an
animal communication can be considered as a separate language.

Human spoken and written languages can be described as a system of symbols

(sometimes known as lexemes) and the grammars (rules) by which the symbols are
manipulated. The word "language" is also used to refer to common properties of
languages. Language learning is normal in human childhood. Most human languages use
patterns of sound or gesture for symbols which enable communication with others around
them. There are thousands of human languages, and these seem to share certain
properties, even though many shared properties have exceptions.

There is no defined line between a language and a dialect, but the linguist Max Weinreich
is credited as saying that "a language is a dialect with an army and a navy". Constructed
languages such as Esperanto, programming languages, and various mathematical
formalisms are not necessarily restricted to the properties shared by human languages.

Nonverbal communication

Nonverbal communication is the process of communicating through sending and

receiving wordless messages. Such messages can be communicated through gesture,
body language or posture; facial expression and eye contact, object communication such
as clothing, hairstyles or even architecture, or symbols and infographics, as well as
through an aggregate of the above, such as behavioral communication. Nonverbal
communication plays a key role in every person's day to day life, from employment to
romantic engagements.
Speech may also contain nonverbal elements known as paralanguage, including voice
quality, emotion and speaking style, as well as prosodic features such as rhythm,
intonation and stress. Likewise, written texts have nonverbal elements such as
handwriting style, spatial arrangement of words, or the use of emoticons. A portmanteau
of the English words emotion (or emote) and icon, an emoticon is a symbol or
combination of symbols used to convey emotional content in written or message form.

Other communication channels such as telegraphy fit into this category, whereby signals
travel from person to person by an alternative means. These signals can in themselves be
representative of words, objects or merely be state projections. Trials ave shown that
humans can communicate directly in this way[5] without body language, voice tonality or
words.

Categories and Features G. W. Porter divides non-verbal communication into four

broad categories:

Physical. This is the personal type of communication. It includes facial expressions, tone
of voice, sense of touch, sense of smell, and body motions.

Aesthetic. This is the type of communication that takes place through creative
expressions: playing instrumental music, dancing, painting and sculpturing.

Signs. This is the mechanical type of communication, which includes the use of signal
flags, the 21-gun salute, horns, and sirens.

Symbolic. This is the type of communication that makes use of religious, status, or ego-
building symbols.

Static Features

Distance. The distance one stands from another frequently conveys a non-verbal
message. In some cultures it is a sign of attraction, while in others it may reflect status or
the intensity of the exchange.

Orientation. People may present themselves in various ways: face-to-face, side-to-side,

or even back-to-back. For example, cooperating people are likely to sit side-by-side while
competitors frequently face one another.

Posture. Obviously one can be lying down, seated, or standing. These are not the
elements of posture that convey messages. Are we slouched or erect ? Are our legs
crossed or our arms folded ? Such postures convey a degree of formality and the degree
of relaxation in the communication exchange.

Physical Contact. Shaking hands, touching, holding, embracing, pushing, or patting on

the back all convey messages. They reflect an element of intimacy or a feeling of (or lack
of) attraction.
Dynamic Features

Facial Expressions. A smile, frown, raised eyebrow, yawn, and sneer all convey
information. Facial expressions continually change during interaction and are monitored
constantly by the recipient. There is evidence that the meaning of these expressions may
be similar across cultures.

Gestures. One of the most frequently observed, but least understood, cues is a hand
movement. Most people use hand movements regularly when talking. While some
gestures (e.g., a clenched fist) have universal meanings, most of the others are
individually learned and idiosyncratic.

Looking. A major feature of social communication is eye contact. It can convey emotion,
signal when to talk or finish, or aversion. The frequency of contact may suggest either
interest or boredom.

Visual communication

Visual communication as the name suggests is communication through visual aid. It is

the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon.
Primarily associated with two dimensional images, it includes: signs, typography,
drawing, graphic design, illustration, colour and electronic resources. It solely relies on
vision. It is form of communication with visual effect. It explores the idea that a visual
message with text has a greater power to inform, educate or persuade a person. It is
communication by presenting information through visual form.

The evaluation of a good visual design is based on measuring comprehension by the

audience, not on aesthetic or artistic preference. There are no universally agreed-upon
principles of beauty and ugliness. There exists a variety of ways to present information
visually, like gestures, body languages, video and TV. Here, focus is on the presentation
of text, pictures, diagrams, photos, et cetera, integrated on a computer display. The term
visual presentation is used to refer to the actual presentation of information. Recent
research in the field has focused on web design and graphically oriented usability.
Graphic designers use methods of visual communication in their professional practice.

Body language is a form of non-verbal communication, consisting of body pose,

gestures, and eye movements. Humans send and interpret such signals unconsciously.

It is often said that human communication consists of 93% body language and
paralinguistic cues, while only 7% of communication consists of words themselves [1] -
however, Albert Mehrabian, the researcher whose 1960s work is the source of these
statistics, has stated that this is a misunderstanding of the findings [2] (see
Misinterpretation of Mehrabian's rule). Others assert that "Research has suggested that
between 60 and 70 percent of all meaning is derived from nonverbal behavior."[3]
Body language may provide cues as to the attitude or state of mind of a person. For
example, it may indicate aggression, attentiveness, boredom, relaxed state, pleasure,
amusement, besides many other cues.