A study at the Stanford University School of Business tracked a group of MBAs 10 years after they graduated. The result. grade point averages had no bearing on their success. But their ability to converse with others did their ability to communicate made the difference. Some time ago, I came across this cartoon in an Indian newspaper, and as regards inflation, price rise, labor unrest and corruption, that we made this one point very clear that I know you believe you understand what I've said. But I'm not sure if you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.

Thank you. It's easy for us to miss communicate. Sometimes we think we've communicated and realize that Later that we haven't been understood. What is even worse is when we think we've communicated or been understood, and we never find out that we weren't. Much of the world is united by the use of English. But there's also a certain sense in which the world is divided by that very same common language.

There are many forms of English spoken around the world. friends from the UK and the southern part of the US said that sometimes they could communicate better using Hindi than English. Even in two countries where English is the primary language. There are sometimes there is sometimes difficulty in understanding you have an advantage going to the US from a country where English is commonly spoken. The disadvantage is that English patterns are deeply embedded in your mind and strongly influence Let's buy your first language. Whether it be telling you Tamil or Hindi, Gujarati or one of the numerous other languages spoken in India, Indian students do sometimes have a hard time understanding American accents.

And at times, Americans have a hard time with Indian accents. Using this common communication model, we will focus on areas where communication is most likely to break down. When we know what went wrong with communication, we are better able to adjust and find ways to communicate more effectively. First, the sender. I have something in my mind that I want to get into your mind. It would be nice if I could simply take out my thumb drive, plug it into my mind, then transfer my thoughts directly into your mind but obviously that doesn't work.

The first thing is sender does and can use indicating is to encode the message. We've already talked about body language the shake of the head or eye contact as examples of some communication code. In face to face communication, body language and nonverbal cues speak much more powerfully than words. Also, our voice qualities speak and are very significant. Words account for only 7% of what is said. In spoken communication, the most important factor in encoding communication is voice quality.

Our first language has a large impact on how we encode our message. Let's look at them individually. rate of speed. Many Indians feel that Americans speak fast. What they don't realize is that to Americans, they're also speaking fast and it engineer returning from the US said that The most important thing he learned the most single important thing that he learned while in California, was to slow down his communication. One reason we feel others are speaking so fast is that we're not used to the rhythm of the language.

In the US, we usually give our phone number in the patterns of three numbers and then a pause, three numbers of pause and then four. So I would say 717248 to 916. If someone repeats my number back to me with a different pattern 717248 to 916 it seems like a totally different number to me. When I was growing up, we would say things like Digi Digi. That's a very fast rhythm and people from that work from my part of Pennsylvania. They really didn't understand what I was saying.

And so when we use the rhythms of our own language, and transfer those rhythms to a second language, often there is failure to understand it makes understanding much more difficult. Pitch has to do with how high or how low our voices. When we get excited, our pitch will go up. Think of the cricket announcer and it's a sixer or hearing that your friend is getting married. Our voices tend to go up when we when we get excited. Most research indicates that India speak in a slightly higher pitch than their American counterparts.

In flexion. We tend to emphasize certain syllables and words. Indians emphasize different syllables than Americans. A teacher at the American Embassy school was in a workshop where the presenter made this statement, it is important to keep good records. She couldn't understand what he was saying. She would have said, it's important to keep good records.

Another word, project or project, a significant amount of misunderstanding happens because of the difference of inflection or stress on words. tone. Our voices also express emotion, tone. Our voices also express emotions. Americans like to hear cheerful sounding people. listening for the tone is important, and often tells us more than just our words.

If I tell my son, Josh, hey, Josh, really, really angry at you right now. What's he going to think? Or if I tell my wife Yes, I love you, Cindy. Will You did a great job on that project. We're commuting, creating something very different with our tone than we are with our actual words. Volume.

High volume is often misinterpreted as anger when it's not intended. low volume is sometimes interpreted as weakness or fear. Sometimes when we feel nervous will speak a bit softer. When you're in a public place with a friend, or when you're speaking on your cell phone, be careful not to get carried away and speak in a voice which is too loud. Americans will see that as quite rude. articulation.

If I say a sentence without opening my mouth wide, then it's harder for you to hear me. deli is really, really really hot during the month of May and New York is really cold during Jen worry, I was not articulating and it was harder for you to hear me. If I over a ticket articulate it sounds like this deli is really, really hot during the month of May. And New York is really cold during January, in the Indian languages are sometimes spoken with a more lateral movement of the mouth as opposed to vertical. And so for some of you for better clarity, you may want to practice opening your mouth wider. You may want to get into a front of a mirror and simply open your mouth and see how wide you are opening your mouth.

It's important to realize that voice patterns and culture, the cultures around us, our native language impact how we communicate and be intentional about developing good communication patterns, so that you will be understood Next is code. The actual word spoken may have a different meaning in India, largely because of the influence of the British English. A word used in England may mean something totally different in America. This bank slogan, would it work in the US, if you have a dream we have a scheme to an American it means the bank wants to cheat you. scheme is always seen as scam in the US. There are phrases like you must be knowing may come across as a bit arrogant to an American Americans won't connect with these phrases either.

I will do the needful. I want to intimate to you. I will revert back to you. It is like that only. Other phrases. I did my graduation From, it's better to say I got my MBA from or I graduated from I passed out of an American, here's that he might think that you have fainted, we would simply say I graduated from.

There's also confusion over the words take or give an exam or a test. To take a test means you are the student to get a test that means you are the teacher, just the reverse of the way it is in India. And other ones one might be I belong to Rajasthan, instead, we would say I am from Rajasthan. And so be aware of the meaning of words and how an American would say various phrases and begin to adapt and think about it in the American way. Another area of confusion, maybe idioms Americans use a lot of idioms which make no sense if taken literally. They are only understood if you understand the context.

We especially use a lot of sports idioms. You may want to go online and familiarize yourself with American idioms in general and especially sports idioms. Sports idioms are things like this. You really slam that out of the park today, which means you really did Wow. I'm pitch hitting for Tom today, which means I'm taking his place I'm substituting threw me a curve, which is a kind of pitch which was hard to hit in baseball. And so it was something that comes at me and I wasn't prepared for some idioms developed in youth culture.

If someone says, that's really bad, with a certain kind of voice inflection, it actually means that's really good. I really like it. Our neighbor Raj went to Japan to work as an intern with IBM. He was explaining how arranged marriages work to his boss. And his boss said, Oh, get out of here. And my friend thought the boss literally meant he should leave the office.

So be prepared for American idioms. Listening is very important if we were to decode what is being said, especially if you're in a class and miss what the professor is saying, it may hurt you later. Or if you're working on a group project and you miss what others are saying, it could mean that you'll miss an important point which may later get you into trouble. But some common barriers to listening. Sometimes it's accent. There will be students from around the world at your university.

Sometimes graduate students called tpas. teach a class And they may have an accent that it's that's difficult for you to understand. If you miss one word while trying to figure out what that word was, often what is what happens is we miss more words because we've become distracted, and then ultimately miss a whole sentence. Something sometimes we assume that we know what the other person is going to say. And we jump to conclusions. We hear what we want to hear.

At times, we try to think how we are going to respond and actually miss what the other person is saying. Or it may be that we Daydream because the lecture is boring, or the person in the conversation is going on and on without giving an opportunity to speak. Let me encourage you to be careful to develop good listening skills. Your grade may depend upon it. We're going to do a brief Exercise. What I would like you to do now is tear out a piece of paper from your notebook or find an a4 piece of paper.

Or if you're already in the US the normal size of paper is eight inches by five inches. In a few seconds the screen will go blank. I want you to listen carefully and follow my instructions. If you haven't found a piece of paper yet, you can pause the screen until you do and then restart it. The first thing I want you to do is fold your sheet of paper in half. Now tear off the upper right hand corner.

Folded in half again and tear off the upper left hand corner. folded in half again and now tear off the lower right hand corner. Okay, does your paper match mine? I doubt that it does. Why? We began with different assumptions.

And you didn't have the opportunity to ask me questions as to how I folded my paper. I folded my paper the first time in half this way. And so there was numerous possibilities for miscommunication. And in our communication, this is very common. We start doing something we make assumptions about what the speaker is speaking, and miscommunication happens easily. The listener rarely makes the same assumptions as the speaker.

This means that when someone is told to do something, he or she will interpret the message based upon the person Since experience, communicating has a lot to do with an interactive process, so that the speaker and the listener can understand each other. Professor Dougie Carr studies the cultural adjustment problems of Indian studying in the US in her doctoral dissertation, listening, observing and communicating with other students greatly helped the participants in adjusting to the academic environment and made them more comfortable in asking approaching and communicating with American students and with their instructors. Focused listening and observation facilitated their communication and helped in participation skills. Don't underestimate the power of active listening. For in store the in speaking of India, by the way An excellent book about common communication lapses between Americans and Indians. Craig was doing a training at Intel.

And after the morning training, he was eating lunch with a group of Indian it engineers. He asked them what they would do if their boss told them something. And they didn't understand. They told Greg what they usually do. They get together with their Indian friends and asked what the boss said. And if they can't figure it out, they proceed with what they think he said.

Don't be embarrassed if you don't understand what is being said. Complete the loop of communication by responding with a verbal cue indicating whether or not you're under your understanding what was being said. Remember, the shake of the head won't work. Say yes. All right. Listen to those students around you and pick up on something their responses and how they interact with others.

Or if you don't understand something the professor has said, don't be afraid to approach the professor and ask, she'll be open to your questions. At times, you may need to make an appointment. Again, because of our very time oriented culture. The professor will usually have one or two hours in the week or two or three times a week, when you can make an appointment and approach the professor. If you disagree with something, and it doesn't doesn't fit into your frame of reference, it's okay to bring it up and ask the professor about it. There's some common phrases Americans use to confirm understanding.

They'll say I'm sorry, I don't understand. Could you please speak a bit more slowly. I'm sorry, I can't hear you very well. I didn't quite catch that. Could you run that by me again? Can you explain that in a different way?

I'm sorry, I didn't hear you. If the message is complex, this verbal recognition will include a restatement or a rephrasing statement of the sender's message. Something like so as I understand that you're saying that we need to provide at least 16 resources for this paper. Make sure that you don't go away without understanding, completely complete the loop of communication. Work on it. It's very important.

Communication is such an important part of your college and graduate school experience. Make it extra effort to excel at communication