Language

            The first part of this experiment involving no language I found to be extremely hard.  It was nearly impossible to communicate other than simple yes, no, and I don’t know answers.  My partners in the conversation also had a lot of difficulty gaining any useful information from my attempts at communicating.  They changed from their usual conversation to simply asking a lot of yes and no questions at which I could nod accordingly.  If I had acted like we were two foreign cultures meeting for the first time, I’m sure nothing would have been understood.  Considering I wouldn’t know a word of “their” spoken language we most likely would have shaken hands or something of the like and parted ways.  The spoken language has a much higher advantage in communicating complex ideas, but that won’t do you much good if the party you are trying to tell these ideas doesn’t speak your language.   In this case, the spoken language culture will probably not think very highly of the more primitive culture and split up from them.  Individuals in our culture, whom cannot speak such as the deaf and dumb, don’t seem to have any problem when using the ASL system.  The ASL is capable of communicating any complex idea that spoken language is capable of perfectly fine.  At my previous employer we had a deaf customer whom came regularly and would simply write her orders down on a little notepad. 

             For the second part of the experiments where we could strictly communicate with speech and nothing else, I didn’t have quite as much trouble as the first.  Other then trying to keep the smiling to a minimum, staying monotone and restricting the urge to use motion was fairly simple.  My partners weren’t necessarily affected in any way other then me sounding a little strange and boring.  We were still able to communicate anything that needed to be said just fine.  Having said that, it did take some getting used to not to move your hands a little bit or change facial expressions through speech.  This tells me that body language and movement plays a large role in communication even though you may not notice it.  I can imagine it must be difficult for the blind to fully communicate with others not being able to read their body language.  Reading body language helps you understand what the other party is truly trying to say with their words.  Some situations where not reading body language could be an advantage would be at the poker table, bidding on an item at live auction, and certain law enforcement situations.