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Verbally communicating is the most frequently used and highly developed form of human communication. It is essential that we understand its role and effectiveness in our daily lives. In our own perception we may convey the message clearly and understandingly. The opposing individual may conceive it differently by the way it was expressed or by a simple misunderstanding of language used. Verbal communications can be broken down into two parts; Language and Listening. Understanding these two key elements will help us better our own verbal communication skills and able us to express our meanings more clearly for the receiving party to better understand us. From the time we were born, sounds produced by our vocal chords gradually form into words. Words alone carry no meaning but as a word is assigned a meaning, language develops and then leads onto the development of speaking. The development of languages reflects gender, profession, class, age group, and other social factors. Considering there are over 3,000 languages and major dialects worldwide, it can be exceedingly difficult to communicate between the different languages. Beyond the diversity of foreign languages, problems in communicating also arise within a single language. While engaging in conversation we tend to make assumptions that the words we use mean the same to us as to the person we are talking to. It is important that we take into consideration that every person thinks, talks, and listens in their own unique language that may slightly vary in meaning from our own. The meanings of our own personal language originates from our culture, religion, country, neighborhood, job, personality, education, family, friends, recreation, sex, experiences, age, and other factors. Understanding how words bring about meaning helps us to better understand language. Words are arbitrary, they have no inherent meanings; they have only the meaning people give them.
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