Learning to Listen

In speech class I took a self-evaluation listening test. The test had a list of ten bad habits; that which I will list below. Regarding the ten bad habits, there was a frequency chart from almost always, usually, sometimes, seldom, and almost never. I had to place an check mark on the frequency I thought was correct. The following list of ten habits were:

1. Giving into mental distraction.

2. Giving into physical distractions.

3. Trying to recall everything a speaker says.

4. Rejecting a topic as uninteresting before hearing the speaker.

5. Faking paying attention.

6. Jumping to conclusions about the speaker’s meaning.

7. Deciding a speaker is wrong before hearing everything she or he has to say.

8. Judging a speaker on personal appearance.

9. Not paying attention to a speaker’s evidence.

10. Focusing on delivery rather than on what the speaker says.

After taking the test I had to use their grading chart. For every “almost always” checked, I gave myself a score of 2. For every “usually” checked, I gave myself a score of 4. For every “sometimes” checked, I gave myself a score of 6. For every “seldom” checked, I gave myself a score of 8. For every “almost never” checked, I gave myself a score of 10. Then I would count all the check marks and add them together. In this test I got a total of 84. 

Now according to my score, I was given three score interpretations. Below 70 meant that I need lots of training in listening. From 71 to 90 meant I listened well. Above 90 meant I listened exceptionally well. 

Next we took another test. This time it was a verbal test. The teacher gave us a series of questions which we wrote down our answers accordingly.

Questions similar to these for example: 

1. If you were a baby calf, who would you go to? Your mama bull or papa bull?

2. If you were a pilot, and your first son is 8 years old, your second son is four years older than your first son, what is the age of your third son who is six years younger than your second son, what is the age of the pilot if he is twenty years older than the third son. 

3. If a widow was married for 56 years and her husband wanted to give her something for their oncoming anniversary, what should he give her? 

4. Moses took in how many of each species of animals into the ark?

As you hopefully noticed, the questions aren't what you think they are. A bull can only be male, you are the pilot, and a widow can’t have an anniversary if her husband is dead, it was Noah not Moses that took the animals into the ark. 

As I examined the answers on my verbal test, it came clear to me that I wasn't as good of a listener as I thought I was. Thus, for that reason, I am including an article about listening in my blog. 

First what is listening? Are there any ways to improve listening skills? For the duration of the article I will list the concept that are used in listening how one can improve their listening skills. 

To begin, listening is defined as a process of receiving, attending to, and assigning meaning to stimuli. The concepts of listening are: selecting, attending, understanding, remembering, and evaluating. 

Selecting – means to choose one sound to listen to, among the many competing for one’s attention.

Attending – means to focus on a particular message of sound. 

There are ways you can improve the skill, such as: Eliminating personal distraction; get physically and mentally ready to listen; make a shift from speaker to listener; and avoid prejudging what others would say.

Understanding  - is the ability to decode a message by correctly assigning meaning to it.

The ways to improve this skill is to: Organize key ideas; pay attention to non-verbal communication; asking questions to gain further information; mentally paraphrase what has been said; and relate it to what one already knows. 

Remembering – is the process of retaining and saving information. Information is stored in short-term memory (which can only attend to 7+/-2 items at once). Important information is moved into long –term memory. This is the capacity that is infinite, but is not always accessible or to have the ability to recall stored information. I personally have an awful short term memory, but I do have the ability to recall long term information such as when I was a child. For example, when I was a child, I remember playing in the snow. The world was enormous to me and everything was exaggeratingly bright and blurry. It turns out I was three years old at the time when I first encountered snow according to my mom. 

To improve how to remember, we can: repeat information for long-term memory; make up memory aids (to call memories); or take well written short notes. 

If I may add to this, in psychology I learned that the brain works well when pairing items in groups of six, for example learning six items on individual flash cards at a time. Another interesting tactic is storing information in mental variables. This is like assigning an item to another item or thought you think has similarities. For example, in my Japanese class I assigned the word tokei and jikanto clock. Tokei in Japanese means clock and jikan means time. By assigning tokei and jikan to a clock, I was able to wake up in the morning and remember the words tokei and jikan as I hit my alarm clock. Later, I began applying sentence structure, so that when I woke up in the morning I would ask myself, “kore wa nan jokan desuka?” I would respond to myself with “kore wa…” and the correct time. So as you can see assigning mental variables helps with recalling information one assigns to a particular object or instance. Another very useful tactic is to use self-talk. You can talk to yourself with a deep focus and use it to recall information later. By doing this you are not just talking to yourself, you are also talking to your subconscious. Controversially this is the idea many well-known books that focus on motivation and success uses. For example, “Think and Grow Rich” by Napoleon Hill emphasizes the value of self-talk and how it can be used to mentally prepare an individual to be successful, never have the idea of failure, and always have a plan. 

Responding – involves confirming your understanding of a message.

To improve this skill, you can use non-verbal cues, such as eye contact and gestures; Use verbal communication, such as asking questions or paraphrasing; avoid unnecessary details; and be descriptive when responding rather than using evaluation. 

Evaluating – which involves analyzing the message for how truthful or believable you judge it to be. 

Evaluating is also referred to as critical thinking/ listening. 

To improve one’s evaluation skills, one can separate factual statements from unconfirmed observations or listen critically. 

I probably should emphasize on that last part. Listening critically means to pay attention to the speaker’s words in tremendous detail. A good example of using this would be like the test I stated at the beginning of the article. 

If I may also add to this, I’m sure there are individuals with perhaps not so great verbal communication skills, such as people who stutter, stammer, or have difficulty finding the appropriate or accurate words. In such case, I think it’s important to focus on the message if not the underlying message or idea they are trying to state. 

Also regarding improving one’s evaluation skills, I would also consider unconfirmed observations as information worth retaining. The reason is because I believe all information can be useful depending on circumstance. I also believe such unconfirmed observations should be stated with a source of where the information came from. For example, according to theoretical scientists, space anomalies could be the result of unexplored interstellar activity. With the use of unconfirmed observations as resources, one can explore different ideas and possibilities. 

In conclusion, I could see how the test in the beginning of the article led to the idea of how I thought how well I listened to further examining how well I actually listened using the verbal test. By examining the various concepts of listening, I further gained insight on how to become a better listener. Furthermore, by creating this article I hopeful could provide better understanding or knowledge of how one can become a better listener and to introduce the platform in which one can improve communicating effectively.  

My List of Random Questions

I have taken the luxury to think up some very interesting questions. Some are random; others self evaluating. Please take the time to look through the questions and think about them for yourself. 

Random questions:

• What would happen if you needed to be a virgin to get married?

• What if old ancient tribal logic was true that once you eat a creature, not only do you gain it's strength, but you also begin to think like the animal. 

• Political question: Should only those with a sufficient education, such as a high school diploma, be allowed to vote?

• Political question: Should the government have a law reset, review or change every twenty years? 

Self-evaluation questions:

• If there were a billions duplicates of yourself would there be peace or chaos?

• What would you do if you were a king in ancient times? Would people think you are a good king?

• How would you be different if you were the opposite gender? What if you woke up one morning and your gender was swapped? What if you met yourself from an alternate reality and you were a different gender? How do you think you would act?

• What would you be like if you had super powers? Would you be good or evil?

• If you could teleport where would you go?

• What would life be like if we could fly or hover in the sky?

• What would you do if you were the ruler of the world? What would you change? How would you change it?

• Would life be more interesting if we could space travel? Would we ever get bored from it? 

• What would you do if everything was free and you didn't have to work? How would you spend your time?

• Imagine being stuck on an island or in a remote forest. Could you survive? 

• What would you do in the future if everything has been done, invented, and explored?

• What if you were actually in a simulated environment and nothing was real? Would you escape? 

• Reflecting back on life, are you the same person you once were? Do you like what you have become? If you don't like what you have become, how would you change? 

• What would happen if one day you were of a different race or a race in which one least desired? How would you act? Would it change your perspective on things? 

• What would life be like if you were: 1. A feral person with no understanding of size, dimension, or how life functioned. 2. If you were only one inch tall. 3. If you were an unstoppable monster or creature and the world was out to destroy you. 

• What would happen if your dreams or nightmares were to one day become reality? How would you react? What would you do?

• Imagine your bedroom as a enclosed environment. That nothing exists beyond the door of your room. How would you survive? How long would you survive? How would you live? And overall, how would you stay sane? 

• What if the world was literally turned upside down; where you had to walk upside down on the ceiling. If you were outside during the reverse, imagine falling into the sky and perhaps to your doom. 

• If for one week you were to have all the knowledge in the universe and beyond, what would you do? Would you teach it? Or would you use or abuse it? 

• If you lived in a rural poverty area and you had nothing, what would you do to survive? Would you invent, farm, or sell something? 

I will add more questions as I update my blog.

Could modern entertainment be used for mass social engineering?

Looking back at music and movies from the 1920s all the way up to modern time, I took notice of the variations in themes, aesthetics, feelings, etiquettes, storytelling, level of violence, amount of action, language, relation to what is considered innocent, humor, originality, level of creativity… etc. I took notice when I examined modern music, which would be considered unbearable, immoral, and destructive by society in the past, I thought to myself what if the big name music producers, or even some movie studios, were utilizing social engineering to make a product society of their design? I guess an example of this in relation to music is that we can see a large spread of westernized pop culture music spread throughout Asia, predominantly in South Korea. In my defense, I have nothing against modern movies or music regardless how inappropriate or immoral it can be. I’m tolerant or a fan of any form of creativity. However, I think it’s only right to question this idea; even though this topic seems to follows more under the realm of conspiracy.  Nevertheless, I question how entertainment today could impact our mentality and behavior in the future? Where would such entertainment lead us? Is it possible that it could be used for political purposes or to spread destructive or maybe even perhaps meaningful messages? In all honesty, I’m not completely sure how music producers or movie studios publicized music and movies; however, I dare ask the question if it has the ability to shape society relating to the way we think or behave or if it could be the product of some sort of mass social engineering? It’s a question I think is worth thinking about even if there is no relation to any form of social engineering.

My Passion for Writing

I have always had a passion for writing. To explore and write about my wildest imaginations is as if painting a canvas using words. I find the use of literature to be more vivid then any lines or colors. Although I love to write, I don’t always find the time to write. It seems my attention is directed towards other more considerably important things. I had the desire to be an author once; however, seeing the competition of authors and books racing on the shelves at book stores, it seems unlikely I would sell a single copy. No money, no editor, no point in try to make sales. Although this sounds depressing, I found true inspiration to simply write for myself. Doing so allows me to live in my own imagination. By coming up with ideas and writing them down I can further bring them to life by conceptualizing drawings and 3D renderings. Thus, bringing my ideas to life. I guess it’s only right that I’m a person who lives in my own fantasy and imagination. I find my imagination being the most interesting, useful and inspirational place I can escape to. After all, when life gives you the opposite of what you dream, perhaps it’s best to find a new world within oneself. Nonetheless, it would be a good idea to share my ideas.

The Difference Between the Rational, Irrational and Superior Individual

I have a hidden system of association in which I distinguish two types of individuals in my life. This system determines who I can trust and who I should be aware of. This system describes those who are “rational” and those who are “irrational”. The difference between the two can be distinguishable, however not always. To determine which individual is which, one needs to get an understanding the way another individual thinks, their influence of culture, their use of reason, their perception of logic, their level of civility, and if they have the ability to critically think. To get a better understanding of the two I think it’s a good idea to list the differences and qualities of the two.

An irrational individual, similar to the “Mean” man stated by Confucius is an individual who is best described as a person of worldly desires. There is much that can be said about the irrational individual. Most of which are mostly negative qualities, such as materialism, greed, lust, ignorance, and desire for power and status. I find such individuals to best be avoided and to have compassion and ignore or look past their negative qualities. I believe the irrational individual's behavior or motives are more than likely dictated by religion and perhaps consequence. Nevertheless, the irrational individual's likeliness or desire to change is more unlikely. However, their ability to change and become a rational individual could come through education, further understanding of the world around them or to obtain the ability to critically think.

The Rational individual, on the other hand, is an individual that looks beyond the desires of the irrational individual. They cherish family, relationship, work ethic, education, and perhaps speak words of wisdom. Theses types of individuals may or may not posses the ability to critically think; however, they live life based upon virtuous principles. However, this individual could have the possibility to revert back to becoming irrational due to obstacles, life changes, change in environment or inability to get what they desire out of life. Nevertheless, rational individuals are understanding, compassionate, and can be admirably trusted.


Now that I have addressed the rational and irrational individual, I will describe the Superior individual. The Superior individual, also referred to as the Superior Man by Confucius,  is an individual of great wisdom, virtue, insight, usefulness, logic, understanding and trustworthiness. They seek ideas and solutions to instigate harmony, functionality and discovery. Their desires extend far past that of the irrational individual and cherish and improve the qualities of the rational individual. These are individuals I consider possible leaders, role models, and revolutionary thinkers. It’s my belief that the rational individual’s ability to critically think, share ideas, and act is what makes them seem as if they possess more-than-human or perhaps godly properties. Having such individual in one’s life is more than a blessing and a gift.

Now that I have addressed the differences and qualities of those who are rational, irrational, and superior, it’s with good intention to understand or decide which of the three you fit into.

image from link

The Art of Rational Debate

When I listen to debates, often the sight of ridiculing, taunting, or attacking is demonstrated. Although some may say it’s justifiable, I see it as nothing useful if there is nothing one can take away from the debate or learn. For that reason, instead of having debates where it seems two or more cavemen are fighting over a mate, I believe debates should have a rationalized art form. Therefore, this is my idea of rational debates:

Individuals should start the conversation slow and at a harmonious pace. In the beginning each individual should state their thesis, position and lastly their opinion; if necessary, it would be a good idea to give brief introduction. In addition, the highlights of the discussion should be moderately brief and completely understandable. It’s crucial that there should be no interruptions or distractions what-so- ever. Any distractions could interrupt one’s ability to focus. Another reason why I believe it’s important to have pauses is so that no idea is skipped. When everyone has had their input, then the official discussions should start. Under no circumstances should one talk bad about another. Doing so reflect irrationality, a lack of professionalism and compassion. If I may add an example, it could be that someone said an idea another is not in favor of. I believe the individual who is in disagreement should state the idea why they disagree, however giving credit to the other individual they are in disagreement with, and reinforcing their idea with an idea they believe would be more functional. It’s the building and sharing of ideas which make rational debate meaningful. If I may emphasize, accusing or talking bad about another person defeats the purpose of a rational debate. Instead all ideas should be discussed and reinforced whether politically correct or not. Moreover, throughout the duration of the discussion, there should be one to two minute pauses. Again to allow individuals to recover, think, and digest information. The purpose of the discussion is not just to discuss topics, it is also to learn from each other and share ideas. Furthermore, during the duration of the discussion, all individuals should provide input. If one has become nonresponsive, it is with good intention to seek their opinion. If they have no opinions then they should state the reason why. If a discussion becomes heated, there should also still be a thirty seconds to a minute to pause. If an individual becomes targeted for any reason, others should step in and stabilize the situation by changing the mood. If possible have a rotation or change in the individuals discussing. In conclusion all discussions should be calm, collective, compassionate, civilized, rational and if possible educational. Doing so should present all ideas to the table and make the discussion valuable for its audience.

Lie Games

I feel the desire to write about cheaters. It's my opinion that no one deserves to be cheated on, regardless how insane or undesirable one's partner can be. I believe cheating happens as soon as someone, who is in a relationship, starts to flirt with another person who's not their partner. It's my belief that if one cheats, they are likely to continue to cheat. The reason cheating is bad is not because of immorality or unfaithfulness to commit to a partner, it is because it hurts others and brings sadness and conflict upon one's family. It effects the psychological well-being of those close in relation. In a cheating relationship between a male and female, it is wrong for both partners to consent to such indecent action. I believe it's selfish to commit to an action without considering the reaction of others. I also believe it is not the female's fault if she were to approach the male; it is the male's fault for accepting her and to proceed with the indecent activity. From a male's perspective, I believe it's the male's responsibility to have self discipline and obtain distance from the other individual in order to prevent indirect emotional distress from other loved ones.

Advice for those with cheating parents:
I'm sure there could be more than one feeling that could be present in one's thoughts. I believe composure, self discipline and civility is key to keeping sane. Even though there is pain and anger. One should understand it is the decision of their parent to consent to such action. I believe by looking past the pain one shows love towards one parent, however in such case it's best to keep distance so that one does not play into mind games in which could lead to further pain when one's parent decides to cheat again. If in such a case, where it is causing tremendous problems, it is best for one to leave such an uncomfortable environment. If leaving is a terrible idea, then perhaps it's best to become a retreatist or focus on yourself or the needs of other family members.

Advise for cheating partners:
It is understandable if one desires to leave or to desire a divorce. However, it is proper to do what is in favor of one's children. If one finds forgiveness, it's understandable that the level of trust and relationship could have the possibility to no longer exist as it once did. Nonetheless, it's best to prevent cheating before it happens by catering to the duties of a relationship. It's important to keep things new, fresh, find ways to make up, obtain workable solutions and makes each other happy.

The Use of Structure

I’m currently taking a college math course to graduate after the next semester. I feel the teacher I’m currently taking in this course does little to address the needs of their student’s learning behaviors. I’m sure some people could think of this as a rant, however I think I could do better by apply a more simplified and more necessary learning structure.

It’s my opinion, that most difficult subjects require some form of learning structures. I think such structures should try to do the best it can to cater the needs of all types of learning forms (hands on, visual, auditory or perceptual learner… etc). Here is an example of using structure using my college algebra course:

1. Present an actual life problem. This will help students become interested.
2. Introduce the solution and math formula for the life problem.
3. Write out steps in which one can use to solve the math equation. I think both technical and simplified terms should be used for steps.  
4. Practice with simple problems. Once everyone understands the simple problems, move to harder problems. Make sure students have some time to digest the material.
5. Repetition and practice.

I think this technique of using structure could be helpful with any subject. Once an individual learns a subject using actual life situations or more personalized techniques, they can find ways to apply it in their everyday life.

My short presentation on Japanese etiquette.

Here is a short presentation on Japanese etiquette I made for my Japanese class a long while back. I thought it would be helpful for others. 

Japanese Etiquette Presentation
Japanese Ettiquette Power Point Version (you can thank me by donating! :3)

Below is a long article I wrote on Etiquettes, Non-verbal Communication and Paralanguage in Japanese Culture. Feel free to click on the link and read the article.

Click to show.

Stanley Janoski III

Speech 1318

February 02, 2015

Etiquettes, Non-verbal Communication and Paralanguages in Japanese Culture

A friend of mine walked into a common restaurant in Japan. The waitress, who was very polite, served them coffee with what seemed to be bamboo designs on the top using cream. Surprised and fascinated by the restaurant’s service, when they finished drinking their coffee, they tipped the waitress and she immediately began to feel very emotional. It wasn’t long until the waitress could no longer hold back her tears and began to cry uncontrollably. Now why do you think this is? Well, in Japan tipping a waiter implies their service was unsatisfactory. To add to that, tipping them with a smile on one’s face makes one seem like more of the bad guy. Now why am I telling you this? It’s because of the various forms in which a culture can be different than one’s own. In this presentation, I will peek into Japanese etiquette, non-verbal communication and paralanguage within the Japanese culture.

To begin, Japan has a system of etiquettes that is extremely unique compared the rest of the world. The use of etiquette derives from their Confucian, Tao, and Buddhist origins in ancient history. Since there are hundreds of forms of etiquette, I will address the most important and basic forms of etiquette. To begin, the most popular form of Japanese etiquette is bowing. The bow is Japan’s traditional greeting. The depth of the bow demonstrates the status or relationship one has with another. This is also due to Japan’s unseen hierarchal status system. More than often this will be done with a handshake if one is a foreigner. With businessman, or sarariman, a bow can also be used to exchanged business cards, or meishi. When receiving a meishi, one should demonstrate a tremendous amount of respect by bowing, receiving the meishi with both hands, and reading the information carefully. When disengaging or leaving the individual, it’s advisable to bow three times as one is backing away. Another form of common etiquette is with the use of small talk. Often throughout the day using small and simple phrases to greet others, such as “lovely weather today” is admirable in Japan. It’s important to remember Japan has a huge respect for their elders; therefore, it’s polite to bow or to reply kindly in return. When formally addressing another person in Japan, one should make use of the name forms, such as “san” after a person’s last name. It’s common for people to go out after work. There’s usually a person who acts as a host and treats others by going to a place of their choice. The host is responsible for paying for all his members, choosing everyone’s drinks, and even giving a toast to all his members. There is also etiquettes on what one should do while in or around a restaurant. As mentioned before, one should never tip a waiter or waitress. It’s also impolite to walk around while eating food. Another major form of disrespect is sneezing or blowing one’s nose around others. Doing so should be done strictly in private.

Moving on to house etiquette, to be invited to one’s home is a tremendous honor.  It’s because of this one should take off their shoes at the genkan which is a traditional entrance area. Often there are slipper, wabaki, one can wear around the house. Sometimes there are even separate slipper one should wear when going to the bathroom. When invited to another’s home, it’s admirable to bring gifts, preferably gifts from one own country. When dining with a Japanese family, it’s more than likely a family member will serve their elders first. This is also because Japan has a huge regard for respect one’s elders. More than likely, the oldest or head of the household will be served first. Before engaging in a meal, it is right to say the phrase “Itadakimasu”. This is like a blessing, giving thanks and an indication one will start eating. It’s polite to pour for others. Never pour for oneself. When one does not desire to drink anymore, it’s polite to turn one’s cup 90 degrees. It is alright if the cup is full. More than likely a person will pour for you even when you don’t desire to drink anymore. When wanting to rest your hands from using chopsticks, always use the chopstick holder. Never place your chopstick in the food, because this is commonly used in Buddhist funeral traditions. When eating ramen, it’s important to note that slurping noodles is acceptable; however, it’s unacceptable use more than one condiments per meal otherwise it may be an insult to the chef. When one is finished with their meal, it is also polite to say “gochisousama deshita”. Which is also a blessing that indicates one is satisfied, very appreciative and finished with the meal. In addition to home etiquette, it’s also important to know that if one is served something, it’s polite to never simply accept it the first time, wait until the individual serves their dish again to accept. If one takes what is being served the first time, it may seem one is being desperate, impolite or inconsiderate. Moving on to Japanese society, Japan has a social ethic called a public face, this is to keep harmony and structure within their society, because of this Japan uses honorific words and over polite sentence structures, and retain from being direct when engaging in conversations with others. It’s also important to note that all personal opinions are held back or set aside when in conversation. A Japanese person will only be open to speaking their mind when he or she is in the company of friends, family or maybe intoxicated. When not in the company of friends or family, it is best to talk using the highest form of politeness and respect. The Japanese also have a distinct form of attire. To the Japanese, one’s image is highly important. It’s known that a Japanese person would rather spend money to purchase clothes than to purchase food. Noticeably, exaggerated fashion trends like Harajuku, Visual Kei, and the various forms of Gyaru are not common dress in Japan. The most common form of dress is of course the business suit and formal-casual dress. In further detail referring to non-casual dress, the Japanese have no regard to what is gender specific. Genders can dress interchangeably with the clothes of another gender. Referring to females, when in public skirts and shorts are permitted to be exaggeratingly short; however, it is considered indecent to show a moderate amount of cleavage. The Japanese also make use of traditional dress such as summer and winter kimonos for females and yukatas for males. However, some Japanese dislike the use of kimonos or yukatas on foreigners attempting to fit into the origins of Japanese tradition.

Now I will be discussing non-verbal communication within the Japanese culture. Japan uses an exaggerated amount of non-verbal communication cues. In this section I will discuss oculesics, proxemics, heptics, and kinesics. Looking at oculesics, the Japanese refrain from having direct eye contact. Doing so is seen as rude, disrespectful or conflicting. Often when talking, a Japanese individual will look downwards or away to be polite. When bowing one will also lower their eyes, this is to show even greater respect. Referring to proxemics, Japan has a much shorter personal space radius than that of Western society. However, when using mass public transportation, The Japanese will submit to touching and cram each other into a rail car as they try to get home or work. This form of physical contact is called skinship (sukinshippu) and is only used in mass public transportation, bath houses and among family members and friends. Moving on to heptics, The Japanese refrains from touching or showing any sign of public affection. The Japanese also do not touch when in conversation. Doing so is considered inappropriate or unnecessary. However, often students attending grade schools will disregard from not touching because they see it as being friendly. Finally, I would like to discuss kinesics. The use of body language or the understanding of communication without words is large in a high context society such as Japan. There are some specific body gestures that are well known or specific to Japan. I shall briefly state the most commonly used gestures. The Japanese point at their nose to indicate themselves; make a circle with their thumb and forehead for money; turn the palm down and wave with the fingers to gesture someone or something to come; point with the palm of their hand and not their finger; hold their hand vertically and wave or swat back and forth to gesture no; wave their hand back and forth or with their hand in front of their face to gesture excuse me; raise a thumbs up to indicate authority; lightly tap on one’s chest to indicate leaving the task to them; use a circular motion around the ear or forehead or flickering the middle finger with the thumb to indicate something or someone is crazy. In addition to gestures, the Japanese refrain from the use of awkward or very quick movements. The reason being is because even slight gestures carry a significant meaning. Now that I have addressed the different characteristics of non-verbal communication, I will describe the differences in paralanguage within the Japanese culture.

In this section, I will discuss paralanguage. I will describe the differences in intonation, pitch, speed, hesitation, and facial expression. The Japanese use intonation when speaking much like that in western society. However, when speaking formally, the Japanese also express intonation using particles that can also be seen in their writing system. For example, the use of desu ka at the end of a sentence to form a question. Normally when a Japanese person speaks they remain at a single flat tone. In addition to intonation, there are some words that make use of pitch. There are words such as hashi, which means chopstick, but elevates in pitch at the end. This is due to the Chinese forms in which the word derived from. If one says hashi with a down pitch, this means bridge and can be very humorous when asking for a pair of chopsticks by the waiter at a restaurant. The speed in which the Japanese talk is commonly very passive, soft spoken and often at a steady pace; nevertheless, males are known to speak faster than females. When it comes to hesitation, the Japanese differ from western society. In Western society, the use of pauses is usually considered awkward and is best to be avoided; however, in Japan pauses are very much accepted as it gives a person time to digest information, recollect one’s thoughts, and demonstrate respect. The use of hesitation can also be seen in their work ethic. The Japanese in business can be seen as slow to make decisions on behalf of their companies, and depending on the occupation, the Japanese can also be seen as laid back as they work at a synchronous and steady pace. Finally, I will discuss facial expressions. The Japanese refrain from the use of facial expressions. It’s possible that when one smiles or laughs in Japan, it may convey embarrassment, confusion, shock, or feeling of being upset. Therefore, even simple facial expressions should be closely considered and observed.  

Now that we’ve covered the details of etiquette, nonverbal communication and paralanguage, one can be more insightful in what to look out for when interacting with an individual from the Japanese culture. So if you see an individual from Japan, bow, maybe make small talk, and if he or she is a waiter remember not to tip them. In conclusion, understanding the use of etiquette, non-verbal communication and paralanguage will prepare an individual for understanding the cultural behaviors and norms in Japanese society.

References:

Japan Country Review. (2012). Etiquette. Etiquette. 3. 199-201. Retrieved from Country Watch.

Takada N., Lampkin L. R., (1997). The Japanese Way. New York. The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Schmidt-Fajlik, R. (2007). Introducing non-verbal communication to Japanese university students: Determining content. Journal of Intercultural Communication, (15), 2.

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The ideal self and thoughts about my own personal philosophy

It’s my belief one should become an independent thinker, have their own philosophy for life, and maybe create their own culture. Foremost, I think it’s critical to think for oneself. When one thinks for them self he or she gains the self-knowledge to piece things together, look at long term possibilities, and independently and critically thinks and analyze situations and modify the situation to their favor. By having the ability to independently think, I believe one could develop their own philosophy for life. This allows them to develop their own standards of morals, ethics, and how they want to choose to live their life without making references to the opinions and life styles of others. This leads to creating one’s own culture. I don’t believe just because you are part of a certain country’s culture means you have to be a part of country’s cultural values. I think it’s great to have references to one’s culture through cultural values, but I believe you should feel free to create your own cultural values as well. This could be your own personal tradition, life style preference, or unique characteristics that is not familiar with other individuals. I personally would like to see the bringing back of past mentalities because of how innocent things were. For example, I remember watching the sound of music and becoming delighted over the different and interesting character personalities. Continuing on, by maybe creating one’s own culture, one’s becomes extremely unique and interesting. In addition, by having the ability to freely think, I believe one’s interest and ability to think cannot be mainstreamed or controlled by mass commercialization. It’s my conspiracy or controversial idea that if mainstream outlets continue to fabricate content in which people grow into liking they could find ways to alter societies desires in what they find entertaining or justifiable when it comes to decision making. Controversially put, i think mainstream or commercialized outlets can create a unified thinking mindset, instead of an independent self interest mindset, that could be easy to manipulate or control. I think this could alter what people find moral and immoral or alter an individuals ideology or lifestyle. 

Moving on, I would like to discuss my thoughts about my own philosophy if it were to be utilized by others. I would like to state that perhaps my philosophy or views of life could be ahead of its time. The reason I believe this is because if utilized by an irrational or uncivilized society, individuals would become reckless and do as they desired because my philosophy talks about the possibility of not having a heaven. I think this would lead to the negative excuse to “live life to the fullest” or “YOLO” ideology, leading people to live irresponsibly, irrationally, and perhaps even barbarically. Nevertheless, my own personal philosophy implies the heavy use of ethics to accommodate and instigate doing what’s right, doing what’s common sense, and doing what’s in favor of social harmony.

Mixed Reality Theory

After coming up with the theory for Eplicas in one of my previous posts, I revisited the idea of realities and came up with another fantasy theory. Could it be that realities are constantly merging, altering distorting or manipulating our current actual reality? I mean there are days where I experience an event and reflect on how I felt the outcome could have been different or how unique the outcome had been. There are other times where I wake up in the morning and feel like my life went through a reset or as if a planned event almost like if some force was taking the role as the dungeon master of my life and was constantly altering my reality by implementing challenges, obstacles and events to test my vary character and decisions. As strange as it sounds, I call this the Mixed Reality Theory, because it’s a theory that our objective reality is constantly manipulated, altered, distorted or merging by external realities, unknown forces or variables.