From personal experience, verbal communication definitely help to communicate ideas, opinions and emotions. However, it is also very easily misunderstood – resulting in miscommunication.
Having known many people from around the world, I have come to realize that although we all communicate in English, we use English differently. Our sentence structure and the words we choose to use might confuse an English speaker from another country.
For example, my German friend would not hesitate to say: “She left again today.” (to describe someone’s swift departure)
Upon hearing that, I would naturally think that: Oh? She has left before, so she left again today. Simply put, a repeated occurance. I think that’s what most Singaporeans would think upon hearing that sentence.
However, what he really meant was: she left really swiftly.
Considering that my other friends (from many different countries like UK, US, Netherlands) did not get confused like I did and even had to explain/ rephrase it for me, I gathered as much that people really do use English that way. But it’s not in my place to decide if it’s the right or wrong usage.
Ultimately, from my personal experience, I can definitely agree that with personal awareness comes understanding, discernment and wiseness.
