Principles of effective communication

Verbal
Verbal communication is when you communicate with someone using the sound of your voice and they can understand what you are saying by listening to you with their ears and in some cases they use their eyes to lip read but this is not possible if you are using a phone because you will have to rely on your ears which is why sometimes in a phone conversation some things get misinterpreted. You can verbally communicate with someone over a phone because they can hear your voice through the speakers, in person when you are talking to them face to face, when playing a game console and you are talking to people using a microphone or even on the computer using software such as ‘Skype’. Advantages of verbal communication is that you can hear their voice and you know that it is actually them talking because if they were communicating using text via a social networking website then you can never be 100% that it is actually them who you are writing too. A disadvantage of verbal communication could be a language barrier for example if you were on holidays in a foreign country and asked somebody for directions to somewhere they might not understand you because they don’t speak English.

Non-Verbal
Non-verbal communication is when you communicate with someone without using sound and instead use another source of communication like sign language or text. The person that you are communicating with will not need to use his/her ears during these conversations because everything will be visual. However some people do not understand sign language so it would be hard for them to try and understand what they are trying to say. People who are blind also won’t be able to understand them because they rely purely on their ears why verbal communication would be a lot better for them. Non-verbal communication can also help during verbal conversations because of body language and you will be able to see what sort of mood the person speaking is in for example if someone was speaking to me and they were smiling then I would know that they are happy or that they are ready to laugh.


General
General communication is the use of language to suit the audience, the way you word your sentences so that the person it is directed to will understand it, questions and answers. You would use general communication skills almost everyday when you communicate with people using all types of communication especially when somebody asks you a question or if you ask somebody else one.

Interpersonal
Interpersonal communication is when you communicate with someone using body language, positive or negative language, lip reading and sign language. For example when you watch some programs on television there is a person in the bottom corner that is doing sign language so that deaf people can understand the program. Deaf people can also understand what people are saying by reading their lips while they are talking. Body language also lets the person know how you are feeling for example if they are happy or excited they might jump up and down and move around a lot but if someone is in a bad mood then they might just sit alone and not want to talk a lot to people.

Written Communication
Written communication would be communicating with somebody via a social networking website, texting them from your mobile, email or sending them a letter etc… People will know what mood you are in because people often send emoticons which are often referred to as smileys. They include a lot of faces that can express what mood you are in for example: happy, sad, angry etc… When people are using written communication they often shorten the word this is called ‘text speak’