Application U08a3: Dialogue of a Conversation

#1 A good school? (Mrs. Thomas and Mrs. Rashid are both parents of students in the district where Mrs. Thomas also teaches.)
Mrs. Thomas: Johnny has Mr. Smith as a teacher next year. I hear he is an excellent teacher.
Mrs. Rashid: He's very nice.
Mrs. T: Are you happy with the school district?
Mrs. Rashid: There are many lovely people in the neighborhood.

The miscommunication occurs in two places. The first place is where Mrs. Thomas talks about Mr. Smith being an excellent teacher. Mrs. Rashid replies with “He’s very nice.” Very nice is no indication of Mr. Smith’s teaching ability. Mrs. Thomas could also imply that Mrs. Rashid does not think that Mr. Smith is a good teacher and she is being polite by saying he is very nice.

The second miscommunication occurs when Mrs. T asks if Mrs. Rashid is happy with the school district. Mrs. Rashid replies with a comment about the “lovely people in the neighborhood.” Mrs. T wanted to know how Mrs. Rashid felt about the school district and if it lived up to her expectations. She did not want to know about the people in the neighborhood. Mrs. Thomas could also imply that Mrs. Rashid did not want to respond to the question about the school because she might be unhappy, but she doesn’t want to be impolite. However, Mrs. Rashid could have thought that Mrs. Thomas was asking her about the community in general and stating that it is a lovely place with a great neighborhood.

I believe that cultural factors could have led to the miscommunication. When looking at the question Mrs. T asked about the school district, Mrs. Rashid may have focused in on the word district. One definition of district is a division on territory. Mrs. Rashid might have thought that the question was about the community in which she lived.  Also, Mrs. Rashid could have misinterpreted the statement “Are you happy with the school district.” She may have thought the question was asking about whether people were happy in the school district. 

We then have to look at the statement Mrs. Thomas made about Mr. Smith being an “excellent teacher.” Mrs. Rashid may not be proficient in English to understand what the word excellent means. She could have inferred that excellent meant nice.

Breaking down a simple conversation like this is very interesting and can help you to understand the barrier that we must overcome with language.