Natasha Kuo – Different Voices, Same Me
The way we speak changes depending on who we are around. I talk differently between my friends than I do with my teachers, family, or someone I have just met. With friends, I feel more like myself. Using slang, joking around, or just words that would probably sound strange in a classroom. With a teacher, I am more careful about the words that come out of my mouth and how I say it. Even though my language changes, I am still the same person. The difference is that different situations bring out different parts of my identity.
I started thinking about this more while watching my favorite show The Rookie, which is a popular cop show. The characters spend a lot of their time communicating in a professional setting, so the way they speak is usually more direct and serious. They have to give out clear instructions and be able to communicate quickly and usually in languages that fits their job. However, when they are outside of work, their conversations sound completely different. They joke around, talk about their personal lives, and show sides of themselves that most coworkers might not always see.
This happens to everyone. We all have different ways of communicating depending on who we are talking to. Sometimes we do not even realize it. The way I speak around my closest friends will not make sense if I used it in a formal setting. At the same time, speaking more formally around a teacher does not mean I am pretending to be someone else. Different situations just require different ways of communicating with others.
In The Rookie, the officers during work hours, use specific and formal language to help them understand each other quickly. Their tone also matters because they are dealing with stressful or dangerous situations. But when they are not working, their language becomes much more relaxed as being professional is no longer required. This shows that the way we speak can depend on the environment we are in and the people we are around.
The way we speak can tell people a lot about us. It shows who we are comfortable around and how we present ourselves. Changing the way we speak in certain situations does not mean changing who we are, different situations brings out different parts of everyone.
I liked how you connected the way people communicate in different environments to The Rookie. Your example helped me understand how people can adjust their tone and language depending on whether they're at work or spending time with their friends. I also agree that changing the way we speak doesn't mean changing who we are, but showing different sides of our identity. Your blog made me think about how much our surroundings and the people we interact with influence the way we express ourselves without even realizing it.
ReplyDeleteHello Natasha! I really love how you explored the cadence and terseness of different lexicons. For example, cops as you mentioned: would have much more direct and emotionalyl flat language, whereas an English professor would have more flowery language. It really changes based on where you are, and people code switch constnatly to manufcature a smokescreen to hide their true identity. What really hammered your point for me, was commentary on how we don't even realize it; we just assume it is normal human anture when hundreds of subconcious descisions happen everytime our enviroment changes. Your blog really made me ponder the importance of our enviroment and our language. I look forward to future blogs!
ReplyDeleteHi Natasha! The phenomenon you describe is something that I think everyone should be able to relate to. Whether we are talking to a classmate, our teachers, our family, or a friend we’ve known for years, we tend to use different slang and even body language to mimic our audience. This isn’t from a place of disingenuity, but rather our subconscious attempt at better relating and connecting to whomever we are speaking to. The way you relate these observations to television is really helpful for me to better understand these distinctions, as television will always emphasize certain aspects of interactions for the screen that highlight both the characters and the patterns core to all people. I like your point about the way this reflects our comfortability with our audience. While none of these versions are caricatures of ourselves, the ones we are more comfortable with in day-to-day interactions, less burdened by keeping up with proper grammar or respectful mannerisms, emphasize the importance of the people we trust with the more honest version of ourselves.
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