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What do you do about folks who's first language isn't English? Face to face communication is somewhat doable because body language helps to convey the real mess
by harpratap 6y ago
What do you do about folks who's first language isn't English? Face to face communication is somewhat doable because body language helps to convey the real message but communicating over text is a completely different ball game. So much nuance gets lost
- Chris2048 6y agoHow do you communicate technical detail via body-language?
- harpratap 6y agoIs 100% of your communication with your co-workers always technical details? You never talk about broad concepts and ideas?
- Chris2048 6y agoFine. How do you communicate broad technical concepts via body language.
- harpratap 6y agoHave you ever talked to humans in real life?
- Chris2048 6y agoYes. Is that an answer, or just a dismissive insult? Do you have co-workers who never have need of any detail or specific nuance? Or do you just mean water-cooler social chat? Implementation of a task requires broad technical knowledge of what is to be accomplished, as well as specific technical details. How will body language communicate either of those?
- harpratap 6y agoI am talking about the process before even starting to implement a task - architecture, designing and brainstorming. We used to do that on giant white boards with markers in our hands. It's not the same when using online diagram tools with trackpads as pens. It's slow, frustrating and not flexible. Ideal solution would be giant touch screens but that's not feasible.
- devdas 6y agoI find it a lot easier to communicate with polygots whose first language isn't English. A lot of the body language issues go away because everyone actually uses words to say things.
- itsspring 6y agoIt works better in my opinion. My ESL friends can re-read the words and use a dictionary. They don’t miss things if the conversation is too fast. And you can still video/audio chat if you want. It is the best of both worlds