http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqwgeZooUmQ
I hope you find the video interesting. Now let's get down to the business - disecting the components of this speech event.
1. Genre: romance
2. Topic: opening up about oneself
3. Purpose: finding a partner/love
4. Setting: a metro in a French city
5. Key: serious yet casual
6. Participants: the actor, the poor lady, and the other passengers
7. Message form: spoken French, facial expressions
8. Act sequence: greetings; purpose of act; self introduction; appeal
9. Rules for interaction: be sincere, open, and earnest
10. Norms of interpretation: adhering to the rules for interaction signifies seriousness and honesty in the action
However, the twist is that the guy's actually an actor doing a sketch for money, and that he didn't mean what he said.
Here, we can see that even though we don't commit ourselves 100% in what we do (what we do can be totally staged), once we are involved in a particular speech event, most of the time we still follow the governing rules of the speech event. Think about attending a lecture whose lesturer we hate the most - taking down notes, answering questions when asked, etc still happen as usual like with any other lecturers.
Hhhmmm.. When thinking about how I should close this post, one thing crossed my mind.
Different cultures may carry out one speech event differently in the same setting. We have to be aware of it and adopt it consciously in order to adapt to and do well in our environment.
It's just like different aspiring actors can interpret and act out one single script differently during an audition. And the most fitting one lands the job.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Compliments & How I Respond to Them
I found it interesting that there are different ways of responding to compliments and that I've been doing them unconsciously. I didn't know that my responses could convey different feels to different groups of people.
I've tried to analyse my responses to compliments and the reasons I do them.
Let me show you.
*Accepting
I've been working hard on my presentation and I am complimented by a friend on it to which I reply "Thanks".
*Accepting, taken to another level, with shamelessness
I've just got my hair cut, and a close friend tells me that I look good to which I reply "You know I always look good with ANY hair, hahahahaha".
In the case of accepting, I do it mostly when I'm being complimented on something which I think I deserve to be praised for. Call it meritocracy.
I can get big-headed over some compliments to the point of being shameless when it comes to something which boosts my ego. However, this response is limited to those who are close to me.
*Deflecting
I'm complimented by a friend on my high score on a quiz to which I reply "Ok la, the lecturer was quite lenient".
Compliments which I deflect the most are festive-seasons kind of compliments (one auntie always tells me every CNY, "Wah, so smart ah, studying in NUS."), or those who are superior to me in some settings (eg. a supervisor during internship). I guess the reason I deflect compliments is because I find them "ingratiating".
Yes, the compliments do hold some truth, yet I find it better to remain modest; I deflect.
*Rejecting
Well, when someone sincerely gives a compliment, something is surely worth being complimented on. When you reject a compliment, don't you think it's like saying the complimentor has told you a lie?
*Returning
Sure, the most politically-correct way of responding to a compliment is to return one. But I don't see the point of doing it for the sake of being polite, which might be the case most of the time. If I find I can't compliment my complimentor on anything, I'd just keep my mouth shut. It's better than telling a lie.
*Thanking and denigrating
I don't think I do this one. Once I accept a compliment, I acknowledge it; there's no need to downplay it.
Maybe my choice of responses was automatic, depending on how I felt about the whole setting. However, now that I'm more aware of various responses to compliments, I'll sure make a conscious effort to respond to compliments in the most appropriate way.
I've tried to analyse my responses to compliments and the reasons I do them.
Let me show you.
*Accepting
I've been working hard on my presentation and I am complimented by a friend on it to which I reply "Thanks".
*Accepting, taken to another level, with shamelessness
I've just got my hair cut, and a close friend tells me that I look good to which I reply "You know I always look good with ANY hair, hahahahaha".
In the case of accepting, I do it mostly when I'm being complimented on something which I think I deserve to be praised for. Call it meritocracy.
I can get big-headed over some compliments to the point of being shameless when it comes to something which boosts my ego. However, this response is limited to those who are close to me.
*Deflecting
I'm complimented by a friend on my high score on a quiz to which I reply "Ok la, the lecturer was quite lenient".
Compliments which I deflect the most are festive-seasons kind of compliments (one auntie always tells me every CNY, "Wah, so smart ah, studying in NUS."), or those who are superior to me in some settings (eg. a supervisor during internship). I guess the reason I deflect compliments is because I find them "ingratiating".
Yes, the compliments do hold some truth, yet I find it better to remain modest; I deflect.
*Rejecting
Well, when someone sincerely gives a compliment, something is surely worth being complimented on. When you reject a compliment, don't you think it's like saying the complimentor has told you a lie?
*Returning
Sure, the most politically-correct way of responding to a compliment is to return one. But I don't see the point of doing it for the sake of being polite, which might be the case most of the time. If I find I can't compliment my complimentor on anything, I'd just keep my mouth shut. It's better than telling a lie.
*Thanking and denigrating
I don't think I do this one. Once I accept a compliment, I acknowledge it; there's no need to downplay it.
Maybe my choice of responses was automatic, depending on how I felt about the whole setting. However, now that I'm more aware of various responses to compliments, I'll sure make a conscious effort to respond to compliments in the most appropriate way.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)