To talk or not to talk, wie führe ich Unterhaltungen PDF

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Summary

Hier wird ein Verständnisproblem zwischen Mann und Frau geschildert, welche im Alltag zu Konflikten führen. Durch dieses Arbeitsblatt wird klar welche Rhetorik nicht benutzt werden soll....

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Analysis of communication

Marina Wirschem

The following text is an analysis of the communication of the extract from the story “Meeting the Stepmother”, written by David Mitchell, assisted by the rules of the H by Pätzold and Gramley. Firstly, when the father surprised by his son Jason, which he doesn’t expect to be at home, nevertheless he not only gives him a fair hearing but also an honest feedback. “Dad” asks about the health of the sister “Julia” (l. 10) and how the family is doing after the separation (l.13). When Jason asks how Christmas was for him, he also gives him honest feedback and tells him that it was “Horrendous. For obvious reasons[...](ll. 14f.). Although Jason feels as if he has to choose between mom and dad (l.32), he follows the communication rules of the hearer-support-maxim and avoids offending and saying unpleasant things. When his dad asks him about his sister, he gets the grip and doesn’t say “Tell her yourself, why don’t you?” (l.13) as he’s actually thinking. Also the fact that he confirms to say hello to Cynthia even when he doesn’t really want to (l. 37), is a proof for that. Furthermore, Jason's consideration for others is remarkable. During the conversation about the relatives e.g., he stands in for his Uncle Brian when his dad gives a quite judgemental statement about him (ll.26f.). Additionally he tells him that everybody has his story and we never know everything behind that (l.27-29) which is really considerative. Also that he’s talking to his dad in that kind of way even when that makes him feel disloyal to his mum (l.31) is a big proof. Finally, considering the rules of communication and the way Cynthia acts when she and Jason meet for the first time, she’s a very friendly woman who really shows interest in Jason. As one can see, she is very respectful when they both want to start a sentence for instance and she tells him to go ahead (l. 63) what never happened to Jason before as he says (l.64). She also tries to make him feel welcome and invites him to visit them in their big old house in Oxford (l. 52-57) whenever Jason wants to. Summing it up, it is a quite strange situation for Jason but also for his dad and Cythia. They are really trying to make the best out of the unpredicted meeting and in the end it works out somehow. Dad, even when he didn’t expect to meet anybody at his old home, finds a way to talk to his son and introduces him already to his new girlfriend. Jason stays polite and doesn’t judge his father or others, he observes the situation and tries to keep talking as good as possible. Cynthia turns out as a friendly woman who’s quite interested in a good relationship for all of them....