As a corporate communications major, I view communication as being an aspect of culture, something deeply rooted within us. Every culture has a different way of communicating. Over the centuries, our communication skills are intensely modified and adjusted to our needs.

When i hear "culture," i think of everything that makes a person who they are--media, language, peers, family, location,food, entertainment, the "arts", etc. I see culture as something passed down from generation to generation, but constantly modified and altered. I see culture as a mass of sub-cultures, with certain qualities and characteristics in common. My favorite part of traveling and meeting new people is to learn their culture and get a sense of who they are, what defines them, and why they are the way they are.

I perceive communications to be an art--an aesthetic. Communications is not just the act of conveying messages, but HOW they are conveyed. An excellent communicator can be looked as an artist, someone who can capture and enchant his/her audience. There are so many ways to say an idea, but what is the best way to present this idea so that others can understand and/or embrace it? In doing so, you can open someone up to a world of possibilities and thoughts in which they had never had before, just as a painter can for his/her spectator. We can see easily this "aesthetic communication" being put into play during courtship. I believe that this, in turn, can be used successfully in the business world.

I believe that each culture has a different perspective of communication. For example, take two people from different parts of the world like the U.S. and Argentina. One person predominantly speaks English while the other speaks Spanish. If both get together and begin communicating in ONE language, the choice of diction, style, and voice will be different. The Argentinean will probably communicate in a more formal style, since he/she probably learned the English language from textbooks. He/she will be missing the vernacular uses of words and phrases that the American is accustomed to. From experience, I have seen this (my boyfriend is from Argentina). I have been to Buenos Aires and have spoken to people who knew English fairly well. The diction and style of their speech in English is very different. For example, they use formal words in an informal conversation that I know the people around me in the U.S. would never use. They wouldn't get the jokes or sarcasm I would try to convey.

My boyfriend took courses to learn English since he was 12. But when he arrived in Austin for college, he couldn't understand what other students were saying to each other because they were using the vernacular--slangs and phrases. The grammatical aspects of formal English from textbooks and classes were not enough for him to feel comfortable in these cultural settings. After a couple of months of intense interactions with other students, he began to pick up on this vernacular language.

I believe that the language you speak also affects the way you think. I find that every Nigerian that I've come across is utterly hilarious because of how they think in their language, and how it is conveyed to me in English. I find them to have a different humor that I've never come across with an American. And in this sense, I see them as artists in the light of comedy.

I find myself embracing culture through the mediums of communication. Through my immersing into cultures, I can understand people from other origins. Parts of those cultures become embedded into my own, sometimes changing the way I look at life. And in this way, you become an artist who has come upon new ideas and perspectives and must express them. Your painting may start to veer off into a new direction--whether it be changing a part of the painting pink to blue or starting a new canvas.

Communications is an expression of culture as an art. How else will we pass down this culture from generation to generation without the ability to communicate it? How else can we teach someone of another culture our own? How else will we present our ideas to others? The introduction of new ideas and beliefs and the reaffirmation of the old are so important to a culture because it shapes the culture--who we are.

I believe that my emphasis on the importance of communication has come about because of my family.

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