Spoken Discourse

I managed to take away quite a couple of things during this week's class
Firstly, its funny to learn how Dutch start off their telephone conversations with self identity
it is still something I find very useful but yet amusing
perhaps in spore, this is more common for corporate office numbers
to inform the caller of whether the number they called is the correct one
so as to provide reassurance and relief to the caller to get straight to the point of the call
instead of starting of with a entire string of words
and get a extremely puzzled person on the other line
so yes, self identification is good

however, if the person you are calling is someone you are familiar with, call quite often that you can actually remember the number at the back of your head
hearing him or her pick up the line addressing his or her number is kind of strange
it is even worse on the other end if the receiver gets a prank call and the caller knows their name before they even need to utter a word
therefore, there is a bit of danger to it this kind of formality

another thing that is amusing is the way people grow and learn naturally to start conversations without getting straight to the point
like first with greeting, followed by identification, then greeting-after-you etc etc
they will hang around talking about different things, the weather, the children, enquiring of the other party's health and sounding interested
most people will be honestly and sincerely interested in the other party
but sometimes all the person want to do is get straight to the point that they need
lets say a favour
so this delay tactic is just a matter of politeness
which may end up sounding very forced in the process

the final takeway from the class is my favourite of all
Reactive expressions!
Collaborative expressions!
so yes.. i finally know the term of something I use so very often in our lives
and I am rather surprise that Chineses are shown to use it so much less than the Austrialians
Coz I feel that I myself am guilty of using it
very
very often

yes indeed
and for various reasons
1. To assure that one is sincerely and attentively listening to your friend
2. To help yourself follow the conversation, lets say you are finding it very hard to concentrate or catch up with what the person is saying
3. To help prevent awkward silences and pauses in a conversation
4. To assist when the other party is stuck trying to convey a certain point

So come to think of it
I think reactive expressions are very useful
very important
especially for women
who engage in dialogue so much more often
to keep conversations going smoothly
and make the understanding clearer
however, we must be careful not to use these words too often
that it becomes blatant to the other party that you are trying too hard
and yes, I have been a victim of such a thing..:)
so thats all for tonight!
signing off:)