Language barriers

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LANGUAGE BARRIERS
Dr Amit Singh Ms. Anu Sangwan
Assistant Professor Assistant Professor
School of Education J.L.N. College of Education
Central University of Haryana C.R.S.U., Jind
MEANING
Language is needed for any kind of communication, even people with speech impairments
communicate with sign language and brail. Language plays a vital role in helping people
build a bridge of relationships. It is the most common tool of communication. At the same
time, language acts as a destroyer of bridges of human relations because it separates people
from each other. Communication becomes difficult in situations where people don‟t
understand each other‟s language. The inability to communicate using a language is
known as language barrier to communication. Language barriers are the most common
communication barriers which cause misunderstandings and misinterpretations between
people. In other words, a language barrier is a term that is used to describe the inability of
passing information between two or more people due to linguistic differences.Language
barriers are as difficulties in communication that occurs within a group of people or between
individuals with different language background or dialects.Most of the people in the world do
not speak Hindi or, even if they use, it is their second or third language. If the speaker and
receiver do not use same language and words, there is no meaning to the communication.
Language continues to remain a barrier to convey our messages to people in the globalization
and communication era. Language barriers are a common challenge in social settings. They
affect our daily life.
BARRIERS IN USING A LANGUAGE
1. PROFICIENCY: -When someone who does not understand a certain language well
is trying to communicate with someone who understands it perfectly, we say that
there‟s a language barrier in proficiency between them.
2. EMOTIONS: - Encoding and decoding of messages depends to quite some extent on
one‟s emotional state at a particular time. Extreme emotions like depression are likely
to hinder effective communication. Anger is the worst enemy of communication. A
message received when one is angry is likely to be interpreted in a very different

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manner than when one is calm and composed. Stress may also lead to building up of
negative emotions further leading to communication breakdown.
3. DIFFERENCE IN LANGUAGE: - Difference in language is the most obvious
barrier to communication as two people speaking two different languages cannot
communicate each other. For example: an American comes to India. The person does
not understand Hindi and most people in India do not understand English. So, when
the person speaks, the communication is worthless as the other Indian person doesn‟t
understand it.
4. WORD CHOICE: - The choice of word used in describing anything must be
considered before communicating. The words used by a particular person to show
their agreement on something can be taken as sarcasm which is negative in nature.
Words with two meanings, homonyms, homographs, homophones should always be
avoided as it doesn‟t send the proper meaning and can be interpreted in any way. So,
the message will not be sent as intended which acts as a type of language barrier in
communication.
5. GRAMMAR AND SPELLING: - Grammar and spelling becomes a barrier in
communication as people from different parts of the world can be using it differently
even in a particular word. Similarly, grammar and spelling mistakes create a huge
communication barrier in written communication. For example: a person makes a
mistake of typing done as don. The spelling and grammar checker of the computer
does not label it as wrong as don is also a correct word. But the word can change the
whole meaning of the sentence or make the sentence not understandable.
6. REGIONAL ACCENTS AND DIALECTS: - The accentsand dialect(use of words)
of people belonging to different places differs even if their language is same. Though
the languages are technically the same in people using different dialects and accents,
the meanings, implications and interpretations of words are different, which may lead
to various kinds of conflicts.
7. PIDGIN: - Pidgin is the simplified language used between people who do not speak
common language. The implications of words and phrases can create
misunderstandings. For example: the abbreviation “LOL” used in chat language used
to mean lots of love before, which changed to laugh out loud. If a person says LOL,
the second person can interpret the meaning in any way they want or from their
understanding. People use both the abbreviations according to the context and need.

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8. PYSCHOLOGICAL BARRIER: - psychological factors affects learning language
include lack of interest, attitude, impatience and over enthusiasm.
a) LACK OF INTEREST: - Thereare some students attend the class just for the
sake of attendance or to satisfy the teacher. This lack of interest in that
teacher‟s class may have developed because the teacher is very strict or not
clear or for some other reason. In other words, lack of interest affects listening.
b) NEGATIVE ATTITUDE AND FEELINGS: -If we have negative attitude
towards the speaker, we try not to understand him or misunderstand him.
Similarly, our feelings about a person influence our listening. For example: if
we like a person very much, even if the person talks nonsense, we try to give it
a sensible meaning and feel happy.
c) IMPATIENCE AND OVER ENTHUSIASM: - A listener needs a lot of
patience. But people who think too much of themselves and are overconfident
usually do not have patience. They think that they know more than the speaker
and they can speak better than him. They jump to conclusions immediately
based on their own knowledge about the subject. Therefore, instead of
listening to the speaker patiently, they try to fill in words for the speaker
distracting the speaker or they disturb the person sitting next to them by
talking about the same topic.
9. TECHNICAL: - jargonsarethe technical words used in communication. It might be
different according to different professions, specialty and technical field of a person.
Technical words used by doctors and lawyers are extremely different. If they start
talking, both of them will not get what the other is talking about. Jargons have special
meaning in the subject concerned. For example: the word „mouse‟ is known to all of
us. It refers to a small rodent. But the same word is used to refer to an input device
while talking about computers. Everyone may not be familiar with technical jargon.
10. CULTURAL BARRIER: - Cultural differences often cause communication
problems. The same category of words, phrases, symbols, actions, colours mean
different things to people of different cultural backgrounds. For example, in Western
countries black colour is associated with death and mourning while in the Far East
white is the colour of mourning. In the United states people love to be called by their
first name while in Britain people are more formal and like to be addressed by their
little or their last name. In the hierarchical structure of Indian society and business
environment also the last name is important.

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11. OVERLOAD INFORMATION: -
12. NOISE: - The environment in which the communication is taking place also affects
listening. Public places like cinema hall, parks, shopping malls, workshops and
manufacturing units are usually noisy. In such places, however hard the speaker
shouts and however the listener strains his/her ears, there may not be effective
communication.
13. SELECTIVE PERCEPTION: - The receivers respectively see and hear depending
upon their needs, motivations, backgrounds, experience and other personal
characteristics. While decoding the message they project their own interests and
expectations into the process of communication further leading to a particular kind of
feedback.
14. NO CLEAR SPEECH: - People who speak soft or in a small voice cannot be
understood. The sender might be saying something whereas the receiver might
understand something else. Though speaking common language, people might have
difficulty understanding the meaning of the message and the feedbacks. This might
also be a cause of obstacle in communication.
15. USING TABOO WORDS: - Some people may find it difficult to express their
emotions or ideas, and some topics may be completely „off-limits‟ or taboo. Taboo
topics maybe politics, religion, sexuality and sex, racism and any opinion that may be
seen as unpopular.
16. DIFFERENCES IN SYNTAX: - The sentence structure in the foreign language is
different from that of the same in mother tongue. Hence, the pupils find it difficult
while translating their ideas in to script in English language.
STRATEGIES TO OVERCOME LANGUAGE BARRIERS
1. IMPROVE YOUR PROFICIENCY: - If you find it difficult to communicate
with speakers of a particular language, then the best thing you can do is actively
practice in your spare time to improve your vocabulary and grammar.
2. USE OTHER METHODS OF COMMUNICATION: - When dealing with
linguistic barriers, you should always keep in mind that words are not the only
method of communication that you have at your disposal. You can also convey
meaning with your hands, facial expressions, or various visual aids, which are
especially helpful when explaining complicated concepts to an audience that
doesn‟t understand your language as well as you do.

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3. USE REPETITION: - Language barrier or not, people often need to hear
something more than once to understand and remember it. Don‟t expect anyone
to remember something you said once. If it is important, make it a regular part of
your communication.
4. Avoid using ambiguous or confusing words.
5. Avoid using difficult words, complex sentences, unnecessary information. Use
short and simple sentences.
6. Choose familiar words and language to the receiver to avoid miscommunication.
7. Think in terms of your receiver.
8. Use simple, clear, accurate and familiar language.
9. Avoid slang or use of culturally or technically specific expressions or
terminology.
10. Frequently check for understanding by asking for feedback.
11. Avoid idioms or jargon.