Verbal and Non Verbal Business Communication

Part I- Verbal Communication

In a recent trip to my home country, the Dominican Republic, I had the opportunity of hanging out with some of my childhood friends, as well as friends from Cuba and Colombia, and was able to see the differences in our verbal communications. I have been living out of the Dominican Republic for over 18 years and living in Miami and I can honestly say that my language has picked up many different words from the different cultures that reside here in Miami. From using “Spanglish” words to using words from other countries, my language is no longer as Dominican as that of my Dominicans friends. Most of our conversations took place in Spanish, but there were English and “Spanglish” words used by all of us.

To do the verbal part of the assignment, I decided to interview my friend William who had flown in from Colombia to spend the weekend with us. My friends and I met William a year ago on a trip to Bogota. Below is a list of words that were used in the conversation that had different meanings:

Tapon in Domincan Republic and Trancon in Colombia: Traffic Jam

Fresa in Dominican Republic and Frutilla in Colombia: Strawberries

Chinola in Dominican Republic and Maracuya in Colombia: Passion Fruit

Que lo que in Dominican Republic and Que hubo in Colombia: What’s going on?

Carro in Dominican Republic and Coche in Colombia: Car

Prendido in Dominican Republic and Ahumado in Colombia: Drunk

Grajo in Dominican Republic and Chucha in Colombia: Body Odor

Parqueo in Dominican Republic and Parqueadero in Colombia: Parking Lot

Lapicero in Dominican Republic and Esfero in Colombia: Pen

Guapo in Dominican Republic means to be upset or mad and in Colombia it means someone who is very good looking.

Boleta in Dominican Republic is a ticket and in Colombia it is used to refer to a person who is not good to be around with.

In Dominican Republic the word “pana” is used to denote a friend and in Colombia they used “parse

In Dominican Republic we...