Communication and Language

Interpersonal Communication
What does "communication" mean? What does it involve?
What is communicated?
How many different forms of communication can you name? communication tools?
How much of your time is spent communicating? How? With whom?
How do you communicate with your friends?
When did you discover that communication is important?
What do you need to do to communicate with other people?
What do you do if you can't communcate with someone?
Do you ever communicate in groups? How many people in the group?
Have you ever studied communication?

What would you do if nobody talked with you?
Who do you go to for advice? when you need help? when you want to complain about something or someone?
Who do you tell your secrets to? Who tells you their secrets?
How do you stay in touch with your family? with your relatives?
Do you often talk with your father? with your mother?
How many close friends do you have? How often do you talk with them?
Have you ever talked far into the night? When? With whom?
What do you talk about when you first meet someone? with your friends? with your boyfriend (or girlfriend)?
Do you talk with your neighbors? Who? About what?
Do you ever talk with strangers?
Who do you usually greet?
Have you ever given someone directions? Who? Where? to where?
How many people do you talk to in a day? about what?

Do you still keep in touch with high school friends? junior high school friends? elementary school friends?
Did you belong to a group in high school? junior high school? How many people were in the group? What kinds of people were they?
Do you talk with any students in other classes at AGU?
Do your parents talk with each other very much? with you?

Who do you talk with besides your friends from school? older people? younger people?
Do your parents talk with you? with your friends?
What do you usually talk about?
Do you prefer speaking, or listening?
When do you need to talk with someone?
Do you tell everything to your boyfriend (girlfriend)?
Are you shy when you talk with someone for the first time?
Would you like to talk with a famous person? Who?

Cross Cultural Communication
When and how did you first communicate with a foreigner?
How many times have you communicated with foreigners?
How can you communicate with someone who doesn't know your language?
Are there differences in communication between different countries? What?

Have you ever made an English phone call?
Do you know any words in a language other than Japanese or English?
Do you like to speak English?
Have you ever spoken with a foreigner outside of class? What language did you use?
What is the best way to communicate with foreigners?
Would you like to learn a third language? What language?

Language
When and where did human language begin?
How do babies communicate with their parents?
When do children begin to talk? write?
What were your first words?
How do deaf people communicate? blind people read?
Do you know of anyone who has lost the ability to communicate (aphasia)?
If you lost your voice, how would you communicate?
What would you do if you were deaf? blind? suffered from an aphasia and could no longer communicate?
How many languages can you speak?
How many languages are there in the world? How many can you name? Why are there so many?
Where can you use English in Japan?
Do the people you talk with use "gairaigo"? What words do they use?
Do you know any sign language?

Nonverbal Communication
Do you use words to communication everything?
Do your clothes and hair style tell something about your personality?
How far away do you stand from the people you talk to?
When you talk are you conscious of your posture? facial expression? intonation and stress?
Where do you look when you talk to people? Do you have eye contact with them?
Is there a difference in eye contact between Japanese and people from other countries?
Do you ever use body language? How? gestures? What?
Are there any particular gestures you use when talking with people?
What other forms of nonverbal communication can you think of?
What is skinship? Is it a kind of communication?

Animal Communication
Do animals have language? Can they learn a language?
Have you ever communicated with an animal? How?
Did you see the movie Dr. Doolittle?
Can animals animals communicate? What do they communicate? How?
How do fish communicate?
What information can bees communicate? How?
Can humans communicate with animals? Can animals communicate with humans?
Do you know Ai-chan? Koko the gorilla? other communicating animals?

Electronic Communication
Do you like to talk on the phone? What time of the day do you talk on the phone most? Who do you talk to?
Do you use all of the functions on your (cellular) phone?
What melody does your phone play when it rings?
Have you ever made an international call?
Do you want a TV telephone?
Do you often send p-mail to friends? e-mail?
How many e-mail friends do you have?
Do you have "mail" friends?
Do you have a homepage on the Internet? What is the URL?
Have you ever used the Internet? How? For what?
What do you think of e-mail love? Did you see the movie You've Got Mail?
What the longest phone call you've ever made? How long? To whom? What did you talk about?
Do you send or receive faxes? With whom?
How long have you had a cellular phone?

When were telephones invented?
When did you get a PHS or a cellular phone?
Do you like to talk on the phone?
What is the longest time you've spent on the telephone?
What is the longest-distance call you've ever made? Have you ever made an intenational call? a collect call?
How big is your phone bill usually? your biggest phone bill? Who pays?
How would you communicate if there was an electrical power failure?

Written Communication
What are some differences between oral and written communication?
Do you often write letters? To whom? Do you like to write?
Have you ever used e-mail? Do you have an e-mail address? a homepage?
Have you visited anyone's homepage? Whose?
Do you have any "internet" friends? How many? How often do you chat or exchange e-mail?
Do you have a fax machine at home? Do you use it? For what?
Have you ever sent a telegram? How do you send them?

Do you have any penpals?
Do you like to write? letters? poems? What?
How often do you write letters?

Mass Communication
What is "mass" communication?