The project focus has changed a little but not a lot... languages and communication are still a huge part of the final piece in a major way, but it's less now about the promotion of languages and more to do with, pardon the pretention, the psychological elements of languages and communication...between people who are able to speak the same language on a first language basis, between those whose proficiency may very, i.e. a first language speaker of English or any language in particular communicating with someone who many have English as a second or third language, and indeed, and this is something that kind of became very interesting to me in recent times, the interactions that human beings have technology or any form of artificial intelligence, and the emotional/psychological responses that can often occur when communication between humans, and between humans and technology can turn into something of a one way street.
In fact, let me break it down further...
"As the weeks go by, I will be conducting interviews for my repeat project concerning breakdowns in communication between 1st and 2nd language speakers of English and breakdowns of communication when human beings interact with machines and highlighting their similarities. Y'see, I studied languages for quite a long time before I moved south to Cork, and I had done a few modules on different elements of language, such as EFL and have worked for quite some time with different aspects of technology and I've often found that many people's reactions in a certain situation where they may not understand what another person may say or in the case of an AI, where commands given by a human user may not exactly translate too well or be understand by the AI...and the whole thing then is kind of based around the emotional reactions that people have in that kind of situation, be it amusement, frustration, etc. Buzzwords: Psychology/emotional responses, linguistics, communication, miscommunication. "
Primary research has been through the medium of social networking, on my Facebook page and on a few forums that I frequent, I've basically asked the following question to a number of users of such platforms...
" What do conversations between a native speaker of a language and a non native speaker of language have in common with a human being interacting with a machine, be it an AI (Cleverbot for example), software or indeed hardware... give it a thought, your answers could be very helpful."
Been recieving very, very candid feedback from many of the users this far, some of whom are indeed, maybe second or third language speakers of English, (for example, I've received responses from contacts of mine in Germany and Israel) as well as from some expats that are currently residing in Ireland, as well as friends and collegues who have worked in a wide variety of job positions and from all walks of life, both academic and non-academic. All their answers thus far have been highly interesting and eye-opening.
An example or two:
Matthias Eck (Germany): "I would say, mostly its the lack of understanding between both peers in terms of knowledge.Lets say you are using a Voice Recognition System Program, the program needs to understand/know the words.If it does, it works usually well and commands are recognized quickly.If it doesn't work, the program starts to take parts of it and that tends to lead to issues of misinterpretation or misunderstandings.The result of this can be quite frustrating for the person using the system and the same could happen between 2 or more people that are not fluent in the language, one or more people are using in the conversation, like vocabualry, pronounciation or dependency in the situation. Best example are hotlines for customer related issues.You call them and lets say a guy in india picks the phone up and you start explaining your problem and he answers your question with a lack of english vocabulary or weird pronounciation. The result leads to the same problem. Unsatisfied customer, stressed customer representative and a bad reputation based on the conjunction of the whole mess."
Sam Brearshears (U.S.A.): The non native speaker has to think about what to say, just like the AI would have to figure out what the proper response is, and also Jim, I also remember an incident from 17 years ago at a college I was attending. There were a lot of international students, and I would often wind up translating English to English between the French students and the Spanish students and the Russian students.
Richard Konrad (born in the Ukraine, now living in Israel): Hmmm.... Sometimes, when I'm caught off guard by some guest at work (hotel) I actually fail to immediately understand him/her (even though my English is quite good as you've noticed Jimmy), let alone reply. Then I start talking with a very strong russian accent, despite the fact that I can fluently speak with american accent, nearly flawlessly. And when it comes down to a machine, well, many times I get frustrated because of its poor performance, or my inssuficient experience as a user perhaps. Eventualy, I might end up yelling at the poor computer like a psychotic sociopath, e.g. Patrick Bateman or Nicholas Cage.
I have filmed interviews scheduled with many people over the next few weeks in Cork, Dublin and in Limerick with a wide variety of people who were interested in taking part, some who have experience of life abroad, some who have worked in language, some who have travelled here as students from abroad, people who have worked with all sorts of technology, and just people in general.
The end result of this will be a video study/documentary made up of the results of such a study as I feel for a subject like this, whilst it is quite of interest to academics of linguistical and psychological backgrounds, the subject matter is still of great relevance to ordinary people as communication breakdowns are part and parcel of every day life, and the emotional responses can run the gauntlet from humorous misdirections to confusion and sometimes even to anger or more negative emotions.
A video example:
- The infamous clip of the chap in IT who destroys his machine due to its inability to follow through on tasks.
- Classic Fawlty Towers, Manuel is clearly over his head when dealing with a costumer. (In fact any scene with Manuel dealing with Basil in particular is comedy gold and a flawless example of the sort of frustration one feels when one is not getting one's point across.)
Based on the quality of the footage and the candour of the interviewees that I have lined over up over the next while, I see a golden opportunity to create a documentary/study/film that highlights people's own personal examples of miscommunication or disharmony between the words and how the intended reaction may often differ based on the perception of others or indeed, machinery, and how those people react in such situations. Not compiling this footage would be a wasted opportunity as I can see positive and indeed enlightening results coming forth from such a study.
I'd also like to stress that though the concept is indeed quite a heavy one, it is still very much an everyday occurrence and it affects all in many different ways so it does have a that human interest appeal and approach to it.
The interviews start this weekend and I foresee them being wrapped up by mid-April...although I will be posting a trailer here in a few weeks for the final piece. A number of saintly souls have stepped up to the plate to contribute their own experiences, my eternal gratitude to them and also to those who have contributed replies to the social networking talkbacks and on the various forums and indeed to those who are at this moment in time giving me more and more contacts to speak with.
Phew, that was a lot to try and bash together but I think that just about covers everything, I'll keep people up to speed with all the rest of the information as it happens.
Cheers for reading. Wolves withdraw.
Jim
p.s. Final title: "Incoherence: A two way street." There'll be a webpage up and running in the weeks to come with most of this information and more.
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