Reading Maggay’s article helps me appreciate more of being a Filipino. I get to relate some these indigenous concepts of interpersonal communication with myself and the people I interact with. I came to realize that we Filipinos have a high-context culture that is unique from others. With that being said, I am quite awed by how Maggay found out these set of patterns of behaviors that we Filipinos communicate with each other.
Which of the 10 indigenous Filipino ways of interpersonal communication that Maggay discusses do you find yourself and/or people you know engaging in a lot?
Personally, I love connecting with people, so I find myself in Pagbubunyag and Pakikipag-sosyalan. With Pagbubunyag, I open up myself with my stories, feelings, experiences and even secrets to people I trust and care about. These are my friends and family. Especially when I am in distress due to my academics or personal life, I run to my friends and just let it all out to them. In addition, in Pakikipag-sosyalan, I enjoy engaging in social interactions, and deep intimate conversations with other people.
What are the motivations for these interpersonal communication behaviors? What are the drawbacks or the problems that arise from this way of communicating?
Some of these ways of interpersonal communication are quite direct and some, indirect. Motivations differ from person to person, depending on what their goal is. For example, a person may use Mensaheng may tagapamagitan, or a third party to serve as a bridge to avoid conflict between to conflicting parties. The drawbacks that arise with this way of communicating is when the receiver of the communication process does not understand the message of the sender. For example, in Pagpapahiwatig, it’s getting a message across in an indirect manner. The receiver might not get directly what the sender meant. This creates a miscommunication and might give rise to conflict to both parties.
The communication behaviors that Maggay describes can be observed in oral and face-to-face interpersonal interactions. Are there manifestations of these in written and online communication behaviors of Filipinos, for example on social media? Cite examples.
Yes, there are manifestations of these behaviors both written and online communication. There are limitations though, such as the non-verbal aspect of oral (i.e. the tone of voice, facial expressions and body language). However, we can use emojis and put more descriptive words and phrases that makes our online discourse ‘more emotional’. My favorite example of this one is tweeting on Twitter. Almost everyone there tweets about what they feel, experience, a random thought, a rant, appreciation, anxieties, pleasure, anger and almost anything that you can think of. I for one, can relate. When I am mad about something or someone, I express myself through Twitter (Pagbubunyag). Some even get far and tweet about more personal and sexual things (Pagsisiwalat ng mga pansariling impormasyon). Another example is news online- the fake and the credible ones (Pagbibigay ng balita reported or announcing news).
Maggay characterizes these behaviors as indigenous Filipino ways of interpersonal communication. What do you think of this characterization? Are these communication behaviors innate to Filipinos? What socio-historical and other factors would account for these ways of communicating?
I think that Maggay characterizing these behaviors as indigenous Filipino ways of interpersonal communication shows that these behaviors are innate to Filipinos who are born in the Philippines. If a Filipino goes in another country and uses this indigenous ways of communication with high-context, he/she might get misinterpreted and misunderstood. However, this is also true of non-Filipinos in our country.
We have come to learn these behaviors through our ancestors. We being colonized before influences our interpersonal communication as Filipinos. Our language is even influenced. We are able to get these behaviors in our community, as we get these habits from the people we interact with.
How do the concepts proposed by Maggay compare to and relate with the Filipino communication behaviors described by Lacson?
Concepts proposed by Maggay are more of the interpersonal communication behaviors, meaning the communication process proper by Filipinos. On the other hand, Lacson’s concepts are more of mindsets of Filipinos. These two concepts quite relate to each other. Example would be how Kulang sa Pansin Syndrome goes with Pagpapakitang-giliw or Paglalantad ng sarili.
Chav's Blog 