Dialogus Interruptus
Been thinking off-and-on about the topic of INTERRUPTING today.
Some questions: 1) Do we understand more if interrupt and check/clarify? Or less?
2) Europeans -on the whole- interrupt more than Japanese people. Does
that mean they are better English speakers, or understand more?
Sometimes we’re forced to interrupt other people, we have no choice. If your American/British boss is explaining what he wants you to do, you HAVE TO interrupt if you don’t understand. If you don’t and make a cock-up, you may get fired.
But in the classroom, we have a choice whether to interrupt or not.
In the little class survey I did at the end of the lesson yesterday, I discovered that THREE students don’t interrupt others in class because they’re embarrassed to speak up in front of everyone (this is perfectly understandable). SEVEN students said they didn’t interrupt in class because they think it is impolite (this is understandable too.)
Other reasons for not interrupting (this is what you wrote):
“I have difficulty to understand” (So why not interrupt and clarify?)
“I don’t understand from the beginning of the story, and it’s hard for me to ask the long question” (Does this person here mean ‘wrong’ question? Why don’t they interrupt and ask the speaker to start again? English people do this all the time?)
“I try to understand the whole talk inspite (?) I don’t understand some words. I don’t want to interrupt at every vocabulary (?) I don’t understand.” (I think this is an excellent procedure. But what do you do if you realize that you AREN’T actually understanding the whole talk?)
“It’s impolite. Also, I don’t understand the accent.” (But if you don’t interrupt, that person won’t know that their accent is difficult to understand. In this way, isn’t interrupting, actually a way of HELPING them too?)
From a British/American perspective, I think interrupting (in Business, social life) is actually quite important, and usually something to be encouraged. If someone interrupts me it means that they are interested in what I’m saying, and want to understand me. If I am explaining something in class and you interrupt me to clarify something or ask a question, I am really happy to do so. Shouldn’t we all be aiming for this in and out of class? What’s to stop us? Is this just because in my culture, interruption is –on the whole- a good thing? You tell me.
Some questions: 1) Do we understand more if interrupt and check/clarify? Or less?
2) Europeans -on the whole- interrupt more than Japanese people. Does
that mean they are better English speakers, or understand more?
Sometimes we’re forced to interrupt other people, we have no choice. If your American/British boss is explaining what he wants you to do, you HAVE TO interrupt if you don’t understand. If you don’t and make a cock-up, you may get fired.
But in the classroom, we have a choice whether to interrupt or not.
In the little class survey I did at the end of the lesson yesterday, I discovered that THREE students don’t interrupt others in class because they’re embarrassed to speak up in front of everyone (this is perfectly understandable). SEVEN students said they didn’t interrupt in class because they think it is impolite (this is understandable too.)
Other reasons for not interrupting (this is what you wrote):
“I have difficulty to understand” (So why not interrupt and clarify?)
“I don’t understand from the beginning of the story, and it’s hard for me to ask the long question” (Does this person here mean ‘wrong’ question? Why don’t they interrupt and ask the speaker to start again? English people do this all the time?)
“I try to understand the whole talk inspite (?) I don’t understand some words. I don’t want to interrupt at every vocabulary (?) I don’t understand.” (I think this is an excellent procedure. But what do you do if you realize that you AREN’T actually understanding the whole talk?)
“It’s impolite. Also, I don’t understand the accent.” (But if you don’t interrupt, that person won’t know that their accent is difficult to understand. In this way, isn’t interrupting, actually a way of HELPING them too?)
From a British/American perspective, I think interrupting (in Business, social life) is actually quite important, and usually something to be encouraged. If someone interrupts me it means that they are interested in what I’m saying, and want to understand me. If I am explaining something in class and you interrupt me to clarify something or ask a question, I am really happy to do so. Shouldn’t we all be aiming for this in and out of class? What’s to stop us? Is this just because in my culture, interruption is –on the whole- a good thing? You tell me.
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