I suppose that I became fascinated by communications from a relatively early age. I was born and grew up mostly in America, but my mother is German. When we visited her relatives in Germany, people spoke to me in a language I could not understand (how strange!)
So, I began taking German courses in school. I found it very fascinating how differently people in other countries and cultures could express basically the same thoughts.
When I studied for my Ph.D., I learned to teach myself other languages – besides German, I also had to be able to read Ancient Greek, Latin, French and Italian. I was proud that I was able to do this, and the experience taught me a lot – including how to teach others to learn languages. I even learned Spanish just for fun.
I also came to realize, however, that communicating in “languages” was not the most challenging aspect of communicating.
Communication consists of more than words and phrases!
When you are young – and not talented by nature – to communicate effectively with others, it is confusing! Sure, as far as communicating facts was concerned, I was really good!
But how do you MOVE people? How do you best “sell” your message if you are trying to get a good job or sell a product – or most importantly – “sell” yourself? Facts play only a secondary role. You have to appeal to others’ emotions – to their subconscious.
So, I began researching and reading. I found out, for example, that the “pick-up” community had come across some interesting approaches.
After doing more research, I discovered that many of them are indeed legitimate, especially with regard to one’s “inner game” and how important that is for effective communication.
I also studied NLP and some aspects of hypnosis, as well as the role that eye contact and body language plays in interpersonal communications.