Ever felt frustrated that your message isn't understood? Ever felt nervous about speaking up?

Your Communication Skills (Video 1)

Transcript:

Presenter:
Are you worried about your communication skills? Everyone is. Listen to these students tell you about their experiences.

Nursing Student (Nigeria):
When I first came to Australia, to improve my language skills, I went to Australian events. I sort of listened to the radio and the television to understand the Australian accent. I also went to an Australian church.

Nursing Student (Hong Kong):
I would recommend to students that if they will be going to Prac to practice their English more before they go to the Prac especially for the international students, because in a real situation they don’t talk to you like your lecturer talks to you, they talk really fast and they have slang and sometimes it’s very colloquial and also if the patient is sick they don’t have the patience to talk to you clearly and slowly.

Nursing Student (Philippines):
When you go out there for your Prac, be yourself. If you’re unsure just ask questions, ask questions to your clinical facilitator, to the nurses you buddy with. Anything that you are unsure of, don’t do it.

Nursing Student (Nigeria):
When I went on Prac I found the Australian slang challenging, because they were not standard words used everywhere else. The patients and nurses had their own little way of communicating that I had to go out to learn from my friends. I also found the Australian accent different from mine. Sometimes I have to repeat myself three times before they understand what I’m saying. Sometimes I had to just spell out the words I used, because they didn’t understand whatever I was saying.

Public Health Student (Bangladesh):
I feel happy when I found someone to talk to me in English. I’m trying to make Australian or some other culture, friends so that I can practice more English.

Nursing Student (Japan):
I improve my English because when I have difficulty I try to ask my lecturers, tutors and also my friends who are domestic students. I try to listen to them and also talk with them and yeah I think I’ve improved my English because of that.

Public Health Student (Singapore):
When I first went on Prac I think there were a couple of challenges that I faced when it comes to communicating. It’s quite different from normal everyday day-to-day communication, so certain things like understanding the different jargon, understanding the slang that people use. (I kind of misunderstand them a couple of times.) That’s really important - because, if I were in a hospital, I need to know exactly what the patients are talking about as well.

Nursing Student (Nigeria):
Pardon? Accent different? I say “yeah we all have accent”. Australians also have accents, I have accent. We all can’t have the same accent you know.