The key to success

Communication

There are a lot of ways to communicate: speaking, singing, clapping, hooting. Even animals communicate with one other in ways different from the humans. Only humans can express their thoughts and feelings in words because of our superior brain. Both humans and animals also communicate through body language. Sometimes, we don’t use words but make gestures like traffic signs or simple movements of the hand in order to communicate.

Why can humans speak, but not animals?

A lot of organs such as lungs, larynx, mouth, pharynx, tongue, teeth and brain participate in the speaking process. Although animals possess all these organs, their structure is different from that in the humans. For speaking, it is important to properly control the process involved, mainly breathing. This is done for us by our brain.

How do animals communicate?

 Dogs bark, growl, whine. When a bee has detected the food, it informs other bees by a kind of dance and whale informs each other by singing whale song. In general, animals of the same species communicate without any problem; between species, there could be misunderstandings. Some  animals can communicate simply by touching their mate.

What is body language?

Both humans and animals communicate through their body postures. A cat, when angry, humps its back and ruffles up so that it appears bigger and more dangerous. In this way, it warns its opponent not to come near. Humans frown when in doubt and smiles when happy. We use the thumbs up or thumb down signs as common gestures of approval or disproval of something. We make use of universal sign language; we know what an index finger on lips or a waving hand is trying to tell us.  But watch out: signs do not mean the same all over the world. If you make an “O” sign it is said to be okay in USA but in other places it might be insult.

Which languages are spoken the most?

Almost 900 million people speak Chinese, which is most widely spoken language in world (china is the most populated country in the world). Russian is at second place followed by English. Many countries such as Germany or Norway speak only one language; in India hundreds of languages are spoken. If a country remains too long under the foreign influence too long native languages can die but some in countries like India native languages like Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi……etc. are still in use.

Scripts

It is not exactly known who invented the first script. After oral communication for thousand years, there came the need something to writing because trade started at many places on Earth. For instance, written records were required to keep a note of payments made or the name of the vessel in which the cereals were kept.  At first small pictures were painted as written records. In India the language Tamil has most scriptures in various forms such as in the form of stones, copper plates, palm leaves and many other ways the recorded their history .

Books

Books have been present since the time of the first scripts formed about 1000 years ago. The books of that time looked different from the ones available today. Initially, people bound together the small pieces of clay tablets with leather bands. Later the books came in the form of rollers, or texts were stapled together and covered with a wooden book cover. Then an important invention, letterpress printing, also known as ‘black art’, changed the world. There was no longer need to write the text by hands; instead copies of text could be made by the use of printing press.

Posts

Soon after the invention of the script, whenever the commanders of armies wanted to convey written messages, messengers and riders were sent with messages. This was the beginning of the postal system. Every 5- 10 km, stations were built for spending the night, so that the messengers and horses could take rest. Such a messenger system is used by an ancient Egyptians around 5000 years ago. After the downfall of the Roman Empire this messenger system is forgotten. It was developed only after the medieval ages. Today postage stamps, air mail, and a mail horn are clear to almost every one as symbols of the post.  Smart phone are now ruling the communication world.  By using its super features we are communicating with our loved ones face to face.