Communication

My partner accuses me of keeping him in the dark, of not telling him everything. I, on the other hand, believe we should respect one another’s privacy on some matters. What do you think? Should we never keep a secret from each other? Most of us were raised to believe that in good marriages, there are no secrets — that couples should tell each other everything. We believe that in a good marriage spouses are totally transparent with each other, revealing all of what they think, feel and do so that absolutely nothing is hidden. But while this ideal may…

Sometimes it feels like we are speaking different languages. What I think I said isn’t what he heard and vice-versa. Maybe if I knew just how men and woman communicate differently, I could do something about it. What are the differences in communication between men and women? Only recently have researchers begun to understand how drastically different men and women communicate. Deborah Tannen and other sociolinguists have come to believe that the genders speak so differently, in fact, that they can be considered different languages — or at least different “genderlects.” In her ground-breaking book, You Just Don’t Understand, Tannen…

Nearly every couple we talk to says that communication is the key to a successful marriage. But when we ask these same couples what “good communication” is, we get a lot of foggy answers. Can you pin-point the most essential parts of good communication for us? With so many thick books on communication, it is sometimes difficult to cut through the clutter and sum it all up. The following is our attempt: Send clear and accurate messages. Precise and unambiguous statements facilitate good communication, while imprecise and ambiguous statements hinder it. Consider the difference between these two statements: “You hurt…