Creative Problem Solving

              I'm currently taking a course about Communication Law and I'm writing a paper about a case where employees are monitored by there bosses through cell phones and e-mails. The company presidents say there only monitoring the company cell phones and computers to make sure their employees aren't slacking off when they should be working. Law suits are taking place because employees feel that there first amendment privacy rights are being violated. Employees say that there bosses are overhearing private conversations they have with friends and family. They explain that their bosses don't need to know about private matters when their friends and family members call about emergency situations, which can sometimes be embarrassing.
             This situation can at least be partially resolved if employees tell family members not to call their business phone when theirs an emergency, but to call their privately owned cell phone instead. I don't think family members would send emergency e-mails, however when I was on an aircraft carrier in the Navy, e-mails were the only way I could communicate with my family when we were out in the oceans and seas. My family always contacted the red cross when they needed to get a hold of me for emergency situations though, such as when my grandfather died and I had to go on emergency leave to attend his funeral.
             Language barriers can cause communication problems. My older sister, Betsy has lived in China where she's taught English to Chinese college students in Beijing for the last ten years. During her first few years she struggled while trying to communicate with her Chinese students and friends because Mandarin is a very difficult language to learn. Sometimes Betsy would say something to her students using the wrong intonations, which caused her students to think she was being rude to them. This happened because if you say a word or statement using the wrong tone it becomes a totally different word/statement, that can sometimes turn out to be bad or derogatory.
             Because of Betsy's language barrier difficulties she had to try to explain what she meant in English to her students a lot when this happened in her first few years. fortunately most of her students speak English very well by the time they get to college and they are willing to explain the meaning Betsy was trying to convey to students with less understanding.
              Language isn't the only thing you have to worry about when you enter a new culture. When I visited my sister in China I wondered why all the Chinese people I met seemed shy and polite around me, when they acted normal around Betsy. One of Betsy's close Chinese friends explained to me that it was part of their culture to act shy and polite around strangers especially men. Betsy's friend, Sunny also told me about how they are raised to feel ashamed if they get a bad grade or do something wrong according to the ideals of their family. One of my sister's friends even told me about how her father told her she was no longer a part of his family because she earned a bad grade and he disapproved of her fiance'.