4 Best Apps for Developing Communication Skills
We have all been in an inconvenient situation where we wanted to talk to someone we knew or unknown. We lacked conversation or got lost in the middle of the conversation and got somewhere clueless because these days are over.
Communication is a word derived from the Latin term “communicate,” which means “to share, participate in something, and make it common.” The communication process consists of the transmission and reception of information between a sender and a receiver that decodes (interprets) a particular message via the oral, written, or sign language through conventional sign and symbol systems.
The area of communication includes four distinct ways of organizing the communicative act, and they are:
- Interpersonal Communication
- Groupal Communication
- Organizational Communication
- Mass Communication
Improving all manners of communication is paramount for both personal and professional development.
Classifications of the communication means
Writings: a written language of newspapers, books, and magazines.
Sonorous: languages through sounds, for example, the radio and the telephone.
Audiovisual: fusion of sound and image, for example, television and cinema.
We can fail to communicate when:
1. We neglect feedbacks;
2. We no longer listen to the opinions of others;
3. We want to refute arguments and not talk about what it means to respect positions and look for terms;
Lack of communication can often cause different people in different environments as a work, in a group of friends, or even by messages interpreting us ineffective, leading to social exclusion.
Some people fail at communicating because they fear what people may think of them and because they don’t know how to start a real conversation that connects and respects each other’s way of thinking.
Example of Communication Skills
We know we have communication skills when we can easily interact with other people, and it feels natural.
We all have that one person who is very easy to interact with who even seems to read each other’s thoughts but in truth and the harmony and authenticity of the message we exchange.
Related Article: 5 Apps to Help with Rehearsing a Speech or Presentation
TOP 4 BEST Apps for Developing Communication Skills
Slack
Slack is a platform for communication between teams; it organizes its members by groups divided into different channels, besides having a system chat between members. It’s an amazing tool for organizational communication.
The fact that we are in the midst of a pandemic can often create insecurity and prevent us from knowing the people around us, including at work. Slack comes to help us exchange professional ideas or not without that fear. If we are shy, it’s an advantage for us, too.
- At Slack, team members send messages and share files on channels. The channels can be private (for conversations that all members should not view) or shared (collaborating with external organizations of their workspaces).
Click Here to Know more about Slack.
Clubhouse
The clubhouse is an audio-only social network, available only for iPhone (iOS), which is still in the beta test version. To create a Clubhouse account, we must receive an invitation from a contact who already uses the social network, making the app more exclusive since the number of invitations is limited.
The platform works through clubs and group rooms where participants can only communicate by audio – the app does not allow sending photos or text messages in conversations.
Besides, chats always take place to live, and the rooms have “Speakers,” users who can speak during the conference, and the “listeners,” who are the listeners of the conversation.
- Clubhouse caught the attention of personalities like Mark Zuckerberg, who participated in a chat on the platform;
- Remember that Zuckerberg is the CEO of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram social networks promoting new means of communication and social interaction.
Click here to know more about Clubhouse.
Hand Talk
Hand Talk is a free app for Android phones and iPhones (iOS) that lets us translate texts in Libras (Brazilian Sign Language). The tool uses a digital avatar, interpreted by the character named Hugo, to develop gestures and facilitate communication with people deaf or hard of hearing.
The accessibility project won the award in the Challenge Google AI Impact during Google I/O 2019, and Libras was created at the beginning of the struggle for the education of the deaf;
This marked the performance of a deaf French, called Eduard Huet, then along with the INES, from a mix between the French language of signs and gestures already used by deaf Brazilians.
“Hand Talk helps me a lot to understand sign language,”
Rodrigo said in a video he recorded to thank the developers of the product.
Click here to know more about Handtalk.
The Sims
The Sims is a life simulation game known worldwide and has already over 20 years in the market and is produced by Electronic Arts. You may be wondering how a game could help you communicate better and continue with us.
The Sims is a game that allows us to be whoever we desire physically, mentally, and maybe have a family, buy or rent a house and grow up professionally. We can work for other people, go to University to have more advantages or work by ourselves as writers or even vets.
Every choice we choose to take will affect how we interact or are seen by other Sims. The Sims is a game that allows us to getter better at communicating because:
- Help us improve our interaction with others as well as develop our creativity in the way we interact in the real world by creating online scenarios that we have on the natural world;
- To have fun as we learn and deal we disasters;
- It allows us to make new friends because sims have their owns community that not only let us play online but also has their language called Similish;
- It forces us to think outside the box to see that, in fact, in the real world, the options we have are also limitless.
Click here to know about The Sims.
| Communication Applications | Prices | Benefits | Type of Communication it Works on | Ideal for which social group |
| Slack | $0/mo $6.67USD/ mo $12.50/mo* Click here to get to more about Slack’sPricing | We can plan work projects from home; We don’t need to search information in other application because we can add them to the platform; | Slack improves our verbal and written communication. It improves our teamwork and goal-achievement interpersonal skill. | Co-workers |
| Clubhouse | Free (it only takes an invitation) | We learn to express ourselves and hear about various subjects with friends without leaving home. We become more analysts to the information we receive. | Clubhouse improves our verbal communication, and we learn to actively listen to others without interrupting since we have speakers that allow some people to talk and others to hear. | Friends and people willing to make some friends. |
| Hand Talk | Free | We learn to communicate in sign language, which allows us to interact in various ways. | Hand talk helps us improve our signal language and become more visual to things around us. | All from children to elderly |
| The Sims | Free (The Sims Freeplay and The Sims Mobile) Paid ( The Sims 1, 2, 3, and 4). | We can develop our creativity without help from anyone; We visualize various forms of conversations with people with different interests. | With The Sims, we get to develop conversational skills in an out of box way. | Geeks, imaginative and shy people mostly. |
The BEST Way to Develop Strong Communication Skills
Communication is vital for human society because it is through it that there is an exchange of information. Also, we can share what we are and how we would like to be. It is through communication, too, that we create human bonds.
- Active listening – It goes far beyond just hearing the words that the other speaks, but instead pays attention to the tone of voice and the speed with which one speaks;
- Effective body language;
- Good interpersonal communication is also authentic, showing our true colors with respect and creating a genuine bond.
According to a survey conducted by the Project Management Institute Brazil (PMI), 76% of 300 large companies define the lack of communication in the work environment as the main reason for several proposed activities’ failure.
In personal and professional life, communication skills are critical, and we should strive to improve them.
Conclusion
Communicating efficiently is far beyond having an advanced vocabulary. In several moments, transparent and objective communication is the key to conflict resolution, the creation of emotional ties, and professional advancement.
Reference and Further Reading
AcethePresentation. AmadeBai, Emidio. 10 Critical Communication Skills.
AcethePresentation. AmadeBai, Emidio. 7 Apps for Developing Communication Skills.
Garfinkle, Joel. 9 Tips for Improving Your Communications Skills
