Translator: Park Hyeonsu Reviewer: Mirjana Čutura
Hi, everyone.
I'm Atsumi Watanabe.
Today, I want to talk about how to build good relationships
with other people.
I will discuss what I think are three essential things we can do.
First of all, are you a sociable person?
(Audience) Not really. No. Not really.
Are you good at talking with people you meet for the first time?
(Audience) Yes. No.
Personally, I really envy sociable people
because essentially I'm not good at building relationships quickly.
Now, I have many good friends
with whom I can share many personal things.
However, I'm not good at talking with new people,
and sometimes I create a distance between them and me.
I think we can be greatly influenced by other people
when we communicate with them.
Also, we can mature,
especially with our sense of values, the ways of thinking.
Basically, I found three important tips
when communicating with people we meet for the first time.
I'd like to tell you about those.
The first tip is showing people your positive attitude
towards communication.
We often talk to people to get information about them or from them.
This type of communication is very practical,
but there are also casual and friendly conversations.
In most conversations,
if you talk to someone,
and he or she looks bored and doesn't say much,
would you want to continue talking with that person?
Probably not.
It is natural to want to talk more with a person
who is interesting and dynamic.
So, showing interest in what people are saying
and wanting to know their ideas and opinions
are very important.
We can do that through active listening.
So, in conversation, we need words but also a positive attitude.
The second tip is respecting others' opinions.
There are so many people around us.
It is common to think that we are separated
by countries, languages, races and religions,
but I don't think so.
Communication allows us to share the different value systems
and helps us expand our worldviews.
Saying that an opinion is right or wrong is not always useful.
We must first try to understand the other opinion
before we judge them.
That's respect.
So, while you're talking to other people,
it's important to listen to their opinions carefree
and learn from them.
Also, it's important to understand and accept each opinion
as one of many points of views.
To reject someone's opinion by simply saying it is wrong
can be a form of denial of his or her identity.
I think this can be dangerous.
The last tip might seem like an easy one to say,
but it is a little difficult to do.
We can show a positive attitude towards communication by smiling.
Imagine you are attending the entrance ceremony of your college.
You may feel uneasy because you may not have any friends.
You may also feel like talking with someone around you.
In that situation,
what's the very first thing you should do?
I think smiling should come first.
The point here is, smiling plays an important role in conversation.
It's like a conversation spice.
In other words,
your conversation can go smoothly
and you can build better relationships with people around you
if you smile a lot.
So far, I've talked about three important tips
when communicating with people.
First, showing interest in what people are saying,
showing people a positive attitude towards communication.
Second, respecting others' opinions.
The last one - smiling.
If these three tips are followed,
I believe that good communication is possible.
Maybe I've told you what may seem like an ordinary thing;
however, these aren't easy to follow.
We may understand them well,
but I don't think we always apply them in real life.
In life, we meet thousands of people.
We will meet even more people in our near future,
so we will experience various things.
Because it is necessary for us to build good relationships
in business and in social situations,
I suggest these three tips for good communication.
This is what I think is the idea worth spreading.
Thank you.
(Applause)