5 Types of Communication Explained

Communication is an essential life skill everyone should strive to develop, but it often is confusing to know where to start. This blog post will help you get started by breaking down communication into five different types so you can practice each part effectively!

Verbal Communication

Verbal communication is a type of communication that takes place using words or speech. It’s a two-way process between two or more people and involves sending and receiving messages. Verbal communication can be face-to-face, over the phone, on video calls, or even through text messages. For verbal communication to be effective, it’s essential to pay attention to body language and tone of voice when talking with others.

The best way to improve verbal communication is through practice, and the best way to practice is with Yoodli! Yoodli is an AI speech coach that gives you insights into how well your verbal communication skills are, from pacing to filler words. A little bit of practice via the Yoodli games section goes a long way in improving your verbal communication! (note that Toastmasters International, the world’s premier public speaking coaching company, is using Yoodli as part of their member coaching.

Written Communication

Written communication is a type of communication that involves writing down your thoughts to convey them more effectively and clearly than verbally speaking them out loud. There are many forms of written communication, such as emails, letters, memos, and reports. These written artifacts often allow you to present ideas more clearly than verbal conversation does because you have time to think about what you want to say before writing it down. 

The best way to improve written communication is by practicing writing. When doing so, be sure to use a tool like Grammarly to pay attention to the clarity, word choice, and tone of your writing (just like Yoodli does for speech). From there, you can double down on things you were good at and then practice on those you weren’t so good at.

Non-Verbal Communication 

Non-verbal communication is a type of communication that doesn’t involve words but instead uses other forms such as body language, gestures, facial expressions, and eye contact. It often will supplement verbal communication and convey emotions like happiness, anger, or sadness without saying anything. 

If you find yourself on many video calls throughout the day, one of the best ways to improve your non-verbal communication is using Yoodli! After you upload a meeting recording or use the Yoodli Zoom Bot, Yoodli will give you a report on how well you maintained eye contact, how well you were positioned on the screen, and other essential parts of non-verbal communication! Using these insights, you can learn what you need to improve on and focus on that!

Visual Communication

Visual communications consists of images, videos, and other visuals that help us convey our message more effectively than words alone can. Often, these take the shape of graphs, charts, and other data visualizations. Visuals are typically more accessible for people to comprehend than written words because they are easier for our brains to process – visual cues provide context clues that allow us to understand information faster than just reading the text would allow us to! Visuals also help evoke emotions from viewers, which helps create deeper connections with them and increase engagement levels when communicating with them about something important!

Improving your visual communication skills is much more complicated than improving any other 5 types of communication! One of the best ways to do so is by practicing creating visuals and then asking friends and family members what they think the visual is meant to communicate. If their answer is different than what you intended, work on understanding why it was different, and shift your approach the next time!

Listening 

Listening, one of the lesser-known components of the 5 types of communication, is crucial because it allows us to understand what other people are trying to tell us or express their feelings without them having to repeat themselves multiple times until we get it right. Good active listening skills involve paying close attention to what someone says and how they say it so that you can pick up any subtle cues they might give off while speaking (e.g., their tone of voice). Being an active listener also means being able to ask relevant questions if something isn’t precise or if the speaker needs clarification on specific points in their message – this shows that you are engaged with what’s being said and makes for better conversations overall!

You can practice listening every day in any conversation, but sometimes it isn’t easy to see how you are improving over time. Using Yoodli, you’ll see how well you listened via the listening analytics section! Using this information, you can then work on improving your listening skills over time by tracking how you’re fairing.

While there are many ways of improving, understanding the core 5 types of communication will help you plan your practice as you work to improve your ability to communicate effectively! Whether it’s face-to-face conversations or virtual ones via email or text messaging, learning these five essential types will ensure that your messages get across correctly every time!

For more tips on becoming a better communicator, check out this post about How to Become an Effective Communicator, and remember to practice with Yoodli!