@article {Gordon263, author = {Paul R. Gordon}, title = {Thoughts on Communication}, volume = {4}, number = {3}, pages = {263--264}, year = {2006}, doi = {10.1370/afm.551}, publisher = {The Annals of Family Medicine}, abstract = {Living without the ability to communicate is humbling. Time spent on a sabbatical in Florence, Italy, taught me that my outgoing manner, my interactional skills, and my ability to establish rapport, all personality traits and skills that I thought would overcome my inadequacies as a communicator in Italian are not immutable. I gained some understanding of what our nonnative English-speaking patients might feel. I learned the following lessons: (1) be cautious{\textemdash}what appears to be a lack of interest may be a lack of understanding; (2) our perceptions of aptitude may be mistaken if based on patients{\textquoteright} facial expressions and body language; (3) we should not adjust our words and speed of speech just because we think a patient cannot understand what we are saying; and (4) language is an amazingly powerful tool{\textemdash}the inability to communicate transforms us.}, issn = {1544-1709}, URL = {https://www.annfammed.org/content/4/3/263}, eprint = {https://www.annfammed.org/content/4/3/263.full.pdf}, journal = {The Annals of Family Medicine} }