We all could benefit from the study of time and communication, also known as chronemics. Inner personal experience and nuanced connection bends through the lens of language and culture, which come with deluge of assumptions and expectations, not to mention underlying motivations. What might be intended from an interaction may not be what is received by the audience.

By learning more about how culture views time, confusion becomes insight, reaction becomes reflection, and alienation becomes connection. Taken a step farther, the meanings of time can extend to subcultures and individual personalities.

By prioritizing the message intended, instead of what might be lost in translation, empathy and understanding get the front row, and perhaps, makes someone’s day.