Difference Between Verbal Communication and Nonverbal Communication

Main Difference

Communication is one of the pivotal processes in our lives, through which one can exchange thoughts, information, feelings and much more. The means of communication keeps on changing with the advancement in technology, for example in 90’s telephones were mostly used for the communication, nowadays smartphones are widely used for the communication purpose. Mainly the communication can be of two types; verbal communication and non-verbal communication. The verbal communication is the type of communication that includes words for the purpose of sharing information, messages and feelings, whereas the non-verbal communication is the wordless communication that takes place through body language, eye contact, touch or facial expressions. The verbal communication is the most famous type of information for the sake of transfer of information as it is more reliable and clearer.

Comparison Chart

Verbal CommunicationNonverbal Communication
Verbal communication is the type of communication that is done using the words.The nonverbal communication is the wordless communication.
Elements
The elements of verbal communication are oral or written.The elements of nonverbal communication are facial expressions, body movements, gestures and eye contact.
Types
Types of verbal communication are formal and informal communication.Types of nonverbal communication are chronemics, vocalics, kinesics, haptics, proxemics, and artifacts.
Reliability
More reliableLess reliable
Face-to-Face Presence
The sender and receiver don’t require face-to-face presence in the verbal communication.In nonverbal communication, the sender and receiver need to be present at the similar place.

What is Verbal Communication?

The verbal communication includes all the types of communication done using the words; it can either be a phone call, face to face talk or the e-mail. When the use of words ever come sin transference of data, information, or feelings it becomes the verbal communication. The verbal communication can be even kept as evidence, if it is done in the written form. Through this type of communication, both the sender and receiver get the communication rapidly done without any delay. As the message via formal communication is reliable and quite clearer, the feedback comes immediately. For the verbal communication, presence of sender and receiver is not compulsory as it can even be done through the person sitting in California to the person sitting in New York. The verbal communication becomes more effective when it is either done face-to-face or in written form. Furthermore, the verbal communication is of two types; formal communication and informal communication. The communication in office or organization taking place through the officially designated channel or the pre-defined channel is known as the formal communication whereas, the informal communication also takes place at the workplace in between the employees, although it doesn’t take place through the officially designated channel.

What is Nonverbal Communication?

Nonverbal communication is the type of communication that doesn’t require a word or in other words we can say that it is the wordless communication. For this type of communication, the presence of both the message sender and receiver at the same place is compulsory as this type of communication only happens face-to-face. This type of communication is not reliable in any of the cases, as the receiver in the case can perceive the symbol totally opposite to what the sender was conveying it. The nonverbal communication can take place between facial expressions, body movements, gestures, eye contact, and even through touch. Most priorly, this type of communication takes place in between two of the stranger present at the similar place. That expert in this type of communication can exchange thoughts without letting others know. The types of non-verbal communication are chronemics, vocalics, kinesics, haptics, proxemics, and artifacts.

Verbal Communication vs. Nonverbal Communication

  • Verbal communication is the type of communication that is done using the words, whereas the nonverbal communication is the wordless communication.
  • The elements of verbal communication are oral or written while the elements of nonverbal communication are facial expressions, body movements, gestures and eye contact.
  • Types of verbal communication are formal and informal communication whereas, types of nonverbal communication are chronemics, vocalics, kinesics, haptics, proxemics, and artifacts.
  • Verbal communication is a more reliable source as compared to the non-verbal communication.
  • The sender and receiver don’t require face-to-face presence in the verbal communication, whereas in nonverbal communication, the sender and receiver need to present at the similar place.

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