What I'm hoping to learn from this podcast project is some new vocabulary, a better understanding of how Japanese grammar works in conversation (beyond what we've studied in textbooks), and also what Japanese university life is like (and how it compares to student life at Columbia). What I'm really looking forward to is coming up with the script and actually putting what I think I've learned to the test.
As far as what communication means to me... to me, communication means the coherent and accessible exchange of ideas. Communication isn't just putting information forward, it's kind of like ensuring its comprehension as well. Like if someone is lost, and I give them directions--if they don't actually understand any of the directions I've given them, we haven't really communicated at all, I've just spoken at them. I guess communication is the difference between talking at a person and talking with them.