Encountering the Communicative Act

Leave takings are important in Spanish because they leave the interlocutors with an impression of the interaction that just occurred and set the tone for the next interaction.

Leave takings are very common and you may not even realize it when you have successfully performed this communicative act. However, we are sure that you will recognize an inappropriate leave taking.

Have you ever had anyone hang up with you on the phone too abruptly? How did it make you feel? When leave takings are not negotiated properly, people often wonder if the other person is angry or uninterested in the relationship.

Let's take a minute to think about leave taking in general. Take a moment and think about the last time you closed a conversation successfully in Spanish or English.

Describe what the sequence was like in two to three sentences below.

What do you think made this closing successful?

Now, describe a closing sequence that was not as successful.

How was this closing different than the first sequence?