Cultural Effects

How does your culture impact the way you communicate? How does it influence your verbal and non-verbal behaviours?
 My immediate family(my parents and siblings) are the only ones living in Tobago.The rest of my family either live in Haiti or have migrated to the US or Canada.The culture of Tobago blends the influences of African, Indian and English heritage. The island is predominantly English, but Creole, a form of French Patois, is used by a seldom few. My parents are from Haiti, so the French thing, it rubbed off on me. The different languages have created a great impact on how I communicate because though it is expected that since the majority of people in Tobago speak English, members of my family speak French, and so a suitable language must be selected in order to communicate with the people of whichever culture.
 For example, when our family comes together and there is communication between my grandfather, or aunts and uncles, though they speak English, French is used more(though I don't understand) since this is what they would understand and speak more fluently.
In Tobago, a high level of democracy is practised and so everyone has the right to express themselves and share their views as a form of communication. Due to my bi-cultural upbringing, when communicating, there is a big difference as to how I refer to my peers and friends and how I relate to those older than me and in authority. Although laughter and jokes may be shared with people in and or outside of my age range, people of authority are to be referred to with respect and that also pertains to body gestures and body language. With respect comes proper posture, eye contact and calm tome of voice when communicating with people in authority and people older than me.