If you are having issues creating a discernable speech or chatting clearly with other people, then you might have to consider following the methods described below in order to significantly improve the quality of your discussions. The steps you’re going to read about are proven ways of increasing the diction level, and they are not that difficult to follow, as long as you are willing to commit to turning them into positive, helpful habits.
Let’s start the journey by enumerating the three main stages we are going to go through: expanding your vocabulary, improving your understanding, and how to apply these methods to your daily conversations. It is recommended that you use the following indications to create a daily schedule. Write down or print the schedule and place it somewhere you can see it often. Try to complete at least one task per day, if not more.
Expanding Your Vocabulary
In the first stage, the general idea is to get very familiar with language, grammar, word usage and pronunciation rules. It is important to have the right tools to sculpt a better way of communicating.
The brain is a wonderful machinery, having the capacity to remember an astonishing amount of information. Words, grammar rules, gestures, mimics, or in a word, language, is a consistent part of the information stored in the brain. From person to person, the language varies to a certain degree. It is up to you to enlarge the capability of your language, so that you gain more social recognition.
Improving Your Understanding of the Language
If you are the mumbling type of speaker, you also need to improve your knowledge of words, how the words fit together into sentences, and the rules governing these associations. There are various modes of developing a more reliable know-how about language elements and here there are listed the most relevant ones: listening to famous speakers (for example, search the most inspiring speeches from people such as Martin Luther King), watching an intelligent and well written movie or theater act, listening to audio books.
If you consider expanding your speaking capabilities to a higher level of clarity, you should know that in order to achieve that level, you should also raise your cultural and social standards, meaning you should read more creative literature, be aware of yourself and of the world around you, stay in touch with the latest news and discoveries, create and maintain healthy intellectual habits, communicate with smarter people, write down your best ideas. Of course, this increase of cultural values will not happen the next morning you wake up, but persevering into taking small steps each day will prove fruitful eventually.
Body Language Poise
Another method which you could use to improve your speech technique is to gesticulate more. When communicating, not only your words reach the person or persons in front of you, but your body language as well. Even though it is said that the body language is more difficult to control consciously, there are a few elements which can be improved in your favor. For example, when describing something which had a positive impact upon you, use your hands to describe that thing as well. Holding your hands in your pockets when talking about big things is not a very inspired idea, and it will put you in a bad light.
Speaking clearly and articulately is often considered a quality of powerful personalities. It is also a sign of a self-confident and intelligent person with well developed cultural values. Whether you are speaking with your family, friends, colleagues or new acquaintances, the way you sound is really important. When creating a healthy relationship with those around you, it is vital for the tone, volume, clarity and frequency of your voice to be adjusted so that everybody can access the words, ideas or stories you’re transmitting with high precision.
Applying Speech Improvement Methods
A very important rule for helping your speech become more accurate is to remember not to lose yourself in details. Transmitting your message across in a compact way offers the general impression that the speaker is a well organized person. On the other hand, someone who uses a lot of irrelevant content when communicating is often regarded as disorganized. Of course, the quality of your sentences adds up to the impact your message has for the audience. Being vague and offering too little details represents the other extreme, which should be avoided as well.
In general, people who speak slowly but steady reach their audience more successfully than people who rush into adding everything they want to say into a single phrase. It does not necessarily mean that slow speakers use a lot of verbal pauses when they speak. They simply create space between words and what they say turns out well delimited and easier to comprehend. A slow speed of your speech also offers you enough time to think of what you are going to say next, or choose more appropriate words, and this is a great advantage. Also, speaking fast usually implies the risk of saying something unwanted or which can have negative consequences for you, or simply saying something that makes no sense whatsoever. You can practice improving your speed of speech in more formal situations, such as at your workplace or at school.