For the past few months, little by little, I’ve begun to realize how poorly I speak. I say that with regards to speech articulation, enunciation and structure.
It first dawned upon me as I was watching some documentary-like YouTube videos and the host had a really charismatic voice. The words she spoke were really well pronounced and the pace at which she spoke was ‘just nice’. Then I began to take note of how I was when I spoke — I spoke quick, it sounded like I was mumbling, my pronunciations were really sluggish and overall, I didn’t sound enthusiastic at all. It was downright unattractive and sounded as if I wanted to end the conversation immediately. As I continued on, it came to my mind how tough it is to be a host. To speak without a script and ask questions or interview others. Questions that are intriguing and to also provide an appropriate response to the answer. This led me to another point, the structure of my thoughts and speeches. As I listened to more podcasts and conversations of other people regarding contemporary issues, I realized how poorly structured most of my responses are. Ask me what my thoughts regarding any issues and I’d stutter. Give me 3 minutes to think about it and the results will still be the same. My experiences from interviews taught me the same thing. I simply had no structure of thought, and it shows through my responses. This is why I get torn apart during interviews and if I didn’t do anything to fix it, I would face the repercussions in my future career. Hence, this post is the first of my attempt to improve my speaking.
Of course, after ‘researching’ quite a bit online, here are a few methods that I can do:
1. Read more. This is to improve your vocabulary and possibly structure of thought and more importantly expand your knowledge of worldwide content to supplement your views
2. Write more. This blog post is my attempt in doing so. Apparently writing exercises such as simply typing out your thoughts for a few minutes straight could work
3. Practice public speaking. Can be done through a local Toastmasters
Whatever you say, try to make it structured and coherent. Work on enunciation and articulation after you’ve sorted your content. Perhaps, start with a simple structure taught in JC GP. PEEL. Point, Example, Explain and Link. That’s all for now.