OK, so I’m sure that this topic has come up here for quite a few times already. I’m sure, because I read these threads here. And even though some of the tips given here were helpful, I just didn’t seem to be using their full potential. They didn’t seem to help me a lot.
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And my issue is, that whenever I speak, whether it’s English or my native language, I just speak too fast, and my pronounciation is crooked. I know, I do, since literally everybody tells me so. I sometimes manage to speak slowly and clearly, and when I was doing so I even managed to receive some compliments that I got a nice voice. But I got off the track pretty quickly. Even though sometimes I willingly force myself to speak more slowly, I just tend to screw it up in a matter of few moments.
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I tried to find a reason, and I just think, that I’m scared that someone will interrupt me, so I rather try to say everything I’m trying to communicate quickly, right? But at the end of the day, nobody understands me, so it’s somewhat pointless, haha.
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Is there anything, you would recommend me doing? Maybe reading outloud reguarly, but with a slower pace, so I can just get used to talking more slowly, and thus more clearly? When I’m sometimes about to say something, then I know, I’m gonna mess up, even before I start. And it’s pretty werid — I’m rather a confident and an extroverted guy (but I’m much more likely to sound like a broken washing machine, when I’m somewhat stressed).
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Thanks!
2 comments
I feel you❤️ I’m in the same boat🙏🏻
Watching and listening to good speakers can help give a better sense of how to maintain an audience’s attention or how to lose it.
Notice how many great speakers allow themselves time to breathe naturally around punctuation or at the end of certain points.
Learning to speak with more prosody – adding emphasis to your message with pacing, pausing and intonation – will help your oratory.
Speaking faster will not stop people interrupting. More often than not, it dilutes the impact of your message by making you sound panicked, frantic and all over the place.
Speaking at a more measured pace allows you more time to think on your feet as you speak, to breathe better and therefore deliver your message better.