7 Keys to Articulate Oral CommunicationSpeaking appropriately and clearly - at a speed that is comfortable and consistent - is the key to comprehensible expression.
- Move your mouth and avoid eating your words. Remember those old Kung-Fu movies on American TV? Move your mouth as the people in them did. It is important to breathe and relax your facial muscles and chest. Preferably, in private, I like to pinch my cheeks with my fingers and move them in, out, and around. This exercise creates an "elastic" effect. In fact, it relaxes your facial muscles!
- Do not say “Tuh” instead of “To” in between words. For example, I need “tuh” talk “tuh” the manager.
- Do not run your words together. “Whadyado?” “Gonna”, “Gimme”, “Lemme”, and “Wanna” are words that are run together. Visualize your words as a punching ball. Imagine each individual word passing in your mind's eye as they do in subtitles in a movie. Articulate each word and “punch” it. You punch, recover, and punch again.
- Avoid using contractions or short forms. Use long forms. “Can’t” is one word you must use the long form with. It is difficult for some people to understand the difference between “can” and “can’t” in a sentence. For example, “I can’t take you on Friday” and “I can take you on Friday”. Use the long form, “cannot”. “I cannot take you on Friday”.
- Decrease the use of words that fill your sentences. The idea is to remove the “noise” from your speech. Imagine trying to listen to the radio with two young children in the same room. They are playing and screaming. What is the result? "Family of...car...on vacation...in Arizona." If your oral communication is filled with "um", "like", "you know", or other fillers, comprehension is more difficult. “Right” is a word that commonly fills conversations. I prefer to use “Yes, that is correct”. People from different countries may not understand “right” and confuse it with its opposite, “left”.
- Be explicit: Say “Yes” or “No”. Do not say: “Uh-huh” or “Uh-uh”. Those words are not in grammar books!
- Be patient and smile. The more relaxed you are, the more you are in control of your communication. Do not give a busy lifestyle or a meeting agenda permission to control your speech. Think as you speak and do not speak as you think.
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