The art of eloquence is of great importance, because a person with his words can convince people of anything. Good speech in both personal life and career is a calling card. Therefore, many would like to know how to develop eloquence. Such a skill is certainly necessary in personal self-development. There are special trainings and courses in public speaking. But you can learn eloquence on your own. Simple recommendations and special techniques will help improve your communication skills.
Enrich your vocabulary
Of course, a beautiful speech does not have to be replete with fanciful phrases and bookish words, but you must be able to express your thoughts as accurately and as vividly as possible - this is eloquence.
Don't limit yourself to just words: get acquainted with beautiful phraseological units, catchphrases and euphonious synonyms of words that have already set your teeth on edge. Learn to come up with metaphors and make apt comparisons.
And remember that it is not enough just to know some words and expressions. In eloquence, only active vocabulary matters.
Main types of eloquence
The contemporary art of public communication is diverse. It can be divided into the following types:
- Academic or scientific eloquence - a scientific report, review, lecture, speech in a scientific discussion. It is distinguished by its logical presentation, the presence of objective assessments, conclusions, and formulations. Helps develop a scientific worldview.
- Socio-political eloquence - reports at congresses and conferences, reviews of economic and political topics, speeches at rallies. This type of eloquence is characterized by argumentation, literacy, accuracy, persuasion and calls to action.
- Judicial eloquence is the speech of all participants in trials: accusatory, defensive, self-defense. It has a purposeful influence on the court, with the goal of forming certain views on what happened in order to reach a verdict.
- Theological-ecclesiastical or spiritual eloquence - a sermon, a speech at a council. Emphasizes the inner world of a person, fosters high morality. It is expressive and simple.
- Social and everyday eloquence - speeches at official receptions, anniversaries. This type is characterized by an easy and relaxed style, without polemics and discussions.
- Pedagogical eloquence - the teacher’s speech in lessons and meetings, essays by schoolchildren and students, speeches at school events. It is distinguished by its informativeness, literacy and the presence of most of the elements of beautiful speech.
- Military eloquence is combat orders, appeals, regulations and military memoirs. Conciseness, unambiguousness, clarity, imperative speech form and a high degree of motivation pursue the goal of verbal influence on military personnel.
- Diplomatic eloquence - speech during diplomatic communication between representatives of different states, as well as correspondence. Compliance with the mandatory norms of speech etiquette, wit, grace, expressiveness are the characteristic qualities of this type of eloquence.
Each type of eloquence corresponds to its own sphere of communication. Each of them has its own goals and distinctive features. In general, the science of effective speech communication is called rhetoric and is one of the oldest in human history.
Of course, the skill of eloquence is a successful career, high self-esteem, and a strong personality.
Get rid of mistakes
First of all, you need to get rid of speech errors, that is, errors in the use of words. First, understand the paronyms. You need to distinguish the addressee from the addressee, the instigator from the instigator, and the ignorant from the ignorant.
Be sure to pay attention to spelling: spoiled or spoiled? normalize or normalize? envious or envious?
Also use phraseological units correctly and follow stylistic norms. We recommend reading about other possible mistakes here (in general, you can easily enroll in the Russian Language online program, which will improve your speech).
Appearance in Russia
In ancient times, this art was modified and supplemented with useful techniques. Church leaders also began to use rhetoric, actively attracting new flocks to their faith and presenting irrefutable verbal evidence against heretics. The concept of rhetoric came to Russia from European countries in the 18th century.
Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov
The emergence of oratory coincided with the spread of Christianity. It was most often called “the gift of eloquence.” A little later, Lomonosov created the “Russian Grammar”, which included the “Rules of Eloquence”. Such political figures as Stolypin and Trotsky were considered good speakers. A little less, but still Lenin succeeded in understanding this science.
Get rid of what spoils your speech
We are talking about filler words, obscene language and jargon. Get rid of them. We offer two strategies:
- Write down the words that you want to clear from your speech. Select synonyms for them in advance and memorize them. Subsequently, you will replace unwanted words and expressions with them.
- Get used to pausing. Instead of another “uh-uh” or “ah-ah-ah”, it’s better to just be silent. Among other things, such a pause will give weight to your words and give listeners time to think about what you said.
It is better, of course, to combine both strategies. You can also keep a progress journal in which you note how clear your speech was throughout the day.
Why do you need to speak beautifully?
Speech has always played a huge role for humanity, because it is a means of communication and thanks to it, the thoughts of one person are transmitted to another.
There is a proverb:
“You are greeted by your clothes, but you are escorted by your mind.”
And a person demonstrates his intelligence (or lack thereof) precisely through speech. That is why it can be called a person’s calling card: whether he wants it or not, his speech reflects his essence.
As the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates said to one constantly silent young man:
“Speak so I can see you.”
And the Persian poet Saadi wrote:
“Whether you are smart or stupid, whether you are big or small, we don’t know until you say a word.”
People who can speak beautifully and express their thoughts clearly have always been valued. This is indicated by the existence of schools of oratory in ancient times. And the ancient Greek sage Skilef noted that “Eloquence is more valuable than money, fame and power, for the latter are very often achieved through eloquence.” He was echoed by the American politician Daniel Webster, who lived many centuries later: “Take from me everything I have, but leave me my speech, and soon I will gain everything I had.”
The French emperor and commander Napoleon believed that a person who cannot speak beautifully will never make a career.
Nothing has changed these days. Employees who master the art of eloquence advance their careers much faster than those who do not know how to correctly express their thoughts. Moreover, it often happens that smart and knowledgeable employees suffer from tongue-tiedness, who do not understand that it is precisely this that makes their further career growth unlikely. Of course, professionalism, knowledge, skills and experience are very important, since no one needs non-professionals.
But those who have experience and knowledge, but are not able to convey them to the listener, explain, prove, convince and change their minds, will someday definitely have big problems. After all, the higher the official position of an employee, the more often and more he has to communicate with colleagues, subordinates, clients, etc. Therefore, he definitely must be able to logically and clearly express his thoughts, influence his interlocutor and convince him.
Take an example
Try to regularly read authors whose style you like. Try to highlight what exactly attracts you. Perhaps it is a certain style of speech, perhaps a wealth of vocabulary, perhaps something else. Identify the most “delicious” in someone else’s text and borrow it.
It's the same with speakers: what do you like, what don't you? Why does one performance make a strong impression, while another is forgotten after a couple of days? Try to answer these questions. Observe other people and learn the best from them.
How to learn to understand the taste of a word
There are times when words are the tool that will allow you to achieve your goal: to find mutual understanding, to convince someone, to evoke emotions. People understand words differently. Despite this, first you need to do a lot of work on yourself, understand the taste of the word, and only then learn to influence other people. Therefore, we will primarily focus on the first step. Has it ever happened to you that you suddenly understand the essence and taste of a word that you use every day? This is called insight and happens to everyone. To put this process on stream, in order to develop the skill of noticing what is hidden under the iceberg, you need to adhere to several rules. Read about them in the article. Read more…
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Practice constantly
Practice is the main secret of developing eloquence. Many people who decide to make their speech more beautiful learn new words, learn to build complex sentence structures, etc., but do this in a strictly allotted time, and, for example, continue to communicate with friends in the same way as earlier.
Of course, such an approach will not lead to a good result, and if it does, then this path will be too long and unreasonably difficult. You need to train your eloquence constantly. And in everyday communication as well. We would even say “especially in everyday communication.” Learn to speak beautifully with friends and family - learn to do this in any other conditions. And our course “Oratory: Rhetoric Lessons” will be a good help in this.
We wish you success!
We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
- Strategies for enriching your vocabulary
- Why you need to improve your vocabulary
- Rhetorical hand
- Development of speech culture
- How to learn to speak beautifully
- Rhetoric: how to make your speech effective?
- The power of words in practice
- Five Canons of Rhetoric
- How to transfer vocabulary from passive vocabulary to active?
- How to develop vocabulary
Key words:1Rhetoric
Rhetoric and oratory
Oratory is not just the ability to speak a lot and beautifully. A good speaker must master the basics of psychology and acting, philosophy and analytics. Its main goal is not just to convey certain information to the interlocutor, but also to arouse interest among the audience and encourage listeners to take certain actions.
10 Basic Rules of Rhetoric
In rhetoric, there are 10 components that influence the quality of speech and form the basis of oratory.
Objectivity
You should not present your own beliefs as an immutable truth. The speaker's speech must be unbiased and the information truthful;
Conciseness
A long monologue containing a lot of secondary information causes irritation and a negative reaction from others. The text of the speech should be quite short and concise, while remaining meaningful and informative;
Clarity
Clarity is the ability to explain complex things in simple words, to present information in a form understandable to the interlocutor;
Imagery
Using real life situations as examples, comparison and contrast, causes the listener to associate with familiar, familiar things. The feelings and emotions that arise in this case simplify the perception of information and make speech more memorable;
Feasibility
The main idea of what was said should be easily grasped and quickly remembered;
Voltage
The interlocutor needs to be captivated, interested, and, while maintaining intrigue and increasing the degree of tension, gradually bring him to the climax of the story;
Surprise
A non-standard approach and a fresh look at the situation increase the audience’s interest in the speaker and his speech;
Saturation
The listener should not be burdened with an abundance of difficult-to-understand terms and formulations; they should be interspersed with simple and easy-to-understand information;
Comic effect
Humor smooths out rough edges, endears the audience, and performances, diluted with a good joke or appropriate wit, are better remembered;
Style
You should not make pretentious and sublime speeches, but at the same time, what is said should not seem vulgar or vulgar. The choice of narrative style depends on its content and the target audience for which the speech is intended.
Read further: Secrets of oratory and public speaking
