Speech is a powerful tool for influencing consciousness. Through speech, you can immerse a person in thought and motivate him to action, bring tears and lift his spirits, frighten him and make him believe in certain things. But in order to learn how to influence in this way, you need to understand how to speak beautifully, how to become eloquent, delve deeper into oratory, and take rhetoric classes, even in an online format. Our special selection will help you master the art of eloquence and master the basic skills of a speaker. If your work, creativity or hobby is related to words, these materials are exactly what you need.
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Orthoepy - why it is important to speak correctly and how these rules arise
We live in strange times. On the one hand, we are told that in various fields professionalism is valued above all, and not how you dress, how you speak or how you present yourself. On the other hand, everywhere we have to deal with the opposite: a person is judged not by what he is, but by what he appears to be. Therefore, when applying for a job, a well-spoken candidate with dubious professional credentials has a better chance than a true master of his craft who cannot speak. So it is very useful for any person, regardless of his type of activity, to learn how to speak correctly. Even if his profession is not related to public speaking. Read more…
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Learning to breathe correctly
If you want to communicate beautifully and for a long time, so that your voice sounds and does not break, you just need to learn how to include the diaphragm in the sound production process. It is located in the solar plexus area. To get started, practice maintaining your posture using the “wall” exercise, doing it every day for 5 minutes for several weeks. Press your back against the wall with your entire body from head to toe. Inhale through your nose, exhale through your mouth. 6 very deep breaths. Inhale at 1,2,3,4 and exhale at 5,6,7,8. Then walk around the house at different speeds, while keeping your back position the same. Tell yourself more often: “I am brave and determined!” Your body will automatically react to these words of conviction with a straight back.
Exercises to train breathing from the diaphragm
The ability to express your thoughts beautifully is only half the success. You've probably noticed that some people want to listen, but others, even very smart ones, don't. What's the matter then? You will be surprised, but in fact it is not what a person says that matters, but how he does it. A pleasant timbre, correct abdominal breathing and the ability to pronounce phrases with different intonations can turn even the most boring report into an exciting show. Below are 3 exercises, after practicing which you will become the master of your voice.
Candle – trains slow breathing. Imagine that you are blowing on a candle; if it’s hard to imagine, then light a real one. Concentrate your attention on your stomach. Exhale slowly, try to keep the flame tilted.
Stubborn candle - take a deep breath, hold your breath a little, and then start blowing sharply and forcefully, trying to put several such energetic exhalations into one breath.
We extinguish 10 candles - the principle is the same as in the previous exercise, only we increase the number of candles from 3 to 10, spending less and less air on blowing out the candles, and leaving the amount of inhaled air the same. After a few weeks of these exercises, you will notice how your diaphragmatic breathing has become automatic.
How to develop eloquence: some tips
Many people dream of eloquence. It helps at work, and in communicating with the opposite sex, and in situations where it is necessary to agree on something, and much more. But even if you decide to make your speech beautiful, it is not always possible to achieve this. This requires a serious approach - enriching your vocabulary, getting rid of speech errors, working on pronunciation and much more. Our short article contains simple tips that will help you achieve your goal and develop eloquence. If you wish, you can start working on your speech after reading it. Read more…
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Step-by-step instruction
Constructing correct sentences
If you still cannot immediately construct each of your sentences correctly, then regular practice and training will help you. It will be useful if you start keeping a personal diary. Every evening, describe in it the events of the past day and your relationship to them. Subsequently, re-read what you wrote. You will immediately understand which phrases and words stand out from the general text and are not in harmony with it.
In addition, it will be very useful to listen to audiobooks at any convenient opportunity - when you eat in the car, do household chores, apply makeup, and the like.
Reading books will help increase your vocabulary
Probably nothing can increase your vocabulary as much as reading literature. We are talking not only about the classics, but also about modern authors. A person who reads a lot gradually not only increases his intellectual level and acquires new knowledge, but also learns to express his thoughts beautifully.
The choice of good books is very large, and you can easily find something that suits your taste. If you want to spend your time usefully and are interested in science, then pay attention to such an author as F. Stephen and his work “The Book of General Delusions.”
Perhaps you want to immerse yourself in some exciting plot - read “The Master and Margarita” by Bulgakov or “Crime and Punishment” by Dostoevsky.
Fans of foreign detective stories may be interested in the works about Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle, or Agatha Christie and her unsurpassed Héccle Poirot.
Perhaps you feel the need for philosophical literature? You might like Nausea by Jean Paul Sartre or The Little Prince by Antoine Exupery.
Poetry lovers should pay attention to the work of Brodsky, Akhmatova, Nekrasov and many other talented poets.
Train your gestures and facial expressions
This is a very significant point in oratory. It's one thing to talk on the phone or text, but it's another thing to speak in front of an audience that can see you. Even correct speech and a rich vocabulary can cause rejection among listeners if you do not control your gestures and facial expressions. First, try recording your speech, with which you intend to appear in front of other people, on video. Watch the recording and pay attention to the expression on your face and where you put your hands when talking. You will see what you look like from the outside. Practice your speeches in front of the mirror more often, watching yourself.
If you want to look harmonious when speaking in public, regularly watch videos of public speeches by famous people you like. Take note of all the nuances - facial expression, hand position, posture, gaze, intonation.
Diction and pronunciation - read tongue twisters
Perhaps a tongue twister is one of the most effective ways to improve your diction and work on correct pronunciation. Correct articulation is also important.
You can often meet people who read a lot of books, have an excellent vocabulary, express their thoughts clearly and beautifully by correspondence, but at the same time are not the best interlocutors due to unclear diction. To avoid this, try not only to say tongue twisters more often, but also to read books aloud with expression. Read an excerpt from any work, recording it on a voice recorder. Listen to your speech. Do you feel like you can speak more clearly and beautifully? Read the passage again and study the recording again - do this until you are satisfied with your pronunciation. To achieve a positive result, you should read aloud for at least half an hour a day.
Some speakers prefer to underestimate the benefits of breathing exercises and correct posture. Meanwhile, without these two points it is simply impossible to deliver a long speech with expression and correct, clear diction.
Don't be afraid of public speaking
Many people are afraid of public speaking, and if you are one of them, start fighting your fear. If you know that you will have to give a speech in front of a large number of people, then first write your message on a piece of paper. Having made a plan for your future speech, try to rehearse it by recording it on a voice recorder. Listen to the recording and determine whether there are any weaknesses in the performance, correct any possible shortcomings.
In general, be prepared for the fact that in any public speaking there may be shortcomings, and you are no exception. By the way, there is nothing wrong with this, and this is a completely natural phenomenon.
Perhaps your fear did not appear out of nowhere, and you have had extremely bad experiences with public speaking in the past. Remember how it was, what caused your failure. Realize that a lot of time has passed since that day, and now everything will be completely different. Try to look at a situation that is in the past with humor, and this time avoid past mistakes. In order to protect yourself from additional unnecessary anxiety, take care of your appearance in advance - neat manicure and hairstyle, clean shoes, neat clothes.
Before appearing in front of an audience, make sure that your breathing returns to normal if it has become irregular due to excitement. Remember that due to anxiety, the muscles of the chest can tense and oxygen almost stops flowing into the lungs. This may cause your voice to become barely audible or even cause you to lose consciousness. Therefore, before the performance, take a few deep breaths, relax, imagine what you will be doing in a few hours - how you will meet with friends or relax at home.
People who are afraid of speaking in front of a large audience will benefit from taking acting classes. There you will learn to treat your performances as you would a game and a part of your work.
If you understand that you cannot cope with your fear on your own, then it makes sense to consult a psychologist who will develop the necessary technique for you.
Getting rid of parasitic words and surzhik
Please note that surzhik irritates many people, and if you use it in your speech, then be prepared for the fact that this irritation may imperceptibly transfer to you personally. It is also important to get rid of the ubiquitous parasitic words: “here”, “in general”, “in short”, “as if”, “this is the same”, “what’s his name” and many others.
You yourself may not notice how often you use such words in your conversations. Record some of your phone conversations with friends and then listen to the recordings. O appears most often in your conversations. To get rid of their use, you have to control yourself daily, carefully selecting every word. It won't be easy at first, but it will get better on its own.
Nora Gal's advice to those who work with words
Any form of activity that requires the ability to find the right words is a difficult challenge for most of us. Whether we are writing a novel, composing a text for a rap battle, or thinking through a public speech, we are faced with the agony of choice: which word or phrase to choose? How to structure the text in such a way as not to sound like a robot? The answer is simple: you need to tirelessly monitor your speech, remove unnecessary things from it, be in a constant search for suitable words and read Russian classics. However, a person is lazy, and in the modern world he also has little time for this. Therefore, we need a book, after reading which you will be eager to learn Russian for the rest of your life, without considering it a waste of time. This book was written by Nora Gal. Read more…
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Five Canons of Rhetoric
One of the greatest orators of all time, Winston Churchill gave a weekly radio address aimed at boosting the confidence of his people during the war. He dispelled their fears and convinced people that they were fighting for a just cause. Over time, his eloquence became legendary. Churchill deeply understood the art of rhetoric and knew how to persuade as if he were communicating with one person - his words had an impact on all people, regardless of values, education or position in society. Special rhetorical canons played a significant role in Churchill’s eloquence, which we invite you to get acquainted with. Read more…
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What does it mean to “speak beautifully”
We admire people who are able to attract attention with just one word. It’s nice to listen to them, you want to follow their advice. It is much more pleasant to watch a program and listen to the radio with presenters who have a good voice and can speak beautifully.
The concept of “speaking beautifully” is understood as well-delivered, laconic speech, with the necessary stress, pauses and intonation. People with such skills can correctly formulate their thoughts; their vocabulary is free of verbal garbage, filler words, and unnecessary pauses. About such people we can say that they have competent speech, they understand the meaning of the words they use, do not repeat themselves and know how to bring the story told to the end. The presentation of thoughts plays a big role. You can speak competently, without speech errors, but not be able to hold your voice, speak quickly or, on the contrary, draw out your words. A person who really knows how to speak beautifully and has competent speech can teach any information so that he is heard and understood. That is why all speakers and popular presenters have such abilities: it is important for them to be heard, their words understood and believed.
However, the ability to speak beautifully is not only for famous speakers. An ordinary person with such abilities easily finds a common language with others, it is easier for him to get his way and explain any information. That is why more and more people are beginning to care about the literacy of their speech, about the sound of their voice, because beautiful speech is the lot of successful people.
Oratory: exercises
Many of us would like to have public speaking talent: the ability to speak beautifully and persuasively and present our ideas can greatly improve everyone's life. But what steps do you need to take towards becoming an outstanding public speaker? This is where special exercises come to the rescue. Of course, you can ignore such things, thinking that everything will work out on its own, but practice shows that even in rhetoric, a systematic and competent approach greatly increases results and allows you to achieve success many times faster than if you study haphazardly. Read more…
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Diction
How to develop imagination in adults and children - recommendations
Diction refers to the clear pronunciation of words and all letters. If diction is good, then this has a favorable effect on the perception of a person by the people around him. To gain an understanding of how to competently conduct a dialogue and talk with people, you should study the issue of correct diction.
As a rule, it is not clear by nature. It can be improved both in childhood and in adulthood. Actors, for example, need to have excellent diction, since career success will depend on it.
All actors must have good diction
10 exercises to develop diction:
- With nuts and sweets in your mouth. The tongue should not come into contact with the object; only the teeth hold it. Pronounce consonants first, then syllables with vowels, then words.
- Tongue Twisters. Focus on “problematic” sound combinations.
- Articulation of sounds “sh-zh”, “k-g”.
- Practicing the sound “ts”. For example, a heron is a saber.
- First, slowly, then quickly pronounce combinations of letters: tlz, jr, vrzh, mkrtch, kpt, kft, ksht, kst, ktsch.
- First, slowly, then quickly pronounce the words: stay awake, philosophize, postscript, cheer up, transplant, supersonic, disheveled.
- Train the pronunciation of consonants in the combinations “k-k” (to Clara), “v-v” (top - up).
- Work through sounds in the form of a sound game, for example, “hammering nails,” while pronouncing the lines: gbdu, gbdy, gbde.
- Practice sounds in certain designs, for example, jasper in suede.
- First, slowly, then quickly, but clearly pronounce the words, follow the “difficult” junctions of sounds: the one who took advantage, the reverberator, territorial integrity.
How to get rid of filler words: 5 tricks
This article tells how you can quickly, effectively and permanently get rid of filler words, while making your own spoken language cleaner and more understandable. If you wish, you can easily unlearn such popular parasitic words as “um”, “uh”, “in short” and others. It is very difficult to communicate with interlocutors whose speech is replete with such words, so many people work hard on themselves. By eliminating all unnecessary words from spoken language, any report will become clearer and ordinary small talk will become more enjoyable. This note contains five basic techniques for improving speech, the daily implementation of which will help you get rid of parasitic words forever. And we’ll start with the main question: “Why do we introduce filler words into our conversation?” Read more…
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Let's vote
To make your voice big and sound beautiful, you need to learn how to use the upper (skull, mouth and nose) and lower (chest) resonator systems. Take ten shallow breaths into your belly. Short inhalation and slow exhalation. And you can start exercising.
Moan – don’t forget about your posture. Say the sound “M” with your lips closed. Say it as you exhale, without straining. Now start changing the position of your head while making the same sound. Gradually you will begin to feel vibration in the upper resonator. Having mastered the sound “M”, start adding other vowels: o-a-i-y-u, so that they sound like “mmmm-e-mmm-o-mmm-a-mmm-i-mmm-u-mmm-y” " When you have mastered this practice, move on to the continuous pronunciation of different variations of these sounds.
Tongue Twisters . Pronouncing tongue twisters is a truly great way to hone your speech and master the art of speaking beautifully, pronouncing each letter clearly. Try saying the phrase: “broke,.. broke, broke,.. broke, broke, broke,” while rubbing your forehead. We do the same with the words “we are lazy” - rubbing the nasal cartilage, “we caught burbot” - rubbing the cheeks.
Beep - straight posture, lips in a tube, pronounce the sound “U” as you exhale. Next, combine it with other vowel sounds. The main thing is not to change the position of your lips.
Poems - read them out loud and with intonation, using a medium tone. At the end of each line, inhale and say the line as you exhale. I recommend finding the poem “Reading Rules” on the Internet, which was written by A.V. Pryanishnikov. It is ideal for performing this exercise correctly.
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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Which speeches are most important?
We find the most difficult performances to be in the workplace. Our career, that is, our earnings and standard of living, depend on meetings or important meetings. Reputation and success among colleagues are of no small importance.
But how can you make your presentation interesting? You need to be able to attract the attention of listeners. But an interesting and relevant topic is not enough for this. How to learn to speak beautifully worries many career-building people. It is very difficult to develop a good project. And just imagining it is unsuccessful. This is only possible because the presentation lacks communication skills.
In order for the subject of conversation to be interesting to listeners, you need to express yourself competently and clearly. But for the most part, people speak differently. Some people tend to have difficulty communicating. As a result, the subject of conversation is easy to lead to a dead end.
People who know how to express their thoughts correctly are able to captivate people. We must strive to learn how to present information to our interlocutors colorfully. This is also the art of oratory. Books are the best help here too.
Speech errors: types, causes, examples
We think of speech as an abstract category, inaccessible to direct perception. Meanwhile, this is the most important indicator of a person’s culture, his intellect and thinking, a way of understanding the complex connections of nature, things, society and transmitting this information through communication. It is obvious that when learning and already using something, we make mistakes due to inability or ignorance. And speech in this regard is no exception. Moreover, the concept of speech culture as the idea of a “speech ideal” is inextricably linked with the concept of speech error. In this article we will look at their types, examples and reasons. Read more…
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Development of speech culture
"Say the word to me and I'll tell you who you are." Speech is our calling card. Speech culture reflects a person’s way of thinking, level of upbringing, education and awareness. Poor, clumsy and uncultured speech is not capable of influencing others. Moreover, it causes rejection towards the speaker. If you want to command the attention of your interlocutor, make a favorable impression on him and be convincing in your statements, develop a culture of speech, work on content, vocabulary, and lexical norms. In this article we will tell you how this is done. Read more…
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Online program "Modern Rhetoric"
In 8 weeks in this program, you will master and learn how to apply traditional and modern rhetoric techniques for speeches, presentations, vlogging, stand-ups and much more. You will learn to speak clearly, intelligibly, control your voice, behave correctly on stage and work with the audience, cope with the fear of speaking, prepare good speeches - from planning and searching for material to the actual text of the speech, and, of course, argue your speech. The program is suitable for both those who are just starting their journey as a speaker, and those who are already professionals but want to improve their skills. Find out more...
Working with words is work, but the work is interesting and exciting. The faster you immerse yourself in the process, the faster you will taste success. Go for it!
We also recommend reading:
- Storytelling
- Orthoepy - why it is important to speak correctly and how these rules arise
- Five Canons of Rhetoric
- Best Blog Content of 2021: Writing
- Learning your native language: a selection of useful materials
- The power of words in practice
- How to develop eloquence: some tips
- Tips for working effectively with your audience
- Nora Gal's advice to those who work with words
- Preparing and delivering a speech
- Recommendations for learning Russian
Key words:1Rhetoric
