One of the most frustrating things in the process of communicating with others is the inability to hear or understand the person who is talking. If you speak with a heavy accent, for example, it is very likely that your listeners are asking you to repeat yourself a lot. Should that happen often enough, your listeners may stop listening. I could try to tell you that good diction is important for several reasons but that would not be true. Good diction is vital for one thing and one thing only: communication. If others cannot understand you, then you are not communicating. That is the bottom line. If you are continually asked to repeat yourself and you are not soft-spoken, the problem lies with your articulation. The best thing you can do in this case is to record yourself in conversation or in reading a brief passage and then play back the recording. This happened with one of my clients who is Chinese but has lived in the States for more than 15 years. She was appalled when she heard herself on video. Believing she spoke clearly, she was stunned when she heard her voice the way everyone else hears it. [Bear in mind that how you hear yourself and how everyone else hears your voice are two different things. This is why you need to trust what you hear on the recording and not what you hear in your head.] How can you improve your diction? 1. Speak English in your home. It is quite possible that you speak English in your place of work, however, it is much more effective if you practice speaking English with your family. If you have young children and are speaking your mother tongue for the sake of your children, divide up the amount of time you use both languages. On weekends, speak one language. On weekdays, speak the other language. Your children are naturally speaking English if they are living in this country – they can help you with your diction as well. 2. Enroll in an accent reduction course. Located throughout the United States and Canada, courses in accent reduction can benefit you considerably. 3. Take a voice training course. When you learn to place your voice in your chest cavity, you will find your diction improving automatically. In addition to helping you speak more distinctly, voice training also means that you will discover a deeper, richer, more mature-sounding voice. Diction is vital in your professional life; and, jobs are at a premium. If you are looking for a new job or are frustrated in your current position because you are not being understood, you must learn to speak more clearly. Your listeners will be grateful and so will you! The Voice Lady, Nancy Daniels, offers private, corporate and group workshops in voice and presentation skills as well as the Voicing It! the only video training on voice improvement. If you would like to see a wonderful improvement in volume control and diction, watch Mohammad's ‘before & after’ video clip at Nancy's Voice Training website.
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