You probably understand how important it is to speak correctly and beautifully. Each of us, while studying at school or institute, came across a lecturer who read his material in a boring monotone voice that turned the audience into a sleepy kingdom. But there were also such teachers whom I wanted to listen to for hours, they led their story in a bright, memorable voice, with pauses and speech accents. As a result, we vividly followed what was said to us, without being distracted for a minute. The conclusion suggests itself - competent staging of speech is necessary for every person. It is especially important for those people whose occupation is connected with public speaking - for artists, politicians, businessmen, coaches, teachers and even kindergarten teachers! In this article, we will tell you about the components of correct speech and what exercises you can use to correct your speech skills in order to successfully cope with public speaking and communicate freely in everyday life.
The Art of Speech
The art of speech is a real science, which people of some professions have to study throughout their lives. In a general sense, good speech is when everyone around you hears and understands everything. Although experts fit into the concept of "speech technique" a much larger number of characteristics.
The most important characteristic that determines the quality of a person's speech is his diction - the way he pronounces sounds. Diction is like handwriting: if the letter is illegible, the addressee will not understand what it is about. It is the same with diction: slurred speech will give rise to eternal questions or even omissions of information. On our website, we have already told you what exercises you can use to develop diction. Perhaps the most famous way to improve pronunciation is to say tongue twisters with objects in your mouth. Remember how in the movie "Carnival", where the main character with walnuts in her mouth recited a tongue twister about a cuckoo? In addition to speech training, special breathing exercises are useful to improve diction, which we will talk about a little later.
The next characteristic of high-quality speech is a pleasant voice, which can also be "set". For example, anyone can learn to speak loud enough to be heard but not scream, change the strength of their voice as needed (speak loudly, then softly), and take care that the voice is not shrill or hoarse. To do this, it is enough to consciously speak calmly and not be nervous, and you also need to always treat your throat in time and quit smoking. An additional characteristic of the voice is its timbre, which is also called the "color" of the voice.
High-quality stage speech should not only be legible and pleasant in sound, but also have an acceptable tempo for perception. It is best to speak quickly, without dragging out individual words, but also not to chatter, leaving the listeners time to better understand the content of your words. You also need to make sure that the speech is not monotonous, your listeners will quickly get tired of it and stop listening to you. Consciously smoothly and gradually raise your voice, making speech accents on important words, and lower it so as not to create sound tension.
Try to speak in a low key, just don't overdo it! Too high or low voice is perceived as insincere. In order to learn how to speak with a pleasant timbre, you need to be able to breathe correctly by connecting the diaphragm to this process. Practice inhaling and exhaling in a ratio of 1:20, i.e. inhalation should take 2 seconds, and exhalation should last from 30 to 40 seconds.
Be sure to pay attention to the intonation with which you speak. The language is arranged in such a way that it is often not what you said that matters, but how you did it. Pay attention to pronunciation and stress in difficult words, the wrong placement of stress can do you a disservice. Well, do not forget about logical pauses, they help to take a breath, build a further chain of thoughts and words, and also serve as an additional means of attracting the attention of the audience.
Speech exercises
Unfortunately, not everyone is born with good data, allowing them to perform in public without much preparation. However, even those people who can boast of having a good speech technique must constantly maintain their skills and improve them. Thus, speech courses are necessary for absolutely everyone who wants to speak beautifully. In this section, we have collected for you proven effective speech exercises that help you work out and improve all its characteristics.
Any speech training begins with the fact that you need to learn how to breathe deeply. To do this, lie on your back and put your hand on your stomach. Exhale as much as you can, and then slowly inhale with a full chest, feeling how the stomach rises under the palm of your hand. Repeat the exercise 10-15 times.
The next exercise may seem very funny at first glance, it looks like an ordinary antics in front of a mirror. However, it is thanks to such a warm-up that even the most “sluggish” tongue begins to work hard, and the sounds become clearer and louder. Open your mouth and move the tip of the tongue to the right and left, and then up and down. After that, “draw” a circle with the tip of your tongue clockwise, and then against it. Also try to roll your tongue into a “tube”, and then blow through it and move it back and forth. When all the exercises are completed, lightly bite your tongue with your teeth to relieve tension.
Another effective exercise is called "sound singing". Take any text and sing it, first only with vowels, and then only with consonants.
An alternative way to say tongue twisters with nuts behind your cheeks is to read text or sing songs with a wine cork sandwiched between your front teeth. At first, you need to read slowly, and then gradually increase the pace, while making sure that you clearly pronounce all the sounds.
You also need to work on the sound of speech. To do this, read your favorite verses line by line: the first - loudly, the second - quietly, etc. In addition, work on your intonation, pronouncing the same sentence either sadly, then joyfully, then reproachfully, then angry, then passionately, then surprised. The more emotions you can work out, the richer your speech will become.
You will be surprised, but it is these simple exercises for clear speech that for many decades have helped people to reveal the natural richness of their voice, expand its range and make their speech more attractive. We hope they will help you too. We wish you success in your studies and performances!
“The body of a person who listens to someone functions like a speaker (after all, we are mockingbirds). And if we hear a hoarse, hoarse, torn voice, we ourselves begin to hoarse, wheeze and experience other troubles. Up to non-closure of the vocal cords, breakdown of the voice. Anyway, we start to cough. When the speaker screeches, squealing, the listeners also lift up their voice and their whole body. It is clear that such performances cause irritation on a subconscious level.
A specialized textbook written by a lecturer at the Department of Radio and Television at St. Petersburg State University, who also lectured at a number of other educational institutions. The book is written in an easy living language, it contains many cases from the real practice of Russian and foreign presenters, mistakes are sorted out, and the best exercises for voice, diction, ligaments, posture and so on are collected. Of particular note is the extremely useful section on the psychological state when working at the microphone and live.
“We need to think about the numbers once and for all. After all, it is not difficult for us to say “We are talking about three bushes”, “The garden has replenished with three new bushes”. In the same way, you can pronounce numbers: “It was about three hundred (bushes) rubles”, “the treasury was replenished with three hundred (bushes) rubles.” After all, “a hundred and a hundred” are the same living words as “bushes”.
This book was written by one of the masters of Soviet radio broadcasting, a student of Yuri Levitan - Boris Lyashenko, who worked on the All-Union Radio for more than 50 years and hosted programs for Mayak and Radio Russia. In addition to acting as an announcer, the author also successfully taught the technique of speech and talked about typical mistakes on the air. This book contains not only these examples of mistakes, but also historical references, tips for working at the microphone, and exercises.
“Speech begins with division into segments or speech measures. Take your time, think about what you are saying. A pause is a manifestation of the skill of the speaker, so appreciate every word you say: keep a pause that makes the meaning of your words significant.
This manual is for students who master speech disciplines - rhetoric, culture and speech technique, pedagogical communication, and are also directly related to work at the microphone and on stage. The book contains quotes from masters of performing arts, exercises, tongue twisters, practical advice, as well as techniques for setting voice and breathing, intonation and rhythm. A separate emphasis is placed on the development of articulation and everything related to pronunciation and diction. With the help of this book, you will be able to master the necessary minimum of exercises that will help you when working at the microphone. It will be useful not only for students, but also for teachers and trainers for preparing programs for practical seminars and open classes.
“All types of stresses of the Russian language are described. Explanations are given why it is necessary to pronounce the word with one or another stress. Original ways of remembering stress and preventing common mistakes - "memory knots" are proposed. Illustrations from poetry and folklore are given.
This is perhaps one of the most complete dictionaries - it contains about 10,000 words, but far from the only one. In principle, to clarify the correct placement of stresses, you can use any orthoepic dictionary, the main thing is to do it. Choose whichever you like best, here are just a few examples:
- Orthoepic dictionary edited by R.I. Avanesova, M.A. Studiner, M.V. Zarva.
- Explanatory Dictionary edited by S.I. Ozhegova and N.Yu. Shvedova.
- Dictionary of proper names of the Russian language F. L. Ageenko.
- Spelling Dictionary V.V. Lopatin.
When choosing a dictionary, we advise you to pay attention to the time of publication, as the norms of the Russian language change, new words appear, and some old ones acquire different meanings. It is desirable that the dictionary be recommended by the V.V. Vinogradov. This is a guarantee that you have a really verified and reliable source in your hands, which you can safely refer to if necessary.
“For speech, especially long, normal physiological breathing is not enough. Speech and reading aloud require a large amount of air, a constant respiratory supply, its economical use and timely renewal.
A very useful and thoughtful manual, which describes in detail all the necessary practices, exercises and tips, which are based on real experience in speaking and performing arts. The author draws attention not only to the peculiarities of working with voice and speech, but also to indirect factors that affect the state and operation of the vocal apparatus. The book will be useful not only for beginners, but also for those who are thinking about improving their skills.
“We perceive sounds with our ears, but we begin to really hear with something else. Someone with a brain, someone more with a heart ... Ears only play the role of a transmitter, while cutting off much of what is useless for you. They select sounds and sort them. Many of us do not hear sounds, only words. When you hear words, the head becomes the center of your sound, when sounds - the head is no longer the center. In Japan they say that a person thinks not with his head, but with his stomach: the Japanese have been working with sounds for a very long time.
Analysis of the nature of sound, how a person hears, what intonations we use and why. How to control your voice and yourself? Useful advice for those who believe that the voice is a powerful tool with which a person is able to convey thousands of emotional shades and make millions of people freeze in their seats in the hall or at the radio. The book gradually reveals the possibilities of the voice, its “tuning” as an instrument is in progress - for this, the necessary exercises and interesting tasks are given.
“When training breathing exercises in motion, it is necessary to remember the principles of organizing correct phonation breathing all the time and the goal is to establish the foundations of self-organizing rhythmic breathing. At the same time, exercises that have a certain image in their name are already a small etude performed by the body along with breathing and movement, and therefore the imagination is sure to turn on.
A manual from a teacher of stage speech, professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Theater Arts and a candidate of art criticism. In addition to the formation of a theoretical base, the author talks in detail about the production of professional breathing and voice, and also offers comprehensive systematic exercises that will help you set up your voice apparatus to work on the air and on stage. This is a full-fledged course, after passing which you will learn how to say “anew”.
Surely you want to be listened to with an enthusiastic look and an open mouth? Or maybe your field of activity is unthinkable without public speaking, in which voice and perfect pronunciation are so important? But due to the lack of certain skills and knowledge, you do not even try to improve yourself? Next, we will tell you how, with the help of simple voice exercises, you can hone your speech technique, which will help you achieve success both in the professional field and in your personal life.
Speech technique is a science in the field of speech production, articulation, diction, intonation, facial expressions and other elements. People of certain professions need to study this science throughout their lives. Their task is to make their speech technique correct, beautiful and understandable.
A significant indicator that characterizes the quality of a person’s speech technique is diction (this is how cleanly he pronounces sounds). This element of speech is comparable to handwriting. A message written in a crooked, illegible handwriting will be incomprehensible and uninteresting to the addressee, just as a crumpled, slurred speech is unlikely to interest the listener or cause a lot of counter questions. Next, we will tell you how to improve your pronunciation with the help of regularly performed exercises.
One of the ways was used by the main character from the movie "Carnival", she honed her speech by repeating the tongue twister about the cuckoo, stuffing her mouth with walnuts. In addition, there are a number of breathing exercises, which we will talk about a little later.
Voice
A pleasant voice is one of the main indicators of correct speech. The voice is also amenable to training and it is possible to deliver it. Each person is able to learn how to control the power of the voice, depending on the situation, raise or lower it, it is enough to restrain emotions, be calm and speak measuredly. An important factor is a healthy throat and it is necessary to quit smoking.
Timbre
The next indicator is the timbre of the voice. In this case, the main thing is not to overdo it, since an excessively low or high voice is perceived falsely. To work out the timbre of the voice, the most important moment is breathing and it is necessary to work with the diaphragm.
Intonation
Watch for intonation and correct pronunciation, it is important to correctly place stress in words and make logical pauses. This gives you the opportunity to take a breath, correctly build further speech, and also attract the attention of listeners.
So, before you start doing the exercises, you need to create a working environment. Sit comfortably in front of a mirror in a free room, remove unnecessary items to provide the necessary acoustics. Complete all tasks for about 5-10 minutes, proceed to the next one after you have mastered the previous task. Record a video in order to correct errors in the future.
Lessons to Improve Speech
Breath
To complete this task, you need to remember to breathe through your nose, this is important!
Practice breathing:
- Place your feet shoulder-width apart;
- Place your palms on your waist and exhale slowly so that you feel the opposition of the air with your lips (in parallel, you need to repeat the quatrain).
- Do the exercise in conjunction with the move, accelerating to an easy run, imitating cutting grass, cutting trees and sweeping the floor. With precise execution, the exhalation should be even, not stray.
- Keep your back straight, lean forward and take a deep breath.
- As you straighten back into the original pose, exhale and slowly say "gi-mm-mm-mm." synchronously combining with easy running.
- Return to the straight stance position. Inhaling deeply, bend forward and bring your hands together behind your head. In the same position, exhale and straighten up, pronouncing "Mr-n-n ...", combining with a light run; Next, you need to complete the task to improve nasal breathing.
- With the mouth covered, we make a small nasal inhalation, enlarging the nostrils, exhaling lightly hitting them with our fingertips. Based on the previous example, while exhaling, slowly pronounce the letters "M" and "H" and lightly hit the edges of the fingers on the nostrils in turn.
Preparation of the muscles of the palate
- Say the consonants "K", "G" three times without stopping. Next, say the vowels "A", "O", "E" also three times, but with a yawn.
- Inhale the air through your mouth, as if rinsing it. Open your mouth and say: “MMMMM…MMMM”, “A” should be barely audible, “M” should be sonorous and then do it three times.
Lip and tongue exercise
- To work out the upper lip, say: "GL", "VL", "VN", "TN", for the lower - "KS", "GZ", "VZ", "BZ".
- Relax your tongue and repeat the shape of the shovel, laying it on your lower lip, say: "I", "E", five times.
- With your tongue, take on the semblance of a curved hook and draw the tip of your tongue across the sky, simultaneously pronouncing "O", "U".
- Stretch the letter "M" with your mouth covered and moving your tongue towards your lips, cheeks and palate.
Exercises to help open and strengthen the voice of the main speech
- Speak a random tongue twister using only consonants, the vowels will respectively be deaf and long.
- After that, say the same tongue twister, only in a perfect voice. Carefully listening to yourself, you will feel the epicenter of your own speech voice, establish in what state of the articulatory apparatus it sounds free and genuine. Repeat the exercise with head tilts, alternately back / forward, right / left.
- Read the tongue twister with the indicated technique, but putting your tongue on your lips, lowering and thus replacing the pronunciation of vowels.
- Take a deep breath and slow down your breathing (you can squeeze your nose with your palms) and read some text aloud. Exhale and inhale again through the nose in those passages of the text where it is required by grammar and semantic pauses.
At the end of all the work, read the text again, in a relaxed voice, and listening to the sound, understanding the difference in pronunciation before and after completing the tasks.
Exercises to improve diction
These exercises for developing diction are performed only after working out the tasks described above, which are focused on eliminating common mistakes in pronunciation caused by the underdevelopment of the speech apparatus. If you have any questions about completing tasks, you can find a video on YouTube and visually watch it.
Exercises for a weakened lower jaw
- Say "PAY", "BAY", "MAY" while holding back the chin in a constant state with the palm of your hand, the head should lean back. With the sound "Y" it takes the initial state. Next, do this item in the usual position, comparing whether a feeling of muscle independence has arisen.
- Repeat the exercise, but with your head turned left / right, try to reach your shoulders with your chin. At the sound of "Y", return the head to its original position again.
Yielding sky
- Tilt your head back and rinse your larynx with air, pronouncing the sound "M" for a long time, but do not stick out your lower jaw. Try to yawn with your mouth closed.
- Inhale the air through your nose and draw in your cheeks, in addition, the jaw is down, and the lips are in a compressed state, while exhaling, stretch the letter "M".
Exercises to Strengthen the Tongue and Mouth
Be sure to repeat each of the listed activities three times in a row.
- pronounce "BYA" with your tongue on your lower lip;
- pronounce "AS", actively working the tongue forward / backward;
- pronounce “TKR”, “KTR”, “DRT”, “RKT” in a row, repeat three times;
- in order to correct the activity of the lips, say "MB", "TV", "BM";
- curl your lips into a tube and pull out the sound "M-M-M-M", then smile.
Exercises to correct the lack of sound in the speaking mouth
- with a straight and direct state of the body on a leisurely exhalation, say: “SSSSSSS ...”, “SHSHSHSHSHSHSHSH ...”, “Zhzhzhzhzhzh ...”, “RRRRRRRR”, “RRRRRRRR…”;
- in the same position on a tense constant exhalation, say: “F! F! F! F! F! F! F!”, which is translated into the constant sound “FFFFFF…”;
- close your nose and mouth with your palm, in this position try to say the sound "M", after that, remove your palm, read some text with the maximum number "M", "H".
Exercises to work out undeveloped sound in the chest
- Take a comfortable body position, put your hand on your chest to feel the pulsation, and close your mouth with the other to examine your own breathing. Try to make different vowels: affectionate exhalation - sound (“UUUUUUU”) - affectionate breath. If you do everything correctly, then there will be a desire to yawn and lightness in the throat area.
- The next step is similar, the only one at the moment of groaning is to try to stretch it and pronounce the stress with a light blow of the diaphragm deep into, then a gentle exhalation.
Any next task increases the number of stresses by one and, in the same way, you need to bring up to five stresses one after the other.
Fighting heavy breathing during fleeting conversation
- It is necessary to take an inclined state and start looking for a fictional object, while simultaneously pronouncing an arbitrary poem loudly, but watch for uniform breathing.
- Jumping rope with synchronous pronunciation of the quatrain so that the jumps correspond to the syllables of the words. If the task, at first glance, seems difficult, speech and breathing will be confused, it is recommended to lower the speed and increase them step by step, bringing them to the maximum.
Range development and voice enhancement
- Choose some poetic text consisting of eight or more lines, and begin to pronounce it in such a way that the weak level of your range falls at the beginning of the line and with each line it successively increases, reaching the limit at the final.
- After you have worked out this exercise, start with the maximum and end with a low range of your own voice.
- According to the results of a successful performance, increase the number of lines of a poetic story.
Also quite an effective technique was called "voice chanting". Choose and sing any verse you like, using only vowels first, and then only consonants.
Another way (we already talked about it at the very beginning) is repeating tongue twisters, filling your mouth with walnuts, reciting the text and singing songs, using a wine cork, holding it between your teeth. The first time should be pronounced slowly, slowly accelerating, carefully watch so as not to swallow the endings and sounds.
Speech should sound correctly and loudly, it is necessary to work on this. For this purpose, pick up adorable quatrains and read them alternately, one line loudly, the next one quietly, then vice versa.
Do not forget about the intonation of the voice, read the texts with a change of feelings, sad, cheerful, evil, passionate, reproachful, surprised. The more often you do this exercise and the more emotions you work out, the richer your speech technique will become.
Increasingly, in professional activities, great attention is paid to the technique of speech, it becomes a kind of tool of labor. Therefore, it is imperative to develop and improve diction, voice setting and business and daily communication skills. So you can create a positive image, because the people around you instinctively fall under the influence of a person who knows how to beautifully and clearly express his speech.
Correct speech is one of the most important features that characterize a well-mannered, cultured person. Unfortunately, it must be admitted that now beautiful speech has lost ground. But you can, if you wish, learn to speak correctly and beautifully.
Brevity, simplicity, literacy
These are the foundations of correct speech and literate speech. People have lost the ability to speak properly over time for a variety of reasons, starting with the widespread decline of culture in the 1990s. This needs to be learned again. At least because competent speech not only positively characterizes a person, but also helps in communicating with other people. Imagine: you are talking to a person who abuses vulgar, jargon words. Do you want to keep in touch with him? Hardly.
Everyone can learn to speak beautifully. The richness of the language makes it possible to describe any objects with the utmost accuracy. It doesn't have to be verbose. After all, a story that is too long, even a beautiful and figurative one, is very tiring, and sometimes annoying. Therefore, one must remember that one of the main requirements for a correct and beautiful speech is brevity. It is necessary to quickly move on to the main essence of the issue, not to delay the introduction, not to be distracted by unnecessary trifles. Then your story will have the desired effect.
Of course, you need to speak correctly. A person who often makes mistakes in accents or uses words incorrectly is absolutely not endearing. For example, an entire business speech can be crossed out with the word “lay down”, instead of the correct “lay down”. In the same way, a boss who incorrectly emphasizes words "document", "quarter", is unlikely to cause the location and trust of business partners.
Correct Speech Techniques
For those who want to speak beautifully, various techniques give every opportunity to:
- Proper breathing. By taking a deep breath, you will master breathing support while pronouncing vowels and consonants at a slow pace, pronouncing each syllable and each word. It helps to use all shades of the language.
- Oratory. Smooth speech, correct articulation, clear sound make the listener listen even more attentively to the narrator. Competently delivered speech includes training with the help of tongue twisters, whispers, artificially fast pronunciation.
- Brief, precise presentation. Practice speaking concisely.
- Logics. When communicating or speaking, you need to follow the logic of the narrative, cause-and-effect relationships. The logic of thinking and narration is based on general education and a broad outlook.
Using exercises to train the language, you will automatically expand communication, gain confidence in the professional field, learn the art of persuasion and easy manipulation of listeners.
Exercises for staging correct and beautiful speech will be useful in staging breathing, voice, controlling resonators, strengthening voice power and endurance, enriching intonation, and working out the correct tempo of diction. How to learn to speak great? The answer is simple - patiently work out the technique.
Lessons for correct breathing
Phonation breathing is an important factor in the correctness of speaking. The diaphragm is “responsible” for inhalation - the muscle that delimits the chest region from the abdominal region and the muscles that control the movement of the ribs during breathing. The most natural position for comfortable breathing is lying on your back with your muscles completely relaxed.
Get comfortable lying on your back. One hand on the stomach, the other on the chest. Try to inhale so that the chest remains motionless and the stomach rises. Exhale slowly and repeat this exercise until abdominal breathing is easy and without tension. Such breathing should be made a habit. Moreover, such an exercise will well invigorate you from sleep.
Of course, to achieve the dream of the beauty of the word, just the right breathing is not all you need. Most often, the problem lies at the psychological level. This may be a fear of the public, residual memories of visits to a speech therapist in childhood, or simply the inability to interest the interlocutor.
All this can be easily dealt with with the help of simple lessons of correct speech:
If you feel self-doubt, it is quite difficult to communicate and liberate yourself in front of the interlocutor.
You need to take several steps to free yourself from fear:
- recognize the presence of difficulties and prepare for a long work to get rid of experiences;
- understand the reason (you may even have to resort to a psychologist);
- survive a difficult situation, let go of the past forever and enjoy the present;
- start communicating - only methodical overcoming of your fears will allow you to learn how to communicate with people (you can mentally come up with plans, for example, 10 long conversations and 20 short conversations in public transport or in line);
- if it is difficult to immediately start conversations in a company, you can first communicate by phone (at least there will be no external manifestations);
- when training will take place without problems, you can take the initiative in dating the opposite sex.
But still there are people who are naturally modest, and there is no need to suffer because of this. Modesty is not a vice! Work on yourself, on personal development, improve the skills of correct speech when communicating, try to be open and sociable.
