Many have heard speeches by speakers who did not need to attract the attention of the listeners with phrases: “Don't be distracted,” “Listen to me,” etc. What is this? Innate talent? Perhaps an incredibly interesting or relevant topic? Good speech construction? Probably both. In other words, ownership. There is no doubt that only a person with a clear, competent speech. Perhaps it will not cause disputes and the assertion that good diction is needed not only for media workers and public people, call center employees or consultants.
Well-delivered, competent speech is one of the necessary components of career growth in those areas where communication with people cannot be avoided. Everyone needs it.
How to develop diction?
How to develop good diction? Of course, as in any business, several components are needed to achieve a successful result: desire, time and patience. The development of diction in adults can be carried out independently - it is enough to set aside time every day and practice. There is a large number relatively simple exercises that affect the improvement of speech technique and the development of diction. A method known to everyone since childhood -. By repeating these small rhythmic phrases as often as possible, you can achieve noticeable results in just a few weeks. How to quickly improve the diction of people with minor speech defects? In this case, attention should be paid to tongue twisters that contribute to solving a specific problem.
For example, in case of problems with hissing and whistling sounds, it is more common to pronounce phrases where there are a lot of such sounds, for example: “Sasha walked along the highway and sucked dry.”
It is also quite possible to correct diction in adults, or develop it in adolescents on their own, depending on the requirements for timing and results. For independent work, it is recommended to pronounce tongue twisters by placing one walnut on each side in the mouth (on the cheek). Progress will be noticeable fairly quickly.
How to improve diction and speech through breath control?
This is a very important aspect in improving diction and speech. There are quite a few different exercises that mainly help to teach a person to pronounce as long texts as possible, without interrupting them with breaths or pauses in those places where this would violate the semantic or emotional load of the text. very important to the speaker.
How to correct diction by spending time reading your favorite books? Need to read aloud, clearly articulating all sounds, paying attention to the emotionality of the text. Starting with well-known works, you can move on to completely unfamiliar texts. A good exercise, which is aimed not only at developing diction, but also at the ability to stay in front of a large audience and improve memory, are poetic works.
You can learn several poems, gradually increasing their size, and tell them to your family or friends. It is important to follow the diction, not upset by possible flaws, but carefully fixing them.
In this situation, the help of specialists is required. As in the case when it is necessary to eliminate a serious speech defect, it is better to turn to professionals - on an individual basis or to group specialized courses, where they will help to identify all the speech flaws that the listener could not pay attention to. People for whom speech production is a profession will select individual exercises and suggest how to correct diction in your particular case.
Instruction
Stretch your tongue. To do this, move it from side to side, right-left, back and forth; make circular turns with your tongue in, fold it with a screw and a tube. Stick out the tip of your tongue and move it very quickly from one corner of your mouth to the other.
Feel the tip of your tongue, feel how active it is. Hit the inside of your teeth with the tip of your tongue, as if you were saying yes-yes-yes-yes. Vigorously pronounce the paired consonants: T-D, T-D, T-D.
Free your tongue and larynx by completing the task: take a quick, deep and short breath through your nose, then exhale completely through your mouth. The exhalation is made abruptly, the air is thrown out with the sound "FU" (while the cheeks fall).
To strengthen the muscles of the larynx, say the following consonants quickly and vigorously: K-G, K-G, K-G.
Work on the habit of taking a breath for each new phrase. When reading prose or poetry, consciously take a breath, as if in reserve, before each phrase.
Record on a cassette or disc a speech you like (an announcer or someone else), try to imitate this conversational manner.
Do not hesitate to engage in speech exercises, because your self-awareness, communication capabilities, etc. depend on it.
The voice is the most important element in assessing a person. If we like how a person speaks, then we will be pleased to communicate with him, and we will be happy to listen to him. Beautiful and smart speech- recipe for success.
You will need
- book, nuts
Instruction
The first and most important rule is reading. Read aloud 10 a day. This will help you cope with the shyness, as well as acquire the necessary skills. Thus, you will teach yourself to speak aloud, namely, not just colloquial speech Yu. It is best to use fiction rich in expressive in such. Remember that the most picky are the children. If the children listen to you carefully, then you have nothing to worry about, but, nevertheless, improve your skill constantly.
Develop the muscles of the lips and tongue. Take a mirror in your hands and make a proboscis with your lips, looking into it. Imagine that you want to kiss someone. Now smile, strongly stretching your lips. Do these exercises ten times alternately. To train your tongue, with the tip rest with all your might on one cheek, then on the other. Try to stretch your cheeks with your tongue. Then also rest against the lips from the inside.
Open your mouth and move your lower jaw in different directions. Feel how freely she moves. Do this exercise in front of a mirror until your jaw is slightly tired. If any movement makes you feel uncomfortable, repeat it several times. Tap frequently with your front teeth as if you were having a chill. This helps to free the lower jaw.
Choose your favorite poem or favorite passage from a book, memorize it and recite it in front of a mirror. Watch your mouth and face. Pronounce the text exaggeratedly, actively - this trains the speech apparatus well. Then the exaggeration will go away, but will remain.
Sources:
- Diction exercises
- how to develop muscles
Poor diction can bring a lot of problems in life. Fuzzy speech complicates communication and is the source of a number of psychological complexes. However, to develop a good diction in the absence of medical problems, it is quite easy and at home.
You will need
- - voice recorder;
- - Tongue Twisters;
- - poems.
Instruction
Start by doing breathing exercises. Take a comfortable position and try to take even, deep breaths in and out, controlling their rhythm. Gradually begin to vary your breathing, shortening the inhalations and lengthening the exhalations, and then vice versa. Try pronouncing different vowels as you exhale. Practice diaphragmatic breathing.
Do exercises for the articulatory apparatus. Do not worry that at first you will experience pain: they will gradually subside as the muscles become more elastic. Many problems with diction are due to weakness of the lips and tongue. By training the facial muscles, you can achieve clearer speech.
Train diction with the help of phrases. At first, pronounce each of them slowly, paying attention to the clear pronunciation of all sounds. Gradually build up the pace, still controlling the quality of the articulation. During exercises, strain the muscles of the face and lips, exaggerating the sounds.
Memorize and recite poetry. Such a method will not only help you put into practice the above methods of correcting diction, but will also allow you to end up with good poetic baggage. Read the poems clearly, with intonation pauses and with controlled breathing. A similar exercise can be done with songs.
Read prose aloud and record your speech on a voice recorder. At the same time, it is desirable that the sensitivity of the microphone be high enough: only in this case you will be able to catch all the nuances of pronunciation. Control the fluency of speech and the clarity of sounds.
Helpful advice
If you have serious problems with diction that cannot be corrected on your own (for example, burr), it is advisable to consult a doctor. It is possible that you will need minor surgery.
Work on vocabulary and sentence construction. There are many examples of not only how to, but also what to say. After all, your speech will be considered correct only if you achieve the desired results with what you say. An excellent textbook in this sense will be Allan Pisa's "Speak Right..." and the movie "Thank you for smoking". For the rest, only basic advice can be given: read more.
Think about the conditions under which you will speak. When speaking from the podium, for example, there are some peculiarities that must be taken into account so as not to lull the viewer. The main point is that you cannot "read from a sheet" - your sentences should not contain complex phrases, refined statements or an abundance of interjections. In such conditions, "beautiful to speak" means to speak freely, almost like in everyday life - but at the same time in a "set" voice and confident. It will be impossible to take your eyes off such a speaker, and most importantly, you yourself will begin to enjoy being on stage.
note
Never write your speech in detail. The more you have on paper, the more will be the desire to play it safe and look there.
Helpful advice
Practice speaking in front of your friends. Performing for yourself and for people are completely different things.
Pay attention to the entertainer of various concerts. A professional presenter always has a reference speech.
Well-delivered and competent speech can be attributed to the category of undoubted advantages that have a significant impact on success in many cases. Despite the fact that oratory is an excellent tool for influencing others and achieving many goals, only a few can take full advantage of it. However, learning to speak correctly is a completely feasible task.
If you swallow most of the words while speaking, or if others cannot understand what you are saying, then you can try to improve the clarity of your speech. Below are a few ways you can use to speak more clearly, whether you need to give a speech, or your profession requires public speaking, or maybe you just want to improve your communication skills.
Steps
Don't rush while talking
- Public speaking often makes people nervous. If you find yourself feeling nervous and in a hurry, try to remind yourself that everything is fine and you need to slow down. If you breathe correctly, it will help you stay calm and analyze your words.
- Also remember that people want to hear what you have to say. Your words matter, so give them a chance to be heard and understood.
- The human ear is able to pick up words very quickly, but on the condition that you fully pronounce each of your words before you begin to pronounce the next, because in this way you leave enough pauses between words so that everyone can correctly understand you.
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Swallow excess saliva in your mouth. Saliva left in the mouth can cause words to be swallowed and the pronunciation of consonants such as "S" and "K" to be distorted.
- The moment you swallow saliva can not only allow you to clear your mouth, but also give you the opportunity to pause and inhale again.
- Choose the moment to swallow saliva when you have already finished a sentence or thought, but not in the middle of a sentence. This will also give you time to prepare for your next sentence.
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Speak up. If you need to speak publicly or give some sort of presentation, then perhaps you can at least write the content in general terms. Practice her pronunciation as you walk.
- Some actors use this technique to memorize their roles, as lifting and moving will help you remember what you have to say. Practice your speech and say one word at each step.
- It may seem difficult and slow, but by saying one word at a time, you will learn to slow down your speech. You don't need to speak as slowly in your speech or in normal conversation, but feeling comfortable using a slower pace will improve your clarity and allow you to take your time later on.
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Repeat those words that are difficult to pronounce. When certain words are difficult to pronounce, we often rush and stumble over those words, resulting in slurred speech. Practice pronouncing these words by saying them out loud over and over until you have the muscle memory to pronounce them correctly.
Improving your diction
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Practice on tongue twisters. Tongue twisters are a great way to improve the clarity of your speech, and mastering them will allow you to learn how to keep your speech clear and confident. Many actors and speakers practice tongue twisters before going on stage to warm up their voices.
Read aloud. If you're reading a book, or even just the morning paper, practice reading it out loud. This will help you become more familiar with how your voice sounds. Very often, when we talk to others, we hear ourselves in a very different way than our real voice sounds. By reading aloud in the comfort of your own home, it will be easier for you to listen to yourself and pay attention to those moments when your speech becomes slurred.
- You can also record your voice and listen to it, along the way, noting where you mumble or speak unclearly.
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Practice talking with a cork in your mouth. Many artists and voice actors do this exercise to improve their clarity and diction, especially when reading something like Shakespeare. When you put a cork under your tongue and start speaking, you will make your mouth work very hard to fully pronounce each syllable, and the cork will also prevent your tongue from tripping over certain words.
- This exercise can tire your jaw muscles, which will help you learn how to relax them, but you don't need to practice this way for too long, otherwise your jaw will hurt.
- You can also use a napkin if you produce a lot of saliva during such exercises.
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Pay attention to intonation. Tone of voice also plays a big role in speech clarity and diction, as it can affect how you pronounce certain words.
- Are you giving a speech that should move people? It may be difficult for them to understand you if you say it in a monotonous or inexpressive voice.
- Your intonation, whether you're excited, instructive or casual, will make people pay attention to your speech and can also improve clarity.
- The intonation when speaking depends entirely on the pitch of your voice. Pay attention to how high or low your voice sounds.
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Do not use rising intonations in conversation. This nasty habit of speaking in a rising tone makes you sound like you're asking a question.
Training your muscles
- Make wide chewing movements while at the same time humming something under your breath.
- Stretch every muscle in your jaw and face. Open your mouth as wide as possible (as if you are about to yawn) while at the same time making a circle with your lower jaw and moving it from side to side.
- Open your mouth wide, as in the previous exercise, and close it. Repeat this 5 times.
- With lips closed together, try to make a buzzing sound, but just don't clench your jaw.
Exercise your jaw muscles to improve the clarity of your speech. To make your speech much clearer, relax your jaw with a few exercises.
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Watch your posture. Like breathing, your posture plays an important role in the clarity of your speech, and this is exactly what we often forget and do not take into account.
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- Even if you don't sing, you can sing a few notes or just purr to yourself. Also try singing your tongue twisters.
- Say "Uuuuu ..." several times, raising and lowering intonation. Imagine that your voice is like a Ferris wheel going up and down in a circle.
- Make a buzzing sound and pat your chest. This will help remove any phlegm that may have collected in your throat.
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- Say "EE" - pull the corners of your lips back and say "Eeeeeee ...".
- When talking with the interlocutor, maintain confidence and stay relaxed. This will help you speak more clearly and distinctly.
- You may feel strange or even a little embarrassed doing some of the exercises mentioned, but the more you practice, the easier and more effective the result will come.
- Say "A" - (as in the word "Arkansas" - drop your jaw down).
- Pronounce the following sounds, emphasizing them strongly:
Aa her oo ei oh
Kaa kee koo kay ko
Saa shi soo sei so
Taa chii tsu tei to
Naa nee noo nay but
Haa hee hoo hey ho
Maa mi moo mei mo
Yaa eeee yooo yaey yo
raa rii roo ray ro
Waa wee woo wei wow. - Another exercise is to write several sentences on a piece of paper, then underline the last letter of each word. As you read the sheet, exaggerate the sound of the last letters, then pause for a few seconds. You can also put commas between more words to slow down at this point.
- Demosthenes, a Greek thinker, practiced by putting pebbles in his mouth to wean himself from stuttering. It's worth trying this with something clean, safe, and edible, like cookies or ice cubes. Just be careful and don't choke.
- Practice pronouncing vowel sounds and adding consonants to them, for example, "paa pow po poo pei pii pai, sow so suu sei sii sai..."
- Put all thoughts out of your head and think about what you are going to say in order to forget about disturbing thoughts. It helps with public speaking.
Warnings
- When working with the jaw and mouth, do not overdo it, otherwise you will get injured. If you feel pain, you need to relax your facial muscles a little.
Control your breathing. Listen and watch the singer on stage and you will see how much attention he pays to his breathing. If Mick Jagger didn't know how to breathe properly, he wouldn't be able to run around the stage singing his song "You Can't Always Get What You Want". The same thing happens during a conversation, so proper breathing can greatly improve the clarity of your speech.
Take your time when talking. Speak slowly, but don't be so slow as to appear robotic.
You can't ignore your speech. In the vast majority of cases, people starting to deal with this issue are horrified by the way she talks.
I mean specifically the pronunciation. After all, we all grow up in a certain language group, where a specific local dialect or frank surzhik prevails.
For this reason, we have prepared a small material on the topic diction development. We were inspired to do this by indignation, caused by such words of some TV presenters as: “pasatrel” instead of “looked”, “skaal” instead of “said”, etc.
But at all times, clear diction and correct speech were considered a sign of education and development of a person.
That is why you cannot be or count on if such simple things as diction are at an indecently low level.
By the way, we already talked about. Pay attention to them.
Let's take one last step. You must have heard the saying: “They meet by clothes, but see off by mind”. This is largely a fair observation. The same goes for diction.
When you first meet a stranger, he first of all pays attention to your appearance and manner of speaking.
If your words are chaotic, and their sound resembles a tape chewed in a tape recorder, then it is unlikely that a person will be imbued with sympathy or trust after the first communication.
Therefore, the importance of good diction for any person is difficult to overestimate.
How to improve diction
Before moving on to specific advice, you need to find out the meaning of the term itself.
Diction(from Latin dictio - pronunciation) - a clear pronunciation of sounds in accordance with the phonetic norms of the language.
Today, in many major cities, there are various organizations offering courses to improve diction and voice production.
Perhaps for some this is the only way to work on yourself. However, we are sure that with a little effort of will, you can even fix pronunciation problems at home.
The main thing here is to have perseverance, a desire to change, and regular practice. Everything else is a matter of time.
Therefore, we offer you the most effective methods for improving diction. Check them out and get started now.
Diction exercises
A classic example of working on oneself is the ancient Greek orator Demosthenes. This eminent Greek had a very bad pronunciation and was extremely ashamed of it.
I must say that this was the time when oratory, rhetoric and eloquence were valued almost as the highest values of the individual.
To overcome himself and achieve success, Demosthenes put small stones in his mouth and tried to recite famous poets as clearly as possible.
Then he ran up the steep slope of the mountain, and when his breath was not enough, he again read poetry, making incredible efforts on himself.
His last exercise was to shout over the surf. As the waves hit the shore, he spoke with all his might to an imaginary audience, continuing to recite poems to them.
These amusing and seemingly silly pursuits led to Demosthenes becoming one of the most prominent and famous orators in the world. To date, not a single book on the art of eloquence is complete without mentioning it.
So no matter how bad your speech today is, you can fix it, so go for it!
Now let's move on to the exercises themselves.
Training of the articulatory apparatus
- "Fence" - close your teeth and smile broadly. Hold this position for ten seconds and return to the starting position. Make sure that the upper and lower row of teeth are clearly visible. Repeat the exercise several times.
- "Tubule" - without opening your teeth, pull your lips forward. At the same time, you can pull the sound “oooo” for ten seconds. Repeat the exercise.
- "Needle" - open your mouth and stretch your sharp tongue as far as possible. Hold this position for five seconds. Then relax your muscles. Repeat several times.
- “Damn” - show your reflection your tongue by placing it on your lower lip and making it as wide as possible. Repeat.
- "Licking lips" - relax the lower jaw and try to keep it in one position. Lick your upper lip, stretching out your tongue as much as possible. Repeat the same action with the lower lip.
- "Swing" - touch the tongue alternately with the upper and lower lips. Do the exercise at a slow pace and try not to move your chin.
- "Hamster" - close your lips and press the inside of your tongue on your cheek for five seconds. Repeat the manipulation with the other cheek.
Breathing training
Therefore, pay at least a little attention to this, especially since there is nothing complicated here. There are hundreds of breathing exercises, which one to choose is up to you.
- Stand straight, feet shoulder-width apart. Take a deep breath, and then, slowly exhaling the air, calmly read any quatrain. Repeat several times.
- Learn to breathe with your belly. We will not go into the intricacies of the physiological structure of the diaphragm, but simply explain: while inhaling, imagine that the air enters the stomach, and not the lungs. This is a very important, and perhaps the main point in breathing exercises.
- If you walk a lot, try reciting poems while walking so that your breathing does not interfere with you. The body itself will prompt the necessary rhythm.
- This exercise can be done in any position of the body. Take a deep breath, and then, slowly exhaling the air, draw the sound "mmmm". Alternate it with the sounds "m-m-m-e-e-e", "m-m-m-o-o-o", "m-m-m-u-u-u", "m-m -m-a-a-a", "m-m-m-s-s-s", "m-m-m-i-i-i".
It is important to understand here that when doing exercises for diction, breathing plays not some kind of mystical role, but quite a physiological one. Therefore, the most important thing is that your realize the importance of breathing exercises.
Watching your breath for at least a few minutes a day, you will be surprised at the results.
Patter for the development of diction
The tongue twisters that are used to develop diction are very different. You can find a lot of them on the Internet. In principle, it does not play a big role which tongue twisters you use.
The main thing is that they train the pronunciation of all the letters of the alphabet.
Below we give classic tongue twisters that activate all the muscles of the speech apparatus of a Russian-speaking person.
Keep in mind that all pictures are optimized for social networks, so you can safely save them to your wall.
By the way, you may like the popular tongue twister about the Japanese:. Be sure to read it!
And for true connoisseurs, we have prepared in Russian.
Finally, here is a poem by the famous poet Valery Bryusov, which is often used by announcers to prepare for a speech. It includes hard-to-pronounce words that help to do high-quality gymnastics of the speech apparatus.
And if you do not like tongue twisters, then for the development of diction it will be enough to read this verse regularly.
Storm from the shore
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When you listen to another person, the first thing your brain perceives and analyzes is not words, not the meaning of what was said, but intonation, timbre and speed of speech. If the voice is unpleasant, no matter what the interlocutor says, you will fence yourself off from him, treat what he said with doubt and distrust, perceive what was said with hostility. If the intonations are uncertain, then the interlocutor will not convince you that he is right, even if he has a hundred brilliant arguments on his side. We are designed in such a way that we read non-verbal information much faster than verbal, and non-verbal perception affects us even more than we can imagine. After all, from an evolutionary point of view, the ability of humans to communicate with words is a novelty. But the perception of intonation, timbre, facial expressions and gestures is deeply rooted in our nature. A child needs to be taught to speak, but he does not need to be taught to understand that mom and dad are angry. Therefore, if you want to become a good speaker, work on the sound of your voice, intonation, timbre and tempo of speech.
Why listeners don't believe you
You made a presentation: you wrote a good text, picked up a bright visual component, put on the best suit, prepared for a long time. But the audience was not convinced because your voice sounded uncertain. Subconsciously, people perceive such non-verbal signals as uncertainty or insincerity:- Frequent coughing.
- Spasms of the voice.
- Nervous laughs.
- Facial expression and intonation that do not match what was said.
What to do to be believed: voice exercises
1. Read the quatrains "wisely." Choose any quatrains you like and read them aloud. First, say each line on one exhalation, and between the lines get air. Then read two lines as you exhale. Finally, say the quatrain on one breath. Perform the exercise in strict sequence: one line, two lines, four lines on one exhale. Read without tension, let the words flow freely and naturally, at a pace that is comfortable for you.Examples of quatrains for training:
I'm afraid to lose this bright miracle, that in your wet eyes froze in silence, I'm afraid of this night in which I won't touch your face to your rose of breath. (Federico Garcia Lorca) The moon does not know that she is the moon, And shines without knowing it. Sand is incomprehensible to sand. Subjects Not to realize that the form is given to them. (Jorge Luis Borges) Forget old love And not be sad about her? Forget old love And the friendship of the old days? (Robert Burns) 2. Read the verses aloud, raising each line by one and a half tones. Volume and intonation should rise up the lines, like stairs. It is better if the poem ends with an exclamatory sentence, but this is not necessary. To begin with, select short verses, then you can read long ones in this way, but calculate the initial volume in advance so that the speech does not break on the last line. Example of a poem: Somewhere in a cave, in the coastal region, I hide my grief from people. There I will think my evil fate, My evil, gloomy fate. Lying woman, your oaths The time has come to fly away like smoke. Laugh with your lover You are above the lost Above my dishonored happiness! (Robert Burns) 3. Choose a text for training, the content of which will give you the opportunity to demonstrate different expressive means: strength, pitch, timbre, tempo changes. I will not quote the passage, because it should be quite large: no less than a page of verse and no less than half a page of prose. First, read the text to yourself, analyze it: what the text is about, with what intonation it should be read. It is desirable that there are dialogues in the passage: read the author's text calmly, but for each character who speaks, come up with your own timbre, register and intonation. Practice the passage so that it sounds both expressive and stress-free. 4. Use exercises based on interjections. Professional announcers use such concepts as “sound support”, “sonority”, “freedom of the muscles of the lower jaw”. These are all components of the euphonious sound of speech, and they are all trained with the help of interjections. The fact is that interjections are pronounced naturally and naturally, this helps to find the main tone of your voice. Therefore, read short verses with interjections: For example: Oh! I'm free! That's how my voice goes! 5. Practice correct sound direction and pronunciation clarity. To do this, use tongue twisters for each consonant sound. Do not forget that tongue twisters should be read slowly, with exaggeratedly clear, deliberate articulation. Even if you can pronounce the tongue twister quickly, first read it much more slowly than your natural pace. Select tongue twisters in groups to produce similar sounds: “b” and “p”, “z” and “s”, “d” and “t”. In fluent speech, these sounds sound similar, and if you have poor diction, listeners will confuse them.To practice the sounds "b" and "p":
There would be a bull, but there would be meat. There is a priest on a shock, a cap on the priest, a shock under the priest, a priest under the cap.For a clear pronunciation of "v" and "f":
She was at Frol's - she lied to Frol about Lavr, she will go to Lavr - she lies to Lavr about Frol.For the correct pronunciation of "g", "k" and "x":
Hihonki yes khahonki - little dodish little ones. I'm not good for myself, I'm not good for people.For the sounds "l" and "l":
A small deed is better than any idleness. Klava put the onions on the shelf and treated them to Nikolka.For the sounds "h" and "u":
Scales at the pike, bristles at the pig. Not the one, comrades, a comrade who is a comrade with comrades, but the one, comrades, a comrade who is a comrade without comrades.Why is it time to work on diction
Diction is the correct pronunciation of sounds and words. More recently, articulation was called "actor's courtesy." But now you can be considered a good speaker, even if you have defects in diction: if popular actors and vocalists do not always correct their diction, then what can be expected from people whose work is not directly related to speech? But if you do not pronounce individual sounds, it is more difficult to understand you. This means that it will take more effort, imagination, experience to capture the attention of the audience and win them over. Therefore, I always recommend correcting pronunciation defects. Sometimes it is possible to correct diction only under the guidance of a speech therapist. Most defects have physiological or psychological causes. If you are physically unable to pronounce "l", "r" or another sound, only a speech therapist can help. But if in general you are able to produce a sound, only in a conversation you often swallow it or pronounce it incorrectly, special exercises for diction will help correct the situation:- Exercise for setting vowel sounds. Take a deep breath, hold your breath for a fraction of a second and as you exhale, pronounce consonant sounds, making a short pause after each: “a”, “and”, “o”, “u”, “s”, “e”. First articulate the sounds silently, then in a whisper, quietly, louder and louder. Also train with iotated sounds "e", "yo", "yu" and "ya".
- Exercise for setting consonant sounds. Consonants are worked out in syllables with vowels: “ba”, “bi”, “bo”, “bu”. The principle is the same: take a deep breath, after a short breath hold on the exhale, pronounce syllables, making small pauses between them. Gradually add the second and third consonants to the syllables: bom, bam, boom, and so on. Finally, write down and pronounce words with complex combinations of sounds according to the same principle. Complex combinations are, for example, three consonants in a row: takeoff, hose.
- An exercise to improve diction with complex combinations of consonants. There are several options for exercises with complex combinations of sounds. Besides the fact that they train diction, they develop a singing voice. You will object that you are not going to study vocals, but this is not about singing: the better your voice skills are, the better your performances sound. And the more interesting the audience to listen to you. Therefore, train, for example, with such combinations of sounds: long-aphid-A aphids-dli-A lill-A (Be careful, pull the second sound "l" in combination). li-lill-A gly-A length aphids zd (Pronounce it together, like a word, not a set of sounds). ZZDI-A zzhdr zhdrr zzhdrr zzhdri-A
- Read tongue twisters. Unlike exercises for setting the correct direction of sound, in order to improve diction, you need to pronounce tongue twisters in the same way as individual sounds: first silently, then in a whisper, quietly, louder, louder. Increase the pace gradually: first read the tongue twister exaggeratedly slowly, then slowly, at a natural pace, faster and faster. Practice tongue twisters for all consonant sounds.
How to relieve tension from the respiratory and peri-laryngeal muscles?
Let's go back to the non-verbal cues that make it difficult for listeners to believe you: coughing, breaking, too quiet or high-pitched voice, hesitant tone - this is often the result of excessive muscle tension. To improve diction and develop your oratory skills, use not only exercises, but also special gymnastics.- Exercise "Pull the rope." Legs shoulder width apart. Imagine that a rope is hanging above you: raise your hands, stand on your tiptoes, inhale, and on a long exhale, pull the invisible rope down. Do this with effort, bending your arms and squatting. There should be tension in the muscles of the neck and chest. Repeat 3 times silently, and then say “Ba-ba-baba” while relaxing.
- "The face is falling." Actors use this gymnastics. Imagine that your face is flowing: jaw, tongue, cheeks and lips flow down. The tongue rests on the lower lip. Run your hand over your face to feel how relaxed the lower jaw is. Then tilt your head and shake it so that your lips and cheeks vibrate. Do it silently at first, and when it gets good, say "Amba-ba-ba-ba" to check how fluent you sound.
