October 05, 2009
Welcome to the October Issue of Speaking-Out-Loud write-out-loud.com's monthly E-zine to help you effectively 'talk your walk'.
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Happy speaking,
Susan
In this Issue
If you don't have time to read the whole ezine, click on the topic that interests you. This month you will find:
Susan's Spiel
Um, Err, Like, Yeah, You Know, Eh...
This month's Article deals with those pesky words and phrases that can make us sound anxious or even incompetent when we're asked to speak a few words without preparation.
Now is a great time to find out how to kill those filler words.
'Are you progressing your deliverables?' The answer to that gobbet of jargon is in They Said It and there's a link to a wonderfully comprehensive business jargon dictionary to explore.
And lastly there's a look at Speech Rate Do you speak too fast or too slow? What is the normal speech rate? Is there such a thing? Find out here.
I am always looking for ways to improve the site. If you see any errors or would like to contribute in any way, please accept this invitation to contact me through my About Me page.
Thanks for reading and enjoy this month's Speaking-Out-Loud!
Till our next issue,
Kind regards
Susan
Article
Um, Err, Like, Yeah, You Know, Eh...How to kill those filler words.
Have you ever been put on the spot and asked to say a few words with little or no preparation?
It can be enough to cause an outbreak of speech fillers. These are the ums, ahhs, errs, likes and yeahs that are
sprinkled through informal conversations. Some sources say they account for up to 20% of words spoken and that they occur cross-culturally.
You'll find them in European and Asiatic language use too.
Those ums and ahhs are called disfluencies because they break the fluency or smooth flow of speech.
In a situation where you are the focus of everyone's attention (either formal or informal), disfluencies can weaken what you have to say.
Their presence sends signals to your audience that you may be feeling:
- anxious
- unsure
- or self-conscious.
(The bold words are the meat of the communication. The rest you can do without.)
'Yeah, well, um, I'd just like to say, um, like, you know, I think this is, um, a great opportunity and um, yeah, you know, like I can't wait to get started.'
How do you know if you've got a bad case of fillers? It's not the sort of thing that many people will tell you about.
Here are two ways to find out.
- Tape yourself.
Use a voice recorder to capture unrehearsed speech segments. The easiest way to do this is to ask yourself questions like:
What do you like about your present job?
Where would you like to be in five years time?
What's your favorite thing to do on a Sunday afternoon?
Listen to your answers and take note of the fillers. - Ask a friend or trusted colleague to count them.
Tell them you're on a mission to reduce the number of fillers you use in your everyday or unrehearsed speech and that you'd like them to note on paper every instance they hear over a specified time.
This will give you a list of your habitual phrases or disfluencies and the frequency of their use.
Your score might look like this:
like, 5
um, 6
I dunno, 3
As you become more conscious of what you are actually saying, rather than what you think you are saying you will quite naturally start to substitute fillers for fluency.
To speed that process you can give yourself practice. Here's a bunch of impromptu public speaking topics to get you started.
To learn more about speaking spontaneously and avoiding the temptation of fillers take a look at this page on structuring impromptu speaking . You'll find
a series of extremely useful templates or patterns to structure your speech.
Want to find out more speech disfluency?
This Wikipedia link is a good starting point.
They Said It
Don't bother me while I'm actioning my deliverables!
Pardon?
What?
Could you re-phrase that in plain English?
A friend and I have been making a list of the jargon we hear in our work places. Some of it is just plain ugly and the number of times I hear it will not
change my opinion. Impactful! Agreeance! Ugh, I loathe it.
Other phrases attempt to blur or soften unpleasant realities.
"We're entering a restructuring phase - a sensitive fiscal situation. Because we need to minimize our burn rate, we're de-hiring and looking to leverage our core competencies."
The translation is: "We're losing money therefore we're going to cut staff."
Our list is getting longer. At the top of the frequency rate we've got:
- going forward as in: 'Going forward we will meet every month...'
- to progress as in: 'We are progressing our intention to become the number one supplier of blue widgets in the region'.
- to action as in: 'He actioned the deliverables.' or 'She's actioning that now.'
- to diarise as in: 'I've diarised your appointment with the minister. She'll see you at 2pm.'
In some instances it's used to bolster, puff or make something sound more important or impressive than it actually is. In others it's used to cloak something negative.
In both situations jargon obscures truth or reality.
To help myself I've made a pact with my friend. If she ever hears me saying any of these seriously, not in jest, I owe her a cup of coffee.
On my quest for a definitive list of frequently used jargon I found The Ridiculous Business Jargon Dictionary. It's a gloriously full mish-mash of
all the pretentious jargon words and phrases you're ever likely to hear. I hope you enjoy it! I did.
Do you have tips on avoiding jargon you'd like to share? Or perhaps a sublimely silly example?
Let's have them.
Submit your comments on our Tips and Speeches page.
Speech Rate
What's a normal speech rate?
That's a question I get asked a lot. After the last instance I decided to answer it in Speaking Out Loud because there's probably more of you that want to know too.
Mostly people want to know what a normal speech rate is so they can calculate how many words they need for a timed speech. Their question really is: how many words do I need for a 3 (insert the number you require) minute speech?
The answer is one of those infuriating 'it depends' ones. Speech rate or the number of words spoken per minute varies hugely. Studies have shown it can alter because of the speaker's culture, subject matter, gender, emotional state, fluency, profession or audience.
That said there are some widely accepted guidelines. These are:
- A slow speech rate is usually regarded as less than 110 wpm, or words per minute.
- Conversational speech rate generally falls between 120 wpm at the slow end to 150 - 200 wpm in the fast range.
- People who read books for radio or podcasts are often asked to read at 150-160 wpm
- Auctioneers or commentators who practice speed speech are usually in the 250 to 400 wpm range.
The best way to gauge whether you have too much or too little material for your time allowance is to practice and time yourself. If possible rehearse in front of family or friends to make it as close to the real thing as you can. When you're finished ask for feedback on speech rate and be guided by what they tell you.
Rather than focusing on how many words you need for your speech find out more about developing a flexible speaking rate. This will serve you much better and solve your too fast or too slow problem if you have one.
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Thank you for reading the October Issue of Speaking-Out-Loud. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Please feel free to contact me with any questions through the form on my About Me Page. I love hearing from my readers!
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Until next time,
Happy speaking,
Susan