Impact of Low Volume Voice During Presentations

Audiences interpret low volume as the speakers having low conviction or low interest on their topic.  Audiences say to themselves, “If the speaker isn’t interested, I’m not either.”  Then the audience stops paying attention to you.

Rerun from Feb 29, 2016

Accent Reduction: Why did English Become a Dominant World-Language?

Have you ever wondered why English became a dominant world-language?  Have you ever wondered whether Mandarin (China’s official language) would take the place of English as the globe’s most important language?

The answer to English becoming a dominant language lies in history.  The British Empire spread English to many parts of the world, first through colonization in the 17^th and 18^th centuries, then through its leadership in the Industrial Revolution.  After that, the U.S.’s subsequent economic superiority and political leadership established English as the first or second language of many countries.

Mandarin Chinese has the greatest number of native-born speakers – at 1.3 billion compared to US at 300 million —virtually all are in China.  China historically did not colonize.  Thus, there are no distant former Chinese colonies speaking Mandarin today.  That is in contrast to those former colonies of England, France, and Spain who still speak the languages of those countries.

What probably stops Mandarin from displacing English as the world’s most important language?  According to Lee Kuan Yew, writer for Forbes, several important features of Mandarin make it a very difficult language for the rest of the world to learn and master.  Even if you put Chinese words into pinyin form (roman characters), there are four tones to each character (often one syllable) that designate meaning.  He does not predict China converting its Mandarin characters for pinyin because of pride in their language, which has survived more than 5,000 years.  He points out that Chinese differs totally from most other languages used today because it uses pictographs and ideographs, with no spelling symbols to  indicate which of the four tones for each character is intended.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Rerun from Feb 3, 2016

Best Stance for Speakers

You look strongest and in greatest control when you plant your two feet shoulder-width apart, weight equally balanced, body facing square to the audience.

That way, all your energy communicates itself in gestures, facial expressions, and upper body movements.

Rerun from Feb 22, 2016

English Speaking Skills: What is Best Number of Words in Sentences?

English communication and writing.  Did you ever wonder what length of sentences are best for communicating information in writing?

Here is one angle of view on that question.

I investigated newspapers for answers because they are intended for a large variety of readers.  Readers are looking to get information pleasantly, quickly, and memorably.  Writers are eager to please readers.

Here’s what I found across four writers from a variety of newspapers:

• Two thirds of the sentences were shorter than 25 words
• A little more than a fourth of the sentences were between 25 and 35 words
• Less than a tenth of the sentences were between 35 and 45 words
• Less than one percent of sentences were greater than 45 words

Here are some other observations:

Variety is predominant.  Of the sentences shorter than 25 words, they were evenly divided between shorter than 10 words, 11 to 19 words, and 20 to 25 words.

About one out of every four sentences was between 25 and 35 words.

Fairly rare were sentences between 35 and 45 words—only one sentence in 10.

You already know how difficult it is to read a really long sentence.  The different writers knew that, so only 1 out of 100 sentences had more than 45 words.

So the take home message is simple —  for your writing in English, count words.  Especially count words when you see your sentences are lengthy.  If your sentence is greater than 25 words, break it up into two sentences.  Of course, sometimes several pieces of information are better communicated in one utterance or sentence.  Best is to keep those sentences shorter than 35 words.  For ease in reading and for understanding the information, make sure only a few sentences are longer than 35 words.  And you will need a particularly compelling reason to make a sentence lengthier than 45 words.

Be sure to watch our English Speech Tips videos and Accent Reduction Tip videos  for more English pronunciation and accent reduction exercise.

Check out our new advanced weekly speech tip program, our new subscription called ClearTalk Weekly, www.subscription.cleartalkmastery.com

Rerun from Jan 27, 2016

What to do With Your Hands During a Presentation

When you begin, your hands should hang relaxed by your side.

Best is to gesture with one hand at a time.

Hand and arm movements can be descriptive and emphatic.

Rerun from Feb 16, 2016