How to get rid of verbal garbage and start speaking clearly and confidently: the coach's column on public speaking skills

The ability to speak clearly and convincingly is needed not only for those who speak at conferences or defend projects. Any life situations like a declaration of love, a discussion of plans or a spontaneous dialogue in the store require that others listen carefully, and you get the desired result from this conversation. And the key to mutual understanding will be correct and beautiful speech. Here's how to make it better.

How to detect extra words in your speech

Extra words appeared in your speech for a reason: they all serve some purpose. Here's how to isolate them and understand why they are needed:

1. Record a two-minute story on any topic on a dictaphone. For example, about your weekend plans. Or record your dialogue with someone.
2. Listen to and analyze this recording. Write down the words and sounds that are repeated more often than others. These will not necessarily be parasitic words from the standard list: "as it were", "in short", "this is the most", "in principle" and so on. You can have your own favorite expressions. For example: "cool", "cool", "cool", "tin", "kapets". All this is also part of our speech garbage, so the wider the list, the better. Do not forget to note how you fill in the pauses between the words: "uh‑uh", "ah‑ah", "m‑m‑m".
3. Write down several synonyms next to each phrase or word. Start introducing them into your speech, consciously replacing them with parasitic words. For example, instead of "like" say "like", "like" or "like", instead of "damn" — "it's a shame", "I'm sorry". Instead of "shorter" — "in one word", "therefore" and so on. You can even stick stickers with them in prominent places.
4. Try to answer honestly why you use these words. What function do they perform? For example, they fill in a pause while you are looking for the right wording. Or they appear when you are worried or fearful when communicating. Most often we pronounce such words unconsciously, but finding out the reason will help you choose the right tools to deal with them.

How to get rid of verbal garbage and improve speech

Modern communication is filled with speech cliches and foreign slang, and some professions abound in their own modern terminology. That's why we pick up verbal garbage so easily. But you can get rid of it. Here's how to do it.

Learn to track extra words

This is very important, because most often we pronounce them on the machine. Here's what you should do:

• Ask friends or colleagues to pull you back and point out every "wrong" word. For others, they will be much more noticeable.
• Assign some kind of conditional penalty for extra words. Deprive yourself of dessert, going to the cinema, some kind of shopping ‑ but just let everything be fair!
• Put an elastic band on your wrist and click it every time you catch yourself on the next "this is it". So you yourself will begin to get annoyed because of these expressions, and the brain will gradually learn to avoid them.

Pump up self-control

Take one of your catchphrases — for example, "shorter". And start to pronounce it deliberately loudly and often. Try to use it at least five times in one or two sentences: "In short, I heard here that, in short, there will be an interesting webinar tomorrow, in short, on the topic of correct speech, in short! We need to go, in short!"

It sounds ridiculous, but it is important to make this word jarring. After all, you often pronounce it without noticing it yourself. Now it will become easier to control your speech.

Pause

It only seems at first glance that when a person is silent, he has nothing to say. In fact, there is a huge power in speech pauses: this is a way to make you listen to yourself, to attract attention and make others wait for what you will say next.

After all, pauses give the interlocutor an opportunity to digest what you just said. And if a person fills them with mumbling, "uh..." or "I'll tell you now," then interest in the conversation is quickly lost.

To learn how to pause, try this method. Take any book, preferably a work of fiction, and start reading. After each word, pause for 2-3 seconds. During them, keep your lips closed. At the same time, you need to read with an expression, and not monotonously mumble.

Pronouncing one word, set the intonation of the continuing thought after a pause — so you will train to read with an expression. This activity will probably seem boring, but it's worth it: one page a day, and you will begin to notice changes.

You will realize that 2-3 seconds of silence is not so scary and even useful. Pauses can beautify and enrich speech — this is a great cure for "uh..." and "mmm..." or chatter incessantly. Believe me, nothing is more annoying than the abundance of unnecessary sounds and words in the speech of other people.

Expand your vocabulary

There are many ways to do this. Here are the main ones:

• Read aloud, not to yourself. The very process of pronouncing the text is important. When you read to yourself, you don't think about how the language sounds. And speaking the text, you stumble over unfamiliar or difficult terms, forcing the brain to fix attention on them.
• Write out unfamiliar terms with explanations in a separate notebook and pronounce them. So these words will be deposited in your head, and you can easily apply them in a suitable situation.
• Play. Choose word games in which you need to match associations to one subject or phenomenon. Another option is to describe one word with the help of others, without using the same root terms. Such games perfectly develop correct speech, because in the process you remember those words that you rarely use in daily use.
• Write down your favorite quotes and phrases on stickers and hang them at home or in the office. When a piece of paper with a quote comes across your eyes, read its contents aloud — this is how the lexicon moves from a passive status to an active one. That is, what you know will become what you use.
• Be interested in everything. Be curious and greedy for everything new. Phenomena and phenomena, scientific discoveries and historical events, interesting personalities and facts — everything should arouse genuine interest. In proportion to the increase in the volume of knowledge, the vocabulary will also increase. As a result, you will be able to support any conversation and make your speech cleaner.

Pump up the speed of thinking

The speed of thinking shows how quickly a person is able to process information and react to it. We have been training this skill since childhood: games that develop fine motor skills, finger paints, modeling, assembling a pyramid and a constructor — all this activates the work of the brain. However, even in adulthood, do not forget about simple exercises that help you think faster.

One of the options is to perform asynchronous movements. For example, when we draw a circle with one hand and draw a line with the other. Or when we show "OK" with the left hand (a circle of fingers), and with the right — "Great" (thumbs up). And vice versa.

Mimicry exercises also work well: stretch a smile, shift your gaze from side to side, raise your eyebrows, stick out your tongue as much as possible, make faces, depicting different contrasting states, from positive to negative. A living face is the key to living thinking.