🎙️ Suspended vowels when speaking: what they are, why they occur and how to overcome them. || Part II
Elongated vowels when speaking? In this post I suggest you some tips to correct this drawback.
In my previous post we dealt with the issue of elongated or suspended vowels. It is a kind of communicational crutch that consists of lengthening a vowel sound when we speak.
How do we eliminate them?
We can overcome the use of elongated vowels and filler sounds and thus achieve fluent speech. To do this I suggest you carry out these recommendations:
🗣️ Recognize and raise awareness. Like anything worth overcoming, it is necessary to be aware that we have that aspect to overcome. Recognizing it is the first step, then raising awareness and finding ways to improve it. In order to achieve this first objective, I invite you to record yourself, either in audio or video, and analyze yourself with objectivity and self-criticism. It would also be interesting to ask people you trust if those elongated vowels or filler sounds distract you when you use them. It is vitally important to know if they are negatively impacting your credibility and that of your speech; it is part of the awareness and recognition process.
🗣️ Define how many and which ones. It is important to identify how many and which elongated vowels and sounds we use most frequently. The ideal way to do this is to record ourselves. The same video or audio above can be used for this purpose. But of course, many more audios and videos will be necessary to get a better idea of our situation and what we want to achieve. This will allow us to evaluate ourselves and be aware of the magnitude of the failure. Remember also to internalize that these verbal accidents, whatever and however many they are, are unnecessary.
🗣️Practice and preparation. The best way to avoid these elongated vowels and stuffed sounds is to learn our speech well and practice it a lot. Preparing properly and rehearsing enough will make us feel more confident when the time comes for our participation. And if you also record yourself while practicing, you will be able to see your evolution.
Source
🗣️ Apply pauses or silences when speaking. Instead of saying. "Good morning, ehhh, welcome to this event thateee seeks to bring together the best companies in the area toaaa analyze the current market foreee dairy products." Say it like this: "Good morning.., welcome to this event.. that seeks to bring together the best companies in the area.. to analyze the current market for dairy products". Notice that the pause (the two ellipses I place "...") is just before the word that has the vowel that we might suspend or lengthen.
🗣️ Expand your vocabulary and lexicon. A very practical and useful way is to learn as many connectors as possible and substitute those filled sounds with them. I want to direct you to the criminal lawyer's speech we read in the previous post:
"Good afternoon. I'm glad to be here with you. Ehhhh. My name is Carmen Elena Gonzales, criminal lawyer, specializing in child care. Mmmmm, I have been listening to all the interventions andyyy, ehhmmm, I certify that the pedophilia issue is quite serious and delicate.
I think that, although it is a controversial topic, we can't stop expressing what we think and this kind of debate is very necessary. And uhmmm, my intervention will focus on the condemnation of the aggressors of the children, that is, the adult who commits the abuse".
Same speech using connectors: (connectors are in italics).
"Good afternoon. I'm glad to be here with you. First of all, my name is Carmen Elena Gonzales, a criminal lawyer specialized in the attention of minors. As for today's topic, I have been listening to all the interventions and as a result I certify that the issue of pedophilia is quite serious and delicate.* Notwithstanding the fact that it is a very serious and delicate issue.
Not withstandingbeing a controversial topic, I think that we cannot stop expressing what we think and this kind of debate is very necessary. Hencemy intervention will focus on condemning the aggressors of children, that is, the adult who commits the abuse."*
💪🗣️ Believe in yourself. Think positive. Convince yourself that you are a great communicator and that you do it well; that you speak fluently and without discomfort. The more confident you are in yourself and your message, the more confident you will feel. That will make you perform better in your presentation.
It was a real pleasure for me to present you this guide. I hope you find it very useful. Remember that you can find me on my social networks as @ gsbilbao.
Note: [This content was written by me, used and/or delivered in PDF format previously in my classes on public speaking or as part of my "Communicate Better" training program].