How to improve your verbal communication

When you want to improve any aspect of your speech there is one absolutely indispensable feature you must incorporate into your practice: other people. If you wanted to increase your vocabulary, of example, the stimulation of others will serve you better than time spent alone, agonizing over a list of words. As I wrote in my book (It’s the Way You Say It),

“When you spend time with different people of achievement and education, you will be exposed to words you don’t know; and you can learn these words just as a child learns them:

• by being exposed
• actively noticing and repeating them
• remembering the context of usage
• trying to use them.

As an adult you can ask speakers about the words they use that you don’t know. You probably think that people will look down on you for this, but not so. People will admire your desire to learn and your willingness to ask (and probably will be flattered to share their wisdom).”

Are you trying to improve your voice? Use store clerks and customer representatives in your initial practice. These are usually short and fairly anonymous contacts that should provide a safe place for you to practice actually usage.

Are you dealing with a foreign accent issue? Set a goal of one coffee break a day with people who speak only English. Many times the foreign born person seeks out the comfort of their fellow country men for social contacts, but this will only reinforce your original tongue.

Is public speaking the issue? By all means try to have another person in the room as you read or rehearse your remarks. Get used to people listening to you and, of course, they just might have some really valuable feed back for you.

Without the presence of other people verbal communication is artificial and hollow. Some privacy is needed at the initial stages of learning allowing you to focus deeply on mastering your behavioral change, but you don’t really start incorporating your learning until you are connecting with another human being. And isn’t that the point of it all?