The ancient Greek philosopher and orator Socrates once said one very famous and quoted phrase: "speak so that I may see you." Like many of his contemporaries, he was convinced that intonation, the manner of speaking and behaving during a conversation, conveys the character and essence of a person.
How we are perceived and remembered depends on our language. Fortunately, competent and clear speech doesn't depend on talent, genetics, or some intrinsic factors. There are many different exercises for diction, with which your address will become confident and clear.
First, this is necessary for those whose work involves public speaking. It is difficult to imagine an announcer who stutters or a radio host who hums quietly under his breath. Such specialists must perform various exercises for announcers, work with a speech apparatus, and perform voice production.
However, even if you do not intend to become a TV presenter or record audiobooks, exercises to improve diction can be helpful to everyone. It will be beneficial for those who:
After all, you will need diction and articulation exercises even if you want to improve your communication skills.
Interestingly, exercises for diction have been developed since ancient times. Ancient orators used their breathing, intonation, and pronunciation to capture the audience's attention.
Clear speech has always been one of the main tools of politicians, thinkers, and artists. However, you should not think that all these people were born with a well-developed language. Some were far from being orators and first went through long training in diction and speeches before they started speaking.
For inspiration, we recommend watching The King's Speech movie with a brilliant cast: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, and Geoffrey Rush.
This is an exciting story about King George VI, who struggled with stuttering for a long time and had difficulty speaking in public. He did many exercises to improve his diction and eventually became a symbol of resistance to fascism thanks to his impassioned speeches.
So, you can solve the diction problem, and people have devised many ways to deal with it. Today, speech therapists offer various exercises for clear speech, some of which combine elements of psycho-training.
Language production is a complex and multi-stage process. This means that exercises for diction mean not only tongue twisters and text proofreading. Much attention is paid to breathing, articulation, psychological mood, and intonation.
Usually, exercises in the development of diction begin with it. This is just charging the articulatory muscles of the speech apparatus: tongue, lips, larynx, jaws, etc. In total, there are about a hundred muscles in this group. Below are some examples of diction exercises offered by speech therapists.
By the way, such exercises will help not only with developing diction but also help to get rid of complexes or shyness because you need to do it in front of a mirror to control the correctness of these exercises. After all, when you look at yourself in the mirror while performing various mime tricks, you gradually accept yourself even with such strange grimaces.
By the way, many vocal schools give various exercises to improve diction and articulation for warm-up. Vocal schools also have activities for sound strength, clarity, and breathing:
Such exercises are necessary because before putting the diction, you need to remove the muscle clamps of the lips, tongue, and larynx.
It is a classic of logopedic methods. They help to develop speech, especially on difficult-to-pronounce sound combinations. Yes, tongue twisters can be memorized in childhood in the development of the speech apparatus. There are simple variants of tongue twisters:
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.
Then you can try more challenging options like this one.
I wish to wish the wish you wish to expect, but if you wish the witch wishes, I won't wish the wish you wish to wish.
When practicing diction with exercises, it's important not to focus on speed too much. You're not preparing for a rap battle, so don't rush into challenging exercises before you're ready. The main goal of learning any phrase or colloquialism is to understand its logic and pronounce each word. With practice, you can gradually increase your speed without sacrificing accuracy.
Everything depends on the posture of breathing: intonation, clarity, expressiveness of sounds, and confidence in what we say. Everyone needs controlled breathing: actors, vocalists, orators, and those who need to correct speech defects. Here are the most popular options for developing diction by starting with breathing:
Breathe in through the nose and then exhale sharply. At the same time, it quickly pulls in the abdominal muscle.
In the same vocal schools, they teach to set the breath, so the vocalist has enough air to sing long verses without stuttering or shortness of breath. At the same time, attention is focused on improving one's speech and diction and correcting one's posture because breathing, psychological mood, and, in fact, speech also depend on it.
Beautiful and expressive language is a real art. And it will take years to learn to speak clearly and distinctly. But the truth is that you can improve your language in a month. How to put language and diction in a nutshell:
If you want to improve your diction and speak more confidently, better convey your thoughts, or even improvise, try acting courses.
Hence, diction is an integral part of our verbal abilities. Well-crafted speech and pronunciation make you at least visible and an interesting interlocutor. Even if you cannot call yourself a speaker, this is not an excuse for the complex. With a desire and the right approach, you can deliver an expressive speech faster than you think.