Darina Kataeva

During a conversation, do you often swallow your words, speak slurredly, quietly, and others cannot understand your speech? Then it's time for you to start working on improving your diction. No matter how interesting and important your message is, it will be useless if your words are difficult to understand. How can you improve your diction and make your speech clear and understandable?

Diction: what is this?

Diction is general concept, which means distinctness and quality of pronunciation, level of clarity. Diction in relation to spelling is comparable to handwriting in relation to spelling. Just as a written letter is not perceived, so slurred speech is regarded by listeners as foreign words. Some people with impaired diction even become the subject of ridicule and sarcastic remarks. All organs of the speech apparatus participate in word formation, some are responsible for the timbre of the voice, others for articulation, pitch, tempo or sonority. But all of them together are responsible for a person’s diction.

Diction requires:

Knowledge of sound production and word formation.
Correct use of the speech organs.

Why is speech slurred?

Some people are so good at speaking that it seems like they are natural speakers. Why do others speak so vaguely and incomprehensibly?

Don't rush.

Stay balanced. You shouldn’t speak too slowly either; speak at an even pace, as if you’re not in a hurry. Over time, you will increase your pronunciation speed. Especially watch the pace during. The desire to quickly finish your speech contributes to poor diction. Take pauses, this will even attract the attention of listeners and color your speech.

Breathe correctly.

When pronouncing words, we don’t even think about what is happening in our speech apparatus. The beauty of speech is based on automation and consolidation of the production of sounds. Pay attention to singers and actors, they carefully monitor their breathing. There are even special exercises dedicated to proper breathing. To improve your speech clarity, learn to breathe from your diaphragm. To do this, place one hand on your stomach, the other on your chest. When you inhale, the hand on your stomach rises, the other remains motionless. Exhale, change hands. At first you will have to control your breathing, then it will become a habit.

Learn the rules for setting and forming sounds.

To speak correctly, you need to understand how speech sounds are formed. Knowing the participation and role of the organs of articulation in sound production, you will understand what you should focus on and what your shortcomings are. Think about what you plan to say, such pauses will help you concentrate and take the necessary breath for further clarity of speech.

Practice.

The best way to learn to speak beautifully and clearly is to regularly speak in front of an audience. At first it will be difficult for you to control your speech, you will constantly be disturbed by strong excitement and emotions. However, over time, you will get used to such performances and will even be able to vary your voice to provide psychological influence on the people listening to you. Analyze your speech and practice constantly. A performance won't be impressive if you don't prepare enough for it.

Learn tongue twisters and repeat complex words periodically.

Tongue twisters are a great way to learn how to express thoughts clearly and clearly even in complex and confusing words. Most actors warm up their vocal cords and articulatory apparatus before a performance with tongue twisters. Start saying them slowly until you memorize them, then practice saying them faster. However, it is important to say tongue twisters and difficult words correctly, so do not increase your pace if you make mistakes.

If a certain word is particularly difficult for you, be sure to pronounce it at home in front of the mirror several times. Do this until the pronunciation is correct compound word You won’t reach the point of automaticity.

Don't forget about intonation.

Even if you speak clearly, but monotonously, your listeners will not take your words seriously; they will constantly be distracted and think not about what you say, but how you say it. Your intonation will show what you want to emphasize and what you want to convey to your listeners. Speak confidently, firmly, so as not to create the impression that you doubt your words.

Train your facial muscles.

The clarity of speech directly depends on the work of the jaw muscles. To train them, do a regular set of exercises. Stretch your muscles, open your mouth wide, and make chewing movements. These exercises will help you relax and in normal speech not clench your teeth, but speak relaxedly and with your mouth wide open.

Exercises to develop diction

Speak with a cork in your teeth. When there is something in the speech apparatus that prevents you from pronouncing words as before, the jaw will begin to strain and work harder.
Perform regular articulation exercises. Active exercises with the tongue, mouth, teeth and the entire jaw will help in the development and independent improvement of diction.
Read prose or poetry to music without words. This will allow you to speak smoothly, melodiously and without unnecessary hesitation.
Memorize not just tongue twisters, but entire poems with complex and confusing expressions.
Pronounce complex combinations: lrya-chra-lru-bru-pre and other syllables that are difficult to say. Using them and pronouncing them regularly will give you excellent preparation.

March 31, 2014 Few people seriously think about how powerful a communication tool the voice is.

And it’s not just a matter of “we tell them.” Timbre and diction have a tremendous impact on how the listener perceives you. It has been proven that people perceive information presented in a low-pitched voice better than in a high-pitched one. A voice with a timbre that is too high is not only harder to listen to, but also less pleasant than a low one.

Good diction is even more important than timbre. If you are not an honored doctor of science or a professor, you have to make sure that your listeners understand you without extra effort.

It’s always a real pain for me to give speeches in the first half of the day. I'm a night owl and it's hard for me to think straight before lunch. By the way, scientists say that until 12:00 human body is still in a half-asleep state, including the facial muscles and vocal cords.

To avoid inarticulate mooing during a performance, it is recommended to do a five-minute warm-up exercise consisting of 10 exercises.

1. Lower your lower jaw down. Slowly move it left and right.

2. Lower your lower jaw. Move it back and forth. Do this very slowly, smoothly and carefully.

3. Starting position – standing, hands on chest. Leaning forward, as you exhale, pronounce the vowels “u” and “o” long and drawn out, in as low a voice as you can.

4. The mouth is open, the lips are in a smile, move the tongue to the corners of the mouth left and right. Make sure that the jaw and lips are motionless, and the tongue does not slide along the lower lip.

5. The mouth is open, the lips are in a smile. Lick the upper lip with the tip of the tongue from one corner of the mouth to the other. Make sure that the tongue reaches the corners of the mouth, the movement is smooth, without jumps, the jaw does not move. Also lick your lower lip. Then lick your lips in a circle.

6. Mouth closed. Lick the teeth under the lower lip, then under the upper lip. Make sure that your jaw and lips do not move.

7. The mouth is open, the lips are in a smile. Smoothly run your tongue over your upper teeth, touching each tooth and counting them. Make sure that the jaw does not move. The same movement applies to the lower teeth.

8. Mouth closed. The tense tip of the tongue rests on one or the other cheek. The same, but the mouth is open.

9. The mouth is open, the lips are in a smile. Raise your wide tongue to your nose and lower it to your chin. Make sure that the lips do not stretch over the teeth, the jaw does not move, and the tongue does not narrow.

10. The mouth is open, the lips are in a smile. Place the wide tip of the tongue on the alveoli behind the lower teeth with inside, then lift it onto the tubercles behind the upper teeth, also from the inside. Make sure that only the tongue works, and the lower jaw and lips remain motionless.

Many people have heard the speeches of speakers who did not need to attract the attention of listeners with phrases: “Don’t be distracted,” “Listen to me,” etc. What is this? Natural talent? Perhaps incredibly interesting or hot topic? Competent speech construction? Probably both. Simply put, ownership. There is no doubt that only a person with a clear, competent speech. Perhaps it will not cause controversy to say that good diction is needed not only by media workers and public figures, call center employees or consultants.

Well-delivered, competent speech is one of the necessary components career growth in areas where communication with people cannot be avoided. Everyone needs it.

How to develop diction?

How to develop good diction? Of course, as in any business, several components are needed to achieve a successful result: desire, time and patience. The development of diction in adults can be done independently - just set aside time every day and practice. Exists large number relatively simple exercises , influencing the improvement of speech technique and the development of diction. A method known to everyone since childhood -. By repeating these small rhythmic phrases as often as possible, you can achieve noticeable results within a few weeks. How to quickly improve the diction of people with minor defects speeches? In this case, attention should be paid to tongue twisters that help solve a specific problem.

For example, if you have problems with hissing and whistling sounds, more often pronounce phrases with a lot of such sounds, for example: “Sasha was walking along the highway and sucking on a dryer.”

Correcting diction in adults, or developing it in adolescents, is also quite possible to do independently - depending on the requirements for timing and results. For independent work It is recommended to pronounce tongue twisters by placing one in the mouth (behind the cheek) walnut on each side. Progress will be noticeable quite quickly.

How to improve diction and speech through breath control?

This is very important aspect in improving diction and speech. There are quite a few different exercises that mainly help teach a person to pronounce texts as long as possible, without interrupting them with breaths or pauses in places where this would disrupt the semantic or emotional load of the text. very important for a speaker.

How to improve your diction while spending time reading your favorite books? Need to read out loud, clearly articulating all sounds, paying attention to the emotionality of the text. Starting with well-known works, you can move on to completely unfamiliar texts. Good exercise, which is aimed not only at the development of diction, but also at the ability to behave in front of a large audience and improve memory, are poetic works.

You can learn several poems, gradually increasing their size, and recite them with your family or friends. It is important to monitor your diction, not being upset by possible flaws, but carefully recording them.

In this situation, you will need the help of specialists. As in the case when it is necessary to eliminate a serious speech defect, it is better to turn to professionals - individually or in group specialized courses, where they will help identify all speech defects that the listener may not have paid attention to. People for whom speech production is a profession will select individual exercises and tell you how to improve your diction specifically in your case.

According to experts, up to 30% of people suffer from diction disorders. Moreover, apparently, most of them get jobs at airports to announce flight delays on the radio. Even if you don’t plan to join their ranks, it won’t hurt you to learn how to carefully order dishes with difficult names in a restaurant or surprise others with a lightning-fast Estonian tongue twister.

Heh, Slavs!

“The easiest pronunciation defect is gagging,” says Alexander Kabin, director and teacher of stage speech at the Interlude theater association. This fricative “g” can be picked up in adulthood. The owner of good phonemic hearing after a two-week business trip to Eastern Ukraine or southern Russia, having had plenty of conversations with local residents, unnoticed by herself, will begin to talk like Nastya Zavorotnyuk in the image of a beautiful nanny. However, after returning home, the accent will fade away in a couple of weeks and will not appear until the next business trip. If your “ghe” is innate, to acquire a non-explosive sound of the fourth letter of the alphabet, practice pronouncing phrases with an abundance of “g”. Pronounce them slowly, and first pause on the “g” sound for emphasis.

Read with expression

• Tycoon Yegor was sunbathing on the mountain, a magnet fell on tycoon Yegor.
• The brilliant heterosexual Goga passionately loves the geisha Galya.
• Where is Gena the migrant worker? This bastard is drying out the herbarium!

Grazing bullet

In addition to the surname Zinbelshucher, there are many other, more valid reasons not to pronounce the sound “r”. This sound is the most difficult to articulate. There are 30 variants of its distortions. The most common are the absence of “r” (“pezevative cob”) and the throaty pronunciation of the sound, called burr. “Sometimes the cause of the defect is a shortened hyoid ligament, which limits the rise of the tongue. This requires little intervention from the surgeon,” notes Alexander. But more often it’s all about a habit ingrained from childhood and weakness of the tongue muscles.

To develop your tongue, first spread it on your lower lip, while saying “five-five-five.” (Sounds stupid, but what can you do?) When your tongue gets used to lying relaxed, teach it to cover your upper lip. The front edge of the tongue should cover the entire upper lip from corner to corner of the mouth. (For especially weak muscles, at first help your tongue stay up with a teaspoon.) Making sure that your tongue remains as wide, push it behind your upper teeth. Now practice saying “d-d-d” by hitting the front edge of your raised tongue inner surface upper front teeth. After a few hours of these exercises, alternating with tongue twisters, the sound “r” will begin to emerge.

Read with expression

• Tell me about tongue twisters. What tongue twisters are we talking about? About tongue twisters, about tongue twisters, about my tongue twisters!
• Our Tanya is crying loudly and dropped a ball into the river. He put the Greek's hand in the river, the ball behind the Greek's hand - dac!
• There is grass in the yard, there is firewood on the grass. Don't chop wood, but drink wood.

What is “ochen?”

Check if your bite is correct, if all your teeth are in place and if there are any piercings on your tongue. If everything is in order, a weak tongue is to blame for your lisping speech.

"Sometimes to develop a language and restore correct pronunciation It’s enough to read the consonants out loud more often,” says Alexander. In between readings, do two simple exercises.

1. Stretch the corners of your mouth in a forced smile so that your teeth are visible, and blow on the tip of your tongue to produce a whistling noise typical of the “s” sound.

2. Practice pronouncing the syllable "sa". In this case, the sound “s” must be strained through the teeth, and the mouth must be opened at the sound “a”. If you still fail to master the correct pronunciation, go to Poland. There you won't feel inferior: Polish abounds in sibilants.

Read with expression

• Masha was walking along the highway and got hit by a bus.
• Tell me about the sausages! Which sausages? Maybe about shopping? Oh, yes, about shopping.
• Soviet specialists are rushing to the aid of specialists from socialist countries.

Obvious but unclear

Put a spoonful of porridge in your mouth and say: “Leave me alone, you monsters.” Now say the same thing without the porridge. Any differences? Everything is clear. You pronounce sounds carelessly, especially consonants. But the importance of consonants is higher than vowels, because they carry more information, performing a semantic distinguishing function.

If you are used to saying “check” instead of “person”, “nomad” instead of “in short” and “DNA” instead of “deoxyribonucleic acid”, do not be offended by experts who call such speech unintelligible, unaesthetic and inexpressive*.

Of course, it’s hard to deny yourself the pleasure of telling jokes while chewing your kebab, but the rest of the time, try to speak more clearly. To develop this skill, Alexander advises you to chant poetry, beating a clear rhythm with your hand on the table or with a hammer on the radiator.

Start collecting words with a “bouquet” of consonants (WAKE, AGENCY, poSTSCRIPTUM, PARTVZNos), as well as phrases of monosyllabic words, the pronunciation of which requires muscle tension (“Where the table was a meal, there is a coffin”). When you have collected enough words and phrases, compose them into a short story and send them to us. Poel?

Read with expression

• The over-anxious center forward is apt to snore.
• The transplantation of the fire hose smacked of amateurism.
• Everyone loved Prov, but he fell into a trance.
• And you, Brutus?

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Some people think that they have no problems with diction and this is true. However, when they come, for example, to get a job on television or as a radio presenter, they can immediately be told that for this they need to improve their diction. What methods can easily and quickly improve your diction level? There are several ways to help solve this problem in a short time.

You will need:

First Steps to Persuasive Speech

To speak confidently, beautifully and euphoniously, you need to perform a number of exercises. The first step is to learn how to pronounce plosive sounds well and clearly. Of course, if voiceless consonants are inaudible, then the level of diction will drop significantly. Due to the fact that the voiceless sounds themselves, in their structure, are quite quiet and incomprehensible, they must be pronounced much better than other vowels.

For example: p', t', k'.

Speak dull sounds without a voice, but with very great activity, as if exploding these sounds. After completing the exercise, pronounce the same sounds, but with your voice. This can be done by using consonants that follow the unvoiced ones.

For example, by, then, to, etc.

After completing the exercises, add voiced vowels and sibilants.

Books and reading aloud are a great help in improving diction

The second and very serious mistake of many is the incorrect pronunciation of the letter “G”.

Cuckoo cuckoo bought a hood

Lisping speech is an unforgivable mistake. Of course, if a person has an incorrectly developed bite or has a piercing in the tongue, then this is forgivable. However, it often happens that neither one nor the other is observed, so the culprit is a weak language.

To solve this problem, it is necessary to do exercises not only for hissing sounds. For example, you need to learn to pronounce the sound “C” accurately and clearly.

You also need to learn to relax the muscles of your mouth and tense your tongue. You can do it like this:

1. smile so that your teeth are visible;
2. pull out your tongue a little;
3. Use your mouth to blow a little air onto the tip of your tongue to hear a slight whistle (this whistle is similar to the pronunciation of the letter “C”).

You need to see your mistakes directly

A good exercise is to read and talk in front of a mirror.

This is necessary so that you yourself can see your mistakes and see for yourself how your mouth muscles work. If you pronounce sounds and words, phrases in front of a mirror with diligent force, that is, make movements more flexible and strong, open your mouth more, etc., then over time you will hear that the level of your diction has increased significantly. And after such exercises it will be much easier for you to pronounce certain sounds.

Use third party items

Do exercises with foreign objects.

• For example, you can put small nuts in your mouth and speak tongue twisters with the nuts in your mouth, while pronouncing each sound well.
• You can also use, for example, a pen. Hold the pen between your lips or teeth, and then start reading the tongue twisters yourself.

It is worth considering that it is unlikely to succeed the first time, but there is no need to give up ahead of time. With long-term training everything will work out. Besides, you shouldn’t rush too much the first time.

It is better to pronounce each word at a slow pace, but clearly and clearly.