Congratulations to you, but for what? Congratulations to you for clicking on this video coz this
is the video where you are going to master the art of communication once and for all.
I really like the word art of communication. Communicating is almost like art where you
have certain tools which you should be smart enough to use them to make your communication
very, very effective. So like an artist you are also going to learn how to communicate
effectively through this session on Skillopedia, the place to learn skills for the real world.
So to communicate effectively the first point that you need to keep in mind is word choice.
Why is word choice so important? Well it is because words have the power. They have the
power to build nations and words also have the power to destroy humans. So be very careful
about the words that you use. Words really affect your relationships and they really
impact the image that other people carry of you. If you use negative words all the time,
words like worthless, hopeless. It doesn't give a very good impact and the person talking
to you doesn't feel positive about you. So make sure that your words are meaningful as
long as the listener can understand you. They should be colourful and positive. It's great
to use words like acceptance, extraordinary, a word like positive and a word like possible,
it's possible. Try not to say too often that it's just impossible to do it. Rather you
should say that it's possible which gives a great impact to the listener. The second
thing that you need to be very careful about is not using slangs in your everyday speech
as long as you are talking at work. If you are talking to your friends it's alright to
use slang words. But you should not use slang words when you are talking to people at work
or at professional relationships. The third thing that you need to be very careful about
is not slurring. So slurring is when you speak out words very quickly and no one can understand
what you said, when you just said so quickly that people don't understand. So make sure
that your words are distinct and very clear and you use positive, impactful words to make
your relationships better.
The second way to master the art of communication is by expanding your vocabulary. In the previous
tip I talked to you about word choice. So how can you choose among words if you don't
have enough words in your vocabulary bank? So you should make an attempt to expand your
vocabulary by reading vocabulary books or watching our videos on vocabulary at let's
talk. This is on way to strengthen your vocabulary and sound more educated, more learned to those
who are listening to you. But you have to be very careful when it comes to vocabulary.
You can use good and hard vocabulary with people that you think can understand. But
if you think that a lay person would not understand difficult vocabulary, so that's time where
you need to use graded vocabulary which means easier vocabulary. The second thing that you
need to take care of is the intonation when you speak. So intonation is the rising and
the lowering tone of your voice. If I speak to you in a monotone, I will almost sound
like a robot. And I will not be able to catch your attention. So it's important that you
have a rising tone and a lowering tone, so that you can keep the attention of the speaker
to yourself and only yourself. The third thing that you need to take care about is the pace
of your speech. So if you speak way too fast. Obviously the hearer would not be able to
understand. But sometimes when you are speaking fast, it also reflects that you are very excited.
So if you want to hide your excitement try and speak a bit calmly, which reflects thoughtfulness
and intelligence of course. And the last tip that you need to take care about is your volume.
So can definitely not speak in one volume and just go on in that volume. Just imagine
if a painter used only one paint in the painting, that wouldn't be nice, right? We want lots
of colours. So in the same way the volume of your speech should keep changing. You should
take the hearer or the listener on a roller- coaster ride of communication, where you go
up and you go down. They have a great experience listening to you, having all their attention
exclusively to you.
The third tip that I have for you is to use your emotions as an effective communicator.
The key here is to not let your emotions overflow. So you should show your emotions without being
too emotional. It doesn't matter if you cry in front of someone. You don't need to feel
about it. They know that you are a very passionate person who desires success, has certain aims
and ambitions. But if you cry in front of someone, it shows a very tender side of you.
It shows that you are a very soft hearted person who understands another person's situation.
Even if you get angry, it’s not that bad, really? Unless you get angry very often. Sometimes
anger reflects seriousness. So if you are very serious about a matter and you have an
intense expression on your face, an intense emotion, then it is alright. It will help
the listener to understand the seriousness of the situation and sometimes if you laugh
a lot like you do most of the time. It shows that there is a fun side to you and that you
don't take difficult circumstance too seriously. So it's alright if you show your emotions,
they can be a very powerful tool to communicate with someone. So don't shy away from your
emotions. Show them but use them to communicate effectively.
The fourth key to perfect communication is perfect enunciation. Does this mean same as
pronunciation? No pronunciation is to say out a word correctly. But enunciation means
to say out a word clearly. So I like I told you in a tip before this that you should not
slur while you speak. This means that you should not speak words too quickly. The point
is that you should speak out your words clearly and distinctly so that the listener can understand
you. However, it is important that you don't sound unnatural by distinctly saying every
word, which will go very wrong. So what's needed it that it should be clear but not
very distinct. So make sure you get the enunciation right so that the listener can hear the punch
in your voice when you are talking.
All the tips that we have looked at before are where we are talking about verbal communication
where you use your words. It's very important that what you say through words, it really
impacts your communication but as important is what you don't say while you are communicating.
Here we are talking about your body language. Which means how do you use your hand and how
do you use your body, what position are you sitting in. Are you looking into the eyes
of the person that you are talking to? All these points really affect your communication
very strongly. So if you sit with hands like this and you don't move them at all. This
stiffness shows that you are kind of a bit arrogant person who is not interested in listening
to the other person. Maybe you are not arrogant and you are really interested in the communication
but it shows that you are not. So it's better to keep your hands loose and be very demonstrative
with your hand. Now this doesn't mean that go around making different patterns with your
hand and the listener would think, ok what is she going to do next? Not like that, but
that you use them to express yourself correctly. Now coming to your eyes. It's very important
that you look in the eyes of the person that you are talking to. Have you ever spoken to
somebody who is not looking into your eyes and is looking everywhere except at you? What
does it show; it reflects a lack of interest in what you are talking. So that person is
possibly not interested in listening to you. So if you do that to someone for any reason.
Make sure you don't do that anymore and you look carefully in their eyes and show that
you are interested in listening to them. The final thing that you need to be careful about
in terms of body language is position. Especially when you are in a meeting or giving a presentation.
You should be very careful about where you are standing and how you are standing. Sometimes
you would choose to even sit down while giving a presentation which is absolutely correct.
There's nothing wrong about it, just that it shows that you are very casual. But it's
ok to be casual if you are working with your close colleagues or people that you know very
well. However, if you are giving a meeting to about a thousand people. It's important
that you stand, which shows strength in what you are talking and it catches the listener's
attention entirely. So these are the tips for body language. Make sure that you incorporate
them in your communication because this is as important as the words you choose.
The idea for all these principles that I have shared with you is to add variety to your
communication. Think of yourself, would you like to talk to a person who talks at one
speed, one tone, without any emotion, without any passion? No, that person is too predictable
and you know what they are going to say and you even lose interest when they are talking.
So the challenge is that you should use all these tips that I have shared with you and
become a master communicator, effective communicator. Make sure you practise all of these tips in
your everyday life and I hope this was very helpful for you. So thank you, this is Michelle
signing off from Skillopedia, the place to learn skills for the real world.