Tricks for speaking slowly

DamaNegra

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Hi! I was wondering if any of you had any tricks for learning how to speak slowly... I speak what others have called "machine gun Spanish", because of the speed. It's always been a problem, especially when I'm talking in front of people. I tend to speak faster when I'm nervous, which only adds to the problem. And I'll be giving a panel this month, so I need to get this sorted out ASAP.

So, does anyone have any tips to moderate speech speed?
 

JenNipps

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I wish. The only thing I can think of is to practice and record yourself. I tend to speak faster when I'm nervous as well.

(Hmmm...might need to get a handle on this myself before June.)
 

shokadh

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Umm...stick cottonballs in your mouth while you're in front of a group getting ready to speak? That should slow you down a bit:D
 

Williebee

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Can you keep a beat? (Not being flip, seriously.) Tap the beat and speak to the beat.

Then, One thought, nor more than a sentence or two, per breath.

At first it's going to make you sound breathless. And feel like moving through tar, but, Practice Practice Practice.

Once the pacing is created, it will smooth out. The breath locations will change, but the pace can become natural.

You can aid this by writing down some responses that you know you are going to need and marking breath locations, then practice those responses.

Good luck!
 

semilargeintestine

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My trick is to pay attention to how fast I'm speaking. If I think I'm going slow enough, I'm probably going too fast. If I think I'm talking extremely slow--I am probably still going a little fast. :D
 

Captshady

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So many people give speeches or presentations without rehearsing. I don't get it, personally, EVERY thing requires practice to do well. If you want to speak more effectively, and slowly, you have to practice. The only way to evaluate yourself is to either video tape it, then watch and critique yourself. Then do it again, following your own advice ... while taping it. Do that over and over.

You can also get experienced critique and instruction by joining toastmasters. They have an actual curriculum, AND competitions. (http://www.toastmasters.org/). This won't help for your current dilemna, but it will help for all future speeches.
 

Dichroic

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I just read this somewhere, in the last day or two: someone said that they practiced the speech right before giving it with a pen in their mouth. Supposedly speaking around the pen forces you to slow down, which gets you in the right rhythm right before you go out in front of your audience.

Otherwise, just practice and being conscious.
 

jst5150

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Speaking fast is a sign of fear. Know your material and know to whom you're speaking. Confidence that your material will succeed. That eliminates a lot of fear. Also (from a good source) ...
-- Your listeners may interpret your speedy talking as saying: 'I haven't got time for you.'

-- Or your listeners may think you're saying: 'I want this speech over and done with. It's a chore rather than a pleasure. I'll do it as fast as I can to be shot of it.

-- Or they might think your unspoken message is: 'If you can't keep up with me and understand, it's you rather me with the problem. If you were more intelligent or focused you wouldn't have any difficulty.

-- Or perhaps they're receiving: 'I'm feeling so anxious about speaking to you. I'm afraid you won't like or be interested in what I've got to say, or that I'll stuff it up so I'll say it as fast as possible and sit down.

(This is a common first-time or novice speaker reaction. It afflicts all sorts of people: students who have to give a presentation, new teachers, actors...The cure is to acknowledge your fear,deal with it appropriately and keep on speaking).
You may have acute anxiety. There are some helpful tips here.

You'll do fine. All the best.
 

dgiharris

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Few things that help me.

1) Listening to myself as I talk

Sounds like a 'duh' but bear with me. Most people really don't listen when they talk, they just talk. By engaging the auditory part of your brain and listening you can notice "Holy shit, i'm talking fast" which brings me to the next portion

2) Talk slower. Enuciate. Speak each main point by itself

Again, another 'duh'. But just talk slower, as if you are talking to someone whom for English is a second language

3) Watch the reactions of those you are speaking to. Bond with them. Eye Contact, gestures, etc.

I find that when I listen to myself, slow down, and then make eye contact with those I'm speaking to, it all helps reinforce that I am trying to communicate effectively which involves speaking slow.

4) Practice

5) Relax, be comfortable

This one is tricky. For some, it is near impossible to relax while speaking in front of a group of people. FOr me personally, I can always relax when I make my audience laugh. Thank god for powerpoint. I always start each presentation with a funny image, picture, or video clip (30 seconds or less) that relates to my presentation. Once the audience laughs ,for some reason I instantly relax and feel in control. But that is me, you need to find your own 'way' to relax in front of an audience and feel like you are in control.

good luck

Mel...
 

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Count breaths. Seriously, if you mark off where to take a breath in the printed version with // as if you were marking up phrasing for vocals for a song -- (I'm a chronic stutterer, who used to have to do a moderate amount of public speaking for work)--then practice the living stuffing out of it, it lets you know immediately if you're going too fast or too slow.
 

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The motivational speaker Zig Ziglar recognized his tendency to speak quickly, and simply made it an icebreaking joke at the beginning of his presentations.


"Now, I hope you'll be able to keep up with me. Most people speak about 20-30 words a minute. I've been clocked at 50 to 60 with gusts up to a hundred."
 

willfulone

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Practice, practice, practice. If you audio or video tape keep practicing until you can lengthen your speech when timed.

Tips for doing this are breathing (at intervals) as suggested by someone above. Make sure you put your pauses (breaths) in where they do not appear out of place. And do not put in too many if you cannot moderate your inhale to just be a mere pause. If you cannot control your breath at these pauses, it actually works opposite (in many cases - not all) by causing you to breath too much. Which can cause your speaking to become breathy and often one will INCREASE their speaking speed in order to finalize their speech so they can get a "real" breath. So, it is good tactic to use. But, make sure you have the breath and mind control to not cause yourself to hyperventilate or concentrate on the breaths so much that you actually cause increase in speaking speed when you wish to slow it down. Do not make large inhales to pace yourself, just use the breath as a pause. Otherwise you just have rapid speaking with a bunch of stops between which does not help your understanding for your listener. Not really.

Another tactic is extending (without over ennucuation of) vowel sounds in words while speaking. Is frequently used to slow speech down in rapid speakers (or stutterers). As a tool to help slowing speech down to become more understandable for a listener.

If you cannot tape (audio or video) yourself (the best method to really KNOW how fast your speech sounds to others) to see/hear what you sound like and the speed, do the following:

Get an ordinary egg timer. Or stop watch if you have one.

Have someone neutral (meaning not a pal or family member who will just say "was fantastic - no changes required") be present to listen and give you real input on whether speaking is too fast, too slow, etc.

Get your speech notes prepared. And get ready to give your speech.

If you use a set timer like an egg timer, set time for a long time out (way past what you know it will take). Then, give your speech as your normal pacing currently allows. You KNOW it is gonna be too fast - based upon what you have already said here. But, that is not important. What is important is that you have a baseline time in order to know where you are and where you need to get to. Does not matter if your speech will have a certain time frame or not. Just that you know your starting speed.

If you have a stop watch to count up to give you end time - hit the counter to start.

Give your speech. Determine how fast it went.

Once you have baseline time. Add 3 minutes to the end time as your goal for your speech. DO NOT ADD words or content to your speech to make your time get to the end time. Slow your speaking down until you can comfortably (and with consistency) give your speech at that new time. If still too fast, continue to practice adding 2-3 minute increments WITHOUT ADDING CONTENT until your speech is delivered in a manner that is well paced, not too fast, not too slow and wherein (if you use breath pauses or vowel extension) nothing is seen by your listener as a coping tool. Then, practice the hell out of it once you have perfect time.

Before your speech - when your anxiety and worry over giving it is highest, meditate and remember you have it down. You have your time to hit. Check your watch as you walk to podium. Check your watch during your speech to make sure you are on target (or close) and know you will be fine. For, by the time you have stepped to podium? You could give your speech in your sleep - perfectly. Just do it.

You can, I know it.

Good luck!

Christine
 
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JenNipps

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These are fabulous tips. I'm making note of them, too.

The comment I made about getting a handle on this by June? I'll be teaching a class through the community education program at the local university. It's to be 2 hours a night, 1 night a week for 5 weeks.

I don't want to speed through what's intended to be two hours of material in one hour and then have participants twiddling their thumbs for the next hour. lol
 

Dichroic

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If you're teaching, one of the most important things is not to talk for too long at a stretch, or your students will be nodding off no matter how interesting you are. Ask questions. Let them participate. Then they'll find it much easier to pay attention and you won't have to speak in long chunks. Also, responsive audiences are much, much easier to talk to.
 

Carole

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I have practiced and practiced, rewrote my speech until it fits in the time I'm given and finally I practiced with a stopwatch in front of me again and again. That helped me be more conscious of how fast I'm talking. I'm a very fast, chattery talker--the kind who gets on your nerves if you've had a bad day. So I have to work hard at speaking slowly. At first, it felt like I was talking in slow motion. Then I realized that I was actually speaking more clearly.
 

authorgirl1485

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I had the hardest time at my first book signing. My hand was shaking so bad that I could hardly write anything. The second signing I knocked over the cup of tea I had received from the workers. It only got on me, though. *Whew.* After that, though, it gets easier.
 

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Know what you are talking about.

Speak clearly.

Use eye-contact and be aware if someone is wanting to ask a question.

Don't be afraid of saying nothing.

Rehearse.
 

skunkmelon

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I'm six months into a job as a coordinator for a domestic violence program and it includes a lot of public speaking.

I think the most important thing is to consider the individuals that make up your audience. Instead of focusing on how you feel, and how nervous you get, think about how what you say can impact each individual person in that room.

Make your pauses a little longer. Make eye contact. Give your words to individual members of the group you're speaking to as if they are the most important words that person will ever hear. (It sounds kind of silly, but if you're really considering those people important, you'll focus on them instead of your fears and it will help you speak more slowly and clearly.)

Being passionate about what you're speaking of helps.
 

Kennetht04

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I've got a presentation coming up in college very soon, and my speech sucks. I'm nervous as nervous comes.
 

Domoviye

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This is something I tell my English students who speak too quickly. Read a hard book out loud, for 20 or 30 minutes each day.
Since the book is hard, they have to slow down to say the words correctly and figure out how to say it. By doing it each day, and trying some other tricks to slow down, I recommend the beat system for really bad students, it does work.
 

dantefrizzoli

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Try recording yourself and working rather on enunciating words rather than speaking slowly, that may help. Tongue twisters help a lot