Since speech is a tool, a science, a weapon, an art and a comprehensive social practice, it is certainly not easy to learn it well. But it is by no means as unattainable and unattainable as some people think. Exploring the success of famous speakers at home and abroad, it is not difficult to find that those outstanding speakers who are famous in the world are not born geniuses, but have achieved success through long-term unremitting hard training. As Dale Carnegie, a famous American orator, said, "Speech is by no means a special talent given by God to a few people." There is no natural speaker in the world, and if there is, you are constantly struggling. So, how can we improve our speech level and oral expression ability? Based on more than 20 years' practical experience in learning, mastering and using speeches, I think that a person must achieve "more than eight" in order to improve his speaking level and eloquence: reading, listening, asking, writing, taking notes, thinking, learning and practicing.
Section 1: See more, listen more and ask more questions.
Speech is a practical activity in which a person speaks, everyone "listens" and everyone "watches" with the help of artistic means of vocal language and body language. If a person wants to speak eloquently and eloquently to the audience, he must first "see more", "listen more" and "ask more".
First, look more.
The significance of seeing more is mainly manifested in the following three aspects:
First, read more books and articles on speech and eloquence. The speech is very scientific and artistic. Therefore, the speaker must carefully and systematically read some books related to speech, such as: oratory, speech aesthetics, rhetoric, logic, psychology, linguistics, communication, ethics, education and so on. Fully grasp the knowledge and rules of speech, lay a solid theoretical foundation, and then turn theory into practice, and guide practice with theory. Only in this way can we quickly improve the level of speech and eloquence in practical application.
At present, there are more and more books about speech theory, speech practice and speech skills at home and abroad. Magazines and newspapers with speeches and eloquence have also appeared and are very popular. For example, Speech and Eloquence, edited by Shao Shouyi, has become more and more popular since the publication of 1983, and the publication volume has already exceeded one million. It is praised by readers as "a good teacher of argumentation, a guide of communication, a good friend of public relations and a cradle of talents." It has won the national outstanding periodical award and is one of the national 100 key periodicals.
Second, watch more other people's speeches, watch more videos of celebrities' speeches, watch more TV talk shows and debates. In this way, we can enhance our perceptual knowledge of speech, improve our understanding of the use of situational language skills in speech, and realize the importance and essence of speech.
Watching speeches, especially those with elegant manners, graceful movements, decent manners and rich expressions, is a kind of aesthetic enjoyment and an artistic edification. In ancient Greece, people were proud to watch famous speeches. In foreign countries, people should wear formal etiquette clothes when attending speech activities, dress neatly, and look at the speaker with incomparable piety and worship. They regard watching celebrity speeches as one of the symbols of high cultural level and high social status.
Third, the significance of "reading more books" is also manifested in asking the speaker to carefully observe the subtle relations and changes between society, life and people, as well as things related to the content of the speech. Be good at seeing the surface, essence, aspect, depth, details, past, present and future with your own eyes. We can't be absent-minded, deaf and blind to all aspects of the objective world. Instead, we should take our eyes as a camera, take pictures of various phenomena and materials in our lives, analyze them in our brains, sort them out and store them in our minds or record them in notebooks.
Speech activity is an advanced communication activity and a complex intellectual activity. Speakers often shoulder serious political or educational missions and often face unfamiliar and ever-changing audiences. Only a speech that meets the needs of society, the psychological characteristics of the audience and the communication needs can be successful. Therefore, when speaking on the stage, the speaker should pay more attention to the audience, communicate with the audience with his eyes, observe the audience's expressions and reflections, so as to adjust the speech ideas and contents in time.
Second, listen more.
A prerequisite for a speaker to tell others and make his speech beautiful is to listen more first.
First, listen to other people's speeches and speeches to improve the expressive ability of audio language. Lincoln, a bourgeois revolutionary, was the16th president of the United States, and was a world-famous great orator. His success lies in that he has been practicing his eloquence since his youth, watching and listening more. When he was young, he worked as a farmer, lumberjack, shop assistant, postman, land surveyor and so on. In order to become a lawyer, he often walks 30 miles to a court to listen to lawyers' arguments and see how they argue and gesture. He imitated politicians and speakers while listening to their impassioned speeches. He listened to the evangelists who traveled everywhere, waved their arms and shook their voices in the sky. When he came back, he followed their example and practiced his speech repeatedly in the Woods and cornfields. The success of the speech made Lincoln finally become an eloquent lawyer and finally entered politics.
Second, listen to radio and television announcers and festival hosts to broadcast and speak, improve their standard level of Putonghua and the level of timbre, sound quality and volume, so as to achieve the purpose of fluent and pleasant speech language.
The third is to listen to your own speech practice or recording (like). As the Roman philosopher seneca said, "Before you say something to others, you should say it to yourself." Beginners of public speaking should practice several times before going to the stage. They can talk to relatives and friends, find a lonely place, or talk to a mirror or a tape recorder. Listen carefully every time you speak, find out the language problems carefully, or ask the insiders to find faults, point out weaknesses and deficiencies, and seriously correct them. If you can persist in the trial lecture and listen to it several times before each speech, your oral expression ability will continue to improve in the long run.
The fourth is to learn the art of "listening". To learn to speak, you must first learn to "listen". "Listening to you is better than studying for ten years." People who can "listen" can not only grasp and understand the meaning of what others say, but also carefully appreciate and guess the skills of others. They can also hear the overtones and overtones from other people's words, and at the same time observe their faces and colors.
A young man went to visit Socrates and asked him about the skills of speaking. Socrates didn't say a few words at first The young man didn't listen carefully, but interrupted the teacher and spoke a lot to show his talent. Socrates said, "I can teach you to speak, but I have to pay double the tuition." The young man asked, "Why double it?" Socrates said, "I will teach you two courses. Besides speaking, I will also take a course: how to shut up and listen to others."
Third, ask more questions.
Speech is a science with many objective laws and successful experiences. However, many people have such a misconception that speech is innate, and a person can babble at the age of two or three, as if it didn't take much effort to learn it naturally. So many people don't care much about the art and skills of speaking, let alone asking for advice, studying and studying hard. Although some people think that speaking and speaking can be learned, they are limited to reading books or listening to recordings, and they are too embarrassed to ask others for advice, which will get twice the result with half the effort.
Plato said: "Not knowing your own ignorance is a double ignorance". The English poet Shelley said, "The more we learn, the more we find ourselves ignorant." . Confucius, an ancient educator in China, also said: "Knowing is knowing, not knowing is not knowing, and knowing is also." If a person wants to improve his speech level and eloquence, he must put down his airs and lose face, consult experienced speakers and experts who have only studied in his peers with an open mind, ask if he doesn't understand, and be ashamed to ask questions. This can make a qualitative change in his speech and eloquence, and get twice the result with half the effort.
Due to the popularity of radio and television and the application of video recording equipment, almost all large-scale and important meetings and activities will be recorded by reporters, and will be played to a wide audience many times after production. Modern people's words are not fleeting, but permanent preservation of complete audio and video. Therefore, everyone, especially leading cadres, must pay attention to their speeches, reports and speeches and be highly responsible. In foreign countries, especially in developed countries, whether heads of state or ordinary people, before making important speeches and speeches, they should ask experts for their eloquence and accept their guidance and guidance. All speaking eloquence consulting service companies in western countries are as busy as a bee. Fortunately, many leading cadres in our country have begun to receive lectures and eloquence counseling and consultation.
Section 2: Write more, think more and learn more.
First, write more.
For those who are not very good at speaking and improvising, writing more is an effective way to improve their eloquence. There are two main requirements for writing more:
First, write more speeches and speeches. No matter what scale or level of meetings or activities, as long as you think you have the possibility to speak, you should seize the opportunity, make preparations in advance, carefully write a written draft, constantly revise and improve it, and then memorize it for a rainy day. When you give a speech on stage, try not to bring your notes. If we can persist for a long time, step by step, that is, write a written draft first, recite it, and then walk off the stage; Write only a few outlines slowly; Then just make a draft; Don't be prepared at the end of the development, you can improvise, act according to circumstances, be eloquent and eloquent; The level of his eloquence will change from quantitative to qualitative, reaching a higher level.
The second is to write more about the experience of learning speech and eloquence, and write down your own understanding and feelings about speech eloquence in words, rising to the height of theory. At the same time, write down the flash language you see, hear and think of in your work and life in your notebook for future reference. This is what we often say: a good memory is not as good as a bad writing.
Second, think more.
Confucius said, "Learning without thinking is useless, and thinking without learning is dangerous." Han Yu also believes: "Industry is good at diligence, barren in fun, and ruined by thinking." Whether it is a speech on the stage or a speech in daily life, it is a process of linguistic thinking and logical thinking. It is the process of transforming thoughts in the brain, that is, silent language, into spoken language. People must rely on the help of language in the process of thinking and exchanging ideas, and the content of thinking and the exchanged ideas can only be reflected by the expression of audio language. Otherwise, no one knows what you are thinking, and no one knows what you are thinking.
Words come from the heart. Under normal circumstances, what a person thinks will be said in his mouth. What you said is what you just thought of; What I thought just now is what I want to say below. Want to talk, want to express, communicate with each other, go back and forth. Spoken language is different from written language. If you want to say it, you can say it if you want, which determines that the speaker should be resourceful and flexible, thoughtful, and think twice before you act. "A gentleman is quick-witted." This is one of Dorsey's requirements.
The second requirement of thinking more is to think calmly at all times and repeatedly analyze why some people's speeches are very popular, philosophical, deep and broad, which makes people very moved and benefit a lot; Why do some people talk dull, rambling, uninspiring and even aggressive? People who think more can realize the truth and gain lessons from it.
The third requirement of thinking more is to think carefully in your mind before speaking. This is what we often call "back". In different situations, we should consider different speech contents, "Sing the song of which mountain you are going to." When talking to different people, different times and different places, you should seriously think about what you should say, what you can say and what you can't say, and think more and more, and strive to "swear never to die." "Think twice before you say it once, and twice." This is the experience of celebrity speech.
The fourth requirement of many ideas is "save yourself three times a day." Every day, we should reflect on what we have said, and summarize and draw inferences from those more appropriate and successful speeches; For some wrong, inappropriate words, even offensive and counterproductive words, we should analyze the reasons, think behind closed doors, correct them, and try to avoid talking too much in future speeches, which will lead to disaster.
Third, study more.
"Ask where the canal is so clear, because there is a source of living water." All famous speakers at all times and all over the world are based on profound knowledge and rich experience. Therefore, anyone who wants to be an orator with outstanding eloquence must work hard on "learning more".
1, learn more knowledge.
British philosopher and politician Bacon said, "Knowledge is power." Gorky, a great writer of the former Soviet Union, once said: "People armed with knowledge are invincible. The more a person knows, the more powerful he is. " Leonardo da vinci, a famous Italian artist and philosopher in the European Renaissance, said: "Love for something is produced by knowledge. The more accurate the knowledge, the stronger the love. To be accurate, you must have a thorough and accurate understanding of everything you like and every part of it. " Therefore, learning more knowledge is the premise of improving the level of eloquence and speech. Because knowledge is the basis of eloquence, without knowledge, there is definitely no eloquence.
The thicker the product, the better. An excellent speaker, an eloquent person, must be knowledgeable, rich in associations and eloquent, so that he can walk the Wan Li Road for thousands of years and be widely quoted at home and abroad. A witty speaker must also have the ability to improvise and answer questions, so that he can talk and laugh, make witty remarks, ask and answer questions skillfully and properly. To do this, it is impossible without profound knowledge accumulation.
"If you don't accumulate steps, you will get thousands of miles; If you don't accumulate small streams, you can't become rivers and seas. " If you want to give someone a glass of water, you should have a bucket of water, but not half a bucket. Those who have little knowledge, little ink in their chests, little knowledge and no skills are not eloquent at all; When you speak, you either talk nonsense or make a fool of yourself. Therefore, learners should learn more, learn widely and be knowledgeable. Astronomy, geography, ancient and modern China and foreign countries, religions, politics, economy, military, sports, science and technology, industry, agriculture, literature and art, medical care and so on, all over the world.
2. Learn more speech skills.
A person who dares to speak and speak is not equal to eloquence, just as a person who can ride a bicycle is not an art, and it can only be called art if an acrobat is skilled in cycling performance. Speech is a comprehensive art, and it is not easy to really master this art, which includes many skills, such as clear pronunciation, body movements, facial expressions and instrument etiquette, methods of controlling the scene and improvising, improvisation skills, the art of debate, wonderful dialogue methods and so on. All these require us to systematically learn and apply the skills of speaking from theory to practice.
Demosthenes, a famous orator in ancient Greece, was able to climb to the peak of the art of ancient Greek speech and become the first of the "top ten orators" at that time because he was keen on the art of speech, actively consulted orators and experts, and consciously studied and trained the basic skills and skills of speech.
3. Learn to be a man.
Speech is an ideological and political practice; Speech is the cry of truth, the voice of the soul and the display of personality. Therefore, the speaker must have high political quality, good moral quality, noble thoughts and sentiments and infinite personality charm. Only in this way can the speaker persuade, infect, impress and inspire people, thus prompting people to take action.
As early as 2500 years ago, Confucius, an ancient thinker and educator in China, said: "He is honest and does not give orders; His body is not right, although he does not obey. " "words must be done, and actions must be fruitful." "Gentlemen don't talk, villains don't talk." What is said here is to match words with deeds.
Xun Kuang, an ancient educator in China, said: "Words can be said, deeds can be done, and national treasures are also; The mouth can't speak, the body does it, and the national instrument is also; The mouth can talk, the body can't, and the country can use it; Words are good, deeds are evil, and national demons are also. The ruler of a country should make full use of his wealth, make use of his tools and get rid of his demons. Professor Jing, a famous contemporary educator and orator in China, thinks: "As an orator, you must be consistent in words and deeds, confident, unified in appearance and integrity, and keep your word. "
"The words are in the mouth, not in the body." Language is the mirror of the soul and the shadow of action. A person's actions and behaviors are the best language. As we all know, it is much more difficult to turn words into actions than actions into words. Therefore, if a person wants to be a qualified speaker and a popular speaker, he must learn to be a man, establish a good image and show his personality charm.
Remember more in the third quarter
"Remember more" here refers to storing knowledge and keeping it in your mind. Memory is the premise for the speaker to store materials, give full play to association and speak freely. Good speakers often have amazing memories. The famous writer Wang Meng once said, "A writer without memory is an idiot." This statement is even worse for the speaker.
First, the ability and classification of memory
Memory is the reflection of perception and experience in the mind. Memory includes the process of remembering, keeping and recalling (re-understanding, re-watching and re-doing). There are about 654.38+0.5 billion nerve cells in the human brain, which can record about 86 million pieces of life information every day. It is estimated that a person's life can be stored by memory 1000 trillion information units. Its function is equivalent to a 14 power 10 electronic computer, which is equivalent to 50 times the total collection of the Library of Congress in the United States, that is, the information content of 500 million books. This kind of information storage ability is beyond the reach of the largest computer in the world at present.
Memory can be roughly divided into three categories: mechanical memory, meaning memory and emotional memory. These three different memories have different uses in speeches.
Memory is a brain function that can be increased or decreased. It is the same as the function of various organs of the human body, which advances with the times, retreats with less, and needs no waste. Memory can be improved by reasonable use and training, or it can gradually decline by giving up use and exercise. Speech needs memory. Without memory or scripted speech, the effect of speech will be affected. Because the speaker must memorize the content of the speech, it is possible to express it in public anytime and anywhere. Therefore, learning to speak can train a person's memory, and enhancing memory can continuously improve the level of speaking, which is the process and result of a virtuous circle.
Second, the requirement for more records.
Human intelligence structure usually includes observation, memory, imagination, thinking and creativity. These five abilities are all indispensable to the art of speech, but the memory in them is very important for particularly excellent speakers. If an orator wants to be eloquent, eloquent and eloquent, he must have a knowledge reserve and a superb memory. Professor Jing is a famous contemporary speaker in China. He never writes a good speech first, but he is never careless in any speech. He always makes a "draft" after careful consideration and stores all the contents in his mind. Therefore, every time he stepped onto the platform, he never said a word to his speech, even a piece of paper, and never sat down to talk. He always stood in front of the microphone and talked with Kan Kan cheerfully, posing for two or three hours at a time. At all times, his brain is like an encyclopedia, which is amazing. It is inconceivable that such a skillful expression can leave a memory, especially an understanding memory based on profound knowledge and agile thinking.
So how can we improve our memory and level of speaking? The successful experience of famous speakers at home and abroad tells us that an excellent speaker should achieve 500 in the memory of knowledge.
1, remember a hundred famous sayings and philosophical maxims.
Most famous philosophical sayings are the essence of an ideological system and overall structure; After the test of time and practice, it is recognized by the broad masses of the people and has a certain ideological, authentic and instructive language; This is a refined summary of human wisdom.
Poetry has poetic eyes, books have book souls, and words have artistic conception. A poem with a couplet can be called a good poem; A book with famous sayings is worth reading; Similarly, if there is a philosophical quote in the speech, it will benefit the audience and be unforgettable. Because no matter how unconventional or extraordinary the views expounded by the speaker are, they have actually been discussed by celebrities in history more or less. Famous sayings always shine with wisdom, and the influence of celebrities is eternal. Therefore, the speaker should grasp the deep psychology of the audience, appropriately quote philosophical quotes or statements from authoritative sources, let them serve the demonstration of his theoretical views, and strengthen the persuasiveness of his speech.
2. Remember one hundred poems and songs.
China is a country of poetry. Poetry and Ci Fu are respectively a form of literary creation. From the day they began to appear, they had the characteristics of word of mouth. In ancient China, unhappy people were called poems and happy people were called songs. Now they are generally called "poems". It is the product of a boiling emotional wave inspired by real life. In terms of content, it is highly concentrated and comprehensive, with strong feelings and rich imagination. Formally, language must be concise, accurate and expressive, and at the same time, it must have a clear and harmonious rhythm and rhythm, which is convenient for people to recite orally.
Both the language of speech and the language of poetry have the characteristics of sound. A good speech should have poetic language, and an excellent speaker should have poetic passion. Practice has proved that those speeches full of poetic passion and poetic meaning, once spoken by the speaker, seem to have wings, which can fly into the hearts of millions of listeners and become shocking drums and inspiring horns.
Therefore, a successful speaker should read more poems and songs and memorize more poems in his mind. As the saying goes, you can recite 300 Tang poems by heart even if you can't recite them. In speech and daily life, properly quoting some poems and songs can not only produce beautiful artistic conception, but also improve the literary taste and artistic charm of the speaker.
3. Remember 100 touching stories, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign.
The purpose of a speech is to explain and encourage, that is to say, a speech should not only convince people with reason, but also impress them with emotion. The basis of the best speech effect is that the audience is first moved by the content of the speech, and then the audience unconsciously accepts the speaker's thoughts and opinions in the "narrative discussion". If the speaker only talks about some empty and unconvincing "truth", it is impossible to enhance the credibility and appeal of the speech.
Facts speak plainer than words. It is one of the most direct and effective ways to prove one's theoretical point of view by quoting conclusive facts and touching plots in a speech. The more specific, comprehensive, vivid and touching the examples cited by the speaker, the more powerful the proof of the speech point of view, and the more profound and convincing the audience. In the history of ancient and modern China and foreign countries, there are many, varied and touching storylines in the reality around us. If you want to be an eloquent person, you must accumulate materials in this field and consciously remember more stories. In this way, in the speech and daily work, the speaker can freely tell stories related to the content in vivid and popular language, so that the audience can maintain a relaxed attitude and strong interest, thus accepting the speaker's views more easily.
4. Remember a hundred humorous jokes.
Humor is a weapon exercised by human beings in their struggle with themselves, and it is also an art that evokes joy and makes people happy in a pleasant way. Humor is the crystallization of people's thoughts, knowledge, wisdom and inspiration in language use. Joke is an indispensable artistic means in interpersonal communication in today's society. It is usually a short story. But jokes don't necessarily mean humor. In other words, humorous people may tell jokes, but those who can tell jokes are not necessarily humorous people.
Generally speaking, the audience is eager to hear a relaxed and interesting speech. That kind of speech with too serious tone and too monotonous content is hard to get the praise of the audience. Speakers should be good at interspersed with anecdotes, anecdotes, humor, jokes, etc. In the process of speaking, make the viewpoints of the speech vivid and vivid, so that the audience can understand and remember these viewpoints; It can also enhance the communication between the speaker and the audience, mobilize the atmosphere of the speech, strengthen the on-site effect, eliminate the pressure of the audience, invigorate the spirit of the audience, and make the audience focus on the speech itself; At the same time, it can bring joy to the audience, make the venue full of laughter and make the audience like and trust the speaker more. Most eloquent and excellent speakers pay great attention to the use of humorous language in their speeches. Therefore, beginners must use humorous language flexibly on the basis of reciting jokes and humorous language, so as to gradually improve their sense of humor.
5. Remember one hundred sentences spoken on different occasions.
In real work and life, each of us will often meet some occasions where we need to say a few words, sometimes just a few words, which can give us great help and solve many problems. However, if you don't express your meaning, you are vague and upset, then you will be passive and even bring disaster from your mouth.
An eloquent person can express his intention accurately, vividly, concisely and fluently on any occasion, so that others can accept it happily, and can quickly talk about what he wants to do, establish a good friendship, and even feel like hitting it off. On the contrary, we often see many people who can't speak. They can't fully express their intentions in words, which often makes others sound hard, which leads to difficulties in work and communication and seriously affects the development of work and career. In addition to poor oral communication skills, the main reason is that people don't have enough speaking skills and rhetoric in different occasions, different times, different objects and different situations.
In a word, people's memory is infinite. Only by carefully remembering, diligently remembering and repeatedly remembering, many a mickle makes a mickle, and changing from quantity to quality, then, with the more knowledge reserves, the eloquence will become more and more excellent.
Practice more in the fourth quarter
Mao Zedong, a great man, warned us a long time ago: "You can't learn a language easily, you have to work hard." The skills of speech and eloquence are not innate or self-taught. Like other talents, eloquence comes from hard study and hard practice. "The blade comes from sharpening, and the plum blossom is bitter and cold." All eloquent speakers, eloquent speakers and eloquent communicators at all times and all over the world are not born, but are made by self-confidence, courage, hard work and exercise on the basis of hard work and hard practice the day after tomorrow.
First, speaking in public is terrible.
A few years ago, a consulting company in the United States conducted a special psychological test for thousands of citizens. Its project was "What are you most afraid of?" The statistical results of the test were unexpected. People are not afraid of anything, death, car accidents, cancer, and "speaking in public".
Speech is a high-level speech that everyone listens to, so it takes a lot of courage and courage to speak in public. In daily life, we can often find that many people may be talking and laughing in general conversation, but once told to stand on the stage and speak in front of a dark head and sharp eyes, they will be incoherent, frightened and full of embarrassment and disappointment. This phenomenon happens not only to ordinary people, but also to great men, celebrities and famous speakers. They have had similar situations before they have gone through hard training and mastered speech skills.
Cicero, an ancient Roman orator, once felt that he was "pale, his limbs trembled, and his whole heart trembled." Jennings Bryan, an American speaker, said that when he first stood on the platform facing the audience, his "knees trembled together". When Mark Twain first stood up to give a speech, he "felt his mouth full of cotton, and his pulse was beating as fast as the gold cup 100-meter race." The politician Louis George said, "When I first tried to make a public speech, I was really in an awkward position. It's not a deliberate description, it's completely true. My tongue is against my palate and I can't say a word. " What's more, in British history, a prime minister named Yusraeli once said that he would rather lead a cavalry team to the front than make a speech in the House of Commons.
Churchill, the British Prime Minister during World War II, was an outstanding speaker and was listed as one of the world's 10 famous speakers. However, when Churchill made a speech in Parliament for the first time, he made a big fall-halfway through, he suddenly forgot the following words, and he couldn't remember them clearly. He blushed and had to interrupt his speech and return to his seat awkwardly. However, he was not discouraged. He devoted himself to the study of speech skills and often exercised his oral expression ability. Churchill eventually became a famous orator and an outstanding politician in the 20th century. The above examples show that if a person has not studied and trained the skills of speech and eloquence, then speaking in public is definitely terrible.
Li Yanjie, a famous speaker in China, disliked speaking since he was a child, let alone speaking in public. When he first joined the work, he even dared not speak at the group meeting. People say he is shy, like a big girl. Later, I joined the Southern Working Group, did mass work, and gradually exercised myself to dare to speak. He said, "Even a clumsy person who is afraid to speak to the crowd can become a good speaker as long as he is willing to practice and study hard and connect his speech with his career."