AM Lesson 2 Rate of Speech
Friday, 10 October 2008 11:22
Lesson 2: Finding a Rate of Speech that is Unique to You
"Using a rate of speech that complements language abilities is key to intelligible speech."
The objective of this lesson is to learn to speak at a rate of 140-160 words per minute.
What is a Good Speaking Rate?
The rate of speech that we use in normal conversation affects our fluency rating. This is the first area of speech we will address since it affects so many other areas. If you are a speaker with excellent command of the English language, you are more likely to speak to quickly compared to the speaker who is still learning the language and speaks more slowly to find the right words, carefully considering pronunciation. If a speaker is too slow, speech sounds labored, broken up and is difficult to listen to. On the opposite end, when the rate of speech is too fast, the listener can’t comprehend the content or understand the speaker. A normal rate of speech benefits the speaker in enormous ways: pronunciation is easier, intonation and stress are appropriate and pauses can easily be inserted. In addition, the quality of voice and resonance improves.
There is some variance to the acceptable rate of speech depending on the geographical area in which you reside. In the East, people typically talk faster than people in the south or in Midwest. But an ideal rate of speech falls within 140 to 160 words per minute.
If you have good pronunciation, you may be able to speak at the faster end of the normal range. But, slower speech will benefit you in a variety of ways especially if you are mispronouncing vowels and consonants. It allows more time to lengthen your vowels and add stress and pitch changes. And again, the sound of your voice and the resonance dramatically improves, too.
Finally, the rate you choose to adopt may depend upon the setting in which you’ll be speaking, the difficulty of material and the audience you are speaking to. A good way to monitor the rate of speech you will use is to “mirror” the rate of the speakers around you. Your rate of speech may need to change on any given day. You may also want to consider the perceptions you have of the speaker who speaks too slowly or who talks too quickly.
First Step: Become Aware of Speaking Rates
The first step towards making changes in rate is to listen to others as they speak. Go to this site to study characteristics of famous speakers. Besides the content of their message, what appeals to you about the way they speak the message?
http://www.americanrhetoric.com/top100speechesall.html
Become an attentive listener and critique different rates of speech. Then listen to the following samples. The same speech sample is read at different rates. As you listen to these passages at the different rates, notice differences in terms of the amount of pausing, the length of pauses and the intonation. Is the paragraph read at 160 wpm as vocally interesting as the paragraph read at 140 wpm? Does one rate seem easier to understand?
The Rainbow Passage passage
140 wpm
150 wpm
160 wpm
180 wpm
Compare the differences between 140 WPM and 180 WPM. What do you notice about the way they both sound? Speaking slowly helps to add emphasis and stress in all the right places. If a speaker is too fast, the conversation may sound hurried and may put the listener on edge. However, speaking too slowly will reduce your effectiveness too. Your listener may get impatient and not be able to follow and his/her mind may begin to wander.
Practice a New Rate of Speech
In this section, you will be practicing speaking at different rates within a minute. By practicing the rate that is appropriate over and over again, you will learn to feel the rate and adjust to the right rate that is needed in conversation.
You will need a stopwatch or a clock with a second hand on it (or ask a partner to time you) to do this exercise. Read this paragraph quietly to become familiar with it. Then time yourself reading the paragraph to determine how fast you read. See where you end up in the passage after reading for one minute. Try to read this passage at the same rate that you speak in conversation. (Do not read the numbers in parenthesis. This number represents the number of words up until that point.)
When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Throughout the centuries people have explained the rainbow in various ways. Some have accepted it as a miracle without physical explanation. To the Hebrews it was a token that there would be no more universal floods. The Greeks used (140) to imagine that it was a sign from the gods to foretell (150) war or heavy rain. (154) The Norsemen considered the rainbow as (160) a bridge over which the gods passed from earth to their home in the sky. (175)
(The Rainbow Passage, a public domain text, can be found on page 127 of the 2nd edition of Grant Fairbanks' Voice and Articulation Drillbook. New York: Harper & Row.)
How did you do? Write down of number of words spoken per minute (wpm). __________/wpm
Now It's Your Turn
Did you discover that your rate of speech was too fast or too slow? Let’s begin by addressing a rate of speech that is too fast. What changes can you make to slow your rate down? Some very obvious solutions include pausing more often and for longer periods of time especially at grammatical markers (where there are commas and periods). Go through this passage and make slash marks at all the commas and periods. Use one slash for commas and two slashes for periods to indicate a little longer of a pause. Read the paragraph and take breaths at these markers.
The second way that you can slow down is to lengthen the vowels in stressed syllables. Really hold the vowel of the stressed syllable (all caps) in these words:
BEAU ti ful
Hor I zon
Re FLEC tion
Circle the syllable that is lengthened:
paragraph
underline
syllable
remember
exaggerate
movements
Listen here to the examples:
Go through the paragraph and find words that are at least two syllable long and lengthen them as you read. Underline or circle these syllables so that you remember to lengthen the vowel in these words.
Finally, exaggerate your mouth movements as you speak. Have you ever noticed how broadcasters on TV open their mouths when they speak? Open your mouth widely as you say this passage. If you watch yourself in the mirror, you should be able to see your teeth while you speak. It is difficult to talk fast when you exaggerate your mouth opening. Read the paragraph again, exaggerating your mouth movements as you read.
Now, it is your turn to practice different rates of speech. Read the following passage trying to read it at 140 words per minute, 150 words per minute and 160 words per minute. Practice again slowing down or speeding up as needed to speak at 140, 150 or 160 wpm. Make adjustments on at least one aspect of speech and concentrate on it until it feels natural to you. What speed feels most comfortable to you?
When Nadia first came to America, she was amazed by the many differences she encountered in American culture compared to her culture. The biggest observation that she made was the wide variety of fast food restaurants that were available. She had never seen so many places lined up in a row serving fried chicken, tacos, hamburgers, pizza or sandwiches. She discovered very soon that being able to order food quickly was a convenience that Americans loved because it allowed them to eat on the go while in their cars. The first time that Nadia ordered a hamburger at a fast food place, she was asked by the waitress, “Would you like your meal “for here or to go?” Nadia did not comprehend what “to go” meant. She asked, “What do you mean?” The waitress looked at her rather funny (139) and replied, “Would you like to take your food with you?” (150) Nadia replied with disbelief, “How else am I going to eat it?” (162)
If you finish reading this passage before one minute has elapsed, you are reading too fast. Remember to lengthen vowels, add pauses and exaggerate your mouth movements to slow down your speech.
Transferring This Skill Into Conversaton
You have now tackled the area of speech that many people have difficulty. You are acutely aware of the speed with which you need to speak. But how does one go about transferring this new skill into everyday conversation? Here are some ideas to get you started:
1. Practice using this speed as frequently as possible. This is done by reading at the rate you need to go as often as possible. You will be creating a habit and getting used to hearing yourself speak at a slower rate if you practice daily. Read out loud 5-10 minutes a day at the speed you need to go.
2. Consciously control your rate one time a day. Make a conscious effort to be aware of your rate of speech in a certain situation (e.g. on the phone) or with a certain person. (See your homework for more information.)
As you learn to speak at a slower rate of speech, you will be able to control a lot of the other areas of fluency like intonation and inflection, pausing, linking, which we will be talking about in later chapters. This is the first step towards mastering the higher level skills of the English language. If you have learned to speak at a faster rate of speech, then you are learning another type of control that improves your ability to captivate your listener.
If you are speaking too slowly, increasing your rate of speech is probably easier to do than slowing down. Non-native English speakers often speak too slowly when they don’t have a good grasp of the English language yet. If this describes you, you may need to work on English grammar before attacking the higher level skills like speech rate and other skills we will be discussing.
If it feels like you are always being interrupted by your colleagues especially when you are speaking slowly, it may be that the person listening isn’t used to a slower rate. But it may be something else. Make the following checks on your communication to determine why it is happening.
1. Have you taken too long to make a point? Learning to get to the point quickly is a skill you must master to hold your listeners’ attention.
2. Are others being more assertive and talking over you even when it should be your turn? Are others anticipating your sentence endings? Practice pausing for a breath in the middle of your sentence instead of at the end. It will take practice to keep it from sounding artificial but the listener is less likely to interrupt if you pause in the middle.
3. Also, remember that engaging speech not only is delivered at a slow rate but also very expressive. We will be covering that more in depth in the next couple of lessons and through our tele-coaching sessions.
See you next week!
Lynda
Lesson 2--Homework
Pick a method to concentrate on to decrease your rate of speech (lengthening vowels, adding more pauses, etc.) Practice the new rate of speech you have learned as often as possible. Make a conscious effort every day by incorporating your rate into at least one speaking activity a day.
Find a small portion of your day to practice a newly-learned skill. The goal is to practice the new skill daily so that you will no longer need to think about it and it will occur naturally and unconsciously in speech. Here are some ideas to get you started but you ultimately need to find a time/place that works for you:
a. While on the telephone. Every time that you receive a phone call, your post-it note that is stuck to your phone reminds you to use the behavior you want to change.
b. While on the telephone during a time period in your day (e.g. 10-11a.m. every day). Practicing on the telephone is a good time to practice because your listener can’t see you while you prepare and read words or sentences that are in front of you. You can also tape-record your end of the conversation and then go back and listen to it to see how you did.
c. Every time that you talk to a certain person (maybe your boss, secretary or a certain friend).
d. Every night at the dinner table with your family, etc.
Find triggers that will remind you to make attempts at the newly-learned skill like sticking colorful post-it notes at your phone or placing auditory or visual reminders in your Outlook.
Goals for this week
1. I will use a new speaking rate at least once a day in this speaking task: _________________________________________________________
2. My targeted rate of speech is: _________________________________
3. I will begin to pay attention to others as they speak. What do I like and dislike about their speech?
4. Remember to use your relaxation exercises from Lesson 1 before you practice!
5. Sign-up for a teleseminar clearly-speaking.com
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The Accent Modificaton e-course is copyrighted material and protected under the law. You may print this lesson or save it electronically for your own personal use. It is illegal to share, email or post these lessons by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written consent. Copyright 2008 Lynda Stucky All Rights Reserved.