Posts Tagged ‘Audience Members’

Minimizing the Effects of an Accent in Public Speaking

As public speakers it is important for us to remember that our purpose is to communicate information to our audience. It is our responsibility to make sure that the audience understands what we are saying. This means that our choice of language and the concepts that we choose to share must be appropriate – that is, within our audiences level of comfort and understanding.

In addition to the concepts and vocabulary that we choose, we must also make sure that the audience can actually understand what we are saying.

If as speakers we talk so quietly that our audience can not hear us, then we have done no better than using concepts that are beyond our audience’s understanding. From their point of view it does not matter why they can’t understand us. It simply matters that they can’t – and it is up to us to rectify the situation.

That brings us to the sensitive subject of accents. As audience members, it would be wrong for us to judge the content of someone’s presentation based on their accent. The ideas and thoughts that they are communicating are completely separate from the way that they form words. Yet, if the audience is unable to understand the speaker then they are also unable to determine any value of the content (or receive any value).

As speakers, we need to do our best to minimize any accents so as to allow our audience to comprehend what we are communicating. That doesn’t mean completely eradicating an accent. It does however mean identifying and removing any extreme elements – for our audiences benefit.

But how do we go about accomplishing this?

If you are struggling with an accent here are a few ideas that may help:

Construct a list of words that you know you have difficulty pronouncing. Ask others who don’t have an accent if they can identify some for you. Start focusing on pronouncing the words in this list first

Focus on words that you use most often. There’s not much point in learning to pronounce a word perfectly if you never use it..

Record yourself speaking and listen for mistakes. It is easy enough to do this with a tape recorder, but now with computers we have an additional benefit to recording. We can not only hear what we sound like, but with tools like Goldwave and Audacity we can also see what we sound like as the software charts our voice. This can give one more clue as to the differences between how you and those around you pronounce words.

Listen to the rhythm of the language. Different languages sound different not only because of the words but also because of how they flow. If native speakers of the language that you are learning sound almost a lackadaisical to you, then you might sound harsh to them. Try mimicking the flow or rhythm to reduce your accent.

Slow down. Often we allow our nervousness to control the speed of our speech. As we speed up our natural speech tendencies take over and our accents become more pronounced.

Read aloud each day. Ten to twenty minutes of practice each day will make a significant difference over time.

Routinely check the pronunciation guide for words in the dictionary. Each dictionary has an explanation of how words are to be pronounced along with instructions on how to use the guide.

Be patient with yourself. Like anything worth while reducing your accent will take some time and effort. But don’t allow yourself to be discouraged. Being consistent in your approach will produce significant results in less time than you think.

Changing your accent so that your speaking is more comprehensible to those around you may seem overwhelming – However, with a few techniques and a consistent approach a significant difference can be made with less effort than you may expect.

A few years ago I was asked to give a motivational speech at a local community center. It was their annual general meeting and the director asked me if I would speak about the importance of community involvement. I eagerly accepted the engagement.

I composed and practiced the speech using the skills that I have shared with you. When it came to the presentation however, I ran right into a brick wall. During the actual presentation I discovered that no one in the audience was interested in my speech…

Well that’s not entirely true – there were some people who were interested, but a large portion weren’t. The director had combined the annual general meeting and the children’s Christmas party. A large number of the people there were “just tolerating” the meeting while they waited so that their children could visit with Santa.

Now you might expect such an audience to be at least polite and wait quietly even if they weren’t interested. Such was not the case. Many of the audience members took it as an opportunity to catch up with their neighbors. They made no effort to hide the fact that they were indifferent towards the meeting and especially me – they were totally wrapped up in their own conversations.

I will tell you right now, it’s extremely disconcerting to have this happen.

At first I tried to engage these people. I projected as much energy and enthusiasm as I could towards them. It didn’t take long to determine that wasn’t going to work.

I then realized that I was focusing on the wrong people. There was a group of people right in front who were hanging on every word (at least that’s what I told myself). They nodded in agreement with my points, they laughed at my humor – in short, they were an attentive audience. Here I was short changing them by directing all my attention to those who had no interest.

Once I had realized this the answer was obvious. Focus my attention on the people who were interested in what I had to say – don’t worry about those who weren’t. I decided that not only should I re-focus my attention, but that I should direct just as much energy and enthusiasm towards them as I had directed towards those who were not paying attention. After all, shouldn’t I put at least as much energy into my speech for those who were being courteous as I chose to for those who were being rude.

The result was fairly predictable. After the meeting those who ignored me continued to do so – after all they were there for Santa (and I could hardly compete with him, could I?).

Many of those who were paying attention came up to me after and gave my positive feedback. I certainly appreciated it – however the best feedback arrived recently. I was talking with a lady I had met and she mentioned being involved with this particular community center. I mentioned that I had spoken there three years earlier. She immediately said, “Oh, I remember you” and went on to describe the points that I had made.

Wow – after three years she remembered my speech. I guess in the end I made the right choice of whom to direct my enthusiasm towards.

As a speaker you can certainly be affected by your audience. Your audience’s response can boost you up just as much as it can bring you down. One strategy is to seek out those in your audience who will give your emotions a boost, and speak to them. As you engage them you will find others are being pulled in as well. Gradually you will reach more and more of your audience. In the end, if you are going to expend some energy on your audience, make sure you invest it in those who will give you the positive feedback you need in order to make it an interactive and dynamic presentation.