Communication should be simple. If A cannot understand B or is uncomfortable about the dialogue between them, it is not communication. The way you speak determines how people will respond. The quality of your voice, the softness of your spoken sounds and other quirks in the voice affect the response and impact.
As human skills specialists, we must strive in ensuring that the people we interact with, on and off our jobs, must accept and respect us as people of substance. We would not like it if while speaking, our audience shows no interest and disperses.
Communication is not only the words we use. Words are structures that have been created for a specific need. There is a lot more to communication than words. Breathing, for example, is very important in creating an impact. Even your posture determines your own emotions and other’s response.
In the words of Jallaludin Rumi, a Persian poet, “If you want to change the way you think, change your posture.”
Words
The spoken word is made of vowel sounds and consonant sounds. Vowels carry emotion and confidence in your voice. Lack of vowel sounds carry lack of self-confidence. At a pragmatic level, the vowel sounds show up in a speaker’s speech only when the lower jaw is used. A good voice is a voice of openness and openness is created through emotion.
Most people in India, for some strange reason, do not use this part of their body. When you look at people, notice their jaw. In some you may find that it is only the lips that move. There is no movement in the jaw. You will also find listeners asking the speaker to repeat what he was saying. This is probably the biggest insult that the speaker may receive. As a communicator, it is imperative to make sure that what you say is heard and understood at the first go. To ensure that, the lower jaw must be actively used. The primary vowel sounds are:
Ah Aw Oh Oo - Lip vowels
Ay Ee I - Tongue vowels
Consonant sounds carry logic and precision in your voice. These sounds are responsible in getting the softness in a person’s voice. Diaglosia – the ability to shift from one style of speaking to another- is an inherent part of our culture. We, in India, have many languages that either we speak or are aware of their existence. Because of the linguistically dynamic space we exist in, it is very obvious that sounds from one language will enter another language. If you listen to English in the south, there will be prominent differences in its sound pattern as compared to what is spoken, lets say, in Arunachal Pradesh. I think this shift is very interesting. Let’s take the example of Maharashtra. In Maharashtra, the sounds of Marathi and Hindi would enter the speech pattern of a person speaking in English. Let’s take a sentence to understand this transformation better.
“Today, tomorrow and the day after, and then twenty tanks arrived”.
This sentence for most Maharashtrians would be spoken with the “t” and “d” consonant sounds as it is spoken in Marathi or Hindi (using the “t” as in “tamatar” and “d” as in “damru”). There is nothing wrong in speaking with the vernacular sounds while speaking in another language.
But there is a catch! The sounds of “t” and “d” in the vernacular tongue are hard as compared to what its equivalent in English is. When we are dealing in a global environment, style of language has a very strong impact. Language is physical in nature. There is interplay of vowels and consonants in the mouth using the different organs of speech. If sounds are hard, the listening becomes tougher. The ear drum is a very delicate membrane which is averse to hard sounds for a prolonged period. When listening becomes tough, comprehension is impaired. When that happens, the interest levels are over-shadowed by strong extreme emotion like irritation, disinterest or even anger. This doesn’t serve our purpose as global communicators or human skills specialists.
I used the example of the “t” and “d” consonants because these two sounds are more frequently used in language beside the others. Softening the “t” and “d” consonants will, instantly, have a positive affect where comprehension is concerned. Let’s not forget the style. Who doesn’t want to sound nice, impressive and stylish? Try it!
Pronunciation is also of crucial importance. Bad pronunciation can be a complete put off! If Development is pronounced as DEV-lop-ment with stress on the first syllable, it can put off most people everywhere. If technology is pronounced as tech-no-LOGY with stress on the last syllable, the word loses its depth and importance. This also defies the need of having a language –a structure that has been created to enable smooth communication intra or inter culture. The point that I am trying to make is that we must be aware of these faux pas in our pronunciation and strive to correct them.
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