Improve fluency

Verbal tics are repetitive sounds or words that often do not fit the context. These can include grunting, yelling, and excessive repetition of certain words or phrases. Although many are temporary and disappear over time, some do persist and may be indicative of a more serious disorder or illness.

In this session, we will explore how the phrases or crutches we use can affect our ability to communicate fluently and discuss strategies for improvement in this area.

Avoid verbal repetition: Are there any obstacles that prevent you from being fluent and clear in your presentations? Accepting help from someone else and performing a self-assessment can be beneficial:

• Identify any behaviors or habits that may interfere with your ability to communicate fluently.

• Don't feel defensive or allow negative thoughts to affect you.

• We all develop manias and coping strategies to deal with difficult situations.

• The key is to recognize our behavioral patterns and work on them to improve our communication skills.

• Constant use of wildcards or forced repetition of words can indicate a lack of vocabulary. So the first mission we will take on is to expand our vocabulary so we can communicate more fluently and accurately.

• The next step is to understand the importance of taking time to pause and reflect.

Record yourself: To get more details about the way you speak, try recording yourself in different situations. For example, you can record yourself conversing with friends at a meeting or in the comfort of your home. This will allow you to analyze your speech and detect possible obstacles that may be affecting your fluency.

Record yourself talking about a variety of topics, including those that you are knowledgeable about and generate both positive and negative emotions. Do you notice any differences in your posture or voice intonation? Use these factors to determine the source of word repetition, crutches, slurred speech, stuttering, etc. and improve the way you communicate.

Expand your vocabulary: When you have a good command of the topic you are going to discuss, it is easier to feel confident and comfortable speaking. This is reflected in a lower number of hindrances and a more fluent and appropriate body language. Therefore, it is important to prepare well and expand your vocabulary.

Although a university student may have a wider and more varied repertoire of words due to his or her academic background, it is not necessary to have attended university to enrich your vocabulary. If you have a basic level of education and use the same words frequently, you can still improve your way of expressing yourself through reading, study and practice.

As a first recommendation to increase your vocabulary, you should do some research on the subject and follow some guidelines. Here are some suggestions on how to do this:

• Enjoy reading: Even if you've heard it before, reading helps you fix your eyes on certain words unconsciously.

• Read content that is not of direct interest to you: This takes you out of your comfort zone and exposes you to new and unfamiliar words.

• Discover the meaning of each new word and practice using it in different sentences. Do this exercise with a few words on an ongoing basis for effective learning.

• Use new words frequently so that they become fixed in your memory. If you learn five new words every day, in one week you will have added 35 new words to your repertoire. In this way, you will be able to enrich your lexicon constantly and effectively.

• Use synonyms and antonyms to expand your knowledge. You will expand your vocabulary and practice their use in different contexts and sentences.

Pauses: Taking a moment to pause briefly in our speech after completing an idea can have multiple benefits. Not only does it allow us to speak more calmly and confidently, but it also helps our message to be better received by the listener.

The recommended duration for these pauses is one to two seconds. However, in situations that require greater drama or depth, they can be extended to a maximum of four seconds.

It is crucial to avoid excessive use of long pauses or making too many pauses in our speech. The content of our speech will tell us when it is appropriate to pause, either after completing an idea, asking a question or emphasizing the message.

Keeping calm: In addition to pausing effectively in our speech, it is important:

• Adopt a relaxed posture to convey a more eloquent message.

• Control our emotions and remain calm when speaking, especially in pressure situations.

• If the speech is organized in such a way that the audience can ask questions once your speech is over, remember that these are only doubts and not personal attacks. There is no need to panic or block when responding. Instead, focus on answering with confidence and building on your previous knowledge.