Saturday, 1 December 2012

A Guide On Fixing Intonation

By Lenore Bolton


People usually communicate either orally or by a written message. And with the advent of technology, sending a message to your friends and family has never been easier. With mobile phones and electronic mails, you could send a greeting, apologize, request for something, etc. To someone that is miles away from you in just a few seconds. But it is undeniable that nothing beats a message delivered in person in a way that emotions like joy, anger, happiness, etc. Are conveyed effectively and the key to all of this is proper speaking tone. Unfortunately, there are some people who are having problems on fixing intonation.

Giving your message the proper tone is not only essential to convey your emotions to the person you converse with but also to distinguish whether you are asking a question, giving an order, or simply saying an informative statement. For regular conversations with close peers, this may not be that important. But for businesses, this is crucial.

Imagine that you are a new stockbroker and you are to meet your first prospective client. And ever since you were a child, you have always had the aura of authority that is evident in your loud commanding voice. Though this may be a good characteristic, in this scenario, it is important that you could moderate your tone such that your client will not feel that you are giving him orders to manage his investment.

When the election results were released, the average local surprisingly won the election even though his opponent had an advantage in terms of credentials. But the elected official had an advantage that was crucial in his win. It was his ability to make people on what he was saying. He was able to touch the hearts of the people because of the emotions conveyed in every word he speaks. The opponent, even though has sincere intent to make a change, the people did not just felt it and was not able to believe in it. In this example, good speaking tone was the key.

One thing you could do is to study how words are pronounced and where the accent should be placed. Chances are you had activities similar to these during your preschool years. But as you grew, there is a possibility that you got used to the wrong pronunciation of particular words so this is to correct such issue.

Watching television shows and paying attention to the speaking tone of the characters while noting their emotions during conversation is a good exercise. This will give help you develop your techniques in conversing effectively.

Now that you have corrected pronouncing words you used to have problems with, the next thing to do is start constructing sentences with different emotions and intent. You could do this by saying the sentences to yourself in front of a mirror. Sound ridiculous but this exercise is effective.

If you think that you have already addressed your problem, then solicit for the opinion of other people. It would be best if these people could be brutally honest with you and give you a truthful comment so you will know the words or aspects you need to improve more. Fixing intonation will require a significant amount of effort but the rewards will be worth it.




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