Modern social etiquette and eloquence

Chapter 21 Speech Etiquette and Eloquence (2)
Conciseness has always been a highly respected principle of writing.The so-called conciseness means using as few language materials as possible and conveying as much information as possible clearly.How can the language of the speech be concise?This requires the speaker to make more efforts in the following aspects.

(1) To achieve clarity of thought.Liebknecht said: "The clarity of language is due to the clarity of thought, and the clarity of thought determines the way of expression." The speaker must first carefully think about what he wants to say and the thoughts and feelings he wants to express. Careful scrutiny, clarify the truth, grasp the center, and clarify the train of thought, so as to ensure that the speech language is concise and clear.

(2) Pay attention to the tempering and scrutiny of the text, so as to strive for excellence.

(3) Avoid all unnecessary repetition.

(4) Cleanly quit nonsense, empty words, and stereotypes.

(5) Try not to use long sentences, sentences with long body, many words, and complex structures.

4. Vivid image
The language of the speech should be vivid, interesting and attractive to the audience.Specifically, the following actions can be taken.

(1) Use more specific and figurative words.Generally speaking, words that describe the sound, color, smell, scene, shape, etc. of objective things, as well as words with movement and color, are specific and vivid, and when used appropriately, they can make the language vivid and moving.

(2) Appropriately use some rhetorical devices.There are many rhetorical devices of language, such as metaphor, metonymy, hyperbole, duality, parallelism, questioning, rhetorical questioning, pun, irony, contrast, repetition and layering, etc. Their language functions are not the same or even have quite different , as a positive rhetorical method, it is helpful to the image, vividness and vividness of the speech language under certain circumstances.

The language of the speech must also pay attention to two points, the sentence structure must be rich in variety, and the pronunciation must be harmonious and sweet.Each sentence pattern in a language has its specific ideographic function, and their tone, sentiment, momentum, ideographic focus and even style color are different.The speaker should make a specific analysis according to the content of the speech and the level of the audience, purposefully use various sentence patterns alternately, make the speech fluctuate and vivid, and firmly grasp the audience's attention .

Only a speech full of sound and emotion can move people's hearts. The language of the speech requires a harmonious and sweet voice.Gorky pointed out: "The true beauty of language is produced by the accuracy, clarity and loudness of the words." The language of the speech should be loud and beautiful, produce an ideal musical beauty, make the rhythm of the speech changeable, and the sound harmonious.

[-]. Don’t ignore manners
All successful speeches are closely related to the good image the speaker leaves in the hearts of the audience.Anyone who has watched the movie "Lenin in [-]" will remember that when Lenin gave a speech among the workers, he was full of energy and confidence, staring at the audience, with his left thumb habitually inserted into the shoulder of his vest, and his right hand was always waving. It just matched with the content of his appealing speech, which greatly enhanced the appeal of the speech.The film successfully shaped Lenin's glorious image as a revolutionary orator.As Gorky praised Lenin's speech, he said: "His speech is harmonious, complete, crisp, and powerful. The whole image of him standing on the podium is simply a classical work of art: everything is there, but there is nothing superfluous. No frills."

Nixon is a famous politician. He portrayed many political figures in his book "Leader". One chapter describes the situation when he received British Prime Minister Churchill's visit to the United States in June 1954. The book It read: "The plane door opened. After a while, Churchill appeared alone at the top of the gangway, wearing a pearl gray hamburger hat on his head...His assistants hurriedly helped him behind him, preparing to step down Gangway. He glanced down quickly. When he saw the welcoming crowd and many camera shots, he immediately refused any help from anyone. Leaning on a cane, he began to walk slowly down the gangway. Straight towards the camera lens Walked up to the microphone, started his arrival speech...the crowd applauded after the speech. He flashed his V sign of victory, and strode to the black Lincoln convertible..."Afterwards Nixon recalled being amazed at the energy of the 6-year-old, who had just come off an overnight transatlantic flight after a recent stroke.It can be seen how impressive a full mental state is.

According to research by scientists, people receive information more from visual images.If a person's "image" is bad, it will often make others "judge people by their appearance".People's facial expressions and body postures focus on expressing the image of people.Social psychology divides the functions of gestures into two types. One has a clear meaning and can replace verbal communication, called markers, such as nodding to express approval, shaking the head to express disapproval or ignorance, etc.The other is that there is no definite meaning, but only accompanied by language, which is called explanatory matter, such as the use of some gestures.

Everyone who has heard a speech has this experience. The speaker stands in front of the audience, and his every move is noticed by the audience. If the speaker stands on the stage in a heroic manner, walks steadily and gracefully, it will give the audience a sense of pleasure. If the speaker stands casually on the stage, it will make the audience feel uncomfortable.Furthermore, I have no interest in his speech.

As a speaker, you have to be keenly aware of the impression you make on others, avoid losing control or hesitating, notice how others react to what you have to say and how you say it, and adjust accordingly.Sensitivity and vivacity give the impression that the speaker is intelligent.

A speaker's body posture is both a reflection of his inner and outer image.Generally speaking, speeches are mostly carried out standing up in order to achieve the effect.Therefore, the speaker's standing posture should be appropriate.Speeches are generally made standing in the middle of the front.This position allows the speaker to pay attention to the whole audience, and to pay attention to the emotions of the audience around him to the greatest extent, so that the audience in different positions can see the speaker speaking from their own angles.The speaker must also pay attention to the light when choosing a position, and let the light shine on himself.Because the audience needs to understand the content of the speech by observing the speaker's movements. In addition, the speaker should pay attention to the standing posture, mainly to make the standing posture conducive to speech, walking and activities, and pronunciation.Aristotle once believed: "In a person's body posture, all excessive meaningless actions are enough to express a person's shallowness, frivolity, timidity or arrogance. From his posture, one can see his heart. "

Gestures play a very important role in speech, and can play a role that words cannot replace.Gestures are a common form of movement that a speaker uses when giving a speech.Gestures have multiple and complex meanings.Hands up, forward, and inward often express positive meanings such as hope, success, and affirmation.Hands down, backwards, and outwards often express negative meanings such as criticism, contempt, and negation.For example, splitting palms in the air means resoluteness, shaking fingers slightly means not contempt or indifference, spreading hands means helplessness, clenched fist with right hand means indignation, determination and so on.The speaker's gestures are a natural expression of inner emotion, not blunt affectation.Gestures are meant to help convey meaning, and if it doesn't, it's superfluous.Bad gestures are a big no-no in public speaking.

Regarding the position of the hands, it is better to be natural and decent.Don't put your hands in your pockets, appear disrespectful to the audience, and seem to be "tied up".

Also note that the speaker's clothing and accessories also have a certain impact on the effect of the speech.As the saying goes, a man depends on his clothes and a horse needs a saddle.The speaker's clothing plays an important role in establishing the speaker's image.The speaker's clothing should be neat and generous, simple and dignified, light and coordinated, and harmonious in color.In addition, the speaker's clothing should be in harmony with the speaker's thoughts and feelings and the content of the speech.The feeling of color is very sensitive.Dark colors give people a deep and solemn feeling; light colors make people feel light and relaxed; white makes people feel pure; blue makes people feel peaceful; red and yellow make people feel exciting and happy.The speaker should choose clothing according to different occasions, different speech contents and audiences.Clothes that are too casual will not only destroy the image of the speaker in the minds of the audience, but also show impoliteness and disrespect to the audience, and the effect of the speech will not be good.

Five, speech eloquence taboo

Speech is an art. Knowing what not to say can make the speech go smoothly and achieve success.

Common taboos in speech eloquence are as follows.

1. Big talk
There are too many unrealistic empty talk in reality.In the annual summary meeting of some units, the opening speech of the meeting is an old speech, only the first session is changed to the second, third or fourth session, and the content remains the same every year.

2. Disorganized
Some people's speeches are too complicated, and they sound like driving a trolleybus, where they go and where they go, making people confused.Others are illogical, making arbitrary judgments, or making subjective assumptions regardless of the facts.Don't ask about indiscriminate things, just talk nonsense.

3. Apathetic and boring
Some people have no expression when they speak, or even tense muscles, their faces are livid, their language is cold, there is no change in tone and true emotion, and the speech is boring, like chewing wax, so how can people not fall asleep!

4. Difficult and lengthy
Some people like to use written language when giving speeches, which makes people feel obscure.Mao Zedong once criticized this phenomenon, saying: "A speech, upside down, is always those few nouns, a set of 'student accent', without any lively language. Isn't this language tasteless, ugly, like a bum? ?” Therefore, we should try our best to avoid using written language, not to mention “white paper”, but to use spoken language.Articles are expensive and short, and speeches should be long and short.

5. gaffe

Some speakers always bring "mantra" when they give a speech, such as "ah", "is it", "how", "then", and so on.Speech should focus on the effect, and there are piles of "mantras", which can only play a negative role.Some people do not understand the position and level of the audience, do not pay attention to the environment and background of the meeting, or even take into account their identity and status at the meeting, which will inevitably lead to inappropriate content, wording, tone, tone, etc. , Inappropriate, impolite, and inappropriate, this must be paid attention to.

6. Mystery
Tolstoy said: "True art is always very simple, clear and picturesque, and can almost be touched with hands."

Speeches should strive to be popular and colloquial. If you don’t consider the audience’s ability to accept it, and use that kind of polite and sour language, it will be neither friendly nor difficult to understand. It will often backfire.

The era of using classical Chinese in speeches has long passed. Some people use classical Chinese in their speeches to show off their knowledge and pretend to be elegant. Such people who confuse people with difficult words have long since lost their market.Moreover, the cultural literacy of the audience is very different, and it should be "lower or higher".Speeches to the general public should be clear and easy to understand.

7. Dialect slang
According to the needs of the content, the speech should use different language forms for different objects.However, it should be noted that due to the large number of dialects in our country, in order to make the speech easy to understand, understand and communicate smoothly, the speaker needs to use Mandarin as much as possible, otherwise there will be language barriers.Because the degree of standardization and standardization of a country's language often reflects the degree of civilization of the country.In speeches, dialect slang should be used as little or as little as possible to avoid inappropriate "situations".

[-]. Response and field control skills during speeches

If a speaker wants to achieve a good speech effect, he must also be good at observing words and expressions, grasp the psychological changes and interest requirements of the audience, and revise and supplement what he said in time.This is the ability to adapt and control the field.

What strain and field control abilities does a successful speaker need?
(1) Control your emotions and keep your sense of proportion.

When you find an unexpected situation, you should be calm, have a good psychological quality, be able to control your emotions, keep your sense of proportion, and don't act impulsively because of impatience.When Khrushchev gave a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in 1959, there was a commotion in the venue. Khrushchev was irritated. He took off one of his leather shoes and hit the podium with the heel to stop the commotion.However, this not only failed to achieve the expected effect, but also exposed his character weakness of lack of self-cultivation and inability to control anger.

(2) Answer questions calmly.

During a speech, the audience often asks some sharp questions. At this time, you must learn to answer the questions raised by the audience calmly, especially those very difficult questions.Once when Liu Ji gave a report to students, he received a note asking: "Some people think that thought workers are facial features—putting on airs, stomatology—playing tricks, and pediatrics—deceiving children. Do you think it is appropriate?" Ask again: "How do you treat your immediate boss?" These two questions are quite sharp.Liu Ji replied with a witty answer, and answered the first question: "Today's ideological workers, I think they are physiotherapy departments-convincing people with reasoning, exerting subtle influences, and improving health." His answer to the second question is: "Three No doctrine—no flattery, flattery, or bad-mouthing the leader.”

(3) Ingeniously interspersed to enliven the atmosphere.If the venue is dull, there must be skillful interludes to enliven the atmosphere.The speaker uses the method of interspersing. In addition to making the truth more vivid and profound, it can also adjust the atmosphere of the scene and increase the interest of the audience.For example, tell a joke, tell a story, talk about anecdotes, sing a song and so on.

Attention should also be paid to interspersed content, the interspersed content must be related to the topic, and can play the role of explanation, explanation, and supplement; It must not come across as forced or extravagant.

(4) Make mistakes and deal with them flexibly.

It is quite difficult not to say a wrong sentence in a speech.If you make a mistake, there are two most taboo points in this situation: one is to scratch your head and ears; the other is to stay in the cold for too long.Some people have observed this conclusion: if the silence is longer than 15 seconds during the speech, there will be sporadic laughter in the auditorium; if the silence is longer than 30 seconds, there will be laughter from a small number of audiences; Impatient.

During the speech, if individual words and sentences are omitted, as long as it is harmless, it is better not to change them.What should you do if you suddenly forget what to say in the next paragraph after speaking for a while?Carnegie introduced several methods that we can learn from.

(1) Change the topic on the spot and use the sentence at the end of the previous paragraph to play.

(2) Ask questions to the audience.

(3) If the brain is really blank, you should temporarily make up a more complete conclusion and end it politely.

[-]. The sublimation at the end should be powerful
The end of the speech is a summary of the whole speech, which undertakes the task of gathering the whole article, so it is of great significance.The end of the speech must be both literary and firm, and it must be comprehensive and intriguing, so that the whole speech can be sublimated and receive good results.

The climax is one of the main ending methods used in speeches.That is to say, use one level higher than one level, and one sentence is more powerful than one sentence to push the speech to the climax.If used properly, the results must be good.For example, Lincoln's speech in praise of Niagara Falls is like this.

"Long ago, when Columbus first discovered this continent, when Jesus Christ was crucified, when Moses led the Israelites across the Red Sea, and even Adam came out of the hand of the Creator, until now, Niagara Falls has been Roaring here. The ancient great men, like us modern people, have seen the Niagara Falls. The Niagara Falls at that time are as fresh and powerful as the current waterfall. The huge giant elephants and reptiles of the previous century have also seen it. Been to that Niagara Falls. From all those days, until now, that Niagara Falls has never stood still for a quarter of an hour, never dried up, never frozen, never asleep, never resting."

This ending gives people the feeling that one wave is higher than the other, which makes people feel difficult to calm down.The thinking of the audience is completely led by the speaker.

The end of the speech can be strengthened from the following three points.

(1) Deepen the impression and end the whole article.

When the speech is basically completed, and the audience has basically mastered the speaker's views, attitudes and relevant knowledge, it should be considered to "shut up". "Closing" refers to leaving a final impression on the audience visually and aurally, which will "freeze" in the audience's brain.Therefore, the quality of "shut up" directly determines the audience's impression of the entire speech.A wonderful ending can often make up for some shortcomings and can strengthen the overall impression of the audience.Speakers at all times and in all over the world attach great importance to the end of their speeches.Chaplin is a well-known comedy master and an excellent speaker. In his speech "Fight for Freedom" in 1943, he denounced the "beasts" who tried to enslave the people. The audience was left with an unforgettable impression.

"Hana, do you hear me? No matter where you are, look up, Hana, the clouds are clearing and the sun is shining in! We are leaving the darkness and entering the light! We are entering a new world— —A lovelier world. There men will overcome their greed, their hatred, their cruelty. Look up, Hannah, the souls of men have wings, and they will fly at last. They Flew into the neon--flyed into the light of hope. Look up, Hannah! Look up!"

(2) The words are simple and meaningful, which is thought-provoking.

At the end of the speech, avoid repetition, looseness, procrastination, and boring. It is best not to use a polite conclusion that echoes what others say.A classmate of East China Normal University once gave a speech titled "Revelation of the Times", and his conclusion was as follows: "We, the pioneers of national rejuvenation, will embrace the times with tenfold innovation and a hundredfold effort. The great Goethe once hailed the arrival of the new era: "Forgive me! It is a great pleasure to permeate the spirit of the times! Behold, how the wise men of old thought, but we have far surpassed in the end them".The ending is like a bell ringing, voiceless, thought-provoking and exciting.

(3) It stops abruptly, and the lingering sound lingers around the beam.

(End of this chapter)