This blog posting will require you first reading the article Talk This Way on our Blackboard site under course documents. Please conduct a naturalistic study of both your voice and those around you using these criteria:
1. Are you using voice mail effectively? Do callers return your phone calls and mention that they can’t understand what you left there?
2. Do you have trouble understanding messages that are left on your voice mail? What are some vocal mistakes that others are making when leaving recorded messages?
3. Has anyone ever told you that they can’t hear you? Understand you? Ask another student to give you some adjectives to discuss your vocal quality.
4. Have you ever corrected someone’s pronunciation of a vowel of consonant? Are there certain words that you hear are commonly being incorrectly spoken? Has anyone ever corrected your pronunciation? Or commented on your speech? How do you think that you are perceived by others when you are blurring your sounds and words when communicating?
5. Conduct a naturalistic observation study of another person speaking. Observe this person’s speech by noticing how they use their lips, jaw, teeth and tongue? Repeat the observation with yourself in a mirror? What do you notice about yourself? How do these movements affect their (your) speech?
You should refer to the article, Talk This Way by Alec Wilkinson when you post found on Blackboard under course documents and discussion in class and the assigned reading in text on Nonverbal Communication when posting on the blog. The assignment requires a minimum of 250 words. Due date for this post is Monday, August 1st by class time. We will refer to this blog assignment in our class on Monday, August 2nd.
I use voice mail effectively. I try to speak clearly, and talk at a nice pace. When I leave a voice mail, I always get a call back from the voice mails I leave. The people I call can understand what I am saying. I sometimes have trouble understanding the messages people leave on my voice mail box. Some vocal mistakes people make while they leave me voicemails are they talk to fast and mumble. Some of the people have heavy accents or dialects which make it hard for me understand them. Sometimes when I am on the phone talking to my friends they say that they are not able to me. When this happens I try to speak a little louder and I check my reception. When I talk sometimes people say they do not understand me and in order to prevent this I try not to talk to fast. Even when I am with people, they say they cannot hear me. I try to speak loud and show the tone in my voice. I try not to be monotone and I make sure that I am talking clearly. Matthew Mayer describes my voice quality as raspy, deep voiced, scratchy, loud, and sarcastic. I agree with most of the qualities Matt said about my voice. I usually do not correct people while they are speaking unless it is a large mistake. I sometimes correct the pronunciation of vowels and consonants. English is my worst subject so I do not correct other people’s mistakes. I am not sure about the words I hear pronounced wrong. I am not sure about the words that are commonly spoken incorrectly. Yes people have corrected my pronunciation of certain words and commented my speeches. I believe that people see as a dumb person when I blur my sounds or words while I communicate. I perceive myself as a bad reader, speaker, and writer. I watched a few people communicate and they talk differently than me, but I could still understand them. Their lips, tongue, jaws, and teeth affect the way they speak. Their jaws, lips, teeth, and tongue move more than mine when I talk. I do not open my mouth as wide as other people which affect how I speak. They may not be able to understand me because I do not move my lips, jaw, and tongue as much as others do.
ReplyDeleteI do not recall ever having a person call me and say they could not understand the voice message that I left them. I usually take the time before the ‘beep’ to prepare what I am going to say and clear my throat. I have, however, had instances where either the message that I had received or the number that I had to call back was mumbled or garbled. I suppose that comes from either holding the phone to close or to far away from your mouth. Whatever the reason, it is very frustrating having to replay messages over and over again just to find out who called me and why.
ReplyDeleteAs I read the article I started to say words and listen to the way I would say them and I noticed that I had an accent that, though I have heard others tell me I had, I never believed that I did. I noticed that I pronounced words like ‘dog’ and ‘ball’ as though it had a W in it. I also notice this is present in the way my father speaks; this must explain where I get it from. This comes off as strange to me because I have only lived in Jersey my whole life.
I am not in the habit of listening the way I talk but I do notice that I do have habit of mumbling. There have been times where I have been reading something or talking to someone and they would have to ask me to repeat what I had just said because my voice had trailed off. My speech partner, Candace, describes me as soft spoken; I cannot help but agree with this. Hopefully before I give another presentation before the class I can practice it out of me.
In today’s society people perceive voice impressions very critically. People are judged by their ability to speak properly, use correct vocabulary as well as voice projection. When someone is mumbling, have an accent or even talking extremely loud, that person may be perceived as ignorant and possibly belligerent. When I think about myself and my vocal projection I consider myself well versed and a confident speaker.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think of how my voice is received by listeners I have the understanding that it is strong and concise. There are a few instances in which I have been told my voice messages were unclear.
Instances where someone has told me that they did not understand the voice mail message I have left. I do believe that I use voicemail effectively. When using voice technology, I make sure that I pronounce and annunciate all of the words correctly. I act as if I am leaving a message for a professional as opposed to, for a friend. I make sure I leave my name and number where I can be contacted if necessary.
In most instances, when I receive voice messages, they are from close friends. Normally they are speaking in slang, therefore, it is hard for me to understand what they are saying. In situations like this I do not even listen to the whole message. The mistakes that many people make while leaving a voice message are mistakes like not speaking clearly enough so that they are understood… Another mistake people make is speaking too quickly and the listener not being able to understand what is being told. Also, speaking very softly is a common mistake. For the listener, it may be hard to pick up on what the speaker is trying to convey. Finally, I think many people often forget to leave their name and number so that their call can be returned. People simply expect for the person to know their voice and that is not responsible.
There are many times in which someone has told me that they cannot understand what I am trying to tell them while speaking to them face to face. For instance, when I’m not sure about something and I still want to voice my opinion, I may say it very softy and hope that they do not hear me. When I asked another student to discuss my vocal quality, he stated that I have a confident and understanding voice… I have never corrected anyone’s pronunciation because I always believe that I may be the one who is saying the word incorrectly. Specific is one word that is commonly mispronounced. There are many times when people have corrected the pronunciation of my words. I usually do not tend to blur my words because I consciously try to speak clearly. If someone does not understand me I often repeat myself. Most of the time when my words are blurred it is due to sleepiness. Many people who witness my blurring automatically perceive my speech as sleepiness not anything else.
In the article, “Talk This Way”, Tim Monich stated that in order to teach his students how to pronounce accents correctly, he practice lip and tongue drills. I notice that I use my lips and tongue a lot to pronounce words and I am unable to produce the word book I replace the “B” for a “V”. I also notice while conducting my naturalistic observation, that my friend has an accent and insists that she does not. Many people have also told me I sound like a Southerner even though I have never visited the south. I can agree that at times I can sound like a Southerner and at times I do not even recognize my own voice.
I believe that I am using voice mail effectively. When I leave messages for people they return the calls understanding what I said or asked for. I make sure I speak clearly and do not mumble my words so my message is understood. When people leave me messages usually I can understand them. Some people have accents or they mumble their words a lot. Some vocal mistakes that people make during voice mails are they are too loud, too low; they start off loud and end up soft. I am a very loud and outgoing person so many people do not tell me I’m too quiet. Sometimes I talk very fast and people say they cannot understand me. Some adjectives that describe my voice quality are loud, strong. I do not correct people when they use incorrect vowel constants. Not everyone pronounces words the same way as others do. Words that are commonly incorrectly spoken are data and data, tomatoes and tomato. Some people say “pannies” when really they are panties, also some say “wadder” when its water. When it comes to speaking I don’t always use the correct pronunciation when I’m speaking with my friends but when I am speaking with someone professional or a teacher I use correct pronunciation. I often use slang a lot of times and I think I need to get away from that grammar. Usually when others or myself are caught using incorrect grammar we are called ignorant or improper. Many people in today’s society do not use incorrect grammar. Many people speak different and use their jaws, teeth and lips in different ways as I do. I do not open my mouth as wide as others do but I am still understood by others. I am also still loud while not opening my mouth wide. In the article “Talk this Way” by Tom Monich he uses many examples of people not realizing how they talk. I realize that I pronounce words not they same as many other people do. My friends tell me that I speak with an accent but I have not come yet to realizing that. It might be just the way I pronounce the words.
ReplyDeleteI do not use voice mail effectively. I barely use it. But when I do use voice mail, I leave my name, phone number, and the reason I am calling. No one has ever called me back and told me they couldn't understand me.
ReplyDeleteI can always understand the voicemails people leave on my phone. Some vocal mistakes people may make when leaving are speaking too quickly, speaking too softly, or not leaving enough info.
People have told me they couldn't hear/understand me. It is cause I often look down and speak. Another student has refered to my voice as low and different.
I have never corrected someone’s pronunciation of a vowel of consonant. There are there certain words that I hear are commonly being incorrectly spoken. Some of those words include library, ask, and math. In the word library, people often do not pronounce the first r making it sound like "libary". In the word ask, people often pronounce the word as "axe". In the word math, people often replace the th with a f and pronounce the word "maf". Yes, someone has corrected my pronunciation. I often make the same mistakes as in the examples I have given. I think it is very difficult to hear me when blurry. It is hard enough to hear me without being blurry.
I noticed a lot of things as I watched myself in the mirror. I noticed that my lips don't move that much. They could move much more. This probably affects my projection. I didn't really see anything noticable about my jaw or teeth. My tongue also has little motion. This also would affect my projection.
Whenever I leave a voicemail my message is hardly ever understood. The intended party may say that they could not understand me and tell to clarify my message. Often times I have trouble understanding a speaker’s message to me through voicemail. Articulation and pronunciation are two main vocal delivery mistakes that I find reoccurring on my voicemail. Phrases such as “whatcha doin” instead of “What are you doing” can often affect the clarity of their message. I similarly have made those mistakes as well as having a fast rate or long pauses within my message. I would often make long pauses that made me lose my original thought and allowed for the listener to become disinterested or lost. In contrast, when asked to give some adjectives about my vocal quality one person replies, I am confident and a good orator.
ReplyDeleteI used to always correct the way people pronounced their vowel sounds, then I became a part of a program that had a heavy influence of people from different cities, and noticed the problem was with dialect, not pronunciation. Even though dialect can play a role in pronunciation some words are more commonly used incorrectly; words such as actually, wash, shrimp, and vegetable are among the few mispronounced words. I have been told that my pronunciation of words was incorrect numerous times before. When I am blurring my words I know that I can sound confusing and inaccurate, which may make many people immediately stop listening to me.
When observing the speech of an adult in a more sarcastic mood their lips also had exaggerated movements as far as the lips protruding and the teeth moving further apart. While in a somber mood the teeth were closer together consequently causing the tongue to be barely visible. The jaws were even clenched closer together lacking much movement. When I practiced the same conversation my emotions were different which may explain the variation in styles. Being in a happy mood my tongue was constantly being placed between my two top and lower teeth, or seen taping the back of my top teeth. My jaws were not clenched although they lacked major movements, nor were my lips making exaggerated movement
When I call someone on the phone, I often do not like to leave messages. Unless it is something extremely urgent, when I hear the ‘beep’ to record a message, I hang up. I have to say, I am not using voice mail as effectively as I should. I understand it is a helpful resource, but I would choose to send a text message or wait for the person I called to call me back. When I do use voicemail though, most of the time the callers call me back and ask what I wanted. I do not speak as eloquently as I should, and I have been told that I have a tendency to mumble. People tell me that I do speak softly and sometimes can not understand me. My vocal quality, described by another student, has said to be dull and quiet. They said I do not speak very clearly, and I tend to agree.
ReplyDeleteWhen I receive voicemails, I don’t really have a problem understanding other people’s messages. Most of the time, they speak with a good tone and clear enough so I can comprehend. Some vocal mistakes, however, are made when people talk too fast or too high/low pitched.
I rarely ever correct someone’s pronunciation of a vowel or consonant because I do not have much room to judge. I do notice though that a lot of people from where I am from tend to pronounce their vowels (especially As) in a W sound, for example ‘ball’. Also words like ‘water’ are pronounced incorrectly. When I speak incorrectly, I feel that people think of me as uneducated. This is something that I really want to work on especially because of the need of communication in the workforce and later in life. I think the way a person speaks explains a lot about them, particularly how confident they are talking in front of other people. I observed my last partner, Felicity, when she was speaking. She spoke very fast and often sucked on her teeth when starting a new topic. I proceeded to observe myself in the mirror. I noticed that I don’t really open my mouth when I talk, which has a lot to do with my blurred projection. In “Talk This Way”, the article by Alec Wilkinson, he states that, “With an actor who has no facility at all for accents, Monich tries to teach simple things to keep him from sounding ridiculous. "What you would do with anyone untalented," he said. "Try to protect them from mistakes. Give them some confidence." I think this technique would really help with someone that knows they do not speak as well as they could. Monich also uses many mouth drills to teach his students how to talk the right way. This also helps a lot, because practice makes perfect. I might have to consider adopting some of his practices to help me with my speech.
To be honest I rarely use voicemail. When I do use it I use it effectively. I speak clearly and try not to use too many umm and likes during the voice mail. I have never had anyone call me after leaving a voice mail and say they did not understand the message I was trying to covey. Sometimes I do not understand what people are saying during a voice message. They may use like or umm or have some sort of noise going on behind them. So they cannot help the noise, but the like and umm is their own doing. I have been told sometimes I am hard to understand. The comment most expressed about my speaking is the speed. I tend to talk fast, but when I am nervous I tend to talk even faster. When I was practicing my speech my speech buddy had to remind me to slow down. Not only was the information hard to understand, but it was also not getting me in the time frame I had to be in.
ReplyDeleteOnce in a while I will hear someone use a vowel incorrectly. Most of the time I will catch it and tell them, but other times I just let them be. This goes especially with people who are older. They do not want to change the way they speck because they have been talking like that there whole lives.
When I speak I always try to speak correctly. At times I do speak incorrectly and people have called me out on it. I think it is ok if someone corrects you in the way you speak. It helps you from sounding ignorant in a situation when you do not want to.
For the last question I observed my roommate. While speaking to him I noticed he did not open his jaw very much. Also he sticks his tongue out while he is talking. He did not show any teeth during our convocation. That goes hand in hand with him not opening his jaw ever much. Lastly he did move his lips very much either.
While I observed myself in the mirror I noticed I move my lips and show my tongue a lot. My lips are very active during the convocation. Also I showed little to no teeth during the convocation. My jaw on the other hand would move a lot during convocation. Those were something I notice would happen when I spoke.
I can honestly say that I try to avoid leaving a voicemail unless it is absolutely necessary. The reason being that most people find it hard to understand what it is I said in the message. At times there are certain people whose messages I cannot understand. The person may sometimes be speaking really fast that it is hard to understand. Another possibility is that they would speak very low or loud that you cannot hear them.
ReplyDeleteThere are times that I speak very fast and people cannot comprehend what it is I am saying. This is the result of Spanish being my primary language and is spoken fast. Other times I am told that I mumble my words and no one understands what I am saying. The combination of these two things leaves my vocalization skills at a poor level. Some of my peers agree that I do have the tendency of speaking softly.Due to the fact that in my house everyone speaks Spanish, I have corrected my family’s pronunciation when they spoke English. While reading the article I was reminded of helping my mother’s pronunciation of English by the way certain words are repeated in order to hear the difference. Some common words that are spoken incorrectly are water and dog. I think it has something to do with where you live. When I visited the Midwest, I was often told that the way I said coffee and dog were odd. I had the ‘w’ sound while saying dog and a mix of a long ‘o’ and ‘w’ while saying coffee. I think people will perceive me as being a little unprofessional and difficult to talk to.
I observed a peer I noticed how she rarely moved her jaw, her lips moved fast but it sounded as if she was speaking through her clenched teeth. She also started off speaking very loudly and towards the end would lower her voice a lot. I tried imitating her manner of speaking and I found it quite difficult to talk. I slurred words together and could not speak so loud. It also took away the conversational trait I had while speaking.
I would say that I used voice mail effectively. I rarely ever use voice mail when I call a friend. But when I have to leave a voicemail for something business related I keep it short and try to talk slowly. I have never had someone tell me that they couldn’t understand a voicemail I left. I have had friends or businesses leave me messages and I honestly had no idea what they were talking about. Sometimes it is just due to background noise. Occasionally it will be because they were either mumbling or talking too quickly. I hate when someone leaves me a callback number and they spoke too quickly and have no idea what the number was. I don’t have a problem with how loud I speak. I know that people don’t understand me well. When I asked another student to describe how I speak they said “you use weird slang and it’s hard to understand”. It is strange to think that not everyone uses the same slang as you. When I first arrived at EOP some people honestly had no idea what I was talking about.
ReplyDeleteI have commented on people speech if they mispronounce a word even though I do it as well. I hate when people try to say clothes but pronounce it close. It just agitates me for some reason. Personally I can never say specific correctly. I stutter and slur on that word. I used to have a really bad lisp when I was younger because I had a retainer. It took me years of speech to get rid of it. If I am stuttering or slurring words together people think that I don’t know the information I am talking about. I did the observational study on Bridget. She didn’t open her mouth very wide and I think that’s why her voice didn’t project loudly. Her jaw moved a lot though so her words were very clear. When I conducted the study on myself I was the exact opposite. I was loud but my words were as clear. I think if I move my jaw more I would articulate my point better. Hopefully by watching others I will improve my own speaking.
Duanne Neal
ReplyDeleteProfessor McManimon
Speech/Communication
08/01/2010
When I talk to people in person or over the phone I try to speak as clear as possible so the listener can better understand me. I don’t usually leave voice mails unless I the call is very important and then I would leave one. When I make a phone call to an average person and they fail to pick up the phone, I would usually just hang up and try calling again a few minutes later, but if they still don’t answer I’ll just stop and wait until they call me back. This method does not apply to everyone though, in some cases there are extremely important calls that I would have to leave a voice to. When I do leave voicemails, I try to speak as precise as possible. Matter fact I have never had anyone call me back because of my message, or anything else.
For many of the messages that I go through, the majority of them I just can’t understand what they are saying. Through out all that is said in the whole message I only understand bits and pieces of what is being said. None of the speakers’ voices are clear and it seems like they rush through whatever they are trying to say. Out of the whole message, I at least comprehend maybe about thirty percent of the message. I have to at least replay the message about two through five times just to make out what the message is actually saying.
Many people have said that they couldn’t hear me due to the volume of my voice. I try my hardest not to mumble my words but they still manage to find their way out. Otherwise I speak very clear and I manage to get my point out.
Yes, I do use voicemail correctly. I see voicemail as a person’s way of advising another person that they tried to contact them and couldn’t. Personally, I think voicemail is very annoying. One thing that has never happened to me is a person calling me and telling me they couldn’t understand what I was saying on a voicemail. This would be unusual to me because my everyday voice is very proper and projected.
ReplyDeleteThere have only been a few times I can remember when someone left me a voicemail that I didn’t understand. One of the times I couldn’t understand a message that was left on my voicemail was when I was 15 years old and I had applied for my first job at McDonalds. So, I received a phone call but I didn’t recognize the number, so I didn’t answer. When I checked my voicemail, the only words I understood the woman saying was “McDonalds” and “December 18th”, so I assumed that I had an interview at McDonalds on December 18th. When I arrived at the interview I had finally realized why I couldn’t understand what the woman on the phone was saying, and that was because she spoke with an accent, and she was Indian. I think that when you’re leaving someone a message on their voicemail you should always speak slowly and clearly, especially if you don’t speak English well.
I can’t recall a time when someone told me that they couldn’t understand me, or hear me. I speak English very well, and properly. Also, I have a voice that could project over a stampede of elephants. Some adjectives that describe my voice that were given to me by other students were; loud, energetic, projected, distinctive and confident. All these adjectives really do describe my voice quality very well. One thing that I’ve always been taught was, “always be confident in what you say because if you don’t believe what you say, then others won’t either.”
I can count a number of times when I corrected something someone was saying. A few words that I hear among my peers that are said wrong all the time are; potato, syrup, water and caramel. The only time my pronunciations of words are corrected is when I’m talking about something that I don’t know about, such as; Shakespeare, or cars. I think that when someone blurs their sounds and words when talking to someone else, it kind of makes them sound very uneducated, and illiterate.
It is very obvious that speech and dialect differ from one person to another. When I attempted to talk like my room-mate, it was very weird. I tend to speak very proper even when I am around my friends, and her speech is more laid back and relaxed. Her tone of voice and her pronunciation of words are very different from mines. This may be because no one speaks perfect English, and if we all did speak perfect English then we would all talk alike, or would we?
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ReplyDeleteI rarely use voice mail but when I do I think I use my voice effectively. I try not to mumble when I leave a voice mail. I do not remember a situation where a caller mentioning he/she did not understand what I left on his/her voice mail.
ReplyDeleteI have trouble comprehending messages that are left on my voice mail and the answering machine. Some people who leave massages mumble and do not speak clearly so it is really hard to understand. And that gets me mad because they might be saying important things and I might be missing it because they couldn’t say what they needed to say clearly.
People tell me they can’t hear me a lot of times but they don’t tell me they can’t understand me. An adjective most people use to describe my vocal quality is quiet. I do not see that as a problem because I have the capability to be loud when it is necessary but don’t think it is necessary every time I say a word. And most of the time I don’t even know if I am quiet.
I am usually not the one who can correct people’s pronunciation because I really don’t know the pronunciation of a lot of words because I am not from around here and I have an accent. I don’t think people can blame me for the way I speak and say words because I am not from around here and I don’t really know how to say words in a proper way.
I observed the speaker from the “Success-Want It As Much As You Want Air to Breathe” video and what I noticed is that he opens his mouth really wide when he speaks. And when I observed myself in the mirror I noticed that I don’t open my mouth as wide as he did. That is probably why people say I am quiet.
Many people use their voicemail, but not all of them use it effectively. I believe I use my voicemail effectively. I have yet to this day get a complaint on any voicemail I leave. I always make sure to pronounce the words correctly and slowly in order for the person to be able to understand my voicemail. On the other hand, I sometimes have trouble understanding what people say in the voicemails they leave me. A common mistake that most people make while leaving a voicemail is that they speak too fast. Many receptionists who call customers back speak way to fast and make it difficult for people to catch what they’re saying. I do not remember anyone ever telling me that they could not hear me or understand me. My roommate Duanne described my vocal quality as friendly, concentrated, serious, and has a nice tone to it. There was this incident where a person close to me kept pronouncing the letter V as the letter B. I corrected her and she pronounces it right now. I have not noticed anyone else pronouncing words incorrectly. I have pronounced words incorrectly when I have not seen it before or heard of it. I have also been told that I had a lisp when I was younger but it got better as I grew up. I noticed that my friend opens his mouth a little wider when he talks than me. I tried moving my jaw the way he does and it made my speech sound deeper and not clear.
ReplyDeleteI do not use voice mail effectively. I never know what to say and if I do say anything at all it doesn’t sound clear. When I do leave a message I always ramble and I talk way too fast to understand. People always call me back but most of the time it’s to make fun of the voice mail that I just left them. I also have trouble understanding others when they leave me voice mail messages. Their voices are always too low to hear and I can’t even make out what they’re trying to say. Sometimes people can’t hear me when I am talking on the phone but most of the time it’s because of reception failure. I think I have a pretty loud and clear voice when I am actually talking to someone on the phone. Most people describe my voice as clear but sort of deep at moments and occasionally tell me that I sound “country.”
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of these things except for the country accent thing. I just don’t hear it. I never correct anyone while they’re speaking unless it’s completely obvious. For example, if they said a word completely wrong to the point that it didn’t sound like that word at all. I am not an English professor so I don’t know how to correct every little error in someone’s speech. People have corrected me when it comes to saying certain words or phrases. I just say certain things out of habit. I believe that I am a decent reader, writer and speaker. The way people move their mouths, lips and tongue also affect the way they speak. I have a tongue ring and it always gets in the way when I am trying to speak and it even gives me a bit of a lisp.