Learning how to speak is probably one of the most important life skills a person can develop. Being well spoken and articulate not only allows us to express ourselves fully, it also allows us to leverage our skills and use them in day-to-day life.
This post will discuss reading and its relationship to speaking because it’s a topic that is pretty common in many reading communities both online and offline.
I felt the need to shed some light on the topic and help out somebody that may be stuck wondering whether or not their reading has any impact on their speaking
With that said, does reading improve speaking?
Reading can improve speaking because it can make you smarter and familiarise you with words, parts of speech, expression and many other aspects and nuances of language that can prove to be useful in speaking.
The role of reading in speaking
Below are some of the ways in which reading can make a notable impact on your speaking.
Words
Reading exposes you to words which then become a part of your everyday vocabulary. Speaking is essentially using words to express meaning and the more time you spend reading the more you’ll learn how to use words.
With reading, you learn how to use words, how to combine them, how to choose which ones to use and how to put them all together to make sense.
So while reading may be overlooked, it serves as an essential building block to grammar and the use of words.
Expressions
In books we not only read random words, but we also derive the thought process of the author.
The author not only let’s us in to his/her ideas, they also let us into how they use language via words to convey their ideas.
This teaches us how we can use language and words in our own way to express ourselves.
Reading is therefore important and impactful in speaking because it allows us to come to terms with the author by following the breadcrumbs they provide which are expressed in words.
A huge part of speaking is knowing how to express ourselves and reading is just speaking with words and this is why it is an effective too for learning how to speak.
Language
Language is a vital piece when it comes to speaking. Without language we have no words we can use to express ideas or thoughts.
Reading is an exposure to language which is vital because it exposes us to variations in which it is used to form meanings and complete thoughts.
Words may be the building blocks but language is the foundation of everything.
While it may feel like reading gives you zero edge when it comes to speaking, it actually does, subconsciously, because what you feed your mind never leaves. It is only stored subconsciously and used in instances that call for its use.
Therefore one cannot underestimate the power of reading.
Intelligence
The more you read books, the more you’ll generally learn. The average reader reads 5 minutes a day and If you spend an hour everyday to read you’re probably in the top 1% of readers in the world.
Why am I telling you this?
The reason is simple, the vast majority of people in the world don’t read as much as they would like to which means a person that takes reading seriously will carry and have more intelligence than the average person at their disposal.
This intelligence is a vital piece in speaking because it can be expressed in situations that call for it thereby making you a better speaker with experience gained via reading.
How to improve your speaking
Now that we’ve discussed just how much of a great impact reading has on your speaking abilities let’s get into some tips you can employ to improve your speaking.
Read simple books
Simple books are great for a person that wants to sharpen their speaking abilities because they don’t complicate much and the flow of language and words is easy to grasp.
There’s no greater power than being able to express yourself using simple words so don’t over look simple books.
Simple books won’t make you dumber or bruise your ego; they’ll give you a decent understanding of how you can use simple words to express ideas.
If you take it a step further and actually apply what you learn from simple books, you’ll be able to express even the most complex ideas in the simplest way possible.
Be conscious when you speak
Another great way to improve your speaking is to be simply more engaged into conversations.
It’s natural for your mind to drift to other things when having a chat with somebody. This can make for an unfruitful conversation if you don’t know how to pull your attention back to the present.
This is why being consciously engaged in conversations is a great way of never running out of what to say.
Being conscious just simply means observing yourself as you engage in conversation or speak so you keep your brain alert and sharp.
Doing this will do wonders for your speaking.
Talk to people more
Another great way to improve your speaking is to talk to more people than you usually do. Make new friends and engage with them.
This is very effective and can help you counteract any anxiety that you may experience when you meet and have to talk to new people.
Learn media training
Media training is training usually given to politicians so then express themselves well; answer questions to their liking and be likable.
It is very effective training and can help you especially if you work in sales or are looking to get into sales.
There are tons of YouTube videos teaching media training so you can simply open your YouTube app and search “media training” after you finish reading this article.
Read and recite in your own words
As you read books try and grasp the concepts and then verbally speak them out in your words.
This will help you improve the way in which you express information in your own way.
Watch interviews and learn how interviewers speak so you get a better understanding of how to speak, converse and how to remain quiet to listen when someone else speaks
