Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Speech

Speak the speech trippingly. Or pitched low. Or with a mumble.

grumblebee — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:07:15 -0800

Is there a resource that lists and explains the various effects one can use to accessorized speech, such as altering pitch, speeding up, slowing down, etc.? As a director, I often have to help actors make vocal choices. My company regularly employs doubling -- that is using one actor to play multiple parts. So that the audience doesn't get confused, it's great if the actor makes each of his characters sound different.

Some actors are naturally gifted this way. Others need help.

Note: like most modern actors and directors, I take a psychological approach to character work. So I would never simply tell an actor something like "speak more quickly" or "raise your pitch." But once we've done the psychological work, it would be awesome to see an array of choices from which you could pick an appropriate set of effects.

The vocal instrument is flexible but not infinite. There are only so many things one can do while speaking: add gruffness/gravel, change the pitch, change the speed, change the degree of annunciation, try an accent, etc.

I would like a complete list. The perfect list would include effect, example (e.g. an actor who naturally talks with that effect, such as George C. Scott for gravel) and any hints/pitfalls to help create the effect without hurting your voice.

I have a bunch of Voice-For-The-Actor books, but none has the list I'm looking for. If such a list doesn't exist, maybe we could compile one together here.

Help me stop sounding like a valley girl!

InterestedInKnowing — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:20:25 -0800

What are some tips in having better speech? I'm an adult woman, who sometimes sounds like a child! I notice when I speak my statements come out as questions and I sound like (yuck that word too) a total valley chick. In business settings I'm proper and I realize I want to sound like that all the time but I don't. What are techniques I can use to improve upon my speaking voice and grammar efficiency when I'm in a relaxed chatty mode? 'Cause it only makes me sound dumb, when I'm far from it.

Why didn't I say anything until I was three?

Anonymous — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 19:41:14 -0800

I didn't say my first word until I was three years old. Does anyone know a probable cause? I said my first word around my third birthday. Nobody in my immediate family thinks very much of it, but I've always wondered what the explanation might have been.

Here's the details that I could cobble together:

*I'm the youngest child, not a twin. While I was pretty close to my oldest brother (four years older), I didn't seem to have a special language with him.

*I could articulate sounds and gestured a lot to communicate, and I seemed to understand English, I just didn't speak it.

*My hearing is fine.

*My mother insists that I was fine in general

*As far as I know, I've never had a brain tumor. While I'm kind of socially awkward, I'm nowhere near being autistic.

*During grade school I was enrolled in speech therapy at my teacher's request-from what I can tell later, there were some issues with vowel pronunciation and pronoun confusion, but mostly something my mother has later referred to as 'word search' . . . while I could define words, I would have issues thinking of them to use in a sentence. There were a lot of exercises where I had to use as many adjectives as I could to describe a ball. This stopped in junior high-mostly because my mother refused to sign the form (I remember that the therapist recommended I continue)

*I'm fine with communicating now. Some people seem to detect an accent or complain about mumbling, but I don't have issues with random strangers understanding me (I spend a lot of time on the phone at work, I would have noticed by now if that were the case).

Anybody have any idea what was going on?

Anonymous because, while it's not a secret, it's kind of a weird thing for people I don't know to associate me with.

What are my options for Mandarin and Cantonese speech recognition software?

querty — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:05:07 -0800

What are my options for Mandarin and Cantonese speech recognition software? I've found the PenPower Cantonese VoiceWriter (using the IBM ViaVoice engine), but that's about it. Too bad Dragon NaturallySpeaking doesn't have a version for Chinese. Hopefully some of you might know of other Mandarin / Cantonese speech recognition software?

I've been asked to remove a bumper sticker in order to qualify for a job.

odinsdream — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:46:17 -0800

Corporate policy and bumper stickers. I've been asked to remove a sticker in order to qualify for a job. I'm a systems administrator working for a small company which provides IT staff to larger companies. I'm scheduled to take over for one of our other employees who's moving out of state. The position I'm filling is not new to the client, nor are the job requirements different from my current position. I'm simply moving from one of our clients to another client but providing the same service.

This client has been very excited to hear that I will be staffing for them in place of the current guy.

I stopped by the client's site early one morning to pick up some computer hardware. During the ten minutes my car was in the parking lot someone noticed one of my bumper stickers which reads "W - The Idiot." I created and sold these as a riff on the "W - The President" stickers that were common in my area.

My boss received a call from the owner of the client business stating, in no uncertain terms, that I am not welcome to work there as long as the sticker is on my car. The reason given was the "respect of the Office of President of the United States, regardless of your personal views" canard. The owner just coincidentally happens to be a republican who donates the maximum allowed amounts each year to the party. Total coincidence.

Even if this were a company policy and not the owner's whim, are such things permissible? I've got a few other stickers as well which could potentially offend religious people and bigots. I'm not about to remove them either. By declining to remove the sticker in question, would this client have any legal grounds to terminate their contract with my company?

I've told my boss that I'll take the weekend before getting back to him, though I let him know I am not interested in removing the sticker. He is not asking that I do so, but may not be interested in starting a fight with the client.

I'd like to know if it's legal for a company to have policies that cover things outside of work like this, especially political speech. Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

How can I talk to children?

meadowlark lime — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:16:01 -0800

How can I talk to children? I'm working on some writing projects that require me to know how children talk. I think I have a fairly good ear and memory for it from my own childhood, but you inevitably forget things, or you never would have noticed certain patterns when you were a child.

I would like to speak to children aged 6 - 13. I cannot think of a direct way to do this. Obviously, I'm not going to be the creepy guy lurking around a playground with an open notebook. I think observing classrooms would help, but I don't know any teachers who live near me.

What I'd like to do is to be able to sit down with some kids with a tape recorder running and just talk to them in a free-ranging way. How can I set something like this up? I don't want people to think that I am doing market research for some corporate product, or misrepresent my intentions in any way. Do you think there is some kind of school / church / community group that would let an outsider come in to talk to kids?

Mushmouth

peachfuzz — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 08:42:42 -0800

How did you learn to express your thoughts in a way that is clear and thorough - but concise? I tend to ramble when I talk. I start out with a clear idea of what I want to say, but I end up backtracking or going off on tangents that I think help clarify or give context to my larger point. I'm often left feeling like I've only gotten my point across in a very muddy way, and I can only imagine how frustrating it must be for a listener.

If I have plenty of time to edit and reframe and reword what I'm going to say (or if the communication is happening in writing) I have no trouble - speech/presentation situations are no problem. It's more just everyday conversation at work and at home - I get bogged down correcting myself or going off in a direction I think will work better. I'm the master of the half-finished analogy. I constantly correct and fine-tune what I'm saying, as I say it, based on feedback (real or imagined) from my listener and on how it sounds to me as I say it. Basically, I talk like George Michael on Arrested Development.

Can you give me tools to: 1) figure out exactly what I want to say, quickly; 2) say it, without equivocating or qualifying or otherwise confusing things - again, quickly?

Thanks, AskMe!

Say now shibboleth

Anonymous — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 10:53:10 -0800

Do I have a stammer? How do I fix it? I've never had speech problems; I'm just a reserved, almost taciturn person. My mind runs a lot faster than my mouth. As nice a trait as this may be, I'm now in a line of work that's got a lot more smooth talkers than otherwise.

I've worked on being a faster talker, quicker off the mark, and I've improved, but I have a problem now. I've found that I will freeze up and be unable to say the word that I know damn well comes next. For example, I was recently trying to advise someone at work how to proceed, following my long off-the-cuff analysis of a certain situation, and I needed to end the sentence with a certain term ("TPS report"). I work with these documents every day -- I spend a lot of my job dealing with them -- and yet I could not say the word. I was waving my hands, snapping my fingers, saying "the t- . . . the t- . . ." And my coworker kindly supplied what I meant. Naturally I was embarrassed, even though I was in a friendly situation; how much worse would it be if it were adversarial?

I don't think this is the kind of thing that calls for speech therapy -- anyway, I'm 30. I wouldn't call it stage fright, either; I used to be a big amateur performer, so I've never been afraid of being heard. But if there are some explanations or, particularly, exercises I could perform, verbally or just mentally, I would appreciate it.

Watch/Pen Audio Recording Device

thankyoumuchly — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 12:13:59 -0800

Looking for a discreet audio recording device (not one of the typical voice memo recording sticks you get at radio shack, this must be discreet). I am a public speaker at my company and I typically speak at multiple meetings per day, with no time to take notes for follow-up questions. I need a stand-alone audio recorder that is discreet (wrist watch, pen, etc.) and that can handle at least 8 hours of recording on 1 charge / 1 set of batteries. I've found multiple types of watches with recording similar to this one in the link below (mostly these watches all have the USB 1/8th inch headphone jack looking plug on the left side of the watch face by the "9" and seem to be crappy quality). Is this a piece of junk? It kind of looks like it is. I need good solid audio, that is my main buying point:

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.26493

Does anyone have any experience with these discreet recording devices (maybe an audio recording pen)? Please help hive mind!

Bonus if it's a watch and also has a stop-watch functionality built it so I can record audio and time myself!

Thanks in advance - TYM

How do I talk to doctors?

bananaskin — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:47:08 -0800

How do I talk to doctors in a professional manner? I work in nursing homes as a speech-language pathologist. This is a professional job which includes a master's degree and 1 year internship. I often have to talk with doctors in order to discuss a patient's progress, especially in the area of swallowing.

I often feel extremely nervous when talking to the doctors. This is partially because they act somewhat short, impatient. Sometimes, it seems that the doctors act downright arrogant and rude, accusatory without allowing for me to talk. I am also worried that I will look foolish, so this increases my nervousness. I often get tongue-tied and choose the wrong words because of my nervousness. (Yes, strange coming from a speech-language pathologist?!?! Hey, I can see my problem, it doesn't mean I can fix it! LOL).

Has anyone else been in this position? How do you handle talking with doctors in a way which allows them to continue to feel "in charge" and doesn't make it sound like you are talking down to them, although you may know more about a particular aspect than they do....and allows them to consider your valuable information?

Maybe I just need to hear stories from others who experience this as well. thank you......

Speaker tries to ascertain his own cognizance

war wrath of wraith — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:24:14 -0800

What is the term for how police officers talk to the press in official situations? You all know what I mean: when they throw around words like "ascertain" and "cognizant" in an effort to sound extremely official, when in fact it sounds (to some) like severe affectation.

It's a difficult one to google because "police", "speech" and the like throw up all kinds of irregardless hits. (yes, joke)

Political Speech Writing

roxie5 — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:03:23 -0800

How to break into speech-writing, specifically political speech-writing? My boyfriend, who is a staff person for a state senator, is interested in writing more speeches. But how to break into such a thing? While he writes some remarks for his current boss, his job is mostly administrative. He is, of course, keeping an open eye at the capitol and making contacts, but is there anything else he could be doing to make more opportunities for himself? He is a great writer so if anyone has any tips on getting into this field, they would be much appreciated it!

Is there some sort of service that will tell you how long it will take to read a certain number of words?

rileyray3000 — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 09:49:41 -0800

Giving a speech filter: IS there any online service or program that you can put in a block of text and it will tell approximately you how long it'll take to read it out loud? So I'm giving a speech next week that's got to be five minutes long. I'm usually better at writing these things out ahead of time. And I have no problem with the public speaking. I just want to know how many words I should shoot for with five minutes.

I realize I could just record myself and then trim but I really don't want to put in that much effort. It's not a super important speech. Just one that's supposed to go a pretty set time.

So is there any online service that estimates these things? I realize I could always put it in a speech synthesizer and time it but I'm hoping there's something little more cut and paste.

Does this exist?

Help me, uh, help me fix my, uh, my stutter.

Pseudology — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 00:20:57 -0800

I have a horrible stutter which just came to my attention about a week ago. Not only is "uh" my favorite word but I repeat myself a lot. Help me, oh hivemind, to learn how to fix this problem. Written and audio examples inside. First I will provide a written example.

"Hello, my name is... uh... my name is Pseudology"

Now I will provide an audio example. A word of caution, it only seems to work for me if I just click on the link and refuses to open in a new tab.

The event which brought the stutter to my attention was an interview I did over the radio. While I was a little nervous in the beginning, showing that the problem does get worse when I'm nervous, I was totally confident at the end where the problem was almost just as bad. I feel I made my points but the delivery was terrible. Since this is the only recorded conversation I have of myself let alone the only recorded conversation I have of myself online and ready to link so I could bask in my 15 minutes of fame through facebook, I've decided to use it as my audio example. It's seven minutes long so don't feel the need to listen to all of it (I'm Brock just so you don't get me confused with the other two people but I'm sure I could just say I'm the guy with the stutter).

After this I noticed I stuttered quite often and when asked if my stutter was is as bad as it was in the interview my friends all said yes. They also said it made me difficult to listen to at times.

I don't know anything about speech therapy because I've always seen it as something for people who get nervous when they speak publically. Being the attention whore that I am I've never had a big problem with nervousness in public speaking. As a result I know nothing about how/why I or others stutter let alone how to fix it which is why I'm asking mefi.

Help me be a good speech-giver tomorrow. Ready -- Go!

inatizzy — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:06:09 -0800

Public Speaking Filter: I've been asked to speak in front of a very large group at a public rally tomorrow. I'm excited, but I've never done this before. Help! I just learned that I'll be getting up in front of about 1000 people tomorrow to speak for about 5 minutes. My subject matter is all set, but I can really use help with acquiring that "certain something" that makes great speakers so comfortable to watch. They have a sort of command of the room that just makes you want to listen, you know? I know what it feels like to be an audience member in that situation, and that's the experience I'd like to provide for my audience, but I don't know what it feels like to be the speaker! Specifically, what are they doing? What are they thinking? What sort of preparation did they do?

I'm sure that I'm going to be nervous when I get up there, so I'm going to do my best to not talk too fast and to not have a jittery voice. But I think I can do even better if I know what things I can try to do (or not do) to make my speech come across in an easy, comfortable and confident way.

For what it's worth, I'll be talking about the importance of getting involved and volunteering for a specific cause. I spent my summer volunteering for it but there's still a lot left to do, so I'll be speaking from experience and talking about the importance of their continued efforts.

(And, I understand that I can't make an overnight transformation, but this is a rare opportunity and I want to be the best I can be! I hope it'll help to quell my nerves a little, too. ;)

Thank you in advance for your advice.

Indian English Speakers with Shifting Western Accent

Non Prosequitur — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 10:04:40 -0800

Is it a widespread behavior for multilingual speakers of english to get a more anglicized accent when talking to a native speaker? I don't mean just common code-switching (someone getting a drawl in Kansas, or someone going 'you understand' vs. 'you feel me' in different contexts.) But people going from like, Indian english to completely westernized english (in accents, not necessarily in diction or dialect) without making a conscious decision to do so. This is besides people 'faking' an accent because of class issues related to these things.

Poems of direct address?

Ambrosia Voyeur — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 13:16:06 -0800

What are some good poems to read aloud, that take the form of direct address? Something about the specific nature of address comes easily to me in performance, and I am looking for poems to read which thus allow me to inhabit the speaker in that particular way. "Daddy" by Sylvia Plath, and "To a Mouse" by Robert Burns were really fun for me to perform, for example.

Words of Wisdom, From a Guy That Doesn't Know A Whole Lot.

backseatpilot — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:52:09 -0800

I'm looking for cliches and stereotypes from movies and television about weddings, marriage, home ownership, raising children... As best man at my younger brother's wedding, I have to give a speech at the reception. I've decided on a theme: "things your older brother is responsible for teaching you, except you've gone and done it before him". Brother is getting married, they bought a house, and I fully expect him to have children soon; I have done none of these things.

So, for part of the speech, I plan on imparting some life lessons to him and his bride. Having never done any of the things that I need to be teaching him about, I plan to take all of these "life lessons" from popular movies and television. I'm looking for some cliches and stereotypes that fit the bill. Think of the "Things I Learned From the Movies" list that was very popular back in the early days of the internet, e.g. "Every trip to the grocery store always includes at least two loaves of French bread". I want things like that, applied to marriage, owning a home, and children (and anything else that fits within the theme).

If you have still photos that exemplify the cliche, I'd love to see those. There will be PowerPoint.

Wedding speech suggestions

greta simone — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 07:52:55 -0800

In need of a poem or other suggestions for a rehearsal dinner speech-- I am a female attendant to the groom at a wedding this weekend. Tonight at the rehearsal dinner I am expected to give a small speech but I'm finding it difficult to write for a few reasons: I'm a pretty terrible writer, if only in the sense that I am pretty pithy (which does not a good speech make), the groom and I were romantically involved in the past and I feel like most of the anecdotes I could share come from that era and are therefore inappropriate, and I don't know the bride very well (although I like her quite a bit) and have spent little time with the two of them together.

So, in trying to get to the point, I was hoping to bulk up my speech with a poem of some sort (not too long). I was hoping to find something kind of funny and a bit sardonic, as mine and the groom's friendship is based around a lot of insulting banter, but sweet and genuine without being too saccharine. Any recommendations?

A bit about him: he's an expert on pre-war blues music, he likes baseball, he's a techie, definitely kind of a loner/hermit but his fiancee has brought him out of his shell a bit.

Any other suggestions to make a good speech are welcome.

Thanks!

Any other suggestions are welcome

40 channels on a radio tuned to static

mippy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 04:11:57 -0800

Looking for interesting podcast recommendations from outwith iTunes - comedy, books, current affairs and anything else to satisfy an autodidact who's curious about everything. I'm finding that all the crafting I'm doing right now is eating into my reading time - I can't listen to speech on headphones whilst reading on the tube, but it's good to have something to amuse me whilst working with my hands. Currently I like The Moth (short stories from spoken word nights), Kermode and Mayo's film reviews (which kept me sane during a 1hr wait for a bus t'other week with their review of Terminator: Salvation Army) and Collings and Herrin (even if there's occasionally a bit too much bumming talk for my tastes). I need something amusing, or literary, or something that will teach me something. There's not that much on iTunes unless you like sport, video games or Twilight. I know I could go and spend the Selfridges voucher I got for my birthday on a DAB plug-in for the iPod, but discovering something new would be more fun. Any suggestions?

Must stop interrupting everyone.

Muffpub — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:23:26 -0800

Help me stop interrupting everyone when they're speaking! I've always talked over people without realizing it, but after a few people (including my ex) pointed it out to me over the past few months I've become more and more aware that I interrupt people when they're in the middle of talking simply because I thought of something exciting or interesting to say - or at least that's how I perceive it.

I never seem to speak over people out of anger or aggression; often, I find myself interrupting people to ask questions or to offer support or to reinforce what they're saying. Crucially, I'm usually completely unaware of what I'm doing until someone seethes "let me finish!"

After I caught myself interrupting someone at a job interview - yeah, a job interview - I realized that I need some actual help figuring this out. This would also help my relationship with my mother, since we both talk over each other all the time and it drives us both insane.

General tips for being a better listener and not dominating conversations would also be appreciated. Thanks.

"Time can never mend the careless whispers"

TheSecretDecoderRing — Sat, 02 May 2009 06:40:25 -0800

"Hi-- ahem, I mean, uh... Hi." Oh no! Do you have bouts with Spontaneous Laryngitis Syndrome, or SLS? Someone passes by you and shoots you a friendly "Hey there!" and you're caught off guard and are left whimpering a little "hey." What to do? Such brief encounters happen daily at work (esp receiving printouts), and I often find myself reduced to barely getting anything out, or just opening my mouth, nodding, and half-grinning. Even when I consciously try to get my words out more forcefully on a given day, it all goes out the window once someone addresses me out of the blue.

This is an office job, and I don't know if I'm subconsciously trying to avoid speaking too loudly and distracting others who are working at their desks. It may also be an urge to get something out as soon as possible without feeling like an eternity passes before I can respond.

I do well enough in normal extended conversation and can project when needed. I don't sound like Billy Mays, nor Tiny Tim. But in the above scenarios I think I end up sounding like the latter, in my head anyway. So does this happen to anyone else, and how do I get myself to speak at normal volume when suddenly approached, without overcompensating and going all Billy Mays, or enduring a five-second throat wake-up call, or ending up with merely a louder squeaky voice?

Unfortunately, I have no order to double for those responding within the next fifteen minutes.

Term for words with quasi silent letters?

sunshineunderground — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 07:10:25 -0800

Is there a term for words pronounced with wrongly silent/missing letters? Examples:

Porcelain pronounced "porclain"
Memory -> "memry"
Library -> "libry"

"I wish you way more than luck."

suedehead — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 11:40:50 -0800

Do you have the video for David Foster Wallace's 2005 Kenyon commencement speech? I'm interested in finding the video for DFW's speech. The full text is available transcribed here, but I'm looking for the video and can't find it. The Kenyon website says that they can only distribute tapes to a Kenyon graduate, and I've read online that graduates did receive a tape of the entire ceremony, but I can't find anything anywhere.

DFW's heartwrenching speech moved me nearly to tears when I first read it, and I've returned to it so many times -- I'd love, LOVE to find video of this somewhere, or at the very least an audio recording. Surely, surely somewhere out there has this speech out there. I'd be willing to buy, pay, or do whatever it takes. Are there any people who have this? Or any Kenyon College graduates who would be willing to order the tape for me?

Thanks so much, AskMe!

Giving a speech at a mixed marriage ceremony

booksprite — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:09:11 -0800

Can anyone suggest an appropriate reading for a mixed marriage ceremony? I am looking for suitable material for a speech I have been asked to give at a wedding for a couple from different racial backgrounds (English and Indian/Hindu). Something special - both meaningful and beautiful to listen to. Any ideas?