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Reading helps me significantly to speak better in a fascinating way. In fact, the more I read, the more my ideas and knowledge get rich and clearer that making me more fluent to speak better in public. Speaking better is a long-time process in which reading is the most effective tool that will help you potentially. So if you ask me how does reading help you speak better? Go through the following section in order to know the extent reading creates for me in this context.
Ways on How Does Reading Help You Speak Better
As children when we start with our basic education, three important skills we learn (1) reading (2) writing, and (3) speaking. All the three skills are interconnected to each other and important for communication to a very great extent, in this article I will focus on the correlation between two core skills reading and speaking, and how reading helps to speak better.
Have you ever looked at someone on the stage speaking confidently before the crowd without a script or a chit? Or have you ever come across a person in a social gathering who is spontaneous and ready with a public speech, like we see in movies? These are very common scenarios, and we often tend to be impressed by them, what attracts us is their spontaneity, confidence, and most importantly their charm.
These are the people who walk into the room and effortlessly become the center of any social get-together. What makes them such a celebrity is their skill to speak and that comes from reading. However, some might contradict this statement and say that being a speaker is an art. Undoubtedly, I wouldn’t deny this fact but art is usually acquired by practice and consistency. Those we see as the public speaker must have started their journey like us, they achieved the recognition that they enjoy today with a lot of hard work and practice.
We gain maximum information through reading it could be newspaper, magazines and much more. For example reading a novel, nonfiction, or an autobiography is equivalent to knowing the character personally, it feels like they are expressing their story to us, sharing their struggle and success. This helps us in accepting people with different approaches and behavior. The traveling book helps us explore the world just by sitting on a small bench in some small town.
While reading language books strengthens our speaking skills likewise a general knowledge book or an encyclopedia provides us with knowledge. Overall reading any genre of the book boasts our confidence, provides information, introduces us to new things and much more, and above everything else, reading makes us better speakers!
Grammar and Vocabulary
Speaking any language is equal to writing it, some people believe that they do not need to focus on their grammar while speaking however they have greatly erred, a native speaker will immediately come to know about your language weakness if you speak incorrect grammar. The most common reason that we feel hesitant to speak, even after having proper knowledge and confidence mainly because we feel we might fumble with grammar.
This is the basic difference between a reader and a non-reader, a habit of reading increases your speed and enhances vocabulary and a reader forms a habit of speaking with perfect grammar and advanced terminology. For instance, Indian minister Mr. Shahshi Tharoor is known worldwide for teaching impressively difficult words through his tweets in a funny way, had it not been Mr. Tharoor who would know that a word like “floccinaucinihilipilification” exists. Now you might wonder what it means, well for that you need to read!
Eloquence and Confidence
Next in the merits of reading comes eloquence and confidence, A lot of time people judge an individual based on his or her body language, tone of voice, and facial expression. Personally, we don’t like people who speak aggressively or arrogantly. At the same time, we don’t tend to be impressed with the people who are extremely submissive or fail to communicate their expressions and feelings.
But when one speaks with articulacy coupled with a humble attitude and confidence, they become attractive immediately. It also implies when they disapprove, their criticism seems constructive and innocuous (seems like now you need to open your dictionary. Facing difficult situations with ease is also a quality of a confident person. Moreover, these two are extremely important qualities one needs to acquire if one wishes to taste success in their life.
Strengthen our Memory
When we read a certain part of the text it prints in our subconscious mind for a very long time or stays forever. Remember when you read a poem from your language book in school which had a drawing on the left side of the mathematical formula that was written on the blackboard with white chalk.
How do you remember it?
The answer is because while you were just bluntly watching it your subconscious brain locked it up in the memory. This is only possible because of reading, reading enriches your memory, sharpens your brain, and doesn’t allow you to forget even if you read or saw it just for seconds.
Fluency and Accent
Furthermore, reading promotes fluency in your speaking and improves your accent. Those who speak in public do not have an odd accent or they do not use fillers like “aaaa, hmmmm, etc” while articulating their thoughts. That is because they have read and practiced their speech repeatedly or the habit of reading has made them fluent. Besides if you ever dreamt of having a perfect and impressive accent that is possible by reading and practicing over and over.
The Bottom Line
When you read regularly, you can speak better for sure. You can do the following things consistently in order to speak better through reading.
- Start reading books; it could be any book, a novel, a storybook, a weekly magazine, or a pamphlet that you find on the street. Make sure to revise your basic, and know the phonetic sound of the words.
- Next is to focus on grammar and vocabulary; try to learn new words from the books and find their meaning of them.
- Furthermore, join reading clubs where you can come across people who may share similar interests as yours. This will give you the opportunity to practice the desired language at the same time with the help of communication you can share your ideas and experience new ideas and perspectives.
- Practice by recording your voice, listening to it and analyzing your speech, trying to correct your vocabulary and grammar, checking the pace of your speech, further standing in front of the mirror, and observing your body language and postures.
- Talk to your friends, seek their help, and ask them for constructive feedback about your speaking skills. After that implement it in your speech.
- If you are an introvert, try going to get-togethers and social gatherings. Be proactive, speak to different people, exchange your thoughts, and start with small talks. Once you achieve that confidence engages in full-length conversation. It is normal for you to be nervous and make mistakes while speaking but that shouldn’t stop you from speaking at gatherings.
- Finally, most importantly, read every day, and you will find the change.
