How to Become More Articulate?

@tags:: #lit✍/📰️article/highlights
@links:: collaboration, communication, speech,
@ref:: How to Become More Articulate?
@author:: lesswrong.com

2023-02-07 lesswrong.com - How to Become More Articulate

Book cover of "How to Become More Articulate?"

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Write more. Writing will help you formulate your thinking which helps in speaking. You'll also find yourself building your vocabulary. Go through an online public speaking course.
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Intentional practice.  Notice when you're less precise than you'd hoped, and fix it.  Many (not all) conversations with friends or coworkers have room for "wait, let me restate that" and try again.  Do this in all situations where you think this kind of precision is a primary component of the communication.  And notice which conversations would not benefit, so you can be more natural and off-the-cuff in those.
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Slow down.  Take 2-5 seconds to plan before starting a sentence.  You may need filler words here, just to signal that you're thinking and not passing your turn.
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Read a lot.  Vocabulary comes from outside - you'll get used to the words you encounter often.  Writing is also critical - you can do the thinking and editing before anyone sees it, and this will make you more articulate when speaking.  Also, many people who are conversationally articulate heavily use cached thoughts that they've refined in writing.
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- [note::I like the notion that "Vocabulary comes from outside" and "cached thoughts refined through writing"]

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Be up-front about your level of knowledge and areas of curiosity, but try to ask specific questions that fill in gaps, rather than "please work hard to give me a jumpstart on a topic you've thought about for years".
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- [note::I'm guilty of this 😅. When in these situations, perhaps I should go "meta" and start discussing my overall impression of the topic and what I do/don't know about it.]

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One thing I haven't seen mentioned is learning to shut up. Shut up. Even when it means that there will be an awkward silence. Let your thoughts form fully, and only after they're complete, speak. Remember the ancient proverb: 'tis better to keep silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt. In my experience, a significant portion of people seeming inarticulate comes from their rushing to get their thoughts out of their head in order to fill "dead air".
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You can use less weasel words. Often I feel like the question I want to ask is becomes I want to ask: and less passive voice Being articulate" is a skill I feel like I do not have, and I would like to practice this skill." becomes I'm not articulate, and I want to practice being more articulate
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Really smart people will have a ton of prepared phrases, so many that they can talk on a wide variety of topics by saying something they already know how to say and just modifying it a little.
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As for asking someone to transfer knowledge, phrasing is usually the key. Saying something like, "I'm trying to learn more about X. Can you give me an overview?" or, "I know you're more familiar with X than I am. Could you explain to me a little about how it works?"
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- agency, knowledge, communication, phrasing, asking,