What to consider to improve your communication skill

I'll talk about Few tips and practices to improve

Good practices in spoken English Developing understanding in discussion

Listening Expressing Conflict resolving Interpersonal

Speak loud & clear.. Be heard

Speaking in a decent loudnessshows your confidence

Loudness and clarity are absolutely necessarywhile speaking to nonnativeEnglish speaker

Least loudness?? Decent loudness??

Don't hurry, don't hide

Don't speak in a low voiceonly because you are not sure about the correctness of your English.

Don't hurry while speaking to hide your mistakes. You can correct your mistakes. Don't hurry at all

Look at me Look at the eye of the person(s) listening to you. Eye contact makes your speech

more expressive because of the eye movements and facial gesture. more interesting because you give and recieve attention. Speaker feels important

The floor or the ceiling or the wall is not the thing you want to look at. They are not listening for sure ;)

Express Yourself Put little waves of

emotions in your speech.

Are you using the expressions that you use while speaking in your native language?

Your surprise Your confusion Your joy Your disliking Your enthusiasm

Feedback Use your words to respond to the speaker. 'Ohh really?' 'Right', 'May be', 'I agree', 'You

shouldn't'. These small words will let the speaker know how you are perceiving his speech.

Physical gesture also helps.

Definitely not appropriate in discussion with a bunch of people or in a presentation or meeting.

Pronunciation + accent

Ishtoop!! You pom gana?

How important? Most important is speaking clearly, pronouncing clearly and then correctly.

Funny(?) accent

”Did you mean..” Listen to understand first. If you are slightly

unsure, speak out the idea in your own words to the speaker.

This is the proof that you have understood.

Half understood idea may lead to putting unnecessary effort and more confusion in job.

”Did you mean..” magic in conflict resolution

4X important when you are in an argument or conflict. This technique helps seeing other's point of view.

Don't get egocentric. Don't get personal.

”Let me finish” It's important that you finish and everyone gets it

fully. So, don't hesitate to say 'Let me finish' And do not make someone say 'Let me finish'.

Don't interrupt.

What if someone ”never” stops :P

Never talk over people This demonstrates a real lack of respect.

By talking over someone what you’re basically saying is “I don’t care what you’re saying—what I have to say is more important”..

Handling the fault.. Your fault: Take ownership of your fault.

”Ohh.. I was wrong about that.” That makes you a trusty and rational person.

Other's fault: Don't blame someone directly for his fault.

In stead of ”What you did is wrong” 'I think this could be done in a better way”.

Clarify the context Ambiguous word,number,idea in different context Context depends on the person you're talking to

(how related he/she is your contexts)

Clarify the context if necessary (I have a problem in using firebug plugin)

Describe the issue (I can't see the html element source in firebug)

Understand the audience

Use of tech jargons. Struts this... nio I/O that.. ..framework works.. map,key.. JSR-

168... :@%!!:@??!

Slow down and use small sentences when listener is not that comfortable with the language you speak.

Use simpler words.. Flabbergusted → stunned / totally amazed

And -aa-- blocking –aaaa- problem

Cause if you're not sure what to say If you can't find the words to express It's just a habit If you are thinking something else while talking

Take a breath Or you can say.. ”excuse me” ”i'll put another way” ”how to put it”

”how to say it” and take time

Use the pen, be an artist

Visual hints help understanding to a great extent.

Use your pen and notebook or a whiteboard to express yourself.

Draw pictures, boxes, arrows and write keywords to show what you you are talking about. Even mindmap helps.

Follow the audience Is the audience getting what you are talking

about? From feedback, response From gesture

When in doubt.. ask ”Did you get me..?”

Don't hammer with the same words

Be creative Be creative when someone

doesn't understand you. Don't repeat the same words.

Try different words. Try use your pen.

Net practice Discuss a problem Demonstrate a feature Argue and resolve Internal team meetings

(e.g. Scrum)

Credit

Abdullah Al NahianSystem Architect at Vizrt

Thanks

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