Articulation

ARTICULATION a.k.a. WORDS CLEARLY SPOKEN


What do you need to do?
Express words so that they can easily be understood by your audience.

This involves (1) proper use of the speech organs and (2) understanding of the structure of the words.


Why is it important?
When you enunciate carefully, others can understand what you say. Words that are clearly spoken are likely to be taken seriously (and that's quite important, isn't it?)


How to do it?
1. Speak and read individual words clearly —with proper enunciation, sufficient volume, and reasonable pace.
2. Do not slur expressions! Or run words together in such a way that the meaning becomes uncertain to your audience.
3. Hold your head up, and open your mouth sufficiently when you speak!!!
4. Practice relaxing your neck, jaw, lips, facial muscles, and throat muscles!!!



Try this exercise:
Speak in your usual manner. How much do you open your mouth? Do you need to open it a little more and make fuller use of facial muscles? Practice doing that as you read something (book, newspaper) aloud. Be sure to hold your head up and try to relax the muscles of your jaw.

And btw: The tongue is so vital for speaking that "a foreign tongue" also means "a foreign language." Even the English word "language" comes from a French word meaning "tongue." 

AND PS: a sneaky bonus because you lovely humans read right to the end... I've a FREE resource that will help you become fluent even faster!