How to be good at words?

There was a famous fable master named Aesop in ancient Greece. According to legend, he was a slave to a noble family when he was young. Once, the host gave a banquet, and most of the guests were philosophers. The host asked Aesop to prepare the best wine and dishes for the guests. Aesop specially collected the tongues of various animals and held a tongue banquet.

At dinner, the host was surprised and asked, "What's going on?"

Aesop replied, "You told me to cook the best dishes for these distinguished guests. Tongue is the key to guide all kinds of knowledge. Isn't the tongue banquet the best dish for these philosophers? "

When the guests heard this, they all gave out appreciative laughter. The host also told Aesop: "Then I will hold another banquet tomorrow, and the food is the worst."

The next day, when the food was served, it was still the tongue. When the host saw this, he flew into a rage and asked Aesop why. Aesop answered unhurriedly, "Don't all bad things come from his mouth?" ? Tongue is not only the best thing, but also the worst thing! "

After hearing this, the host became angry from embarrassment, but there was nothing to refute.

This story about Aesop, although it is difficult for us to verify its authenticity, reveals an absolutely true truth. That is: being good at words plays an inestimable role in human beings.

Speaking, that is, oral language communication, is one of the main signs that distinguish human beings from other animals, and it is also an important means for human beings to survive and develop for hundreds of thousands of years. Especially today when human development has entered the 2 1 century, the new wave triggered by the revolution of science and technology and information is surging and magnificent. Speaking is not only an important part of people's daily life, but also a decisive prerequisite for the success or failure of people's careers. The level and ability of speaking has become an indispensable and important standard to measure people's comprehensive quality.

Can make a more popular metaphor, modern society, people can not do without talking, just like fish can not do without water.

A foreign novelist named Jarno Bennett once said: Most of the friction conflicts in daily life are caused by annoying voices, intonation and bad speaking habits. That makes sense. Why? As long as we carefully observe the people around us, we will find that speech defects may often lead to personal career misfortune, or damage the honor and interests of the institutions we serve, thus leading to discord between father and son, divorce between husband and wife, and even deterioration of international relations. How a person talks often determines whether others are willing to hire him, associate with him, vote for him, or have business relations with him.

If a person has speech disorder or lacks expressive ability, his ability will be underestimated, and he will be spread cruel lies and his image will be distorted. Even if a person's mind is as bright as a star, even if he is as diligent as an ox and as knowledgeable as an encyclopedia, if he lacks good speaking skills, his chances of success are much less than others, and it is often difficult to achieve his ideal goals.

In ancient China, there was a saying that "a word can make the country prosperous, and a word can also make the country wrong", which shows the determination to speak.

For example, during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, monarchs advocated eloquence, and scholars from all over the world flocked to it, which became a common practice. Zhang Yi, a lobbyist who is famous for carrying out Lian Heng strategy in Qin State, was one of the outstanding people at that time.

It is said that when he first came to Chu as a lobbyist, one day, Jade Jade happened to be thrown to the country, and the owner insisted that he was a thief, tortured him and drove him out of the house. After returning home, his wife sighed and said, "Why are you so embarrassed when you don't study and lobby?" Who knows that Zhang Yi is not angry and seems to answer irrelevant questions: "Do you think my tongue is still there?" When Zhang Yi heard that his tongue was still there, she sighed and said, "That's enough," because he knew that if his tongue was still there, he would have hope of prosperity. Later, he really soared with a famous mouth and became the prime minister of "one person below and ten thousand people above".

According to the records of historian Chen She's family, when Chen Sheng got up, he used his speech to mobilize the masses. He called and said, "It's raining, it's overdue, so we have to cut off the electricity. It's better not to cut it, but to defend it. If a strong man dies, he will become famous, and princes will have descendants! " Under the "instigation" of his remarks, the first peasant uprising in China's history started the battle flag. Chen Sheng's story profoundly reveals the importance of "three inches of golden tongue and two lines of clever teeth" in inspiring people and governing the country.

In ancient Greece and Rome, people's speaking ability was highly valued, and the wind of speaking eloquence was quite popular. In Rome at that time, listening to speeches was simply a kind of advanced enjoyment in people's daily life, and speakers occupied a more noble position than writers. Debate is an indispensable factor and ornament in all noble lives. People at that time would rather spend their time listening to speeches and debates than listening to music and watching games. More interestingly, many philosophers are also speakers, and they have many incisive and original views on the relationship between speech, eloquence and socialization. By the 4th century BC, there were famous "Top Ten Speakers" in Athens, such as Antiphene, Aesop Kratos and Demosthenes. This good habit of paying full attention to people's speaking ability, speech and eloquence in western society has been carried forward and spread to this day. Its typical embodiment is that summit elections and campaign speeches in many countries are often the key factors to determine success or failure.

Lenin, the great teacher, once pointed out: "An agitator is a people's orator who is good at speaking to the masses, inspiring them with his own enthusiasm, and grasping outstanding and explanatory facts." Lenin himself was an excellent speaker and orator. His brilliant life, famous in history, is probably closely related to his extraordinary speech ability and excellent debate skills. Here is an example.

1in the winter of 895, Lenin, who was leading the revolutionary struggle in Petersburg, was put into prison by the Russian authorities. A gloomy prison room immediately became a place where Lenin wrote books. When Lenin started writing, there was no writing paper, so he wrote in the blank of the book with milk sent by his mother, so that nothing could be seen on the surface, but when he baked it with fire, brown letters appeared on the paper. But writing is forbidden in prison, and if found, it will be severely punished. In order not to be found by the guards, Lenin hollowed out the bread, poured milk, made a special "ink bottle", dipped it in a small pen and wrote it. Once, the guard saw Lenin writing through a small hole in the door and immediately broke into the house: "Hum, I caught him. You are writing! " Lenin calmly picked up the "ink bottle" and put it in his mouth to chew. The guard paused and said, "Do you eat ink bottles?" Lenin replied, "You are blind. This is obviously bread. " The guard looked at it carefully, and it was really bread, so he had to leave silently.

Here, we can at least say that Lenin defeated an enemy in one sentence.

Among the revolutionaries of the older generation in China, there have been many eloquent iron-mouthed figures. Zhou Enlai is one of the outstanding representatives. His eloquence is well-known at home and abroad. He is resourceful, verve, sharp-tongued, both rigid and flexible, and even his opponents can't help but admire him. Former US President Nixon said that Zhou Enlai had four characteristics in his conversation: "energetic, well-prepared, superb negotiation skills, and calm under pressure." This kind of evaluation is quite appropriate.

On one occasion, Zhou Enlai held a press conference in Beijing to introduce China's achievements in economic construction and foreign policy. A western reporter, out of ridicule for China's poverty, suddenly asked, "Excuse me, how much money does the People's Bank of China have?" Zhou Enlai joked: "The monetary fund of the People's Bank of China is 18 yuan 88 points." The reporters couldn't help but be surprised at this answer. Zhou Enlai then took his time to explain in detail: "The People's Bank of China issued 10 yuan, 5 yuan, 2 yuan, 1 yuan, 5 jiao, 2 jiao, 1 jiao, 5 fen, 2 fen and 1 min, totaling 65,438+. The People's Bank of China is a financial institution led by the people of China, backed by the people of the whole country, with outstanding reputation and strong strength. The currency it issues is the most reputable currency in the world and enjoys a high reputation internationally. " When Zhou Enlai said this, he was surprised and won thunderous applause from the audience.

Some people say that the power of language can conquer the most complicated thing in the world-the human mind. Others say that talents are not necessarily eloquent, but those who are eloquent must be talents. All this shows that speaking and speaking ability has become an important ability that modern people must have, and it is also an essential quality for creative and pioneering talents. Perhaps the following story can help us to illustrate this problem.

On one occasion, a group leader went to a certain country to negotiate with a foreign consortium on a joint venture to build a new float glass factory. With advanced technology and equipment, the other side charged China exorbitant prices, and the negotiations were once deadlocked. Later, the city chamber of commerce where the consortium was located invited him to give a speech. He pointed out in his speech: "China is an ancient civilization. Our ancestors unconditionally contributed the production technology of the four great inventions to mankind as early as 65,438+0,000 years ago, and their descendants never complained how stupid they were not to apply for patents. On the contrary, they praised their ancestors for their outstanding contributions to promoting world scientific progress. Now, in its economic cooperation with other countries, China does not require countries to give up their patents unconditionally. As long as the price is reasonable, we won't give any money. " This supercilious and wonderful speech won the appreciation of the participants, and even won the compromises and concessions of foreign consortia in the negotiations, which enabled the cooperation between the two sides to be realized.

In a word, being good at words is really a good thing without harm.

Mr. Musei Tokugawa, who once occupied the first place in the Japanese public speaking art circle, is a famous mouth and is known as a "celebrity orator". There is a passage below, which is his opinion on the speech based on his many years of on-site experience. After reading this passage, maybe everyone will understand better why everyone has nervousness and fear when speaking.

Mr. Musei Tokugawa said:

"Before giving a speech on stage, anyone will feel nervous and can't calm down. You may ask:

"'alas! As a professional speaker who has fought many battles and seen various scenes, are you still nervous? I don't know how many times I've been asked this question, but I can tell you that even a skilled veteran can't be completely nervous. Because, no matter the speech or discussion, you always have to speak, which must be done seriously.

"Of course, if it is a group of listeners I am familiar with, I will sometimes feel nothing if I say something very ordinary. Just like a teacher giving a lecture to his students, there is nothing to be nervous about.

"But if you want to speak to everyone in a strange place and don't know the identity of the audience, even world-class famous speakers will feel nervous."

Mr. Musei Tokugawa said:

"Although talking is my profession, I don't like talking in front of people, and I always want to hide as much as possible. What I like is chatting with friends I can get along with, because I don't hate talking, but I hate talking seriously.

"I just mentioned that I don't like the uneasiness before giving a speech on stage; And the nervousness in the middle of the speech is not a good feeling; I can't stand the lingering aftertaste after I walked off the stage.

"A slight aftertaste can be forgotten in about a day or two; But sometimes it affects my mood for a week or two; If it is serious, I will feel sad when I think about it occasionally within almost 3 months; There is even an aftertaste that I will never forget. There are many differences in degree.

"For example, prepared a few fixed paragraphs or short stories. As long as they move out as soon as they take office, there will be no aftertaste. There is no feeling of boredom because it can be expected that there will be no serious mistakes. But personally, I often have the opportunity to give a speech for the first time in a strange field, so the proportion of failure will be higher.

"So, to be honest, most people can't make complete preparations in advance before I give a speech on stage. In this case, if we want to say perfection, it must be God.

"It's a pity that I'm not a god, so I should chew that boring aftertaste often."

Mr. Musei Tokugawa finally thinks that there are two possible reasons for the failure of the speech:

First, the negligence of speaking style and skills.

Second, personal education is not good enough.

Sometimes it will leave a bad impression on the audience, and sometimes it will even be despised and disrespected by others. That would be a real failure.

Both of these situations will bring bad aftertaste, but in my opinion, the latter should be more profound and make me feel sad. However, is there any way to prevent yourself from suffering from failure? The answer is: not at all.

Because, since speaking is a profession, sadness after failure is a tax that must be paid. The speaker tried to evade taxes in a clever way, which was naive.

In society, some professional speakers can always keep a good mood. For them, the aftertaste is almost 100% good, and there is no need to pay taxes. And because they don't know their failure at all, of course they live happily. However, such people can never make progress.

"Someone once said that it is a fool to make the same mistake twice. Therefore, those speakers who don't pay taxes are fools among fools. I'll think it over. Compared with those who make the same and repeated mistakes all the year round and don't know how to improve, they are at least improving all the time. This is worth comforting! "

Mr. Musei Tokugawa's remarks tell us that everyone is too nervous to speak, including professional speakers. Everyone will fail in speaking, because we are human beings, not gods. At the same time, he warned us that no matter how many times we fail, it doesn't matter, don't be nervous, the important thing is to continue to start again bravely. Only in this way can we make progress bit by bit and reach a higher level.

In a word, it is not surprising or terrible for a person to be nervous and dare not speak. We should treat this situation correctly. In addition, we should spend more energy and energy to analyze and find scientific solutions.

Although everyone may have the psychology of speaking timidly, the reasons for this psychology may be different and varied. For example, some people can chat with relatives and friends for an hour or two; Some people talk on the phone for a long time, and the topic is endless. The more they talk, the more excited they are. Some people can often say something that makes people laugh or interests them, which can be said to be quite good at talking. But on a formal occasion, in front of a large group of people (or a microphone for broadcasting), I am at a loss. Why is this?

Some scholars have found through long-term observation that there are two main reasons for this tension and fear:

First, I don't want to make a fool of myself. The idea of these people is that as long as I don't expose my shortcomings in front of others, others will not know my shortcomings. But once you speak in front of everyone, your shallow roots and poor opinions will be exposed, so from then on, where is your foothold? Therefore, it is safer not to talk.

However, people who hold this idea should think about it. If a person tries not to expose his shortcomings, can his advantages be brought into full play? If your strengths are affected, it will undoubtedly affect others' opinions of you-others sometimes have lower opinions of you. In fact, as long as you play seriously and speak your mind sincerely, you don't have to stand on tiptoe to be an expert, I believe you will have a good performance.

At the same time, whether a person lives or works, contact with society and others is absolutely inevitable, and speaking is the most important means for people to contact with society and communicate with others. Therefore, it is conceivable that a person who doesn't want to talk will be rejected by modern society and eliminated by modern society. Facts have proved that even deaf people need to communicate in a special language-sign language.

Second, if you don't know how to organize the content of the speech, it's like being dragged into a strange world, and you will feel scared.

In fact, as long as you see clearly the reasons for your nervousness and fear and analyze them scientifically, you will accidentally find that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Some people pretend to know everything because they are afraid that their knowledge will be known by others. As a result, they were self-defeating and laughed at. It was really pitiful and unnecessary.

Imagine, who is under greater pressure, an inarticulate person and a first-class speaker, to express their opinions in front of others? For a person who is not good at words, people in society or listeners will not have high expectations of him. With this in mind, you shouldn't be nervous, so you can feel at ease. However, for a speaker with a wide range of knowledge and free speech, everyone has high hopes for him and will record and take notes on his speech. Such a high degree of attention and attention will naturally cause great pressure on the people on the stage. Therefore, those who are regarded as big shots are often very nervous before giving a speech on stage, but it is difficult for others to see it.

If a well-known figure is not nervous at all under great pressure, it can only be said that he doesn't care about this pressure, because only when a person sees through almost everything can he really remain calm. But for a person with poor speaking ability, I am afraid it is still difficult to achieve this state of mind. Before he came to power, he probably thought: I must succeed, I can't make a fool of myself, I can't fail; Sometimes I even pray: May God bless the success of my speech. However, when a first-class speaker walks on the stage, the only thing that comes to mind is that he must walk on the stage. If there is any mistake in his speech, he should make it up as easily and unconsciously as before, and never be overwhelmed or panicked because of the mistake.

This is worth thinking and learning from every one of us who is afraid of speakers.