MultimediaEnglishListeningandSpeakingHandoutfortheFirstSemesterFindingFaultsOurabilitytocommunicateisoftenmarredbysomeverycommonfaults.Forinstance:Alazyspeakerwhomumblesoftencan’tbeheardAflat,monotonous,drearyvoicemakesustuneout—wecan’thelpit.Aharshvoiceisirritating.Aflabbytonguecan’tproducecrispspeech.Poorqualitybreathingresultsinpoorqualityspeech.Alotof“ums”and“ers”makespeakersseemnervousandunsureoftheirfacts.HowDoWeSound?Findingfaultwithourselvescanbedepressing,butispartofourprogresstogoodspeech.Thefaultthatismostirritatingisadullvoice.Somuchgoesdownthedrain,somuchexcitementgetsflattened,somuchpersonalitydisappearswhenmonotonycreepsin.Ofcourse,tobeunderstood,firstofallwehavetobehard.Mumblesarefrustratingtolistento.Theydon’topentheirmouths,theirlipshardlymove,theirtonguesarelazy,andtheirjawsseemtobelockedintoposition.UMSAndERSIfthereisanyonethingthatspoilsaperson’sspeech,andspeechmakinginparticular,it’sthe“Um”,“er”,“ah”,“eh”,“anda”,“kindof”,“youknow”syndrome.Toomanypeopleshovethesemeaningless,sillylittlewordsintogapswhentheyrunoutofsomethingtosay,whenthey’renervousandcan’tthinkofwhattosay,andbecausethey’vedoneitforsolongtheydon’tknowhowtogetridofthem.Thereisonewaythathelpsyouthrowthemaway,shootthemdown.Everytimeyousaythem,orstarttosaythem,stop!Saynothing.Alwaysrememberapauseisfarmoreeffective.Theydoabsolutelynothingforyourspeaking.Theydetractfromitseffectiveness.You’vegottogetridofthem.Remember,onlyyoucandoit.Nooneelsecandoitforyou.YourTalk:GettingtoKnowYouTheprofessorcallsyourname—it’syourturntoaddresstheclass.Yourheartpoundswithsuchforcethatyouthinkitcanbeheardacrosstheroom,yourforeheadbreaksoutwithbeadsofperspiration,yourmouthgoesdry,andyourstomachquivers.Youareexperiencinganattackofnerves—stagefright—thatisnotuniquetoyou.Mostpeoplegetit,whethertheyadmititornot.Thissensation,invaryingdegrees,occursthousandsoftimesdaily:onanindividual’sfirstdayonanewjob,onafirstdate,andonastudent’sfirstdayatanewschool.Ithappenstoactorandactressesjustb