What is "how to speak in a way that gets your message across"? We asked a current announcer!

Hello!
I'm Inoue, the Persian cat at Beyond Shikoku office.

On June 26th (Friday), as part of the training for future leaders at our satellite office,
"How to Communicate Effectively: Taught by a Current Announcer."I participated in an online training session on
I would like to share the valuable information I learned in this training with all of you.
The instructor was Yukiko Miura, a current announcer from Aomori Prefecture who is active in Tokyo.

Just practice! Vocal exercises are important

■Grilled short ribs (repeat 5 times)
"Grilled short ribs" This phrase is really hard to pronounce because it's difficult to get the tongue right.
You don't need to say it fast. The important thing is that the other person understands you. I
hope everyone reading this blog will try saying "Grilled short ribs".
...How did it go?
I bet a lot of you had trouble saying it, right?
■Director of the Tokyo Patent Office Denies Vacation Permission
This also contains a lot of "kyo" and "ka" sounds, so it's difficult to pronounce it in a way that the other person can understand.
So, let's try saying "Director of the Tokyo Patent Office Denies Vacation Permission"! ...
How did it go? Did
you get it right?
I'm pretty good at pronouncing this phrase! (I'm exaggerating lol)

What's more important than being able to speak smoothly?

More important than speaking smoothly is getting your message across to the other person.
pitch accent
to"grilled short ribs"Adding
you pronounce them in a way that the other person can understand. Pitch accent means putting a high accent on the beginning of a word and gradually lowering the pitch.
So the first "a" has the highest accent, and
the last "bi" is the lowest.
If you find it hard to visualize or can't add pitch accent well,
speaking to someone far awaytry imagining yourself
When I was practicing, I imagined myself saying "Yoo-hoo!" while hiking.
Speaking to someone far away doesn't mean raising your voice, so imagining it like I did might be helpful.
Exaggerating the pitch accent will make you sound clearer.
Speaking softly makes your articulation poor and sounds mumbled.
And speaking softly makes you speak faster, which makes it even harder for the other person to understand you.
Conversely, speaking loudly gives a bright impression and makes you sound clearer.
■Tokyo Patent Office Director, Vacation Request Denied
This is difficult to pronounce because it has similar phrases lined up.
However, by separating each word and adding pitch accents, it becomes easier for the listener to understand.
For example,
Tokyo/Patent/Office/Director/Vacation/Request/Denial
, and pronounce the first syllable of each word with a high accent.
If you don't separate each word, it sounds mumbled, but
with a little awareness, it becomes easier for you to pronounce and easier for the listener to understand.
Also, something that can be said in generala "blank expression" does not look like you are trying hard.
Therefore,by shaping your mouth into an "ee" or "e" shape, you will no longer have a blank expression, and your voice will also have expression.
It is the same way of speaking that I often call a "smiling voice".
Speaking with an "ee" or "e" mouth shape naturally without putting too much force into your mouth seems difficult unless you are conscious of it on a daily basis.

Presenting is like choosing a gift

Don't you think that's a wonderful phrase?
When I heard this phrase, I interpreted it as thinking about the other person when you speak and pronounce words.
Points to remember when speaking in front of others include:
- It's better to keep sentences short
- It's easier to understand if you use simple endings like "desu"
and "masu" There are honorifics such as "respectful language," "humble language," and "polite language," but it seems that "polite language" is the easiest to understand.
Also, when you speak, if your sentences are long, doesn't it sound disorganized and difficult for you to understand?
I think this is true not only when speaking, but also when writing blogs like this.
"When speaking in front of others, it's important to use the language you're used to using every day. It's
Ms. Miura said,
it will still take me a while to feel like I've "done it.
, and I'm really, really bad at speaking in front of people. . .
this feelingcomplex aboutthat I'll be able to overcome
accumulating "successes."

Finally

I enjoy participating in these kinds of training sessions. I
get to meet new people and learn new things.
These encounters and learning experiences are precious connections and assets to me.
A Persian cat becoming the next leader of the satellite office?!
That may not happen, but
when I have juniors at the Shikoku office, I want to be someone they can rely on.

Growing every day, moving forward every day.
I must update myself every single day!!!
Thank you for reading to the end.