I've always had trouble with articulation, ever since I was a kid. I never really noticed until the end of high school and I started college, because that's when I started finally trying to open up and be more social. I'm entering my 2nd year and it's gotten slightly better, but I still have a problem with mostly the physical aspect of talking. Either I talk too fast, I slur my words or completely screw up and random noises come out, it's a real bother. I know pretty much everyone has that one moment when they get tongue tied every once in awhile but it happens way too often for me. The example I bring up is a few days ago I was talking with a friend and her phone ran out of battery. I directed her to the library to charge it, but the phrase I said, which was "they've got some phone chargers at the library", came out all botched up and sounded like "they've got some phone charge the library". I've tried saying that phrase over and over and I still have trouble saying it properly. But that's just one example though, these vocalization woes still happen a bit too often. Do I have a speech impediment? Anyone else have or know someone with this type of problem?
I have a similar problem (random stutter and slur) and whenever it comes up (quite often in the last year), I stop myself, catch my breath for a second, and then say it slower. Then start to build up my speed again slowly. I don't have a solution, but it helps in the short term for me. I do have a friend who specializes in these things... I don't really talk to her much anymore, especially since it's been a while since I've lived in Houston. I'll ask her if she knows something that could help.
Used to be this way in college. Not anymore. Believe it or not, staying away from the pron solved this for whatever reason.
Another thing that helped me was to read out loud. As silly as it sounds. It takes away having to think about what to say, you can hear yourself saying the words, and most of all it gives you practice speaking.
It's either you're not confident in yourself when talking or you just talk too fast. If its the former, don't be afraid. Trust yourself more and don't be shy about your speech impediment. Embrace it and learn from it. If its the latter, just talk slower. You're trying to have a conversation with someone not a sales pitch.
I don't know if this was a serious post... but if it was, I grew up with a speech impediment(a stammer... jeez, even back then I had to have the weird impediment, as everyone else in my speech classes had lisps or stutters). In speech therapy they focused on trying to get me to sing to get a rhythm in my speech. Didn't seem to work all that well other than improve my singing I reckon. By the time I go to college I knew work would require me to talk in front of strangers so I took speech classes. Still get nervous and stammer on occasion.
Nothing to worry about, completely normal. English is a very hard language to articulate to begin with.
Stuttering doesn't always mean you are a jackass. It can be quite endearing to the ladies. Or if you don't want to deal with speech impediment, become a professional athlete or have a giant ding dong.
You think you have it bad? Listen to these guys.... <iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/veflCk2rHfA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
For a little too long I thought "impediment" wasn't a real word at all, just the funny way Daffy Duck pronounced impairment. Finally someone was curious enough to ask why I would laugh at such a serious term. Politely laugh, as it seemed like such an over used and always oddly placed joke. But only then did I discover that everyone I ever heard talk about speech impediments weren't all making perfectly deadpan looney tunes references. Spoiler
You're gonna have to make a YouTube clip of you speaking and share it with us. That's the only way we can know.
It's been said that more people fear presenting in front of an audience over dying. Take a public speaking class or even acting class and learn some techniques on presenting and talking. I think the root cause is that you don't talk a lot, but if you were, you'd have more practice on smoothing out the rough spots. Catch-22: You don't talk often because you're self conscious of what you say. To remove some of that anxiety, record yourself with something like a phone. Do different conditions: One reading a book or script: one funny, one news article, one fiction, one science paper. Then do the same thing with a Q&A. Pretend you're giving a presentation. The next step would be to talk to your peers more often and later to strangers. How are you doing? Penny for your thoughts... If acting intimidates you, join improv instead and learn how they do it. You might feel like your mind is your worst enemy, but everyone there has had to go through it. If in any of those classes, those people don't understand you, then ask for feedback later. It's way better than a recording device where you're your own critic. The reason why people join those classes is to get better at the same things you're getting better at. Plus everyone's a captive audience to hear you talk and maybe even like you.
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I have a tendency to talk low. I have a tendency to switch up my words and sometimes my thoughts completely drop out...as in I will forget a word I am trying to use. I am told I talk to fast on the phone also. I have found the louder I speak and the slower I speak, the clearer I sound. I also notice when I am physically tired or mentally drained, this problem dramatically goes up.
