We communicate with many people in our daily life: our friends, family, teachers, people we meet during social gatherings, etc. When we communicate with them, we share our thoughts using several words, facial expressions, and body language.
At times, we are able to express our thoughts effectively, but sometimes, we fail to do so because of our inability to come up with the right words at the right time. We thus end up miscommunicating our thoughts and confusing the people around us.
Sometimes, we communicate the wrong ideas by using the wrong words, too. Situations such as these can be very embarrassing. So, how do we improve our communication skills and impress our listeners? The answer is very simple: by reading!
Reading helps us in many ways. Not only does it entertain us, but also provides us with information about places, people, and the world around us. It also improves our language, our vocabulary, and our grammar: the three most important aspects of communication.
So, let’s see how we can use reading to refine our communication skills and improve our connections with the people around us.
How to Improve Your Communication Skills
We share with you some simple and effective ways to help improve your communication skills
1. Think Before You Speak
Think before speaking or expressing your opinions or thoughts. Take the time to put your thoughts in the right order before you respond. Speaking without thinking leads to misunderstanding and miscommunication of ideas.
2. Read More Often
Reading helps improve your communication skills. It is through good books that you can pick new words, understand their meaning and use them in your conversation. Develop your reading skills. Find the meanings of the new words you come across, understand them, and then use those words in your spoken or written communication.
3. Use Simple Language
Simple language is easy to understand, so always convey your thoughts and ideas as simply and in as few words as possible. Avoid complicated words and sentences. When answering questions, avoid irrelevant information and be concise.
4. Be Careful About Your Tone
The tone in which you speak matters a lot to your listener. Always speak in a warm and friendly tone when speaking with friends or teachers. Avoid a harsh or flat tone. It makes you sound either disinterested or egotistical. A friendly tone makes you a good communicator. Using the right tone when making a speech, for example, will enlighten your listeners and gain you respect and admiration.
5. Be A Good Listener
Listening is an important aspect of communication. Be sure to listen when others speak. Give them your undivided attention so that you are sure about what they are communicating. It also helps you build a good rapport with your listeners, who will respect you for being attentive to them.
6. Speak Confidently
Be confident in yourself when you speak or convey a thought. If you don’t believe in yourself, then your listeners won’t believe in you, either. Use the correct tone while expressing your thoughts and always speak with confidence. If you are giving a speech, make sure to practice it thoroughly first. Knowing your speech will give you the confidence to communicate your ideas well.
7. Be Honest
Be honest when speaking. If you don’t have certain information, then be honest about it. Being honest makes one likeable to their audience. Being fake will cause your listeners to lose respect for you. Furthermore, communicating incorrect information will cause you a lot of embarrassment. So, when in doubt, admit it, honestly.
8. Practice
Practice makes perfect. Practice speaking, read more and work on your language skills. Practice will also make you confident when communicating.
Does Reading Improve Conversation Skills?
Reading is one of the best ways to improve your conversation skills. Reading good, informative books helps you stay informed about the world around you. The language in such books helps you improve your language, learn new words, and gather the information that you can then share with others, confidently.
It is important, therefore, to develop your reading skills. It is a great way to stay informed about the world around you.
Benefits of Reading Skills in Communication
1. Exercising Your Mind
Reading is a great workout for your mind. It involves processing the new words you read, understanding their meaning, and analyzing the ideas you read about. This further helps in stimulating memories and expanding your imagination. These activities exercise the brain and help keep your mind sharp.
2. Help to Improve Concentration
To understand and absorb what you read, you need to concentrate on the pages of the book. Reading helps you improve your focus as you become oblivious to everything around you when you are immersed in a book. Developing the habit of reading will, thus, improve your concentration, which will help you focus better when you study.
3. Connecting With Others
Reading helps you learn about new places, cultures, important events, and world issues, all of which empower you with knowledge. This gives you the confidence to connect with new people and expand your social circle. Reading also teaches you the right values and helps you become sensitive to others’ feelings, which is an important part of good communication skills.
4. Reading Helps Your Vocabulary
Reading helps you learn new words and thus expands your vocabulary to articulate your thoughts better. So, when you come across a new word, you can look up its meaning, understand it, and then use it in your oral or written communication. Reading, thus, makes you a better speaker as well as a good writer.
Conclusion
Reading is an essential tool to help improve your verbal and written communication skills. It not only improves your language skills but also enhances your imagination and gives you information that you can use in your communication with others. The GIIS Pune inculcates the reading habit in its students from pre-primary onwards. This helps students develop good communication skills that always come in handy, such as during interviews, quizzes, group discussions, or debates.
