I have clear ideas in my mind, but sometimes when it comes to talking, i am just very bad at it. If i try to be verbose, it's a mess, if i try to keep it short, i look dumb and often no one understands.
Do you have any tips that could help me improve? I want to be able to properly express my ideas without looking like an idiot.

electricitywolf said:
I have clear ideas in my mind, but sometimes when it comes to talking, i am just very bad at it. If i try to be verbose, it's a mess, if i try to keep it short, i look dumb and often no one understands.
Do you have any tips that could help me improve? I want to be able to properly express my ideas without looking like an idiot.

Read books... a lot. Watch actors. Take note of other people's speaking. Take a college course on speech. These should help? I recommend at least picking up a book on speech. i.e. The kinds of books required for these classes: https://writing-speech.dartmouth.edu/curriculum/speech-courses

Example from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Book-Speech-Communication-Activities/dp/0916260879

Oh, I recognise this because that used to be me all of the time. Here is how I fixed it:

Practice writing things out. Writing helps your brain practice organising the ideas you want to say, into the limitations of sentences and language. But unlike when you say things out loud, you can look at the sentences to figure out how to make it clearer. And another handy thing about using writing to practice, is that no one else has to see the messy learning curve or judge you for it, because only the paper/document sees you trying things out. Some common problems to look for: Where did you repeat an idea unnecessarily? Where did you leave something out, so the listener might have gotten lost? Was this sentence so long that the idea at the start got seperated from the idea at the end? What are five other ways that you could write that idea, and are any of them easier to understand your point? If you say this part of the idea first, or in the middle, or last... how does that change how easy it is to understand what you mean? Which types of tactics work best as an introduction to an idea or concept, so you want to use those sentences and phrases near the start?

Also, do a lot of reading things like books, to see how other people used language to say what they meant. Often you can pick up new words, new ways to phrase things or to describe things, just from seeing someone else use it well.

And when you read, pause sometimes to think about what they just described. How well did that description work? And then... what made it so good? If you needed to describe that type of situation or object or place, what words or phrases would you use? Does that paint the same picture? Or are there ways you can improve your words or phrasing to be more accurate or helpful so that it works better?

Practice practice practice.

There's also a mental game I like to play with myself, anytime during the day to practice this stuff. I'll pick something that I can see. Or an emotion that I just felt. Or a gesture that I just watched someone do...(things you see in videos work really well because you can pause them and replay it over and over to study it and to check how close you got later). But take something, and then think "how would I describe that? how would I put that into words?" and just try to experiment with different ways of describing it. See which ones are more accurate or work better. And then practice a few sentences talking about it, as if I was telling a friend about it, so I can practice using those descriptions in an imaginary conversation. Someone walks by with red shoes. Are they red or bright red or dark red or maroon or orange-red? What types of red color words do I know that could fit? No, not that one, it actually means a different type of red than I'd thought, but that is good to know now. Also, do the shoes have any markings on them? Logos? Designs? And what type of shoes are they? Do they look worn or brand new? Do you think the person actually uses them for athletic things, or did they buy them just for fashion?

The more you practice this, then the easier it will be to find the actual words that you meant when you need them. It also helps you to get more familiar with what any word or phrase communicates when you use it. You think of it like this, but does that first word you wanted to use actually mean just that? Does it have multiple meanings, so you need to make something else in the sentence or context more clear first (to avoid misunderstandings)? Was the first phrase you wanted to use just common or habit, but kind of misleading for the meaning that you wanted (so then you're having to work uphill to correct it later)? It is so much easier to practice and figure out some of this stuff when you are not in the middle of a real conversation.

And the more you practice these ways of thinking and using words, then the easier it will be to phrase and describe things clearer when you do need to speak it. Because it's almost like a translation skill to organise and package your thoughts into regular words/sentences. But it is a skill that builds up with practice. So practice as much as you can, and you'll notice the improvements over time.

Me as well. I'm also not good with words at all. I sometimes even use those thesis writting services https://essayshark.com/thesis-paper.html in order to achieve better results and to get the highest mark possible, so i can't tell exactly. I guess we both need some practice indeed in order to become better, so i understand you completely