To communicate is to speak well

Chapter 8 Let the environment become the embellishment of the discourse
During a conversation, the adoption or understanding of words by both the speaker and the listener is influenced and restricted by the specific environment.As far as the speaking side is concerned, whether it is the choice of topics or the adoption of discourse forms, etc., it must be determined according to the needs of a specific environment.

Context can affect the effect of speaking
Context refers to the speaking environment and atmosphere produced by the language itself. It is the most difficult and most common situation in the art of speaking.

An old teacher who graduated from the Chinese Department of a certain college in his early years and worked hard for decades has retired. For this reason, the school together with another retired old comrade who has won the "advanced" award many times There was a farewell party.

The participating comrades and leaders gave a very decent affirmation and praise to their work and conduct. In contrast, the old comrade who had won the "advanced" award many times was especially praised.When it was the turn of the two popular retired comrades to give their thank you speeches, they expressed their deep gratitude to everyone for their praise.

For a time, the venue was filled with an emotional and warm atmosphere.As a thank you, the story should have ended here. However, the old teacher did not stop there, but was touched by people's praise of another "advanced", and made a rather inappropriate association and development: "Speaking of progress, unfortunately, I have never had it once..." Before he finished speaking, a young teacher who sat across from him and didn't get along very well with him suddenly took the conversation: "No, then It’s our fault, it’s not that you don’t deserve to be advanced, it’s that we didn’t mention your name.” There was an embarrassing “sting” in the words, and the old teacher’s eyes and brows were caught coldly. "Stab" showed a sentimental expression, and for a while, an awkward atmosphere appeared in the venue.

Seeing that the situation was not right, a leader immediately took over the conversation, trying to ease the atmosphere.Logically speaking, at this time, he should avoid the sensitive topic of "advanced" and talk about other things instead.However, he repeatedly comforted the retired old teacher, telling him not to pay attention to the issue of "advanced", saying that not being evaluated as "advanced" does not mean that he is not advanced enough. Advanced is not only in name, but also depends on facts. etc.As a result, one conversation is tantamount to repeating and extending topics that should have been avoided, making the already embarrassing situation even more embarrassing.

Be careful when speaking
"Time context" is the origin of the desire and content that induces speech.

Every word that people say is an ideological thing.Marx said: "Conceptual things are nothing but things that have been transferred into and transformed in people's brains." Speech is the product of conscious activities, whether it is introducing the situation objectively or expressing emotions subjectively, fundamentally speaking , can only come from objective reality.Therefore, the desire and content of speaking are all induced by the stimulation produced after the objective things perceived by the speaker are "implanted" into the human brain.Smirnov pointed out in "Natural Foundations of Psychology": "The root of consciousness should not go outside the brain, but should be found in people's social life—the real source of people's most complex forms of conscious activity."

A person who doesn't like to talk often talks endlessly when he is on an exciting occasion.On the contrary, talkative people will remain silent in special circumstances.Regardless of whether a person loves to talk or not, the induction of his desire to speak is related to the time situation.It is often said that "speaking with emotion" means speaking with emotion.

Once, a leader was invited to participate in the "New Century Party Member Image" speech. He didn't want to speak at all, and he didn't make any preparations. However, when he debated the issue of "whether party members can be laid off", he was almost overwhelmingly rejected by other speakers. Angered by the opinions, he stepped onto the podium and gave his first "impromptu speech" in his life, which was a great success.

The leader didn't want to speak at first, and he didn't have the desire to speak at this meeting. It was the specific situation of the speech venue, especially the specific condition of the almost overwhelming negative opinions, that stimulated him and induced his desire to speak.

The so-called "impromptu speech" is mostly the speaking situation that arouses the speaker's desire and makes him speak with enthusiasm.As the saying goes: "Drums do not ring without beating, bells do not ring without striking." Without the trigger of a specific situation, there will often be no "speaking".

While the situation induces the desire to speak, it also provides a topic for talking.

There is such a scene in the first act of Lao She's play "Teahouse":
The street was chaotic, and Tan Sitong's remnants were being searched. Eunuch Pang came in and said, "The world is peaceful. The imperial decree has come down, and Tan Sitong will be executed." These words suddenly broke the dull situation of "don't talk about state affairs" in the teahouse, and a new situation appeared. speaking context.then:
Tea Guest A: Who is Tan Sitong?
Tea guest B: I seem to have heard of it.Anyway, he committed a serious crime, otherwise, why would he be executed?

Tea guest C: In the past two or three months, some officials and students have been messing around. How can we know what the hell they are doing?

……

Wang Lifa: Dear customers, let's not talk about state affairs, shall we?

(Everyone quiets down, talking about their own things again.)
At this time, the topic of discussion about Tan Sitong was provided by the new speaking environment, and following the advice of "don't talk about state affairs" from the teahouse proprietor Wang Lifa, it returned to the original environment.The new speaking context is gone, and the topic about Tan Sitong is over.

It can be seen from this that the speaking context is the closest part to the speaking subject in real life, which can be directly perceived by the speaker, and it is the speaking material placed around, which can be added at any time and become a topic of discussion.

a particular occasion, a particular way

The following three techniques and principles can be used to speak on specific occasions to achieve the desired speaking effect.

1. Multi-angle

Sometimes, the change of the occasion is unexpected, if you don't deal with it well, you will get yourself into some kind of predicament.This requires that the speaker must be good at changing the angle of entry, and flexibly respond to and control various situations and occasions.

Reagan visited Canada for the first time after he became president of the United States, and it coincided with the anti-American demonstrations held in Canada.Once, President Reagan's speech was interrupted by a crowd of anti-American demonstrations.I saw President Reagan smiling and said to the accompanying Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau: "This kind of thing often happens in the United States. I think these people must have come to your country from the United States on purpose. They want to make me feel at home." Feeling." Trudeau smiled openly with his brows furrowed.

Reagan's superb level of speaking, deliberately misinterpreting and distorting the origin of the demonstration crowd, not only relieved the embarrassment of the host, but also reflected the mind and tolerance of a president of a big country.

2. Tell the truth
Use the participation of the situation, speak the truth, and get rid of the unfavorable discourse communication environment.

After Xiao He killed Han Xin for the crime of treason, he summoned a group of ministers and set up a frying pan to ask Han Xin's counselor Kuai Tong to confess in public to the crime of treason with Han Xin.Under the constraints of this special environment, Kuai Tong was unable to state his words directly, so he first counted Han Xin's "ten crimes" in a counter-argument, and then listed Han Xin's "three fools": , Zhao, broke the Three Qin Dynasty, there were 40 elite soldiers, they did not rebel at that time, but now they are rebellious, it is a fool. No rebellion, now it is rebellion, it is the second fool. Han Xin held a great battle in front of the Jiuli Mountain, with millions of troops, all of which were under his control. Don’t the three fools bring on their own disasters?” Kuai Tongming said that Han Xin’s guilt and stupidity, in fact, complained about Han Xin’s grievances, which moved the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty, won the sympathy of the officials, and forced Xiao He to cook and kill.

3. Exploiting Ambiguity
Use specific occasions to create situational ambiguity and lay the groundwork for when you speak.

When Lu Xun was teaching at Xiamen University, the school held a special meeting to unreasonably cut half of the funds, which was opposed by the participants.The headmaster, Lin Wenqing, not only ignored him, but said angrily, "I can't listen to you about this matter. The school's funds are paid by the rich, and only the rich have the right to speak." As soon as he finished speaking, Lu Xun immediately He took out two silver coins from his pocket, slapped them on the table, and said forcefully, "I have money, and I have the right to speak!" Lin Wenqing was caught off guard and embarrassed.

Lu Xun's "rich" and Lin Wenqing's "rich" are two concepts, and the meanings contained in the two are very different. Lu Xun cleverly used the ambiguity caused by the communication environment to give Lin Wenqing a blow and suppress him. His arrogance disrupted his position and achieved his goal of speaking in public.

Use the appropriate social context to speak
People use language in a certain social and cultural environment, and factors such as social culture and history permeate into language, restricting the use of language.Social environment refers to social occasions, including time, place, atmosphere, event background, personnel relations, etc.Cultural environment refers to the unique style and tradition formed by a nation in its own historical development.We must be good at using this social environment in our speech to set off the small environment in which we speak.

On the eve of the founding of New China, Comrade Chen Yi said in a report: "We have full confidence that we can foresee that it will not take too long to liberate the whole of China! The liberation of Shanghai is just around the corner!" (thunderous applause from the audience) In a few days, Ala, these Tuba roads, will be able to go to Shanghai for Bai Xiangxiang? (Using blunt Shanghai dialect)" The audience was full of laughter, such words seemed very appropriate in that social environment and specific occasions, and the words were humorous and humorous. inspiring.

Being relevant to the situation is an important condition for a successful speech.Marshal Chen Yi's dialectical use of the scene atmosphere of the report at that time broke the superficial unity of style, thus well adapting to the theme of "coming to Shanghai", which is intriguing and intriguing.

There are also others, such as places and objects, which do not belong to the larger social environment, but become social environments once they are attached to the sphere of influence that certain social forces can exert.For example, in state-level diplomatic negotiations, the choice of venue is a very sensitive issue, and the usual way to deal with it is to rotate the negotiations on the territories of both parties, or choose a third country as the venue for the negotiations.Why is this an important and sensitive issue?People all have this experience. When talking at a friend's house, they always have a guest mentality, and their speech is always a bit more reserved, but when they receive friends at their own home, they seem unrestrained.This kind of master mentality naturally forms an advantage, which is called "home advantage".

In communication, sometimes the change of location can also form a different environment, which is conducive to solving different problems and delivering targeted speeches.

For example: Some leaders often ask their subordinates to talk to their offices when they discover a problem.The office is the place where the superior works. When subordinates come here, they can easily associate with the relationship between the superior and the subordinate, so a mentality of "must obey" arises.In this way, the two parties who were originally equal, because of the participation of the special social environment of the location, made the two equal parties become active and passive.Therefore, there is a kind of "condescending" momentum in the initiative and convenience (of course, this is only a psychological difference, and it is by no means "overpowering others").By analogy, if there is a dispute between the customer and the salesperson, the manager should skillfully induce the customer into the sphere within which he can influence—the manager's office.This can not only avoid the expansion of the situation, but also isolate the customer from the onlookers, avoiding some adverse reactions from the crowd and further increasing dissatisfaction.Therefore, the manager's office has actually become a small social environment that is conducive to dealing with problems.Conversely, in order to strengthen contact, enhance trust and friendship, leaders should go out of the "leadership effect zone" and go to staff dormitories, canteens, clubs, etc., so as to let go of the topic and make both parties free.Such non-linguistic factors, sometimes just like invisible magnetic fields, have extremely powerful special effects.

It can be seen that speaking with an appropriate social background can significantly improve the effect of speaking.This requires us to use keen thinking and penetrating vision to gain insight into the social background, and to be good at using the objects in front of us and the places we are in to create an environment that is conducive to speaking.

learn to use the natural environment
The natural environment refers to the time, place, and specific scene of communication.Time, in a small sense, refers to the year and month, in a large sense, it refers to the era; A verbal communication occasion formed by the organic combination of certain spatio-temporal factors and communicative situations.For example, when someone is having a happy event, you should not talk about frustrating topics; when someone is sad, you should avoid talking about amusing topics.When giving speeches and reports in public, one should talk about what is relevant to the topic, and not be cynical or hasty; when walking and chatting, it is casual, and digressions may be even more fun.

When using the natural environment to enhance the effect of speaking, sometimes you can use seasonal scenery to induce resonance between the speaker and the listener.For example, Guo Moruo's speech at the National Science Conference in 1978 ended with this method: "The vernal equinox has passed, and the Qingming Festival is coming. 'The river flowers are red at sunrise, and the river is as green as blue when spring comes.' This is the spring of revolution." , This is the spring of the people, this is the spring of science, let us open our arms and embrace this spring warmly!" At that time, Mr. Guo was ill, so he made this written speech.Once the speech was read out, thunderous applause erupted in the venue, and through the live broadcast, it aroused enthusiastic repercussions in the entire scientific community.Mr. Guo used the seasonal environment of "spring" here to add the finishing touch, and the effect is remarkable.

Speech must always be carried out within a certain time and space, and seasons, geographical environments, and natural scenery often have different emotional colors due to different people's subjective feelings.Therefore, if we can combine the natural environment to organize discourse, we will often receive unexpected effects.

In addition, the natural environment also has considerable restrictions on the sound of speaking. For example, in a quiet reading room, there are only the swishing sound of pages turning and the rustling sound of writing with a pen.If someone came in to do business, he had to speak, but he could only whisper a few words in a low voice, which was hard for others to hear.If someone speaks loudly, he will immediately become the target of public criticism, and he will receive the reproachful eyes that follow him.The two of them had a heart-to-heart conversation in the office, and the normal voice was fine, but when it came to secrets, it could be lowered—whispering.If two people are far apart, or talking in a noisy downtown area, you have to shout loudly.

Different words express different content and produce different atmospheres. If you do not pay attention to the changes in the context of speaking, do your own way and do not know how to adapt, not only will not be able to achieve the effect of speaking, but sometimes it will make the conversation impossible.

(End of this chapter)