Expressing my thoughts through words.

I struggle with this. I'm not sure why this is the case. Maybe it could have been because I was raised by my grandparents? My Grandpa didn't talk much and my Grandma speaks horrible English. The schools I've attended taught English, of course... That was one of my favorite subjects, but it was all very basic. I'm great at spelling, but I still feel restricted in the way I talk/type (not very flexible?). It feels rigid... almost like I'm stating a list of facts, sometimes. I'm also often misunderstood and I end up having to explain myself. I believe there are many aspects to intelligence and well, I'm stupid when it comes to this. I want to be more eloquent. Any ideas how I would be able to improve this? Should I read more books? Help meeee!

I'm not sure how much you read already, but I think reading famous literary works would be of aid to you. I can't say whether this will help you be more eloquent in speech as I still have problems in that area.

Xylia said:

I struggle with this. I'm not sure why this is the case. Maybe it could have been because I was raised by my grandparents? My Grandpa didn't talk much and my Grandma speaks horrible English. The schools I've attended taught English, of course... That was one of my favorite subjects, but it was all very basic. I'm great at spelling, but I still feel restricted in the way I talk/type (not very flexible?). It feels rigid... almost like I'm stating a list of facts, sometimes. I'm also often misunderstood and I end up having to explain myself. I believe there are many aspects to intelligence and well, I'm stupid when it comes to this. I want to be more eloquent. Any ideas how I would be able to improve this? Should I read more books? Help meeee!

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You sound articulate and your posts make sense to me. Are you anxious about how what you say will be perceived? Do you find it more difficult to speak in real life than in writing? Or sometimes vice versa. These are things that I struggle with. It often takes me a while to figure out how to get my message across. I might fumble to start with and then the words might start to flow easier. Often it is a case of me lacking in confidence. I think practicing on these forums is a good way to develop your communication skills.

Really, I am surprised at how well a lot of people on this site are able to get their point across. If they knew how articulate they were they could transfer these skills into real-life. Again, I think it comes down to practice and becoming more confident and relishing in small victories, for example holding a conversation even it is for a short period and nerve-wracking.

I think that taking an interest in words helps, how they are combined and how sentences are constructed. Words are everywhere, in books, articles, forums, lyrics, movies... keep an eye out and an ear out and practicing new words and trying to be more elaborate in how you use them. But then again people don't need to be poets or be over-complicated in everyday conversation. And everyone has their own style.

I think you are doing fine. By the way it's taken me ages to get this post how I want it and I'm still not sure. But I'm going to post it anyway...

i like to read my lyrics to the music i listen to and turn on the subtitles on tv

The correlation between language(written and spoken) and emotion is a concept i too struggle to grasp, i can never find the right words to express myself, this often leads to being misunderstood in one way or another. Fortunately we arent limited to conversation to express ourselves, we can do it through music, drawing, painting, photography, tattoos, clothes, body language etc... But if verbal and written communicational skills are what youre after i think reading more books would definitely assist you in finding a more defined way of expressing yourself with words.

one of the great things about the English language is how plastic it is

unless you're writing a legal document or scientific treatise of some sort, you can completely abandon the formal rules of grammar and make yourself understood - sometimes even better

words can be toys for your amusement and others

just have fun with 'em

you can't break anything

coyote said:

one of the great things about the English language is how plastic it is

unless you're writing a legal document or scientific treatise of some sort, you can completely abandon the formal rules of grammar and make yourself understood - sometimes even better

words can be toys for your amusement and others

just have fun with 'em

you can't break anything

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I love what you have just said.

I too also think that language should be played with as much as possible. It is so much more fun and adds such colour and vibrancy to a conversation.

Not sure whether you are acquainted with Russell Brand but he does this perfectly. I hang on his every word.

And I used to be quite like that myself - toying with language for fun. However my anxiety has destroyed that and a lot of what I say can be incoherent at times

Xylia said:

I struggle with this. I'm not sure why this is the case. Maybe it could have been because I was raised by my grandparents? My Grandpa didn't talk much and my Grandma speaks horrible English. The schools I've attended taught English, of course... That was one of my favorite subjects, but it was all very basic. I'm great at spelling, but I still feel restricted in the way I talk/type (not very flexible?). It feels rigid... almost like I'm stating a list of facts, sometimes. I'm also often misunderstood and I end up having to explain myself. I believe there are many aspects to intelligence and well, I'm stupid when it comes to this. I want to be more eloquent. Any ideas how I would be able to improve this? Should I read more books? Help meeee!

Click to expand...

I am the same. I`ve always had problems writing my thoughts .When I make the text in my head it always sounds perfect and covers all the aspects i wanted to, but then , when i start writing it's as if all my imagination had gone far away and I stumble across every word>
I think that the problem is that you're not fluent enough. Reading books, expading your vocabulary and writing more and more should solve your problem.

PS I wrote this in 10 minutes....LAME.I KNOW.

Sure, read more books Xylia. When you find one that's written in a manner similar to how you'd like to write, read more books like that. Or start looking up words in a thesaurus and think of ways to integrate them into your every day speaking/typing. I don't know how keen you are towards poetry, but good poems usually contain good words used well.

As far as recommending books, I'd only recommend staying away from Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene. Though now that I've mentioned it, I sort of want to dig it up and try to finally finish it.

X-Rated said:

I`ve always had problems writing my thoughts .When I make the text in my head it always sounds perfect and covers all the aspects i wanted to, but then , when i start writing it's as if all my imagination had gone far away and I stumble across every word

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I'm sort of like this, too. I mentally plan out everything I want to say, then I have to go back and try to get what I visualized onto paper (or a computer screen). I find I use different tones for different things. An example: When I write for myself I sometimes write similar to the way people talk in tv adaptations of period British novels. Maybe I hung around too much when Mom was watching Pride and Prejudice. (I actually remembered an example from a while back: here)

But when I speak, I speak slowly, deliberately, and usually just sound like every other schmuck in the greater Philadelphia area. And yes, I even have an example of that (also from last year). Awkward, stilted, and... yeah....

YouTube - more embarrassment

A bit of a difference, I guess. Actually I'm really tired, so the purpose of further exposing myself begins to escape me....

I take it you mean expressing your thoughts through words verbally, since what you write is perfectly understandable. Perhaps you could try Toastmasters.