How to pronounce words and phrases correctly. How to learn to speak beautifully

What kind of “coffee”, should “president” be written with a capital letter, and is it proper to say “agreement” instead of “agreement”. There are standard errors that guardians of the Russian language like to refer to: incorrect emphasis in the word “simultaneously” or confusion with the generic affiliation with "coffee". But there are more interesting cases. Most native speakers, for example, mispronounce the phrase “opinions vary”: the norm is that the stress of this verb should be on the first syllable.

Coffee

Coffee is a loanword ending with the letter "e", but is masculine. In the vast majority, such words acquire a neuter gender in our language - that’s how it is structured, and this tendency is unusually strong. For example, “metro” used to be also masculine (from “metropolitan”), and even the newspaper “Soviet Metro” was published. It is always a mystery to foreigners why in Russian “cafe” is neuter, and “coffee” is masculine. But the masculine gender is maintained by the presence of the obsolete forms “coffee” and “coffee”. This is a kind of linguistic memorial.

"in Strogin"

Anna Akhmatova was very indignant when they said in front of her “I live in Kratovo” instead of “I live in Kratovo.” Another writer suggested that everyone who says “from Kemerovo” should use the same model to say “from the window.” Apparently, during the decade during which the new inflexible version spread, we managed to forget that this rule always sounded different. The indeclinable names of settlements arose from the language of the military, for whom it was important to give the initial forms in the message. Let's take, for example, Kratovo - from the declension “in Kratovo” it is not clear whether this is Kratovo or Kratovo. One of the most authoritative dictionaries today, the Zaliznyak dictionary, writes about the indeclinable form as follows: “the degree of prevalence of this phenomenon is so great that, apparently, it is already approaching the status of acceptable.”

"call"

“It’s ringing” - this bogeyman arises in any thematic discussion. There is a logic by which stress shifts in language, and whether we like it or not, these laws work. The transfer of stress from the ending to the root is natural - “smoke”, “cook” and “give” were also previously pronounced with stress on the last syllable, they just have already passed this path. Despite the fact that this makes everyone very angry, we will indeed say “calling” in the future. President and Patriarch

In fact, these words are written in capitals only for official titles, in the texts of official documents. For example, in the text of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation, this word is written with a capital letter. But in a newspaper article there is no reason for this, and you need to write it in lowercase. There is also a very persistent myth that when congratulating a person, “birthday” must be written with two capital letters - no, both words are written with small letters. "in Ukraine"

This is a very sensitive issue, and it constantly goes beyond the boundaries of linguistics. We adhere to this position: the norms of the Russian language have been developing over centuries, and they cannot change in five, ten or twenty years to suit some political processes. Therefore, in Russian it is correct to say “to Ukraine”. In general, the formation of prepositions is not always explainable. Why, for example, “at school”, but “at the factory”? It happened that way. Many people don’t like this, everyone needs to get to the bottom of it. “Everything must have an explanation” is another myth; many things in language cannot be explained.

There must always be one correct option

It’s not good when there are two norms, as is the case with the word “cottage cheese”. This is a very common myth. Variation is by no means a flaw for a language; on the contrary, it is its wealth. And there are different options. There are options that are equal, as is the case with cottage cheese. There are options for the categories “preferred/acceptable”, “modern/obsolete”, and even errors in dictionaries have their own gradations. In the spelling dictionary and in the dictionary of difficulties there is a clear system of notes in this regard. Let's say a non-recommended option is “vandal”, for example. There are wrong options, and there are grossly wrong ones. The approach in which it is believed that only one option is needed is typical for dictionaries addressed to radio and television workers. There are dictionaries that are aimed specifically at showing the dynamics of change and the richness of language norms. A dictionary is not a textbook; it should not record the only possible options.

Instead of “who is last” you need to say “who is last”

Uspensky wrote about this myth in the fifties in his book “A Word about Words.” Uspensky also explains in the book that each object - the same line - has two edges, and the question is thus untenable. Kolesov has an explanation that this use of “extreme” instead of “last” is borrowed from the Ukrainian language. There is also a superstition: everyone began to say “this was my last performance, last lecture, last show.” The word “last” has several negative connotations. For example, “bad” is the last scoundrel. It is clear why people who risk their lives avoid using this word: climbers, divers, circus performers and pilots. But when we hear in the speech of an ordinary person “when was the last time I was there,” it sounds funny.

The word “eat” is spoken only by ill-mannered people

There was such a recommendation in the dictionary of speech etiquette, according to which you can use this verb in relation to children, women can talk about themselves this way, but men should not say this. I don’t know how fair it is, but it is there - as a simple recommendation.

The pronoun "you" is always capitalized

In fact, “you” is capitalized only when addressing one person and only in texts of certain genres: personal letters, memos, leaflets. This, by the way, is not always obvious to philologists. On Gramota.ru there is a section “Conference Calendar”, where applications from portal users are received, and almost every explanation has to be edited, because addressing respected colleagues includes the pronoun “you” with a capital letter.

The word “agreement” must be pronounced with emphasis on the last syllable. After all, the treaty is pronounced only by ignoramuses from a rural school.

Electronic dictionaries are less reliable than printed ones

Electronic versions of printed dictionaries are posted on the Gramota.ru website - they are one and the same material. For objective reasons, we have cases of discrepancies in recommendations. Let’s say they often ask how to put the accent in the word “tiramisu”. Previously, we answered that the norm is not defined in the dictionary, and since this word is not established, you have the right to choose the option that you like best. The 2012 academic edition of the spelling dictionary was published, and it recorded “tiramisu” with the emphasis on the last syllable. That is, now that this word has received registration in the language and dictionary fixation, we will begin to answer differently. But, let’s say, for the word “arugula” there is no such fixation yet. Fluctuations in the spelling of recently borrowed words are quite natural for a language. The same goes for the words twitter, facebook and others. It has not yet been determined how to write them. I would write differently: in an article I would write “Facebook” using quotes and an uppercase letter, and in a chat - with lowercase and without quotes.

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We live in strange times. On the one hand, we are told that in various fields professionalism is valued above all, and not how you dress, how you speak and how you present yourself. On the other hand, everywhere we have to deal with the opposite: a person is judged not by what he is, but by what he appears to be. Therefore, when hiring, a well-spoken candidate with dubious professional credentials has a better chance than a true master of his craft who cannot speak. So it is very useful for any person, regardless of his type of activity. Even if his profession is not related to public speaking.

Ability to persuade

As for public activities, correct and beautiful speech is a guarantee of an effective performance. Speech errors reveal either a not very educated and incompetent person, or an insecure speaker; You hardly want to trust such a would-be speaker. It turns out that knowledge of spelling is not just an indicator of “general literacy”, but also a beneficial thing - with its help you can convince the public of anything.

Political strategists who prepare politicians for speeches and candidates for election campaigns pay a lot of attention to the speech of their “protégés.” Largely thanks to good speech, our current “political elite” came to power and reliably retains it, despite dubious professional and moral qualities and education.

It is possible that the overthrow of Yanukovych took place thanks to his illiterate speech. In fact, the total illiteracy of the Ukrainian “president in law” in both Russian and Ukrainian was known throughout the country and beyond. Jokes were written about her; and it seemed like a glaring misunderstanding that Yanukovych was officially recognized as the most prolific and highly paid Ukrainian writer, his “works” were published in large editions. Yanukovych’s ability to speak is not high, because from childhood his school and university were the famous organized crime group “Pivnovka”, in which he “improved as a person.” If he had mastered (at worst, worked on spelling and spelling), he would certainly have had a better chance of remaining in power. The illiterate leader of the country did not suit even those who were loyal to the regime and benefited from it: Yanukovych spoiled the image of his country and party, with his speech he exposed the entire essence of the Ukrainian (as, in general, the Russian) political system, therefore, in his own way the post looked unconvincing.

We see the consequences of illiterate speech. All the more important is skill in areas far from “state affairs.”

Correct speech and unity of the people

Language is part of the mentality of a particular people; it stores thoughts and images with which the people have lived for centuries. Demonstrating the ability to speak his own language ensures that he does not distance himself from his listeners and from his fellow citizens in general. Correct speech eliminates social, professional and other barriers that divide society. In fact, the general public will not understand a specialist speaking in professional jargon, and may even be confused - after all, the interlocutor made the listeners look like idiots, unable to understand “simple things.”

Thus, the literary language is the universal language of the country, which is used (at least, should be used) by citizens of all ages, professions, social groups and other categories for mutual understanding.

Does jargon spoil speech?

Conservative researchers disapprove of slang words, believing that they only spoil the speaker’s speech. However, the concept of “beauty” in this case is purely subjective; Moreover, the “literary” language can often be insufficiently expressive, have outdated or irrelevant units and constructions for a given situation. So such formally correct speech will in fact turn out to be ugly, inept and ugly. Such pedantry in speech is typical for people who are hypocritical or have inflated self-esteem.

Some types of jargon in our time are fully or partially understandable to the bulk of Russian citizens. This is youth slang, criminal “fenya”, a number of professional words from the speech of programmers, etc. This became possible thanks to modern culture, which is characterized by the availability of high technologies, the “camp” mentality that developed in Soviet times and the rapid development of pop culture. Of course, you should not oversaturate your speech with elements of these jargons, but you won’t be able to completely abandon them - without them it is impossible to clearly and intelligibly express a thought, in addition, they allow you to make your speech more vivid.

Who makes the rules?

Not long ago, society was vigorously discussing the resolution of our politicians to legalize the neuter gender of the word “coffee” in parallel with the masculine gender. Some took this government decree with hostility, others approved it - they say, it’s high time; There are those who would approve of the decree if it came from venerable Russian scholars, and not from cynical and illiterate politicians.

And here a reasonable question arises: who actually makes up all these rules? Why is it correct to say “a kilogram of tomatoes”, but “a kilogram of tomatoes” is incorrect? The answer: “Because that’s what they teach in school” is incorrect: standards and spellings change over time, which is easy to observe by opening a book from, say, the 50s. In the famous “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food” of 1953, the refrigerator says that it is a household appliance that “works with electricity”; in our time, such a turn of phrase is considered a gross mistake, and is perceived by native speakers as wild ignorance. The modern reader winces at the words “diet”, “dietary products”. If you dig around, you can find many more outdated spellings and speech patterns in this book.

Of course, scientists do not invent any rules. Science, as always, acts only as an outside observer of the processes occurring in society. Language changes constantly and endlessly, and the “author” of new rules is the people themselves. To be more precise, the speech of the “model” part of the population is taken as the basis for correct pronunciation; new rules are consolidated in the works of “great” literature and journalism, the authors of which serve this part of the population. The rest of the population adapts to this group in order to gain a profession, income, join in scientific and cultural achievements, etc. Before the revolution, the “model” social group was the nobility, and it was they who established linguistic norms. In Soviet times, this position was supposed to be occupied by skilled workers, peasants and free intelligentsia, but the de facto shaper of the language code was the party nomenklatura. The post-Soviet years are a very difficult period for the Russian language, since the social structure of society is changing dramatically, and the language itself is experiencing another wave of foreign and internal (from jargons, vernacular, etc.) borrowings. The attention of society, including the new criminal and political “elite,” to its own language is very low; but on the other hand, the need for mutual understanding and developed language remains, as a result of which changes occur in vocabulary, pronunciation, and sometimes in the most stable layers of the language. Society creates new, more convenient forms of oral communication, and science can only record them. Of course, constant revision of the rules would not make sense; in this case, the language as a system would cease to exist.

We can say that in recent years the media have been the shapers of new rules and norms. Literature, even modern and commercial literature, is still in limited demand, but television, newspapers and especially Internet sites are viewed by almost all citizens of the country.

Returning to the legalized neuter gender of the word “coffee,” it should be noted that this is probably not the only innovation in. By studying the RuNet space, we can guess what new regulations await us in the future. For example, the erroneous but incredibly popular phrase “kilogram of tomato” may be one of the first to be legalized, because a significant proportion of the population, including the economically active, does not know the correct version – “tomatoes”.

RINGING or RINGING?

The examples below illustrate how the rules of the Russian language (in this case, the placement of stress in verbs) are unstable and flexible.

Nowadays, the most common option you hear is “ringing.” However, all dictionaries and textbooks insistently urge you to say “ringing”. Where did the erroneous form come from? The tradition of placing stress on the first syllable has lived in spoken language for about a hundred years; and according to the rules of the early twentieth century, the emphasis in this word was exactly that.

The situation is similar with the word “include/include.” The main dictionaries consider the second option to be normative, but about a year ago the Great Orthoepic Dictionary introduced the first option as acceptable, which caused a storm of disapproving emotions among the educated public. The compilers of the dictionary made excuses: “What to do? If people say that, then it needs to be recorded.” An absolutely correct point of view for scientists: not to establish rules based on some “tradition,” but to record the phenomenon of a living language.

In general, since the time of A.S. Pushkin, there has been a slow tendency to shift the emphasis in such verbs from the ending to the stem. Simply put, there was a time when they said “smoking”, “cooking”, “drinking”; many examples of this can be found in the works of Russian poets. The shift of emphasis occurred gradually, and dictionaries recorded and legitimized more and more new forms - first with the mark “colloquial”, and then without it.

A witness to the “transitional” stage is the cartoon “Plasticine Crow,” in which the characters could not understand whether “The gift will be immediately handed over” or “handed over.” There is still confusion about this word in our time, since different dictionaries consider either the first option or the second to be correct.

For the word “rust,” M. A. Studiner’s “Dictionary of Exemplary Russian Stress” considers only the stress on the second syllable to be correct, but the already mentioned Large Orthoepic Dictionary allows stress on both the first and second syllables.

Carlson in the Soviet cartoon makes a mistake when he says: “And here we are playing with buns.” However, the Great Orthoepic Dictionary in our time considers this option acceptable, but still declares “to dabble” as a priority.

“We waited”, “we gathered” and other similar options are considered by the main dictionaries to be a gross mistake: only “we waited”, etc. But quite recently, the Large Orthoepic Dictionary legalized this option as acceptable.

“Lighten”, “deepen”: the incorrect emphasis in these words became popular thanks to the speeches of Mikhail Gorbachev. Some even use them, but most often these options appear in an ironic context (for example, in jokes); dictionaries still do not want to record Gorbachev’s “innovation” as an allowed option.

“Dancer”, “dancer”: Ushakov’s dictionary considers such an emphasis acceptable in colloquial speech, but in literary speech the correct option is still on the second syllable. Other dictionaries consider only the second syllable correct. The "wrong" accent can be heard in Rosenbaum's song "Boston Waltz".

How to say it correctly?

However, many pronunciation rules are strict and unambiguous. “CAKES” - that’s it and that’s the only way. And when declined, this word also has stress on the first syllable. The same applies to the words “bow”, “port” and others. But “bridges”, “bridges” - here the rule is different. Perhaps the incorrect emphasis in the above words in colloquial speech appeared as a result of the analogy with “bridges”.

"Beautiful"- another word that cannot bear any other stress. However, many people are accustomed to saying “beautiful”.

"Beet"- stress on the first syllable. The colloquial version of “beet” may have come from the South Russian dialect.

"Catalog", "obituary". The incorrect variant “catalogue” may have appeared under the influence of “analog”. And the “obituary” is the result of a rapprochement with the “biologist”.

"Agreement"- that's the only way. Employees of the “authorities” have long been accustomed to saying “agreement”, but all dictionaries consider this option to be incorrect. It’s the same with “means” - dictionaries insistently require only “means”.

"Blinds". The word is French in origin and inflexible, translated means “jealousy” (their inventor made them so that passing men could not admire the beauty of his wife while he was at work). It’s unclear where the clumsy version of “Jalousie” came from.

"StolYar". However, even in Soviet poetry, “joiner” was often found.

"Shoe". The famous line from the film: “Whose shoe? - My!" - ironically shows illiterate speech.

"Quarter". The popular “kvartal” is considered incorrect by dictionaries.

Option "marketing" today many consider it common practice. But most dictionaries only prescribe “marketing”, as in the source language - English.

"College"- a word that comes from English, in which the first syllable is stressed in most words. Its French equivalent is “college”; In French, the stress always falls on the last syllable, and not on words, but on phrases.

"SOUPS, SAUCE." Cooks and salespeople in grocery stores often say “soup”, “sauce”; some even justify themselves by calling it professional jargon (as well as the “agreement” of the police). However, literary speech requires only the first option.

How to learn to speak correctly and beautifully?

Here are some tips for anyone who wants to improve their speech.

An important part of your image is competent speech. It makes up a quarter of the overall impression of a person. The first thing that immediately catches your eye is the correctness and beauty of your speech, then your voice and diction are etched in your memory.

Even if your social circle is very limited, knowledge of how to make your speech correct will save you in any situation. You will attract more attention, be remembered faster, and your opinion will be listened to. You will become popular in your work team; competent speech will help you win the attention of your superiors and team and move up the career ladder. This will be a wonderful help at any performances and just in your personal life. You will become a wonderful conversationalist with whom it is pleasant to spend time.

Correct, proper speech will create the image of an intelligent and educated person. Learn to master your speech, everything is in your hands!

Video lessons

We all strive to make a favorable impression on other people, but does everyone know that the assessment of a person is formed due to four components? These include appearance, actions and, in fact, our speech. At the same time, it matters not only WHAT we say, but also HOW we do it.

Learning to speak correctly

Surely you know at least one person who has communication problems. The fact is that you need to be able not only to speak confidently, but also to competently express your point of view.

Let's try to talk about the main points in our speech, because no one taught us, which means that some recommendations will be very useful.

First of all, you should pay attention to vocabulary. We need to read more, because sometimes we simply don’t have enough words to express ourselves and formulate our point of view. Our speech may be tongue-tied, it may contain so-called weed words and other shortcomings.

Now you should pay attention to the emphasis you place on words. In order for speech to be literate, you need to know how to pronounce words correctly. In this case, a dictionary of correct pronunciation will help, study the most common words, but if you are in doubt about how to place the emphasis, it is better to replace it with a synonym, or skip it altogether.

Very often in our speech we like to use unnecessary words that do not carry much meaning. For example: “Well, I signed the documents and everything,” “Well, I put a, like, stack of papers behind it.” Two weeks of training is enough, and your speech will become much “cleaner” and acquire literary beauty.

When thinking about what to say, do not forget about the tone, which affects the overall impression of what is said. The solution is quite simple: you can record your speech on a voice recorder, and then analyze it; you can involve your comrades in this process, who will tell you what exactly they don’t like in your conversation.

Sometimes we use words in our speech that are difficult for other people to understand. Remember your student years, when you could not understand at all what the professor was talking about, but it seemed to him that he was expressing himself quite clearly. The fact is that everything can be said in simple language, choosing words that everyone understands. Try to ensure that your speech does not contain words that will be incomprehensible to your interlocutor, and then everything will fall into place.

If you want to know how to speak correctly, you should completely forget about using profanity, slang and jargon. Undoubtedly, your friend will understand perfectly if you tell him: “It was a great party, there was so much booze and such movement on the dance floor!” But you shouldn’t tell an adult in the same spirit about how your Sunday evening went. You have to filter your speech and think about what you say and to whom.

Recently, the use of foreign words in their speech has become very popular among people who speak a foreign language. Mixing languages ​​will not lead to anything good; it is not only ugly, but also incomprehensible to other people, even if they know the language from which you use these words.

You might be a little surprised, but in order to know how to speak correctly, you need to be able to listen. It is unlikely that you will become a good conversationalist if you constantly interrupt your opponent and do not allow him to express his point of view.

At the same time, you should not ask questions too actively, otherwise your dialogue will begin to look not like a conversation, but like a real interrogation.

It is worth remembering the golden rule of a good conversationalist: do not interrupt. The ability to give an opportunity to speak is highly valued. At the same time, when it’s your turn to speak, you don’t need to “foam at the mouth” to prove that you’re right. The conversation should not resemble a political debate, where everyone strives to defend their point of view and justify their actions. You should be able to turn your communication into a pleasant, relaxed conversation.

Correct speech, like a magic wand, has an almost magical effect. The audience wants to listen and hear it, for the speaker it is the path to success in his career, understanding in the family, confidence in the campaign of friends and acquaintances.

We learn to speak in early childhood, but presenting ourselves, delivering a speech confidently and beautifully is a special skill that not everyone has. Even people - geniuses, with a huge amount of knowledge and experience, scientific patents, state awards, do not know how to brilliantly express themselves in words and speak at conferences. Many adults find it difficult to express their thoughts and feelings, formulate the plot of a book they read, or tell friends what happened to them that day. And behind the dry monotonous speech of such people sometimes hides great intelligence, an interesting personality, and bright events.

Of course, over time, those around you will understand who is who in reality and will appreciate it, not by speech, but by deeds. But it may take more than one month or even a year. Still, making a first impression, or hesitant speeches at meetings, makes a big impression on people.

There is a way out! You need and can train your speech. The skill of speaking beautifully, oratory, is an acquired skill that can be brought to perfection. And the more practice you have, the better.

A good book is a source of not only knowledge, but correct Russian speech.

Correct speech is compliance with the basic norms of speech, the use of the necessary grammatical forms, and the correct placement of stress in words. There are many words in the Russian language in which mistakes are often made, although fluctuations in stress in them are unacceptable. Such elementary errors in pronunciation as, for example, alphabet instead of alphabet, call instead of call, petition instead of petition, begin instead of begin, catalog instead of catalog and others compromise the speaker’s speech.

Advice from Your Scene: Let various dictionaries and simply good books with meaning become your faithful companions, which will help not only to use words correctly, place emphasis, but also expand your vocabulary.

Clear diction facilitates communication and understanding

The speaker’s practiced diction is one of the foundations of beautiful and correct speech. If you pronounce words and individual sounds unclearly, your family and friends may turn a blind eye to this, but speaking in front of an unfamiliar audience, these shortcomings will make it much more difficult.

The most common pronunciation errors:

• vowels and consonants,
• unstressed vowels,
• consonants at the junction, in the middle and at the end of words,
• soft consonants,
• loss of vowel sounds
• eating consonants, especially in beginning speakers.

Composition, chronology, logic of performance

The third significant component of literate speech is the correct construction of the story, adherence to the chronology and logic of the narrative:

Introduction - Main part - Conclusion

For example, it is believed that listeners remember best what is said at the end. When thinking about the plan for a future speech, an experienced speaker first pronounces the thesis, adds details during the story, and in conclusion repeats the main, most important idea again.

Advice from Your Scene: Perform, trying not to deviate from the plan. If during the course of a story you abruptly move from one idea to another, give a lot of additional information, moving away from the main idea, listeners quickly lose interest and the thread of the story.

Intonation, overtones, modulation and other magical voice things

Open communication: look into the eyes of the audience, watch your facial expressions and gestures

• During your speech, it is very important to monitor your own facial expressions and gestures, speak openly, and look other people in the eyes. This will be an indicator that you trust the audience, and grateful listeners will respond.
• Excessive gestures and shifting eyes distract attention from the topic of the speech, riveting it to the inept movements of the narrator.

Advice from Your Scene: Usually, anxiety prevents you from concentrating on the main thing and adds uncertainty to your speech, and angularity and clumsiness to your movements. But excitement is not a death sentence! It is quite natural to worry during a public speech; it is important to learn to control yourself, for example, by using muscle relaxation exercises and proper breathing.

A lot of work and knowledge of your material is the key to success!

• Often the reason for a failed performance is poor knowledge of the material, and not just its poor presentation.
• It is advisable to know 10 times more about the topic of the speech than you want to say. This will allow you to answer questions that have arisen, or slightly change the topic of your speech if you sense a decline in interest or even a negative reaction from those gathered.

Advice from Your Scene: Always talk about what you really know.

You can learn the basics of public speaking, start speaking in front of a friendly audience, and practice the art of managing your anxiety at