Friday, October 15, 2004

Tone of voice

One of the things I am working on this year is to be conscience of the words I use and the tone of voice in which I speak.

In 2001 I stopped using curse words. Over the past few years I have been working on continually refining my speech. One can refrain from swearing, but still speak in a manner that is still rough or vulgar. I choose one word at a time to work on, and I think of way in which I could say the same thing in a more dignified way. I stumble ....but slowly, slowly I improve.

I am now also conscience of my tone of voice since I have young children at home. A small child is like a sensitive microphone that picks up everything. They are especially sensitive to tone of voice. I found the following quote in Rabbi Zelig Pliskin's new book that I felt explained this well:

"Our tone of voice communicates messages that can be louder and clearer than the actual words that are said."

2 Comments:

At October 16, 2004 at 10:59:00 AM EDT, Blogger "s0n|c'C@libr3,, said...

Well great to see that u've improved yr tone of voice . If i've got my figures right, Our tone of voice plays about 45 % of our overall communication. Only about 5 % are from the words we speak. 51 % is from our body language. So well if you can improve your body language as well, it will be great =)

 
At October 18, 2004 at 8:14:00 PM EDT, Blogger Anshel's Wife said...

My husband is from Russia. The cultural differences between us (I'm American, from California!) are many. But the one that gets us into the most trouble is my husband's tone of voice. Sounds to me like he is always being demanding or angry. The way he talks to his mother is horrible. But he tells me it's nothing. Just the way he talks. He tells me that I'll know if he's angry. He just talks the way he always has. But he sounds so harsh all the time. Even when he's being sweet and nice (but not smiling. Russians don't smile) he sounds upset.

 

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