How to speak so that people want to listen | Julian Treasure

The human voice. It's the instrument we all play. It's the most powerful sound in the world, probably it's the only one that can start a war or say, I love you. And yet many people have the experience that when they speak, people don't listen to them. Why is that? How can we speak powerfully to make change in the world? What I'd like to suggest there are a number of habits that we need to move away from.

人类的声音。这是我们所有人都能演奏的乐器。它是世界上最强大的声音，可能也是唯一一个能引发战争或说出“我爱你”的声音。然而，许多人有一个共同的经历，那就是当他们说话时，别人不听他们说。为什么会这样？我们如何能够用有力的言辞改变世界？我想提出的建议是，我们需要改掉一些习惯。

I've assembled for your pleasure here, seven deadly sins of speaking. I'm not pretending this is an exhaustive list, but these seven I think are pretty large. The habits that we can all fall into. First, gossip. Speaking ill of somebody who's not present. Not a nice habit and we know perfectly well the person gossiping five minutes later will be gossiping about us.

我为了你的愉悦已经整理了以下七大说话的致命之罪。我并不是说这是一个详尽无遗的清单，但其中这七个罪行是相当严重的。它们是我们都可能陷入的恶习。首先，是闲谈。说别人坏话而当事人并不在场。这是一种不好的习惯，我们很清楚，五分钟后闲谈的人也会对我们闲谈。

Second, judging. We know people who are like this in conversation and it's very hard to listen to somebody if you know that you're being judged and found wanting at the same time.

其次，判断。我们都知道在对话中有些人就是这样，如果你知道自己正在被评判并且被认为不够好，那非常难以倾听对方。

Third, negativity. You can fall into this. My mother in the last years of her life became very, very negative and it's hard to listen. I remember one day I said to her, it's October the 1st today and she said, I know. It's dreadful. It's hard to listen when somebody's that negative.

第三，消极情绪。你可能会陷入其中。我母亲在她生命的最后几年变得非常非常消极，听起来很难受。我记得有一天我告诉她，今天是十月一号，她回答说，我知道。太糟糕了。当有人如此消极时，很难去倾听。

Another form of negativity, complaining. Well, this is the national art of the UK. It's our national sport. We complain about the weather, about sport, about politics, about everything. But actually complaining is viral misery. It's not spreading sunshine and lightness in the world.

另一种消极情绪是抱怨。这是英国的国粹，我们的国家运动。我们抱怨天气、体育、政治，凡事都会抱怨。然而事实上，抱怨只会传播负能量，无法给世界带来阳光和轻松。

Excuses. We've all met this guy. Maybe we've all been this guy. Some people have a blame thrower. They just pass it on to everybody else and don't take responsibility for their actions. And again, hard to listen to somebody who's being like that.

借口。我们都遇到过这样的人。也许我们自己也曾经是这样的人。有些人总是把责任推给其他人，不为自己的行为承担责任。而且，很难倾听一个这样的人。

Penultimate, the sixth of the seven. Embroidery. Exaggeration. It demeans our language sometimes. For example, if I see something that really is awesome, what do I call it? And then of course this exaggeration becomes lying out and out lying and we don't want to listen to people we know are lying to us.

倒数第二，七个中的第六个。绣花。夸张。有时候它贬低了我们的语言。例如，当我看到真的很棒的东西，我该怎么称呼它呢？当然，这种夸张变成了直接的谎言，我们不想听那些我们知道在对我们说谎的人说的话。

And finally, dogmatism. The confusion of facts with opinions. When those two things get conflated, you're listening into the wind. Somebody is bombarding you with their opinions as if they were true. It's difficult to listen to that.

最后，就是教条主义。将事实与观点混淆。当这两者混为一谈时，你听到的只是一阵虚无。有人将自己的观点像真理一样强加给你。听起来很困难。

So here they are. Seven deadly sins of speaking. These are things I think we need to avoid. But is there a positive way to think about this? Yes, there is. I'd like to suggest that there are four really powerful cornerstones, foundations that we can stand on if we want our speech to be powerful and to make change in the world.

所以，就在这里。让我来说说七个致命的言论过失。这些是我认为我们应该避免的事情。但是我们能以某种积极的方式来思考这个问题吗？是的，有的。我想提出一种观点，即如果我们希望自己的言论有力量并改变世界，那么有四个非常强大的基石，我们可以依靠它们。

Fortunately, these things spell a word. The word is hail and it has a great definition as well. I'm not talking about the stuff that falls from the sky and hits you on the head. I'm talking about this definition too. Greet or acclaim enthusiastically, which is I think how our words will be received if we stand on these four things. So what do they stand for? See if you can guess.

幸运的是，这些事物组成了一个单词。这个单词是“欢呼”，并且它也有一个很好的定义。我不是指从天空掉下来砸你头上的东西。我也指的是这个定义。热情地欢迎或称赞，我认为如果我们站在这四个事物上，我们的话语将会被热情地接受。那么，它们代表什么呢？看看你能猜到吗？

The H, honesty, of course. Being true in what you say, being straight and clear.

H是指诚实，当然了。就是说话直截了当、清晰明了，真实不虚假。

The A is authenticity. Just being yourself. A friend of mine described it as standing in your own truth, which I think is a lovely way to put it.

A代表的是真实性。就只是做你自己。我的一个朋友将其描述为站在自己的真相面前，我觉得这是一个非常美好的说法。

The I is integrity. Being your word. Actually doing what you say and being somebody people can trust.

我是指的是诚实正直。言而有信，真正去做你说过的事，并成为他人可以信任的人。

And the L is love. I don't mean romantic love, but I do mean wishing people well. For two reasons. First of all, I think absolute honesty may not be what we want. I mean, my goodness, you look ugly this morning. Perhaps that's not necessary. Tempered with love, of course, honesty is a great thing. But also, if you're really wishing somebody well, it's very hard to judge them at the same time. I'm not even sure you can do those two things simultaneously.

而L代表爱。我并不是指浪漫的爱，但我确实指的是对人们的祝福。有两个原因。首先，我认为绝对的诚实可能不是我们所希望的。我的意思是，天啊，你今天早上看起来好丑。也许这并不是必要的。当然了，加上爱的成分，诚实是一件很好的事。而且，如果你真心祝福某个人，很难同时对他们进行评判。我甚至不确定你能否同时做这两件事情。

So hail. Also, now that's what you say and it's like the old song. It is what you say. It's also the way that you say it. You have an amazing toolbox. This instrument is incredible. And yet this is a toolbox that very few people have ever opened. I'd like to have a little rummage in there with you now and just pull a few tools out that you might like to take away and play with, which will increase the power of your speaking.

那么，欢呼吧！同时，现在就是你所说的，就像那首老歌一样。这就是你所说的。它也是你说话的方式。你有一个了不起的工具箱。这个工具箱简直令人难以置信。然而，很少有人打开过这个工具箱。我想现在和你一起翻找一下里面的一些工具，你可能会喜欢拿走并进行玩耍，它们能增强你说话的力量。

Register, for example. Now falsetto, register may not be very useful most of the time, but there's a register in between. I'm not going to get very technical about this for any of you who are voice coaches. You can locate your voice however. So if I talk up here in my nose, you can hear the difference. If I go down here in my throat, which is where most of us speak from most of the time, but if you want weight, you need to go down here to the chest. You hear the difference? We vote for politicians with lower voices. It's true because we associate depth with power and with authority. That's register.

例如，注册。现在，假声，大多数情况下，注册可能并不是非常有用，但在两者之间还有一个注册。对于那些声音教练，我不会过于技术化地解释这个。不过你可以定位你的声音。所以，如果我在鼻子这里说话，你可以听到区别。如果我下喉咙说话，这是我们大多数时候说话的方式，但是如果你想要力量，你需要让声音下降到胸腔。你听到区别了吗？我们用低沉的声音选举政治家。这是真的，因为我们将深度与权力和权威联系在一起。这就是注册。

And we have tambour. It's the way your voice feels. Again, the research shows that we prefer voices which are rich, smooth, warm, like hot chocolate. Well, if that's not you, that's not the end of the world because you can train, go get a voice coach. And there are amazing things you can do with breathing, with posture, with exercises to improve the tambour of your voice.

而且我们还有共鸣音。它就是你的声音感觉。再一次，研究显示我们更喜欢丰富、柔和、温暖的声音，就像热巧克力一样。如果你并不具备这样的声音，也不用担心，因为你可以接受培训，找一个声乐教练。通过呼吸、姿势和练习，你可以改善你的共鸣音，有很多令人惊喜的方法可以帮助你。

Then prosody, I love prosody. This is the sing song, the meta language that we use in order to impart meaning. It's root one for meaning in conversation. People who speak all on one note are really quite hard to listen to if they don't have any prosody at all. That's where the word monotonic comes from or monotonous, monotone. Also, we have repetitive prosody now coming in where every sentence ends as if it were a question, when it's actually not a question, it's a statement. And if you repeat that one over and over, it's actually restricting your ability to communicate through prosody, which I think is a shame. So let's try and break that habit.

韵律，我喜欢韵律。这是一种抒发意义的歌谣，一种我们用来传达含义的元语言。在对话中，韵律是意义的根基。如果说话的人不具备任何韵律，那听起来真的很难受。这就是单调、枯燥、单音的由来。另外，我们现在出现了重复的韵律，每句话的结尾都像是一个问题，而实际上并不是问题，而是陈述句。如果你一遍又一遍地重复这种方式，那实际上限制了你通过韵律进行沟通的能力，我觉得这真是一件可惜的事情。所以让我们尽量改变这种习惯吧。

Pace. I can get very, very excited by saying something really, really quickly, or I can slow right down to emphasize. And at the end of that, of course, is our old friend, Silence. There's nothing wrong with a bit of Silence. In a talk is there. We don't have to fill it with ums and ours. It can be very powerful. Of course, pitch often goes along with pace to indicate a rouse, or what you can do it just with pitch. Where did you leave my keys? Where did you leave my keys? It's a slightly different meaning in those two deliveries. And finally, volume. I can get really excited by using volume. Sorry about that. If I startled anybody, or I can have you really pay attention by getting very quiet. Some people broadcast the whole time, try not to do that. That's called podcasting. Imposing your sound on people around you carelessly and inconsiderately. Not nice.

步调。我可以通过迅速说出一些话语而感到非常激动，或者可以放慢速度来强调重点。当然，最后还有我们的老朋友——沉默。沉默没有错。在演讲中，我们不必用“啊”和“嗯”去填充它。它可以非常有力量。当然，音调通常与步调相配以表示激动，或者你可以只用音调。你把我的钥匙放在哪里了？你把我的钥匙放在哪里了？这两种说法有稍微不同的意思。最后，音量。我可以通过使用音量来变得非常激动。对不起，如果吓到任何人了，我也可以安静下来让你真正集中注意力。有些人一直广播，尽量不要这样做。那叫播客。在没有考虑他人的情况下随意地给周围的人施加声音。不好。

Of course, where this all comes into play, most of all, is when you've got something really important to do. It might be standing on a stage like this, and giving a talk to people. It might be proposing marriage, asking for a raise, a wedding speech, whatever it is. If it's really important, you owe it to yourself to look at this toolbox and the engine that it's going to work on, and no engine works well without being warmed up, warm up your voice. Actually, let me show you how to do that. Would you all like to stand up for a moment? I'm going to show you the six vocal warm-up exercises that I do before every talk I ever do. Anytime you're going to talk to anybody, important, do these. First, arms up, deep breath in and sigh out like that. One more time. Very good. Now we're going to warm up our lips, and we're going to go bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop. Very good. And now just like when you were a kid.

当然，这一切最重要的时候就是当你有很重要的事情要做的时候。可能是站在像这样的舞台上，给人们演讲。可能是求婚，要求加薪，婚礼演讲，无论是什么。如果这真的很重要，你应该看看这个工具箱和它要运行的引擎，没有温暖的引擎是无法正常运转的，所以要热身你的声音。实际上，让我来给你演示一下如何做到这一点。你们愿意站起来一会儿吗？我要向你们展示我每次演讲之前都会进行的六个声音热身练习。无论何时你要与任何人交谈，无论对方是否重要，都要做这些。首先，举起手臂，深呼吸，然后像这样叹气。再来一次。非常好。现在我们要热身嘴唇，我们要说出“bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop, bop”这样的声音。非常好。现在就像小时候一样。

Now your lips should be coming alive. We're going to do the tongue next with exaggerated la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, beautiful. You're getting really good at this, and then roll an R. That's like champagne for the tongue. Finally, and if I can only do one, the pros call this the siren. It's really good. It starts with we and goes to all the we as high the always low. So you go, weeee. Oh, weeee. Fantastic. Give yourselves a round of applause. Thank you. See if I can. Next time you speak, do those in advance.

你的嘴唇现在应该开始活跃起来了。接下来我们要练习舌头，重复说"啦啦啦"，漂亮极了。你的水平越来越好了，然后来练习发音 "R"，就像香槟般对舌头来说。最后，如果只能选择一个，专业人士称之为 "siren"。它非常好练。从 "we" 开始逐渐提高音调，然后再回落。所以你要说 "weeee"，哦，"weeee"。太棒了！给自己鼓掌。谢谢大家。下次你说话时，提前练习这些技巧。

Now let me just put this in context to close. This is a serious point here. This is where we are now. We speak not very well into people who simply aren't listening in an environment that's all about noise and bad acoustics. I have talked about that on this stage in different phases. What would the world be like if we were speaking powerfully to people who are listening consciously in environments which were actually fit for purpose?

现在让我把这个背景给大家交代一下，这是一个非常重要的问题。我们现在的处境是这样的：我们很难与那些根本不在听的人进行有效沟通，而且我们处在一个充满噪音和声学条件差的环境中。我在之前的演讲中谈到过这个问题的不同方面。如果我们能够在适合的环境中向专注倾听的人传达有力的信息，世界将会变得如何呢？

Or to make that a bit larger, what would the world be like if we were creating sound consciously and consuming sound consciously and designing all our environments consciously for sound? That would be a world that does sound beautiful and one where understanding would be the norm and that is an idea worth spreading. Thank you.

或者说，如果我们有意识地创造声音、有意识地消费声音并有意识地为声音设计我们的所有环境，那将是一个声音美丽的世界，一个理解成为常态的世界，这是一个值得传播的理念。谢谢。