Compressed

INDEX
S. No Topic Page No.

Week 1
1 Lecture 1: Introduction, The Art of Speakihg 1
2 Lecture 2: Encoding Meaning Using Verbal and Nonverbal Symbols 25
3 Lecture 3: Encoding Meaning Using Verbal Symbols 46
4 Lecture 4: The Power of words 70
Lecture 5: Cross Cultural Factors in Communication Verbal and
5 Nonverbal 91
Week 2
6 Lecture 6 97
7 Lecture 7: 120
8 Lecture 8 136
9 Lecture 9 150
10 Lecture 10 174
Week 3
11 Lecture 11: Phonetics 232
12 Lecture 12 : Sounds of English Vowels 242
13 Lecture 13 : Sounds of English Diphthongs and Consonants 255
14 Lecture 14 : Stress and Rhythm Intonation 271
15 Lecture 15 : Role plays and activities 282
Week 4
16 Lecture 16 : Speaking Voice 294
17 Lecture 17: Speaking Delivery 310
18 Lecture 18: How to Improve Voice 324
19 Lecture 19 : How to Improve Delivery 341
20 Lecture 20 : Sample Speeches 363
Week 5
21 Lecture 21: 377
22 Lecture 22 : 414
23 Lecture 23: 444
24 Lecture 24: 473
25 Lecture 25 : 516
Week 6
26 Lecture 26: 539
27 Lecture 27 : 555
28 Lecture 28 : 574
29 Lecture 29 : 599
Week 7
30 Lecture 30: How to Lead a Meeting 609
31 Lecture 31: How to Contribute effectively to a Meeting 631
32 Lecture 32: How to Speak Effectively in Meetings 648
33 Lecture 33: Meetings, Behaviour & Roles 673
34 Lecture 34: Role Play : Meeting 696
Week 8
35 Lecture 35: Different kind of Interviews 709
36 Lecture 36: Preparing for an Interview 728
37 Lecture 37: How to face an Interview 746
38 Lecture 38: How to Speaking in an Interview 770
39 Lecture 39: Role Play 794
Speaking Effectively
Professor Anjali Gera Roy
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur
Lecture 1
Introduction, The Art of Speaking
Hello, welcome to speaking effectively. My name is Anjali Gera Roy, I have been teaching
for more than a quarter of a century in IIT, Kharagpur and I’m going to teach you a thing or
two that I know about speaking - and speaking effectively. First of all, I begin with the
premise that speaking is an art but it is also a skill. Some of us are natural speakers in the
sense that we instinctively know when to say the right thing and how to say the right thing.
And we all marvel at ways some of us can express ourselves so correctly and so aptly. But
the majority of us fumble for words; we do not have the right language; we put the pause in
the wrong places; we use the wrong tone and our messages always or half the times misfire.
So this course assumes that even though all of us do not have a knack of speaking effectively,
we can acquire the skills of speaking effectively and master this skill over a period of time if
we are interested.
(Refer Slide Time: 01:45)
Secondly, in this course I begin with the presumption or the assumption that speaking is not
only about speaking logically and clearly as it is assumed in other courses on speaking and
about what effective speaking is. But speaking is also about using the right emotions and
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speaking is really about getting the message across and getting your work done in the most
effective manner.
And, finally, I wish to say that speaking skills are not monopolized or are not the heritage of
any particular group or the speakers of any particular language or any particular social,
religious, ethnic or regional group but that they are equally distributed among all classes,
castes, genders, nationalities, regions and languages.
In fact, in groups where writing is relatively new, script is relatively new, in the more
traditional societies, which still depend on the spoken word to get their day-to-day
transactions done, speaking is almost elevated to an art where even ordinary people would
have mastered, have the requisite skills to get their message across orally - by word of mouth
in the most effective manner.
I could think of ancient Greek society. But I could also think of more tribal societies in India,
in other parts of Asia, in Africa or the aboriginal people of Australia who have mastered the
fine art of conversation and the fine art of speaking orally before a group, face-to-face before
a group.
And if these people who can teach us a lot about how to speak because having become
literate we have also lost our ability to get our message across through the spoken word. For
instance, in Igbo society of Nigeria, among the Igbo people of Nigeria it is said that the
proverbs are the palm oil with which words are eaten.
So Igbos conventionally sprinkles their conversations with proverbs to get their message
across in the most succinct and most forceful manner. Closer home let us think of speakers of
say Bengali, and in Bengal where I live, where I find that my friendly neighborhood
greengrocer also has a basic vocabulary in Sanskritized Hindi, thanks to Bengali being
derived from Sanskrit, modern Bengali including lot of difficult Sanskrit words. The kind of
vocabulary which an average speaker and the rest of the country who does not have a
Sanskritic base or whose language does not have a Sanskritic base is unlikely to possess.
Let us move now to the speakers of Urdu and Urdu that is spoken in Lucknow to see how the
Nawabi aadaab or the Nawabi culture of “pehle aap pehle aap” and the polite conversation,
idiomatic conversation is percolated to the rickshaw puller who carries you across the Chowk
and narrates the recent history of Chowk to you in pure khalis Urdu spoken by the Nawabs.
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The course - this course - is for those who wish to express their thoughts, ideas and emotions
clearly and effectively in English and I will say why in English, why this course is only
targeting speaking effectively in English rather than in other languages. In one-to-one
situations in a group or before a group, it begins by addressing issues in basic speaking and
conversational skills before guiding learners to make effective presentations.
So the objectives of this course are to understand what effective speaking is, particularly
focusing on English speaking skills, to understand the difference between speaking and
writing, to learn to use verbal and non-verbal symbols, to be able to use simple structures in
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colloquial functional English, to be able to speak effectively one to one, in a group and before
a group.
I have the course outline before you; it is a longish outline. We have an eight module course,
and in each module, we have five units and just to give you a taste of what is to come, I will
quickly read out some of the topics which I will cover in the modules. In the first week, that
is today, we begin by introduction to speaking and begin with the first topic which is the art
of speaking.
From there we move onto encoding meaning through verbal and non-verbal symbols, which
is something which speaking shares with writing. The third unit will be about verbal
communication, the fourth unit will also look at how words work and the fifth unit in the first
module, the final unit in the first module will look at how to use words.
So in the first module apart from the introduction, we are also looking at the use of verbal
symbols and which are shared across, which are distributed and common to both speaking
and writing.
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In the second module we move onto meta-communication, not non-verbal communication but
meta-communication and I will later go into what meta-communication means. Nature,
function and types of non-verbal communication.
In unit 2 of module 2, we go to the importance of non-verbal communication in speaking; in

unit 3 we look at body language, eye communication, facial expression, gesture, posture and
movements, dress and appearance we continue in the unit 4 and unit 5 will focus exclusively
on paralanguage.
Week 3 module 3, we move onto phonetics which is the sound of speaking, which is the
science of sounds and after having introduced to basic phonetics, I will take you - I will guide
you through the sounds of English, first with vowels, from there I will go on in the unit that
follows into diphthongs and consonants. In unit 4, I move onto stress and rhythm and in the
final unit, I go into intonation, pause and modulation.
In week 4, we will look at relationship between voice and personality. The most important
component in speaking, apart from words, is voice and delivery. So we will look at - I will
give you tips on - how to improve your voice and in the unit that follows, we will look at how
to improve delivery.
In unit 4 of week 4 or module 4, we look at pace, pitch, volume and in the concluding unit of
module 4, we would look at modulation, resonance, use of - removal of - non-words,
enunciation and so on.
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In module 5 we move on to more advanced skills having mastered the sounds and basic units
like sounds and words, now we move on to more advanced activities such as basic
conversational skills and in these basic conversational skills, I include giving and receiving
instructions, asking for information, making requests and accepting, conceding to requests,
agreeing and disagreeing and making recommendations.
In week 4, as it since it is a tiered course we move on to a more - very - advanced activity,

which is group discussions and effective meetings. Where unit, the second unit will be about
participating in a meeting and the third unit will be about chairing a meeting. In unit 4 we
will analyze and ill conducted meeting and in unit 5 we will analyze together a well
conducted meeting.
In module 7, I move onto interviewing skills, which is of great interest, particularly to people
who are looking for jobs but also for those who may not be looking for jobs but who have
other situations in which they have to make an impression and they have to interact with
people one-to-one and make negotiations, make deals and so on.
So the first one in the second unit will be about appearing in an interview, how does one
appear in an interview and the second one will be about conducting an interview, how does
one conduct an interview. In unit 4 and 5 like in meeting skills we will first analyze a good
interview and then we will analyze a bad interview.
And the concluding module 8 we will look at how to make successful presentations, two parts
in unit 1 and 2; we will then move onto analysis of a bad presentation and then to analysis of
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a good presentation; we will have two modules devoted to that. Now I must remind you that
each of these modules will be followed by assignments.
The assignments will be based on activities related to the modules so that you not only master
the concepts introduced in the lectures but actually get to practice the concepts discussed and
actually get to practice the activities introduced in the lecture which you need to rehearse
several times in order to be able to master those skills. So the onus of making something out
of this course and learning something is equally yours.
My responsibility is to introduce you to what is good speaking and give you some - share
some - tips with you on how you can improve your speaking. But unless you put in the equal
amount of practicing the skills, we will not be able to get the results that we are aspiring to
get. So my request to you is, if you are enrolling in this course, please take the assignments
and the activities as seriously as listening to the lectures.
Now I come to the art of speaking and to show what the art of speaking in English in
particular is and why as - and speaking mainly to Indian speakers of English, why we need to
master the art of speaking English unlike other languages in which most of us are very fluent
and some of us are able to express ourselves very effectively in our own mother tongue but
when it comes to articulation or articulateness in English language we fail miserably.
I have come across several people - I have heard them participate in informal conversations
and I have watched them holding the entire group enthralled with their witticisms through
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their use of unusual phrases, through the way they control pause and modulation and the way
they modulate their voice or they deliver the narrative.
And the way they control the conversation, you know the skills with which they control the
whole conversation, you find people are sitting so spellbound listening to such speakers and I
am sure in your own neighborhood or in your own group of friends or group of colleagues
you have such individuals, who instinctively have the knack for making any subject
interesting in the way they narrate that subject.
But I find that when I ask the same people to make a presentation in English or narrate the
same account in English, they falter miserably, they fail miserably. The reason is because the
same skills that you need in expressing yourself in your mother tongue are not appropriate
when you are expressing yourself in English. So this is what we will be doing in the course;
we are assuming that you know how to speak your mother tongue.
We are assuming that you speak very well; you speak very well when you are speaking in
your mother tongue and you are able to express most complex thoughts and arguments in
your mother tongue and you are also able to get your meaning across in emotional situations
or have the gift of holding an audience spellbound when it comes to speaking in your mother
tongue.
But when it comes to the English language, you are at a loss for words, your mouth goes dry,
you do not have the right words, you are stuck, you are not fluent, or inadvertently you use
the wrong pause, wrong sound, wrong intonation, wrong stress, wrong words and your
message has the opposite effect of what you intended it to be. So let us begin by asking, is
communication verbal, vocal or visual?
Did you know that we spend a lot of time thinking about the words we use and we spend a lot
of time about the verbal component of communication? Did you know what the total
percentage in a message the verbal component is; it is only 7%. The rest of the message -
93% of the message - is visual and vocal. Visual messages are the most - take half - more
than half the percentage of the message.
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55% of the messages is visual and 38% of the message is vocal. So when you look at a
speaker, say when you meet somebody, say you are travelling in a train, local train or a long-
distance train or on a flight or you come to a restaurant and you see someone or in a
classroom you notice somebody and you see someone, how do you form an impression about
that person even before you have exchanged a single word with that person?
You form an impression based entirely on the visual cues, about how the person looks. Now I
am not saying whether that person looks attractive or unattractive but just by the way that
person appears, you know the body shape, whether that person is tall, short, fat, thin, well-
groomed, ill groomed, dressed well, ill-dressed, on the basis of that, you form a certain - you
create a certain - profile of that person.
You say, oh that person looks like a banker, okay, this person looks like a corporate guy, this
person looks like a Jholawala from JNU who is a student or who is an intellectual, who is a
Marxist intellectual. So you form these images by the maybe by the glasses the person is
wearing, you say this person must be an intellectual or somebody has a cool hairstyle and you
say this person must be working in an advertising company.
So the visual message is the most important one. And say you met somebody on the - in the-
in the - Metro and you struck a conversation with that person; you thought okay, this person
is also a student and maybe we can make friends and you struck a conversation. So then the
first words you say, you greet that person or wish that person or introduce yourself.
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Just by the quality of your voice, by the vocal cues you provide, you give away your, your
social and regional background. So, say, you speak with a trace of an accent, you can betray
which part of the country you are from, okay. Or your emotional background, suppose you
are not feeling too well that day, the tone of your voice, the quality of the energy in your
voice will say okay you are disturbed about something or you are not feeling too well.
So, you give away a lot of cues to people just by - even when - you say good morning, you
give away a lot of cues. And only 7% of the message is verbal on which we spend a hell of
time - a lot of time - practicing. So, we begin with saying that since the vocal and the visual
aspect of communication is more important or takes a larger share than the verbal aspect,
particularly in speaking, because writing has less space for vocal and visual or non-verbal
messages.
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In speaking when you speak, it is not just about using words, speaking is not only about
words but more than words. I will now come to the difference between speech and writing
and to dispel - demystify - some myths. All of us begin with the assumption that speech came
before writing, both in individuals and individual societies. So say a child, before a child
learns to write, the child learns to speak.
And it is also believed that societies - before they invented script, or before they began to
write, knew how to speak - knew how to communicate by word-of-mouth orally. Now when
we write, our assumption is that, writing is a transcription of speech, that we merely put down
in writing what we say and vice versa, that when we speak, we speak what we have written or
that is a complete myth which we need to dispel.
And in this our great scholars say philosophers like Derrida, several others before him who
showed us that, writing as it was believed earlier is not a transcription of speech. It is not a
transcription of a speech but that speech and writing are two different languages. The way we
compose messages in speech and in writing, we employ very different skills and we also get
very different meaning across.
So this idea that speech was primary and writing was secondary, that was corrected by
Derrida who showed that writing predates or writing is independent of speech. It does not
predate speech but it is independent of speech and structures are independent of speech.
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The reason why I am going into this is that speech and writing are seen as two different
systems and one of the most path-breaking research in this area has been by a priest called
Walter J Ong, in his book called Psychodynamics of Orality and Literacy where he goes into
the psychodynamics of orality and literacy.
According to Ong, I will not go into Ong’s categories, the reason being that Ong’s schema in
which he makes a division between speech psychodynamics of what he called oral societies
and psycho dynamics of literacy has been questioned over the years by other scholars. So I
will not go into the individual schema that he has drawn, a very elaborate schema but I would
say that this basic distinction between speech and writing, even though Ong’s theory has been
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questioned by some scholars, holds and speech and writing are different in some fundamental
ways.
How so? So first of all we know that speech is inside the body and writing is outside the body
and speech requires face-to-face presence and in writing, you have the possibility of
communicating across time and place.
Speech is transient because the moment the word is out of your mouth, it is gone, you cannot
recover it, whereas writing is permanent, that is why we have a fetishisation of writing or
some of us are very scared to put down things in writing because once something is written
down, it is indelible, it cannot be erased. Speech has immediacy, whereas writing has
distance.
Speech is personal, writing is impersonal, that is why when you want to - when you want to -
convey an emotional message, you know the difference between sending an email or a letter
or going across personally to wish, to greet somebody, to congratulate somebody or to
commiserate with somebody in their bad times. A letter, sending a letter is not the same thing
as going across personally because face-to-face dynamics are totally different.
And speaking provides non-verbal cues whereas writing does provide us some non-verbal
cues but they are extremely limited as opposed to speaking, where almost half the message
comes through the non-verbal cues. Speaking is direct and writing is indirect. Speaking
carries emotional content, whereas writing is objective.
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So what I’m saying is, speaking is an altogether different skill from writing; this is the point I
am trying to make aided by some very well-known philosophers and scholars who showed
the basic fundamental difference between speaking and writing. That writing is not a
translation nor transcription of speech but an altogether different system.
So borrowing from Ong - but not borrowing all his categories, we may say that writing is
abstract and speaking is concrete. Writing uses more complex structures whereas speech we
use more simple structures. Writing is formal and speech is informal, writing is - in writing
we tend to use long words and in speech we tend to use short words.
In writing, we tend to be more grammatical, we have the possibilities for editing what we are
writing; but in speech once we say something, there is no possibility for editing it and it tends
to be additive and it tends to be repetitive and sometimes tends to be grammatical. For
instance, if you were to transcribe my lecture you will find that I have inadvertently - because
I am thinking on my feet as I speak - I have inadvertently made some grammatical mistakes,
or if I have not made any grammatical mistakes, I have used lot of redundancies, I have
repeated phrases, I have said the same word or the same sentence in two different ways.
You know - so it is very repetitive, it is full of redundancies which if I were writing this
lecture down as lecture notes - which I hope maybe at some time I will be able to send you, in
that I would carefully edit it for redundancies and correct it, edit it and then send it to you. I
- before I conclude this lecture - I would like to identify why we need to focus on our
speaking skills in English.
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Because as I said, many of us in India, a large number of us - and it has nothing to do with
our knowledge or our college degrees or qualifications - there is a significant majority of
people who have mastered the art of speaking effectively, who have mastered the art of
conversation and you find such people are spread across classes, castes, gender, ethnicity,
regions and so on languages and so on but when it comes to English, we have a problem.
And why do we have this problem? Let’s get the answer from one of the greatest writers of
Indian English, Raja Rao who wrote a novel called Kanthapura and who wrote another novel
called Serpent and the Rope - one of the leading writers of the 1930s and later. One of the
troikas of the first generation of Indian novelists in English.
It was Raja Rao who put it so well, he said English - the reason why not we are not able to
express our emotions in English - you will find many of you, in fact I have the experience of
listening and reading the writings of my students, I find that most of us are able to articulate
very complex ideas, very complex arguments in English language.
But when it comes to simple structures, making simple everyday conversations or saying the
right thing in a one-to-one conversation, we end up saying the wrong word. Why is that so?
Because most of us, the majority of us, have learned English as a second language, a
language later in life because the first language we spoke was our mother tongue and we
came to learn English later in life as a second language in a very formal context, in the
classroom or we learnt it through a textbook. It was taught in a classroom unlike our mother
tongue which we picked up from the environment.
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We picked it up by listening to others, you listen to your mother say that nice round thing is a
cookie or a biscuit and you said wow I want that cookie, I want that cookie because each time
you said cookie, you got that nice round thing to eat or when you cried your mom came
running. So you know that this is how I can get my meaning across. You learnt by imitating
people around you.
So this is not the case with English because English we learned in a formal fashion. So that
Indians are able to conduct sophisticated arguments English to express abstract concepts; they
are unable to employ simple, colloquial structures in conversational English. With that the
problems of Indian learners of English - some of us which I have identified - are because we
have learnt English formerly in the classroom or through books.
We are unfamiliar with English as it is spoken by native speakers of English and we tend to
use a lot of Indianisms, not only that - in our usage, we use non-standard English. I am not
talking about Hinglish - but we use structures which are not English structures at all, but we
also use words which are not English words at all. Like we say I passed out of college, you
know passed out is an incorrect usage because passed out means to faint.
Or we say he was in my batch, which is instead of saying so-and-so was my contemporary in

college or he was in the same year as me, we say he was from my batch, now batch is
something which is only used in India.
So as a result, our English does not sound as English at all, it sounds like very different
English, non-standard English because the sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation that we use
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are not the sounds, stress, rhythm and intonation used by native speakers of English. And we
tend to transliterate phrases from the mother tongue into English.
So because of that we speak an odd kind of English and we are unable to express simple
emotions or instructions in English that may be expressed by colloquial English. So with this
brief introduction we will move onto how we speak or write using verbal and non-verbal
symbols.
And as we go along the course I would focus, whenever I am illustrating any concept, I
would focus particularly on the speakers of Indian speakers of English and the problems that
they have in each of these areas.
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18
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Student 1: Hello, Mr Vivek, Sir, so I am from the Spring Fest sponsorship committee and I
am here to have a partnership with Coca Cola, so would you like to have that partnership? Let
me introduce myself.
Student 2: Marketing Head of Coca-Cola, so give me some numbers and give me the perks.
Student 1: What we would like to have you to be doing is, we would have you have as a title
sponsor and would like you to host Coke Studio events which are going to happen and the
perks we would like to offer will be n number of stalls, all free of cost and also the
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advertisement that you will get there would be about 20,000 people from around India
watching the event.
Student 2: Like why is Spring Fest popular or why 20,000 people come?
Student 1: Okay, there are a number of events we have dance; we have people coming from
outside like Arman Malik, we have DJ Zayden, so to for all of these events, there will be a lot
of people from different parts of the country and different colleges and also there will be
dance events, so teams from different colleges will be coming in, so we would you know like
to have…
Student 2: Nice, so how would you like us to involve with Spring Fest?
Student 1: Yeah, your involvement will be the posters that you put and the main thing will be
we are having Zayden and Arman Malik coming up, so which are music events and as you
already have a brand Coke Studio we would like you to host the event for the night.
Student 2: Okay, so how would you like us to like how would you like to us like us to involve
apart from Coke studio?
Student 1: Apart from Coke Studio umm I guess the stalls would do.
Student 2: Okay.
Student 1: That’s yeah.
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North Indian Speaker: Here I want to say that ki Hindi is Hindi should be globalized and
English not. I think English is globalized because at that time our need and they master of all
of us but now we are also global globalized. Today our India is progressing a lot and in every
field like that ki in space and in technology and in agriculture and in any field India is
growing and we are now globalized.
The other country person want to come in our India now. They should learn Hindi. Not it is
not our duty that ki we have to learn English and when we learn English, the point is that ki
we have to communicate with British you can say or we want to communicate with American
because our need that time.
And this time, they are needed to come here and they should learn Hindi and we should learn
we should only in our national language. And it is not our duty that ki hamlog English ko
padhe ya English ko samjhe [that we should study English or understand English]. Aur this
time is transition time for all of us, we have find a chance to make our India globalized.
And the main thing is that ki when we, I, speak in English, I want to say that my personal
experience, when I speak in Hindi then, I proudly, I proud of our country and I can speak
everything matlab[meaning] which I want to express you and in English I can speak and I can
communicate with you but a lot of things which is in mind I cannot express. And something
is going to wrong with me ki we are speaking in English.
Matlab I do not know about that what is this but I do not comfortable with in English. It is not
the task that ke hamlog English kyu nahi seekh rahe ya hame English hame itni jyada boring
kyu lagti hai ya ham seekh nahi sakte [why we are not learning English or why we find
English so boring or we are unable to learn it]; the task is that something is obstruct to is me
learn in English and something is prevent to learning English. I don’t know what this is.
South Indian Speaker: Arre, what is this, sir? Getting elected president for 1000 years, the
H1-B visa there, I work hard 12 years, then four years work hard in engineering, parents
putting.. then I do engineering, then they say go to Masters. Now what? I should get a job
because new rule coming, $ 100,000 ayyo. 70 lakh per annum how (woo) who will give me?
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Student 1: I think we should, we should not do like this, yaar. We should always think like it
that ki she will come then it is okay or not but I was completely sure that ke na who mere
saath Salsa karegi, aur bas yahi se soch kar ke [she will dance the salsa with me and the
thought….
Student 2: Koi baat nahi aur koi mil jayega, koi tension nahi hai [Don’t worry, you will find
someone else, don’t get tense.
Student 1: Mil jayega ya mil jayegi, haha haha [Find someone(he) or find someone (she)]].
Student 2: Haha.
Student 1: Ha to sahi sahi bol na [Tell me the truth].
Student 3: You had side, okay.
Student 4: I was, umm, and I was asking I was outing half and a month before asking her for
Salsa and all you did was take her without asking me once.
Student 3: I think you have misunderstood.
Student 4: I have not misunderstood you. I am kind of a person who skips meals outside and
bought her a silk for just asking her out.
Student 3: Alright.
Student 4: You should have asked me first, right?
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Student 3: Umm, I know what you talk about, you have worked really hard on this, this girl.
Student 4: Yes, of course.
Student 3: Let me tell you the truth you know, I have been in, I have been behind this girl for
a very long time too.
Student 4: So what?
Student 3: I have taken her to Subway, umm, maybe six times and then I wrote her Foundry
projects and, I have, the last semester you know you know what my CGPA was, it was 6.4
and she got a 9.5, you know?
Student 4: Haha?
Student 3: Do you understand, do you see the difference?
Student 4: But that is not my problem, right?
Student 3: I am not your danger. You know she went with Vivek, man.
Student 4: Haha.
Student 3: We are on the same boat, we are on the same boat.
Thank you, we will meet again and we’ll talk about how we encode messages verbally and
nonverbally using verbal and non-verbal symbols.
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Lecture 2
Encoding Meaning Using Verbal and Non-Verbal Symbols
Hello and welcome again to speaking effectively. We are into the second unit of module one
in which we will look at encoding meaning together through verbal and non-verbal symbols.
In this unit I will go into some basics of the communication process, which cuts across both
speaking and writing but we need to understand that in order to be able to speak effectively.
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So some of you must be already familiar with communication theory, for those who are not -
I will try to brush your basics or introduce you to those - introduce basics to those who are
not familiar with the basics of communication theory to tell you what is communication, to
understand what is communication. Whether we communicate through word of mouth or we
communicate through writing, what exactly is communication?
Perhaps you could guess an answer and tell me what you understand by communication. In
my classroom, usually the answer is - to express oneself; to share one’s ideas; to exchange
ideas; to exchange thoughts; to express one’s thoughts. Very rarely do people say to
exchange emotions or to share feelings, so together in our classroom we try to construct a
definition of communication and it is - this is - how it looks like.
To communicate is to send information - to communicate is to send not just information,

when we communicate, we not only send information but we also send ideas, feelings. We
exchange, we do not send information, we exchange information, ideas and feelings and - to
use a better word - we do not just exchange, what we do is we share meaning by opening a
common door.
We have a closed-door, we open a door and we ask the other person to share our meaning.
That is what we mean by communication.
So let us arrive at a working definition of communication, to communicate is to exchange - to

send and receive information and ideas and feelings - with the objective of improving
understanding, that for me is the working definition of communication. To share ideas,
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feelings, thoughts - with the - giving and receiving feedback, with the objective of improving
understanding, this is what we mean by communication.
And communication loop looks like this. In a communication situation, there is always a
sender and there is a receiver, so it is a two-way process, there have to be two parties when
we communicate.
Of course, we can communicate with oneself - like if you were talking to yourself, or if you
watch a Shakespearean play and you have these famous soliloquies where the speaker is
talking to himself, a technique which is being borrowed in, lot of tele-soaps where the
characters are seen speaking to oneself in a soliloquy.
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We communicate with ourselves in our sleep; when we are thinking, we communicate with
ourselves; but usually in a communication situation we have a sender and receiver. So let us
look at some examples of one-way communication models - a memo, a lecture, a broadcast
on radio or television, a newspaper report, a notice and the lecture like this where I cannot see
you but you can see me.
An ideal lecture would be an interactive lecture where you can ask me questions and I can
speak to you, I can put questions to you; but this is a one-way communication situation.
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Now in a two-way communication model what we have - we have a sender, we have a
receiver; so the message goes from the sender to the receiver - but the communication is not
complete unless the receiver gives feedback. So suppose you signal to someone and you
assume the person has seen your signal. So a communication route is not complete unless the
receiver gives his or her feedback.
So suppose you are in a party and you smile at someone and that someone does not return
your smile, then what happens? That communication is not its complete because the person
who does not smile back at you when you make eye contact with them and you smile at them,
that person is trying to tell you, I do not want to make friends with you.
So it is a form of feedback, it is a response but the response is not equal to a feedback

because feedback is more active. So if you smile at someone across distance at a gathering or
a party, make eye contact and smile and that person makes eye contact with you and smiles
back, that is a conscious feedback. It is not just a response; it is a feedback. Now what do you
do after that?
Through this encouraging feedback when the person smiles at you, you go forward; you walk
across to that person and introduce yourself. So it is a two-way communication model in
which the sender sends a message - like you smiled, the receiver returned your smile.
Like that is a feedback the receiver gave you and does not end there because it is an infinity
model because the sender encouraged by the receiver carries forward that transaction and that
transaction leads onto more transactions.
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So two-way communication model has a sender to receiver and receiver to sender, which
includes not just response because we cannot avoid a response like the person who did not
smile at you but feedback is something you give consciously. Sender can modify the message
depending upon the receiver’s response. So the person who did not return your smile – you
also - your smile froze on your lips and you also stopped smiling.
You did not have the courage to go up to that person and introduce yourself; but the feedback
helps you to modify the message depending upon the receiver’s response. And the sender can
check if that message has been understood correctly. Now how do you check?
Suppose you tell somebody in your office, “would you mind bringing me my file from my
cupboard” and that person - may be because of the noise did not hear you or maybe that
person was speaking to someone else – doing something else, so you say, “get me that file
from the bottom drawer” and that person does not bring it. So how do you know?
You call that person and you say - you wait for the person’s feedback - so that person says
yes, I will, yes sir or yes madam, I will bring that file from your drawer. Then you know, you
can check if the person has got your - understood your - message correctly.
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So we look Infinity Model, as I said that one two-way process does not complete the
communication. No, it leads to more transactions; so when the person smiled at you, you
went forward, you walked across and greeted the person, shook hands with the person and
then you were exchanging notes on your background and at the - by the - end of the party you
were planning to have dinner together somewhere or meeting- waiting for another get-
together and thinking of doing things together. So this can - this is what is meant by the
Infinity model that one transaction, completion of one loop can lead to several other
communication loops of this kind, which can go on to infinity.
Now in the Infinity Model, in the communication model, when we assume that the sender
sends a message and receiver receives a message, we assume that the message has been
received. But no, sometimes the message is not received.
Suppose you are, the phone line is bad or suppose you are shouting to someone in a crowd
and that person cannot hear you because there is too much noise, so these kinds of obstacles
or disturbances can prevent the message from reaching the receiver. This is why you need to
make sure that the receiver has indeed received your message by inviting or waiting for
feedback from the receiver.
Otherwise you will make an assumption error and assume that the receiver has received your
message and the receiver has not actually received your message.
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What are the critical factors in communication in addition to the sender and receiver, we have
a channel and this is where speaking and writing is important. What is the channel? The
channel is - whether you use the spoken channel or you use the written channel, whether you
communicate by speech or you communicate by writing, it can be either of them.
Whether you use an email, whether you use a telephone, whether you send - in olden days we
used to send telegrams, whether you send a registered letter or whether you send a letter by
surface mail or you send an email communication or you just send flowers, it can be any
channel you can use to communicate your message.
And the channel is very important and this is what we will be focusing on during the course
because the channel - the channel - is crucial to the difference between speaking and writing-
channel is crucial to the difference between speaking and writing. So have to make a
judicious decision which message we will use, which channel we will use to communicate
our message.
So suppose you have a colleague; it’s a professional situation where normally you send
emails because emails - written messages - have their own value but in this situation you will
just come to know that your young colleague, a new recruit to your institution has just lost a
dear one, maybe somebody very close to him - or her parent or a caregiver. The person has
lost somebody very dear, now what would you do?
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You have a choice of - you have received a phone call from his family and the family has told
you to break the news to your colleague. What would you do? Of course, the easiest thing is
to pick up the phone, well I received a call from your father or your mother or your family
member saying - you know - your grandfather or your uncle has passed away.
That would be one way of doing it but if you are a caring boss who your subordinates love,
you would normally not stop at making a phone call or sending an email message, if
particularly you are not located very far away, you would actually go across to the person and
break the news to the person very gently.
Similarly if you come to know that a colleague of yours or peer has received some major
award, one way is the easiest way is to send an email or pick up the phone or send an SMS in
these days; but there is nothing that beats going personally across to the peer, your friend,
your colleague or your subordinate or your senior and say, I am so happy to know, to
congratulate him on her -and to say, I am so happy to know that you have won this award.
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So now we go to the next important aspect which is encoding and decoding which is what I
will be addressing in the second unit on speaking effectively, the process of encoding and
decoding and giving feedback. What is encoding and what is decoding? It comes from the
word code. We all know what is the word, code.
In computer speak you use the code term - code in a very technical manner but even everyday
persons - or even ordinary ones in common parlance, we understand code as a secret
language in which the sender and receiver can send a meaning which can be understood none
other than the sender and receiver, right? So and so what is the trick in encoding a message?
You find a symbol, you find a code or a symbol which is known only to you and the receiver
so that when you send the meaning, when you encode the message, the receiver is able to
understand what you are saying because it is not just enough to use a verbal or non-verbal
symbol to encode a message. The meaning - the process - is not complete unless the receiver
is able to decode the message.
So suppose you say - suppose you say - that this is my wife - is very homely. Now what you
mean is, my wife is homeloving, she is a homemaker, she is house proud but the receiver is
an Englishman, a native speaker of English where the word homely means somebody who is
not very good looking. So the receiver understands the meaning when you say my wife is
very pretty and very homely.
Now you are saying – making - contradictory statements because the receiver has understood
your meaning as that your wife is a plain Jane and has nothing to do with homemaking skills
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because in correct -in standard - English, homely means someone who is not very attractive,
who is a very plain looking person. So in this case, unless the receiver can decode your
message appropriately, the communication process is not complete.
Therefore if you want to know whether your message has been encoded – decoded- properly
by the person who has received your message, you must make sure that you have received
feedback from the person. Similarly the person who is receiving your message should make
sure that he or she has given their feedback.
2
So if the person says, Oh, you are saying that your wife is a lovely person but she is not - she
is not - particularly - physically very attractive, then you can modify your message; no she is
the most beautiful woman in the world and then your English friend understands in that in
India homely means homeloving not plain-looking.
So communication, let us conclude by saying that communication, in other words, is the

sending and receiving of symbols and attaching meanings to them with the purpose of
understanding one another. And this is what I will be focusing on the rest of this unit, the
sending and receiving of symbols.
Sending and receiving of symbols and attaching meaning to them, this is what I will be
focusing on - and in the units that follow, I will be looking at different kinds of symbols, such
as the verbal symbols and the non-verbal symbols. So, this process of exchanging symbols -
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is only half the job done because the second part of the job is to attach meanings to them.
And why do we attach meanings to them? What is the ultimate goal?
The ultimate goal is to be able to understand one another. So you might be a very articulate
speaker, you might be a very flawless speaker, you have the -you know- you are a
professional and you are able to express yourself in English and you are - you are - able to
impress all your listeners with your with your upper crust accent and the use of your
vocabulary; but what if that accent or that vocabulary turns people off?
Because why - because of the feeling that you are placing themselves above them and trying
to run them down showing that they cannot speak as flawless English as them; so your job is
not done because instead of making friends with your colleagues and subordinates, you have
turned them off because they think that you are trying to place themselves - place yourselves-
above them, you are trying to show you are a cut above them and they are inferior to you.
Believe me, this has happened to me in my classroom of all places - because most of the
students we have an IIT, they are not from, many of them, several of them are not from
English medium schools; they come from the vernacular medium and they are not very fluent
for articulate in English.
So one of this kid was very honest when I asked them for feedback about the English class
and he said, I hate professors who speak correct - who speak very good English - because I
feel nervous in their presence. So that was a very important feedback for me because this kid
was trying to say, okay you speak correct English but you turn - you put - me off because I
am scared of you and I like - I like - the teachers who cannot speak correct English.
So it was a very important lesson for me that just speaking correct language or speaking a
language fluently and flawlessly does not mean that you are a good speaker.
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Because what is the objective of speaking, or of writing for that matter? It is to be able to
improve understanding, to send and receive symbols - whether verbal symbols or non-verbal
symbols - with the objective of improving understanding, to increase empathy, to increase
understanding of one another. So that is why I have used - it is not my model - but a model
called the inferential model of communication.
What does the inferential model of communication say? It says that communication is not
about deciphering the meaning in the senders’ mind by decoding symbols accurately. So we
are going a step further, what did I say so far? I said that communication does not take place
unless the receiver assigns meaning, understands the meaning that the sender is trying to
send.
So unless the reader is able to decipher or decode the meaning that the sender has sent,
communication does not take place. Now I am going one step further, what am I saying now?
I am saying that communication does not stop at merely decoding the meaning, you have
decoded the meaning but you have to go one step further, why? Because you are actually
jointly creating the meaning.
So communication is the joint creation of meaning by both sender and receiver in the process
of exchanging symbols. How does this happen? So suppose you say that - suppose you say
that I am feeling tired. You look tired - suppose you tell your colleague - you look tired and
the colleague says, no I am not.
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Now the message has been decoded properly, you have conveyed a meaning, you have said
you look tired, the colleague is actually looking tired and that is why you have said this. But
the colleague vehemently retorts by saying, no I am not. What is the meaning - the underlying
meaning - that is occurring here? But you are trying to say that maybe you are not fit enough
to do the work. Maybe that is how the colleague reads your meaning that you are looking
tired, meaning that I am not in my full form. And maybe you try to say - you are actually
concerned - and you are trying to say - that maybe you are tired and maybe you should take it
easy whereas the colleague took it as a reflection on his or her abilities and sharply retorted
by saying, no I am not.
Or say, or sharply retorted by saying, no I am not - or say or sharply retorted by taking the
meaning otherwise and thinking that you are not looking good. So in that case the meaning
that you have given the word and the meaning that the person has given to that word differ.
You have given the word tired - by literally saying that you look tired; whereas the person
who has received the meaning has read it mean that you are casting aspersions on his abilities
or saying that that person is not looking very good. So what happens is, the meaning that you
have intended is very different from the meaning that the person understood, even though the
meaning has been literally decoded.
So what do we do in the inferential model of communication? Just decoding the meaning is

not enough. One has to go one step further and both the sender and the receiver have to create
meaning together and this process of the joint creation of meaning by both sender and
receiver, in the process of exchanging symbols, is communication. Let’s look at some
examples before close to see how do we communicate meaning.
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How do we communicate meaning in general? When you want to communicate meaning,

how do you communicate? When you are a baby, in fact when you first came into the world,
how did you announce your arrival in the world? By bawling! When you were crying you
know - people knew, okay the baby is here or when you were still small and not able to
speak, you were hungry, how did you communicate your meaning?
Or you were sleepy, how did you communicate meaning? You started crying and this was the
coded message between you and your caregiver, may be your mother, it may be your ayah -
or it may be someone else in your neighbourhood who was your caregiver, and that person
could read your different kinds of crying by saying oh, he is hungry or she is hungry or say
no, she is sleepy, she has got a stomach ache.
So there was this coded language between you and your caregiver which means, which meant
that you’re different ways of crying could be not only decoded but meaning could be created
by both you and your caregiver just because you worked together to create the meaning. So
how do we communicate meaning? By choosing verbal or non-verbal symbols.
Like you saw that when you were not even able to speak, you were able to communicate your
meaning by saying that I am hungry by crying. So even a non-verbal symbol can be used to
create meaning. Now we have a choice, when we are trying to get our meaning across, which
is communication or when we are to modify it, when we are trying to create meaning together
with the receiver, what do we need to do?
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We need to select some symbols, we can select a verbal symbol or we can select a non-verbal
symbol or we can come combine the two. When we normally speak, what do we do? We use
a cluster of symbols. Some of them are verbal, some of them are vocal, some of them are
non-verbal, some of them are visual. We combine them to produce meaning.
I am using the word produced rather than exchange or can we because production means that
you and the receiver have to create meaning together. And what is a symbol? That is the most
important thing. What is a symbol? Symbol is something which stands for something. Say
take the Statue of Liberty in New York, what does it stand for? It stands for the American
values of free freedom of speech, democracy, equality, liberty and so on, right?
So it stands for something. And now what is the problem with symbols? Somebody who has
not been to US or somebody who does not know who does not know what the Statue of
Liberty is, who would just see it as a lady, like the figure of a lady, right. So say let us - let
us - take the example of people from different cultures to see, to understand that symbols
have no fixed meaning, symbols have no fixed meaning.
For instance, let us look at a very common symbol. Like in the West, color symbols, in the
West, white is the color of - white is used - is a happy color because white is used in
weddings and women dream of white weddings dressed in all white. Whereas in India, white
is the color of mourning in most Indian societies, except in some groups where white is used
in more auspicious occasions.
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But in the larger part of Indian communities, white is the color of mourning. Now if someone
is wearing white in India, it is assumed that the person is in mourning. Whereas in the west
you wear white in a wedding, it is considered auspicious. So this color symbolism is - unless
you are from that community, you will not understand that symbolism. So suppose say
symbols related to class - a certain kind of attire for instance - they are not universal; you
wear certain kind of clothes, suppose you are from that society, you know what the working
classes and who are the elite classes, depending upon the way they dress. But suppose
someone comes from another culture, they will not be able to tell the difference, will just be
able to describe that certain people dressed differently from certain other people.
But members of that group will be easily able to identify the class difference between the way
you dress. So color, dress, all these, anything can be assembled. Color, dress, image, light,
sound, anything can be assembled. And the problem with symbols is, they have no fixed
meaning, their meanings keep changing. There meanings keep changing over space and time.
Geographically and historically their meanings keep changing and that is why one symbol
which meant something in one time or one place does not have the same meaning. In order to
for symbols to work, what do you need? That both the sender and receiver have a common
knowledge of the meaning of that symbol.
So if you think white is mourning and your English friend thinks white is wedding, you will
have a major confusion because you will think why - like when you go to - when you go to
formal occasions in the West, everyone is dressed in black. Now in India black is a color of
mourning, right? So you say why are people dressed like this? Why are not they wearing
bright colors, that is because it is a cultural symbol.
Black is a color which is used in formal occasions, whether you are making a presentation or
you are going to very formal dinner or a formal get-together; you normally wear black.
Whereas in India, we avoid it, it is considered an inauspicious color and we avoid wearing
black on auspicious occasions. So meaning is created through agreement. Meaning is not
fixed; meaning of symbols is not fixed. We create it through agreement.
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And exchange of meaning can take place only when both sender and receiver give the same
meaning to the symbol. So I will conclude with an example, suppose we are in Kharagpur
and very often - we are in the backwaters in a small provincial town - and very often we get
bored and we say, we miss the city like and we say let us go to Calcutta. So suppose in a
group of friends, someone suggests, let us go to Calcutta this weekend, okay.
And the rest of the friends say, yes of course, let us go to Calcutta. Now it is assumed that
everyone is happy that they are going to Calcutta. But what happens, once they went there
once they go there, what do the guys want to do? They want to go to they want to go to a bar
and get drunk and drink and what do the girls…
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I am using very stereotyped gender roles which is not true was just for the sake of an
argument, I am illustrating it to say one group of people wants to go to - wants to go to - Park
Street and have the best food because Park Street is a famous street for food, go to bars and
get drunk, or go to the nightclubs and go dancing.
Whereas there is another group of people in the same group of friends who want to go
shopping to New Market which is in the adjoining area or they want to go to Gariahaat and
do more traditional sari shopping there.
Or there is a third group of friends who want to go and do sightseeing and they want to go to
the Victoria Memorial and they want to see the Victoria lit up at night or they want to go to -
or they want to - go to the Ganges, to go to the Riverside and go on a ferry and take a - take a
ride on the river Ganges in the moonlight. So everyone has a different idea of what Kolkata
is, so when you say let us go to Calcutta, everyone jumps.
Let us go to Kolkata, everyone jumps and everyone has a different meaning of Kolkata in
their mind. Some people are thinking I am going to shop to my heart’s content. I am going to
shop in Park Street, Gariahaat, New Market, Vardaan Market, City Centre and whatever - the
malls. The other group is thinking we will go sightseeing, the third group is thinking we are
going to binge on prawns and chingrimaach [Bengali; prawns] and Chinese food and blah
blah blah.
And some want to just admire the colonial architecture on Park Street and what is called the
White Town. In Calcutta we have the White Town which is the British town and we have the
Indian town which is the Blacktown where the native people used to stay. So here we have
Park Street, and there is Kwality, and there is Park Hotel in the neighborhood, and there is the
Oxford bookshop and if you go inside, you can go dancing in Tantra.
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But the other person - the receiver - when they said okay, let us go to Calcutta, let us go to
Kolkata, they say - they thought - they will go to Shyam Bazaar and have the pantua
[Bengali; a sweet], which is available in a very famous shop in Shyam Bazaar and they
thought they will go and buy Tangail Sarees in Shyam Bazaar or they would go to Kali Ghat
and buy all the souvenirs from Kali Ghat and go to the temple.
So Kolkata for some is crowds, for others it is Rabindrasangit, for the third group it is
shopping but what we need to do to be able to communicate is to create meaning together by
asking and giving feedback. You say, oh yes, I just want to walk down Vidyasagar Setu, so
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then the sender says oh I can’t get to Park Street, we will be going to Vidyasagar Setu and
these women and these men will be just walking down Vidyasagar Setu.
The other person says, oh I want to go to Park Circus and I want to go to I want to get into a
tram, so you say, oh hell with my dancing all night, I will be doing tram rides. And the third
person says, I want to go inside Victoria Memorial and check out the Museum and the
archives. So what you need to do is, check with each person what you meant and what they
understood by the same so that there is clarity.
There may not be agreement but there is clarity that when you when you said you want to go
to Kolkata, you wanted to paint the town -White town - red, go to all the bars, get drunk, go
partying all night, whereas your friends wanted to go shopping. So why do we why do some
symbols mean different things? Because of the filters of communication.
We decipher according to our knowledge, status, culture, communication skills and emotional
states. That is why each of us assigns a different meaning to the same symbols. From this we
will move onto encoding through words.
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Lecture 3
Encoding Meaning using Verbal Symbols
Hello, in the third unit of speaking effectively module 1, we will be looking at the process of
encoding again but we will be looking at the process of creating meaning using verbal
symbols, using words, the power of words.
In other words we will be looking at the power of words and we will look at how language is
like a code. Language is - when we use non-verbal and verbal symbols - we use a code, we
agreed. And when we use language, we do not think that languages are codes. When we think
of non-verbal symbols like the Statue of Liberty or colors and light and so on, we think these
are symbols; but when we look at language, we do not associate language with a symbol.
I am trying to show you that language is also a symbol because it works in the same way as
all other non-verbal symbols work. So words are also symbols; language is also a symbol.
And I will borrow a phrase from again from a very famous philosopher Wittgenstein, who
said language is a game. He said language is a game and language works if rules understood
by its users.
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What I said in the last module, last unit of module 1, I said that in order to be able to
communicate, both sender and receiver have to give the same meaning - have to ascribe the
same meaning - to a symbol for meaning to be created. So language also works like that; it
works by rules understood by its users. It cannot be understood, it cannot be considered
independent of the players.
Like we saw in the case of non-verbal symbols when we said Kolkata, it cannot be
understood independent of the sender and the receivers or senders and receivers, who ascribe
different meaning to the same geographical space which we call Kolkata. And a geographical
urban space which we all know as Kolkata; it had multiple meanings for multiple senders.
And receivers. And without these players, without these multiple senders and receivers, we
cannot understand what it means. Of course there is a physical geographical space called
Kolkata but we cannot understand its meaning independent of the players. And I said earlier,
as in the inferential model of communication, meaning is something which is created
together, produced by both sender and receiver and meaning is really a product of a system of
rules.
So language is a game, it works by rules understood by its players, cannot be understood -

cannot be considered - independent of players and meaning is a product of the system of
rules.
Now what do we mean by this? What we mean by this is - suppose when you are a child, did
you use the language in which you added ‘cha’ before every word and only you and your
47
friend could guess the meaning of what you are saying. What was the rule? Before every
word you add the letter cha and that new language which is born - only you and your friend
will be able to decipher the language.
And the same thing happens in other codes when we are ascribing meaning in a language.
That unless you know the rules, like here the rule was, use the cha before every word, unless
both the sender and receiver know the rules they will make a mistake. I am sure all of you -
or many of you at least - watch Hindi films and we find that in Hindi films particularly
gangster films - like gangsters - have their own codes.
Like computer programmers have their codes, gangsters have a code and if you are familiar
with the idiom of Hindi films, you would also, by now, be acquainted or well versed in the
code of the gangsters depicted in Hindi films.
We do know whether the actual gangsters use these codes or not; but from the Hindi film we
have become acquainted with this code language of gangsters where you say - where a
gangster tells the other gangster - where money is rokda and bomb blast is shaadi.
So both the gangsters, suppose two gangsters have decided that they are going to bomb a site
and they are not going to say - they are speaking on a telephone - one is not going to tell the
other, go and blast - go and bomb the market or go and bomb the train. They are going to say,
we are going for a wedding and the work should be done.
So it is a secretly coded language which both these gangsters know - but the people who have
- maybe their phones are tapped - and people are police officers- listening to their phone line
- and by now- I hope even people who were listening to the phone line now know the code
language; but they have learnt to couch the real meaning in a very innocuous simple language
which others are unable to guess because they keep changing.
Unlike Hindi films, they keep changing the code everyday so that people who are listening in
are not able to decipher the meaning. So that is what we mean, that languages is a game and
we need to know the rules. So when both the gangsters or both the sender and the receiver
know the rules, they can understand the meaning whereas other people who do not know the
rules will not understand the meaning.
The next thing that I am going to introduce you to is that meaning does not exist by itself. For
any word, any symbol, meaning does not exist on its own. As we saw in the case of Kolkata
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or Statue of Liberty, meaning did not exist on its own. Kolkata by itself did not have any
meaning by itself, the meaning of Calcutta was in the people, so depending on the person,
Calcutta was a place with fancy bars and restaurants and nightlife and fun.
For other people it was a place of crowds, tradition, trams, shopping. For yet another group, it
was - it is wonderful, brilliant Victorian architecture. So a word means what we want it to
mean. Very few of us have the ability to mean what we say and say what we mean. Do you
remember my favorite book when I was a child - and I continue to read it in adulthood also -
is Alice in Wonderland.
Those of you who might have read Lewis Carroll’s brilliant children’s - fantasy - book Alice
in Wonderland, which is really - which was - understood to be a children’s story for several
years until people came to know that Lewis Carroll - who was a mathematician - had actually
concealed very complex mathematical equations in every sentence of Alice in Wonderland.
So it is really a coded book where those who understand the concepts in mathematics which
Lewis Carroll was talking about would be able to read the hidden meanings. But in Alice in
Wonderland, Alice says, “I say what I mean and I mean what I say”. Unlike Alice none of us
mean what we say and none of us say what we mean because we are utterly confused about
what we mean and we are utterly confused about what we say. Why?
Because a word, the problem is not with us, the problem is with the symbols because we
think that communication is choosing the right symbol and matching it to the right meaning.
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But what we found out was that no symbol has a right meaning; every symbol has a cluster of
meanings which are porous, which are fluid, which keep changing according to the user.
So think how elusive meaning is; it is not a question of matching symbols to meaning, but
creating meaning through symbols which are themselves so porous, so fluid, so dynamic and
choosing symbols to convey meaning which itself is so elusive. Are we always clear about
what we want to say? We are not always clear. So the process of finding symbols to convey
meaning is a very complex process and in that a word means what we want it to mean.
It does not have any intrinsic meaning by itself, it can mean only what we want it to mean.
And not only that, our experience is shaped by words. By the words we use, our experience is
shaped by that. The earlier view of language was that our language reflects reality but with
Wittgenstein and others now we say language does not reflect reality; in fact language shapes
reality.
So since we cannot share our word of experience, we cannot share the meaning of words -
also because words are actually shaped by it. So think of the logic, a word means what we
want it to mean but experience is shaped by words but since our experience is not shared.
How can we assume that the word we use will be understood in the same manner in which we
used it by someone whose experience is different because a word has no meaning by itself
but is actually shaped by our experience or it shapes our experience. So someone whose
experience is not the same as ours will not understand our meaning.
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So I will quickly walk you through a very major shift in the understanding of language. The
earlier understanding of language was that we live in two worlds, one is the world of words
and the other is the world of things. And what is language? Language is choosing the right
word for the right thing.
So it is a question of matching, which is a very simple way of language which prevailed until
new theories of language revealed to us a different understanding of language. So the new
theories of language particularly after Wittgenstein told us that there are no two worlds, so it
is not a question of there is a world of things and there is a world of words and we find the
right word to describe the right thing. But what he tells us is that the word is the world.
The word is the world. The choice of words shapes experience, so instead of two worlds we
have only a single world, we have a single world and the choice that we make of words,
shapes the world of things or the world of experience. What do I mean by this? Let me, let
me illustrate through a simple example. For instance, normally in most languages, we have
only two words for ice, we either have the word ice or we have the word snow, right?
So we think that there is an objective, tangible object called ice or snow and we have to
choose between these two words ice or snow to describe that thing. But would you know - are
you aware - that Eskimos have many different words for snow. And I do not remember the
exact word - number - but I think they have something like 40 different words for snow.
Why is it that they have so many words for snow whereas most other people in the world do
not have more than one or two words for snow. It is because their life depends upon the kind
of snow, because of that they need to know the exact difference between, say, 17 or 20 or
whatever number - kinds - of snows that exist; so they have invented different words for
describing snow.
So snow is not an independent thing which is common to all speakers of the world but snow
is something which is created by the different words for snow, which have been given by
certain speakers - which are not given by other speakers. So what we are saying yes, that the
world of things or world of experience is not identical for all speakers of all languages. It
differs, it is produced by the language itself.
It is created by the language instead of reflecting the language. If this example is not clear, let
me give you another example from closer home. In Indian most Indian languages, we have
different words to describe to talk about different kinds of relationships.
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For instance, we have the word mama [mother’s brother], we have the word chacha [father’s
younger brother] , we have the word taya [father’s elder brother], we have the word fufa
[father’s sister’s husband], we have the word mausa [mother’s sister’s husband], we have the
word chota [younger] mama or bada [elder] mama. Now why is it that these words do not
exist in the English language, which have only one word which is uncle.
Whereas in Indian languages, we have five or six words to describe different kinds of uncles
to whom we are related differently. Why is it so? Because in India we have the notion of the
extended family and our relationship with different members of the family are structured by a
different set of rules. Whereas in the West, the family is more - for a long time - it has been a
nuclear unit.
First of all, we do not have such large extended families and even if they are, its relationships
with different kinds of members of the family are not so nuanced as they are in India. So that
is why if you yourself think of your relationship, I am sure your relationship with your mama
is very different from your relationship with your taya. Why? Because one is a more friendly
kind of relationship, the other is a more reverential kind of relationship.
Because of that person’s relationship with your own parent, your mother or father. That also
structures your transactions or interactions with that member of the family. So what I am - we
are - saying is one way of - in the earlier theory we were saying that there is only different
kinds of relationships and different languages have different words which are translatable to
describe these relationships.
Now we are saying that the words we choose, the number of words we choose, the divisions
we make in language, in relationship signifiers or snow signifiers, that itself creates a reality
for us. It does not reflect the reality or experience but it creates the reality. So the choice of
words shapes experience. So we have three theories of meaning, referential, perceptual and
behavioral.
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Now we come to the most important thing, words. Why is this that we are not able to find the
right word? The problem is finding the right word and we are not able to find the right word.
Why is that? Because words are very tricky things. Most words that we use, they do not
separate facts from guesses. Whereas the way we speak, we state as if something is a fact.
Whereas what it is really, is a guess.
So suppose we say that Devdas or Mother India is the best film ever made, okay. So suppose
I make a statement like this, Godfather is the best film ever made or Mother India is the best
film ever made, okay. Normally we do make statements like this but how do we know
whether Mother India is the best film ever made? There might be people who disagree. How
do we know that Godfather is the best film ever made?
Does everyone think that Godfather is the best film ever made? But we do tend to make
statements in which because when we are forced to use words and when we use words, words
tend to confuse facts and inferences. What is an inference? When you derive information
based on certain information. Now usually we make an inference, it is based on incomplete
information.
So suppose you say that Mother India is the best film ever made. Probably you have not seen
all the films made all over the world and that is why only on the basis of your knowledge of
Hindi films, you say that Mother India is the best film ever made. Or you have seen only
Hollywood films and you say Godfather is the only the best film ever made. So your
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inference that Godfather is the best film ever made is an inference; it is not a fact. It is based
on incomplete information.
So whenever we use language, unfortunately, we tend to confuse facts and inferences. When
we speak we speak as if it is a fact. My wife is the most beautiful woman on earth. A lot of
people would say that. Or my daughter is the best daughter in the world. Now that, is that a
fact? No, it is an inference.
So you say that my wife was Miss India 1994, so Abhishek Bachchan can say - since she was
Miss India 1994 - my wife Aishwarya Rai Bachchan is the most beautiful man on Earth
because through that, through that award she was given, through the title she was given, it
becomes a fact. But for most of the people when they say when they say that my wife is the
most beautiful woman in the world, it is just an inference, it is not a fact.
Now every opinion is a statement about ourselves. So when you say my wife is the most
beautiful woman on Earth, what are you trying to say? You are trying to say that the way
wife looks, that is your idea of beauty, that is one. The other one - the other opinion- the other
statement that you are making by yourself is because she is my wife, she has to be the most
beautiful woman on the on earth.
So words always tend to distort reality, they assume I mean, they appear as if we are stating
facts but they tend to distort reality somewhat.
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Words tend to push things into either or categories. So we say, he is a very good worker say
he is a very bad worker, she is a very lazy worker, she is a very efficient worker, when we
use words like these, adjectives like these, we make we make we polarize things we push
things into black-and-white.
Whereas reality is not like that, when we say somebody is a good worker, maybe somebody
is very good at doing certain kind of tasks, whereas that then same somebody is not good at
doing other kind of tasks. So when we say someone is lazy, maybe someone is slow but is a
perfectionist.
So we are actually pushing things into either or categories, black-and-white categories,

polarizing things whereas reality is a shade of grey rather than black-and-white. So what
should we do? What should we do to avoid using verbal symbols in a way that they create
confusion; it is difficult to decode them? Because what are we try to do? We are trying to
master the art of encoding verbal symbols.
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And what should we do to avoid that they are not decoded in the wrong manner. First of all
we should try to avoid use of absolute, conclusive, generalized terms. Like, that is the best
food, my mother makes the best food in the world; it is an absolute term or generalized term.
Indians are very religious; every Indian is not religious but we say Indians are very religious
people.
Bengalis are very cultured people; Punjabis have no culture. We hear statements like these
but some Punjabis might be cultured; some Bengalis might not be cultured but we do make
statements of this kind. Or value terms, adjectives and adverbs, whenever we use adjectives,
we are using value terms. So either we are using positive or we are using negative.
You say, he is a very good student; he is a very bad student; she is a very beautiful girl; she is
a very ugly girl; she is a very tall girl; he is a very tall guy; he is a very handsome guy; he is
not a handsome guy; he is a brilliant student; he is not a brilliant student. So the moment we
use words like this, we are using value terms and we should avoid using adjectives.
Identifying and confusing facts with inferences, as I said earlier, we should always make a
distinction between facts and inferences. So you can say, in my opinion, my wife is the most
beautiful woman in the world or since she won the Miss World title in 1994, Aishwarya Rai
Bachchan is the most beautiful woman in the world. So you are using some support to show
why an inference is not a fact.
So it is we when we use buffers of this kind by saying, in my opinion or up to this date,

Cleopatra has been regarded as the most beautiful woman for centuries as goes the opinion of
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most people. So there you are saying - you are going - you are supporting it by authority.
Bypassing, polarization, frozen evaluation are other problems. What is polarization? As we
said earlier, he is very good, he is very bad, that is polarization.
Or what is frozen evaluation? Frozen evaluation is somebody who - somebody might - when
we use terms based on our opinion of someone in the past and we do not change that opinion.
Say when you were a kid, you are not good in studies and your brother was brilliant but what
happens, whenever you go to families they say, “woh to padhai mein acha nahi tha”, he was
not good in studies; he was always playing but his brother was brilliant.
But what happened, maybe in your childhood you were not serious about studies but when
you finished, by the time you entered high school, you started taking your studies seriously
and maybe you excelled over your brother, you got a better job then your brother. But in the
family circles, it is very difficult to get over frozen evaluation because what is believed to be
true for one time is believed to be true for all times.
And you have famous examples of people who are considered quite brilliant or quite
attractive later in life think of - think of - say the acme of beauty, say you know the famous
film star Rekha. It is said that she was a child, she was considered an ugly duckling and in her
family she is still considered an ugly duckling, even though of the whole - she is the pin up
girl - of the whole of India if not many other parts of the world.
Or the cricketer Imran Khan once shared the story that even though the world thinks he is the
most handsome -one of the most handsome - men in on not only the field of cricket but also
in the world, he is considered - he was considered - unattractive by ugly by his family
because he had small eyes.
So he is still so you imagine somebody like Imran Khan who is considered one of the -you
know- the signifiers of male good looks, considered himself unattractive because his family
thought he is not attractive and that is an example of frozen evaluation.
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Semantics – what can we do to improve clarity in our encoding of messages so that our
messages do not misfire? Indexing, dating, etc, quotation marks and hyphens. Indexing – so
you say, as of now so-and-so has been the best to retain the class. Dating – in 1995, these
were considered, these clothes were considered very fashionable, bellbottoms were
considered very fashionable in the 70s.
But if you say bellbottoms are very fashionable trousers today, nobody will agree that they
are fashionable but in the 70s they were considered the peak of fashion. Etc – so when you
say something you pretend that you know all of reality but you say well, Titanic is one of the
best films made in my opinion among other films in English language. So when you add
thoses statement, then it becomes less of a generalization.
And finally we use quotation marks and hyphens to say that in my opinion, Sholay is the best
film ever made in the history of Indian cinema. Maybe others do not agree with you but in
your opinion you think that it is the best film.
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Now clarity and ambiguity, use unequal terms, an equally vocal terms to avoid
misunderstandings. Do not use words which are equivocal. What are equivocal words?
Words which have double meaning. If you remember your Macbeth, in the Macbeth what
happens, the witches equivocate and many of us use words tend to use words which have
double meaning.
Now we should try to avoid using words which have a double meaning. Say, use lower-level
abstractions when clarity is essential. So instead of saying, we had a huge audience for a play,
you can say - we use - we had the hall was 80% full when our play was staged. So that is less
abstract, it is more concrete and brings more clarity. Avoid using excessive jargon.
Very often in technical professions, for instance computer scientists, doctors; they tend to use
jargons. And when you want to communicate with people in your own field, it works very
well because it is a shorthand for getting the message across but when you are talking to a
layperson, then it creates confusion because I want to know in simple words what happened.
Like I want to know - do not want to know whether computer has how many GBs - but if I
want to know would I be able to do all my work on my computer for my basic needs, I do not
need to know the GB or I do not need to know the RAM or whatever is important in
computers.
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Avoid using brand and trigger words that arouse an emotional reaction. So whenever we use
trigger words, like when we say, suppose you say my wife is very fat. Is she going to like it?
Very often students say, “oh that Madam is very fat, that fat madam or that fat Sir, that old
Sir”. Now these are trigger words that - when suppose - when you are in front of that teacher,
use “Madam is very healthy or Sir is very youthful”.
But behind their back you say, “oh that fat lady or you say that old man”, right? So depending
on the situation we use positive words or negative words like fat or healthy, right? But what
we need to do is, we need to use neutral words, we need to use words that do not arouse any
undesired emotional reaction.
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So I will give you a quick checklist on the kind of words we use and in the next session we
will look at, we will practice each of these words. So first of all use familiar words, to use the
short words; do not use long words. When you are speaking, we are talking about speaking,
not writing.
Use familiar words, choose the short words, use technical words carefully, select words with
strength and vigor, use concrete language, avoid camouflaged verbs. I will go into each of
those in the next session because I need to practice all of this with you in great detail. Let us
run through this checklist in more detail now. Let us begin with familiar words. What do we
mean by familiar words?
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When we are writing we tend to impress we like to impress people by using a lot of complex
words, by using technical jargon, by using very complex structures; but when we are
speaking, we must remember to use very simple familiar words. Say, in this sentence I have
as a sample, the machine has a tendency to develop excessive and unpleasant ordeal
symptoms when operating at elevated temperatures.
So this this is how I came across a sentence and you can see it is very wordy, it is very
complex, it uses too many words, it uses very complex words and it is very confusing
because it tends to use an unfamiliar word and a more complex word instead of using a
simple word. Now when we try to decode this message in simple words, this is what it is.
The machine tends to get noisy when it runs hot. All the person is trying to say is, the
machine tends to get noisy when it runs hot. So suppose you are explaining to your technical
person - you are not explaining it to - you are not writing a research paper, you are just trying
to tell the person please try to use the machine carefully because it tends to get noisy when it
runs hot.
Instead of that if you try to use the former sentence and use complex words, unfamiliar
words, the person -may be who is not very familiar with the technical words or very complex
language - would get completely confused and your machine will get burnt out.
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Similarly we tend to use short words. When we speak, we ought to use more short words than
long words. So when you use long words like you do in writing, it sounds like this. The
decision was predicated on the assumption that an abundance of monetary funds are
forthcoming. Now this is a structure which you would typically find in a research paper
which I myself tend to use in my research papers.
This is my favorite sentence word, the decision was predicated, or the argument is predicated,
on the assumption, so using a very complex structure, you are using very long words because
in writing we tend to be formal and particularly in academic writing, we tend to use very long
words because it sounds very scholarly. But in everyday in functional English, particularly in
speaking, we should not be using these kinds of words.
Instead we should use short words. So all we are saying is, the decision was based on the
belief that there would be more money. So in a meeting if you say, the decision - I made the
decision - in the belief that there would be more money, instead of that if you tell your
colleagues in a -in a - meeting - you tell people, this was predicated on the assumption that an
abundance of monetary funds was coming, people take a while to understand what are you
saying.
The third now oh, one more point, we tend to think that short words are always simple words.
Is it always so? And we also tend to think that short words are always familiar words. Some
short words are not familiar. For instance, in India, if you use a very short word like naïve
which is just a five letter word, everybody is not familiar with that word.
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Or you tend to use words which are known words from other languages like chic, or gauche
or suave, these are words that have been borrowed in English by other languages like French.
And fashionable people or elder people or learned people tend to use these words in their
everyday speech. But it is quite likely then you say “oh my girlfriend is very chic or that lady
is very chic”, which is usually it is used with women rather than men.
Or you use the word Amitabh Bachchan is a very suave person. Now it is a very short word,
it is not a very long word. Sonam Kapoor is very chic and Amitabh Bachchan is a very suave
person. Now while it might impress people who are familiar with these French words, others
will get completely befuddled, what are you trying to say? So you might be able to guess by
the visual image of these personalities - these celebrities - that this is what you are trying to
say.
But all short words are not familiar words, just remember that. Some short words are actually
unfamiliar.
Let us come to technical language next. Particularly professionals tend to use technical
language. Engineers, managers, academics tend to use a lot of technical language and this
technical language which is very familiar to people in the same peer group of people in the
same profession, doctors for instance, they tend to use medical terms for everything, it is very
confusing.
Suppose I want to know, look I’ve broken my kneecap, I do not want to know my patella is
fractured, I just want to know whether it is my kneecap which is fractured but the doctor
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would say your patella is fractured, okay? So let us look at this example, these words would
be clear to a seasoned railroader but not to you. Now these are very simple words mind you,
they are not difficult words but these are words like a code.
It is like a jargon which is used as a code among railroaders which you will not be able to
understand.
Run that hog into four and tie on to that cut and snake it out of there. Then shake it
out. After you finish that, pick up those two reefers on eight and cut them in behind
the gondolas on ten. That will wrap up the hotshot. Then tie her together and blue flag
her.
Did you follow anything at all? I did not.
John O’Hayre, this is from his book Gobbledygook has Gotta to Go, so this is Gobbledygook.
Now select words with the right strength and vigor. When we use words, we say okay this
word is the same as the other word, it is not so because one word is not the same as another
word. Not only because some words naturally sound better than other words but also because
there are shades of meaning, there are finer nuances which one word will be able to convey
whereas the other word will have different connotations altogether.
So first of all we have to choose words with the right strength and vigor. You can say “Vijay
Mallya was a very successful businessman until he had problems”. What is the commonly
used word for Vijay Mallya? He is a tycoon. Tycoon is a stronger word than saying
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successful businessman. Or we say the market is declining; instead of saying generally
declining market we say bear market.
Instead of saying Subhash Ghai is a big filmmaker, we say Subhash Ghai the Movie Moghul
or Yash Chopra the Movie Moghul. Instead of saying one who was the first; it is a better way
of saying would be to use the stronger word and say the pioneer.
Use concrete language, instead of saying a significant loss, say a 50% loss. Instead of saying
we had good attendance, we say 100% attendance. Instead of saying we have a good record,
you say attendance record, be specific.
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Avoid camouflaged words. We tend to use a lot of verbs which are used as nouns but are
actually verbs so that creates unclarity, lack of clarity. Instead of saying control of the water
was not possible, which is actually a verb camouflaged as noun, you could say they could not
control the water. Using the passive voice, if you use the active voice and you say they could
not control the water, it is easier to follow it.
Use precise words; instead of using lease, we use deal. Instead of using employee, use
receptionist. Instead of using tariff, say room rent.
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So checklist, we conclude, when you speak or write for that matter but I have been focusing
on speaking skills in this course and I will not go engage with writing in detail; you need to
find out are words appropriate for this scenario? Two, are the words appropriate to the
knowledge of the people involved?
So suppose you are talking to experts, you can use jargon; but suppose you are talking to
laypersons, are they appropriate to the knowledge of the layperson? Do the words precisely
denote your meaning? Is any jargon you have used likely to be understood by all present and
future readers?
Do the connotations of the words create an appropriate tone for the piece? Have you searched
for and replaced cliches? Have you used slang only where the situation is informal enough to
tolerate it? Have you emphasized a positive relationship with the reader or the speaker? Have
you identified and replaced all sexist language? Have you chosen words appropriate to your
communication strategy?
I will give you a quick - before I conclude - I will give you an example of cliché, what is a
cliche? Cliché is a word when it is used for the first time a phrase, it is very interesting and
people like it; but after a while it becomes jaded and it is not appropriate to use it like people
say “the bottom line was”, “within this timeframe”, these kind of cliches used by people; they
were used by some journalists long time ago and they were considered very noble, original.
But now they have become so jaded that nobody wants to see them. Similarly slang, the
language of campuses, the language of youth, that is not, like saying, I want to talk to this
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guy, he is my buddy. That might be okay when you are talking to your student friends but
when you are talking in a formal situation, you cannot use a slang, it is a no-no.
And finally sexist language, what is a sexist language? Sexist language is something which is
derogatory to a person and today we do not use language which is sexist; -like - even till now
- we have notices addressed to us - we use - the chairman of this committee, even if the
chairman happens to be a lady, the designation used is chairman. In IIT, for instance, the
student is genetically male. Whenever people are referring to students; if a student - if a
student - wants to write his exams later, let him write it. If a student wants to go on an
internship, let them do it. Whereas we have a large number of female students now - or
female faculty - now but faculty and student is always - in the old-fashioned sexist language -
is always a male.
So that is why feminists have been campaigning for the removal of all sexist language from
both speech and writing. So we do not say chairman, we say chairperson, we do not say
author, we do not say poetess, we say poet. We do not say actress, we say actor and we
remove all traces of sexism in writing. So with this I conclude my session on encoding
messages using verbal symbols.
And in the next module, in the next unit of this module, I move onto encoding messages
nonverbally using non-verbal symbols. Thank you.
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Lecture 4
The Power of Words
Welcome again to the course on effective speaking. In the last unit of module one, we looked
at how language works like a symbol and it is like, a variety of symbols that we use to
communicate. In this unit will look at how words work, the power of words and how to select
the right word.
I begin with a small quotation in Urdu to drive home the importance of words and the
elusiveness of meaning which words are not able to capture. Ho rahi hai baat kuch aisi
jismein shabd ghum hai, arth matlab, chupke se kho raha hai. Ho rahi hai baat kuch aisi
[something is happening whereby] shabd ghum hai [words are disappearing] arth matlab,
chupke se kho raha hai [and meanings are lost].
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So what I said yesterday, how difficult it is to catch meaning because meaning is so elusive
and how inadequate words are to capture meaning. Let us look at another Sanskrit quotation
which says more or less the same thing. Arthashrayatvam shabdasya drashtur lingatvam eva
ca tan matravam ca nabhaso lakshanam kavayo viduh.
Persons who are learned and who have true knowledge define sound as that which conveys
the idea of an object, indicates the presence of a speaker and constitutes the subtle form of
either. So from the elusiveness of words and the elusiveness of meaning which is impossible
to catch in words, we come to the Sanskrit theory of sound in which a sound is very
important in capturing meaning as important as the word itself.
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With this opening, let us look at, let us come down to business and look at how words work.
First of all we need to see that words belong to different categories. Some words are
functional words and others are content words. What are content words? Words which carry
meaning, nouns, adjectives, principal verbs, they are content words. And what are functional
words?
Functional words are words which necessarily do not carry meaning but which are necessary
to indicate relationships. So indefinite pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions, auxiliary verbs,
are all functional words.
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Then we look at the difference between words which are connotative and words which are
relatative, so the meaning of connotation and denotation in words. What is connotation and
what is denotation? Some words are denotative and in science and engineering; whenever we
want to - whenever we want to - express things clearly, we try to use denotative words
because in denotative words, the words mean - have only one meaning - or it has a very small
range of meaning.
So take a word like, if you look at an object in front of me, there is a table which has four legs
and it has got it is made of wood, it has got a rectangular plank and it has four legs and we
understand this object to be a table; so this is a denotative word. But if you say ‘table the
minutes’, then we are not using it in a denotative sense. So what I am saying is, even
denotative words can be used in a connotative manner.
When you say, okay take a seat and we are looking at a chair; but when you say someone is
on the hot seat then it is a connotative usage of the same word seat. Denotative words are
largely used in science and engineering or in business; wherever clarity is a goal, we tend to
use denotative words. But in other places, we tend to use - we can use - connotative words
because connotative words have many nuances.
They have several shades of meaning and they do not have only one meaning. They can have
metaphorical meanings, they can have a range of meanings. So generally poets, creative
persons, writers tend to use connotative language. When we are expressing our emotions then
connotative language is more appropriate than using denotative language.
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Let us look at Robert Burns’s famous line, “my love is like a red red rose”, that is a brilliant
use of connotative language because for centuries people have been trying to guess what did
Robert Burns mean by this line? Those of you interested in poetry, who write poetry or who
like to read poetry can see that the pleasure that you get by cracking the meaning of a poem
because the poem has no one meaning; it has several meanings.
So as in this line what does Burns mean? Does he mean, my love is like a red rose? So love is
an abstraction which is compared to a rose, which is otherwise a denotative word, we all
know what a rose is. But in this usage, rose stands for something; it is a connotative word
which does not mean literally a rose; it means a rose but it goes beyond a rose. So rose in
general usage, in the west, rose is associated with beauty. So what does Burns mean?
Does he mean, his love is very beautiful? Or is he talking about, when it talks about love, is
he talking about the emotion of love? Or is he talking about his beloved it? So is he saying
that my beloved is like a red rose? Is he saying that his beloved is very beautiful? So this is to
illustrate how connotative words may be used to create a range of meaning.
Now there are situations in which connotative usage may be used for denotative purposes and
the interest, it may be used to create - by using - connotative words to create denotative
meaning. Now I am going to narrate an incident, an anecdote about listening to a newspaper
vendor screaming a headline from that days’ newspaper.
So I am talking about several decades ago and am talking about my childhood in Srinagar,
yes Srinagar before it became the most dreaded place in India and it was paradise on earth.
But I was in school and from my school bus I heard a newspaper vendor scream “haseeno ne
jawano ko tabah kar diya. Haseeno ne jawano ko tabah kar diya” which is Urdu, in Urdu
newspaper. And it really - it means - beauties have devastated young men.
Now can you guess what happened? The newspaper vendor, the young newspaper vendor
who was trying to sell copies of the Urdu newspaper was surrounded by a huge mob and
everybody wanted to get their copy of the newspaper because there was - you know - it was a
very sensational headline and everybody was very curious to see what had happened and how
did the beauties devastate the youth.
And then came the anti-climax, because what was the headline about? It was about the class
XII results in which girls, female students had scored higher marks than male students. So
think of this very creative writer of the headline, who used a very everyday news about class
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XII results to create interest in his readers by using connotative words, connotation to create
interest in his potential readers and his potential buyers.
The second way we distinguish words is, on the scale of abstractness versus concreteness.
What are abstract words and what are concrete words? We tend to use a lot of abstract words
in our everyday usage and whenever I asked people to spell it out in concrete terms, I find
invariably people substitute one abstraction with another abstraction. So say a word like
happy, a word like happy which is an abstract word.
Now when I ask people, what do you mean when you say I am very happy. They would say, I
am very contented, I am very satisfied, I am very thrilled, I am very excited, I am ecstatic. So
they are merely substituting one abstract word with another abstract word because an
abstraction is very difficult to describe; they are very necessary.
When we do need abstraction and we find that as civilizations advanced, as people tended to
use less concrete language and tended to use more abstract words and they say that it is a
myth when they say that primitive, the so-called primitive people or the savage people or the
people who belong to oral societies which - who - we met earlier in Ong’s definition do not
have a capacity to use abstract words because they tend to think - even their thinking is in
concrete terms; so abstract words came with the invention of writing, with the distance with
the birth of individualism. So the capacity for, this is a belief, this theory is contested but I am
trying to say that, abstract usage which is very common, it came later in the evolutionary
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scale. It is believed to have come later in the evolutionary scale and it is very difficult to get
somebody’s meaning when they use abstract terms.
We tend to use abstract terms but when someone says, I am very happy, what do you - what
does that person mean? So a person has got a very high-paying job and that person says, I am
very happy. The other person says, I am very happy, you look very happy or says, I am very
happy, so what does that person mean? He means that, he’s been - he has gone - on a holiday
and he is feeling relaxed. So unless a person tells you what they mean by happy, you have it
as a guessing game.
You do not know what he means, when he or she means when he says I am happy or I am
sad. We do not know what the emotion is there but what is the state of being happy?
Philosophers have been trying to guess, to interpret abstract terms for centuries and they have
not succeeded.
Words like compassion, like the Buddhist term dukh, karana, these words people have been
debating for centuries but they are such high-level abstractions, that it is impossible to guess
what these words mean. Therefore when you desire clarity, it is better to avoid abstract words
and to use concrete words.
So if I were to, if you were to say, I am very happy if I can sleep for eight hours a day or if I
am very happy if I score 99 out of 100 in my class test or I am very happy when I am with
my friends.
So then that abstract word becomes very concrete; otherwise it can create misunderstandings
between the sender and the receiver because the sender can mean one thing by happy whereas
the receiver will understand happy to be something else unless the sender states clearly what
they mean by being happy.
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We talked about strong words, I will give you another example, so you say, I am very angry.
Now angry is a very flat word.
When you were a child and you did something naughty or even as a young adult you did
something which was not approved by your parents, so suppose, you have a curfew on going
out - at late nights. You are a young man or young woman but you still have to follow
curfew at home that you cannot, you cannot return home after a certain hour at night or a
certain wee hour of the morning. So you imagine, your mom, your mother or your family, has
been waiting for you for dinner and you have dinner at 9 o’clock and you land up at 10
o’clock because you have been you have been hanging around with your friends, you get
back at 10 and what happens?
Your mother serves the food or whoever is there serving the food, serves the food but is very
enraged, not just angry, they are enraged. Now suppose, instead of 10 o’clock, everyone
waited up for you till 10 and then they went to bed and you turned up at midnight, what
would happen? Everyone has come out to open the door for you; but your dad is infuriated,
absolutely infuriated.
And let us think of the next situation where it is past midnight and you are partying hard, you
land up in the wee hours of the morning after having told your parents that you will be back
by midnight. And at four o’clock you find your mother is pacing up and down the room, or
your dad is pacing up and down the room and is livid. So see the difference between enraged,
infuriated and livid; it is very flat to say angry, you have to use the precise strong word.
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Yesterday I talked about familiar words that always use familiar words which are normally
short words but I also told you that some familiar words, some short words are not familiar
words like the word suave which we use in relation to certain kinds of people who are very
well-dressed, who are very well - who speak very well, who are very refined, we use the
word suave; but it is not a word familiar to most people.
Short words, instead of saying - lot of people try to use very complicated words long words.
So instead of saying “I am very happy to see you”, “I am elated to have encountered you”,
which is just complicating very simple words into very complex words.
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Concrete words, yesterday we talked in the last unit - we talked - about concrete words and
how when you use abstract lower-level abstractions, it creates confusion. So if you tell your
worker that he has done a - he or she has done - a good job, the worker is very confused.
What do I, what do you mean, oh you did a very great job you did a very good job.
Did he mean that I did the work in less number of hours that it was expected, did he mean
that the work I did was - I mean - the quality of work I was expected to do - exceeded the
expectations of my boss. So instead of saying a good job, you say you say you know the
report that you prepared, it was written very succinctly and very briefly and was, it was just
the right length.
If you say very clearly what was good about the job, that helps bring more clarity in your
speech.
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Active words, we also distinguish between active and passive words. So the normal English
sentence is an active sentence, we tend to use active words more often than passive voice and
words in standard English.
So the normal sentence is, John likes Jane. Whereas in Indian languages we tend to use the
passive more often, we would say the equivalent of Jane is liked by John, instead of saying
John likes Jane, we will say Jane is liked by John, we use the passive voice. So passive voice
brings less clarity because we translate from our languages, we tend to use passive voice
more often.
So we would use words like I mean this is an actual usage, it was decided that the
communication course will not be taken by HSS Department. This is an actual statement
from a resolution which was sent by a certain department to another department.
Instead of saying the HSS or so and so in the HSS Department will not take the
communication course, instead of that, no blame was assigned, names were avoided, no
responsibility was taken and passive voice was used which is often used by bureaucrats to
avoid blame and responsibility to say that it was decided.
Who decided it was not mentioned, it was decided that the communication course will not be
taken by the HSS Department.
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Cliches, in the last lecture, I talked about cliches as phrases or words - which are used - when
they were used for the first time, they seem very appropriate, they seem very unusual, very
original and they attracted interest. Since they captured everyone’s imagination, everyone
began to use the same clichés, so that they lost their vigour and their originality. And when
you come across these cliches, you find journalists using a lot of clichés.
Now remember journalists have deadlines, they have to deliver their copy, they have to
deliver their article before the newspaper goes into print - or now there is even before - the
news is uploaded online. They are working under a lot of pressure and they tend to use
cliches because it helps them to compose a report very quickly.
But for other people, when you pepper your speech with cliches - like ‘within this
timeframe’, ‘the bottom line is’, or ‘above and beyond’, ‘things like that’, ‘battle lines are
drawn’, it gets very irritating because you are using words which have lost their vigor.
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Now camouflaged verbs is another example I had given that instead of using nouns, instead
of using verbs, many of you use us use the passive voice and whenever we use the passive
voice, we tend to include verbs turned into nouns. So instead of using verbs as verbs, we turn
verbs into nouns. These are camouflaged verbs, they are actually verbs but they are used as
nouns and they tend to make a speech very confusing.
So a sentence like this, “adaptation to the new rules was performed easily by the employees”.
We have two problems here, one is that it is a passive voice, it was performed easily by the
employees. The second is, we have a camouflaged verb, that is adaptation to the rules, adapt
has turned into a noun.
So instead of saying, the employees easily adapted to the rules, it is made more complex -
more confusing - to say adaptation to the rules was performed easily by the employees
through the use of camouflaged verbs.
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Eliminate unnecessary words; when you are speaking or writing, try to use one word - when
one word can do the job, do not use three words. Eliminate unnecessary words, so many of
us- I have come across - people using there was a ‘consensus of opinion’ on this matter. Now
a consensus itself means opinion, I mean it is based on opinion, so you do not have to say
consensus of opinion, you can just say consensus.
Or you would say ‘from my past experience’, experience is always in the past, it cannot be in
the present or the future, it is always about what you went through in the past, so you do not
have to say from my past experience, you can just say from my experience.
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Avoid obsolete and pompous language, now we tend to think that words like Latin words or
structures - or very formal structures - sound very impressive - but these are words which we
have been using since the British Raj and these words were in usage at that time. But over a
period of time, over the centuries since the Raj ended, English language itself has evolved, it
is a very dynamic language.
So in England, no one use this kind of language which was used by the British when they
were in India, whereas we are holding onto the language that the British left us with,
particularly the officialese or the bureaucratic language. In our bureaucracy we are holding
onto these phrases and sentences which are obsolete, which are no longer used in the native
by native speakers.
Words like, ‘as per your instruction’, ‘we wish to advise that’ and I am amused and surprised
that even when I have to deal with bureaucrats, if I frame a letter in a very simple English,
stating very clearly what I want, I am instructed by someone in my office - someone in the
administration - who advises me or who corrects or edits my letter by using words of this
kind - obsolete.
Because it is still used, is still Standard Language in the Indian bureaucracy and it is
considered appropriate language. So I would be told, please write ‘as per your instruction’ or
‘as mentioned above’ or ‘for necessary action’ - usages - which are no longer -which are out
of date elsewhere in the world because they sound very pompous.
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Remove unnecessary modifiers, so example is, “tremendously high pay increases were given
to the extraordinarily skilled and extremely conscientious employees”. What are the
modifiers? Tremendously, extraordinarily, extremely, these are modifiers. Now instead of
saying tremendously high pay increases, you can just say high pay increases or astronomical
pay. You can use just one word instead of using unnecessary modifiers. “Were given to the
extraordinarily skilled”, “extraordinarily skilled” is redundant “extraordinarily” is redundant,
“extremely conscientious”, extremely is redundant. You can just say high pay increases were
given to the skilled and conscientious employees, that is all.
Removing hedging sentences, now hedging is a trick we use whenever in the last unit I said
whenever you state facts - whenever you make a statement - you make it sound like a fact
even though it is an inference. So hedging is a very good strategy when you are not sure
about something and to use hedging or to use hedging sentences or words, it helps to bring
some tentativeness.
It helps to bring a less - it makes it less generalized or less of a factor and more of an
inference; but when you are very sure that something is a fact and you use a hedging
sentence, it is very irritating. So suppose someone has entered an office illegally and there is
evidence of that, you try to hedge by saying, it would appear - there is obvious evidence that
somebody has entered illegally - but you would say it would appear that someone apparently
entered illegally.
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There are unmistakable signs that someone has broken into the room, so if you hedge and
say, it would appear apparently, it is very irritating.
Eliminate the indefinite starters, this is - there are - this is a - new learners of English tend to
use indefinite starters; “there are four boys in the room”, “there are several examples here to
show that Elaine cannot hold a position very long”. You do not really have to say there are;
several examples here show that Elaine cannot hold a position very long.
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Present ideas in parallel form, my uncle – “My Uncle Bill is young, ambitious and he is rich”.
Now this is not correct because due to say my uncle Bill is young, ambitious and rich, you do
not have to say he is rich. (Refer Slide Time: 28:08)
Awkward pointers, words like as mentioned above, “the aforementioned”, “the former”, the
latter, again my admin staff loves to use these of awkward pointers and edit my letters by
saying you have to write this - “as mentioned above”, “the aforementioned” - and I meekly
obey them because I want to get my job done.
Bring the subjects closer to their verbs, Trudy, when she first saw the bull pawing the ground,
ran. It is very confusing because we do not know who ran, Trudy or the bull. So if you say
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Trudy ran when she first saw the bull pawing the ground, we know who ran, whether the bull
or Trudy.
But when you want to create ambiguity, like in this poem, it is better to keep the modifiers
and to use - sorry - to let the subjects be not be close to the verbs. Like in this line, running
down the railroad tracks in a cloud of smoke, we watched the countryside glide by. Now this
is a very beautiful poem and it captures that idea that when you are in the train, you do not
know whether you are running or the train is running or the countryside is running.
That feeling of the countryside passing you by as you are in a train. So that gives you the
impression and this use of the dangling modifier, running down, is it the train running, is it
you running, the countryside running, we do not know but it creates that beautiful impact
which the poet wants to create.
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So I will conclude with the golden rules, use one syllable words rather than two syllable
words. So in other words, use short words, two syllable words rather than three, example –
“blood, sweat and tears” rather than “sacrifice, perspiration and sorrow”. Use graphic rather
than abstract words, scooter rather than vehicle, jackal rather than animal. Use the active
voice rather than the passive, not, the tire was fixed by me, but I fixed this tyre.
Lean on the verbs and nouns, reduce adjectives and adverbs. Use strong graphic verbs,
example - Ravi wrestled with the problem, a well-chosen verb makes an adverb unnecessary.
Relate the experience to your listener, example - if for fisherman, then refer to fish, wind,
nets, sea and sand. Every language has its own music. Check your word to see whether it has
the correct sound. Thank you.
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-Speaking Effectively
Lecture 5
Cross Cultural Factors in Communication Verbal and Non-Verbal
Hi, I am Dr. Robin Andrews I am from New Zealand, a social anthropologist and I am
visiting IIT Kharagpur, just for a few days at the moment. So I was asked to give this short
lecture about cross-cultural common occasion based on my experiences of coming to visit
India.
So it is not particularly structured, it may - I may - move from topic to topic , so please
excuse me if I do that because I have just written a few notes but really this is off the top of
my head based on my experiences. So it is 20 years this month actually, so it is a nice time to
be invited to do this, it is 20 years since I have been coming to India. I arrived the first time
here in the end of December 1996 with my family.
And you know I come here every year or every couple of years since then. So I got used to a
lot of things now that perhaps so I am trying to think about what some of the some of the
early impressions I had so that I can because I have got because as I have said I got used to a
lot of things now, so I am, the cross-cultural communication is not - so much of an issue but
still I find I find new things.
Now when I first came, I really want to come to I really wanted to come to India because two
of my brothers and one of my sisters have been here and they loved their experiences of
holidaying in India and it was a country that I knew I could get by with English only.
So in my preparation to come and I was finishing a degree, I took I learnt as much as I could
about India so that I so that I would not be so that I would be prepared, so that I would not
have too many shocks, I guess. So I took papers on gender and looked at Hindu women’s
position in society, I looked at a philosophy paper, I looked at Hinduism and various other
papers. One of the things that struck me when I came here, that I had not really realized,
coming - being a Westerner, being a professional woman, I was used to being treated pretty
much the same as men.
And one of the things, even I did read, one of the things that really struck me was that gender
patriarchal aspects of society, that influenced all sorts of aspects, even as a tourist. For
example when my husband and I and our children turned up at a hotel, I was never asked for
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my name, it was always my husband. When we were introduced to meet new people, it was
always my husband that was introduced to the other men, I was usually not introduced and
certainly not introduced to other women.
So there was a gender aspect to make you know - I am - sort of try to resist certain various
ways and my husband supported me in it too. For example, he would say now you go and pay
the hotel bill or you would order dinner today even though it was not something the waiter
expected or wanted so you know a little minor rebellion.
Now some of the things that I have noticed early on was, that were different from Western
countries was, I have travelled quite extensively throughout Western countries as well as
having lived in New Zealand for a long time obviously, one thing I noticed was that I got
stared at a lot and my daughters who came with me at first time and other times, they also got
stared at a lot, which does not happen in New Zealand. And if I looked at somebody who are
staring at me or staring at one of my daughters, it did not break their gaze.
Ha ha so it was something that it took a little bit of getting used to and I just realised that
people were curious. You know they did make me feel - you know - self-conscious and
maybe the girls felt self-conscious. you know feeling self-conscious something that can
contribute to that just for I think is how we dressed, how me and my girls who were teenagers
at that time dressed and this something that am still conscious of 20 years later. I think I spent
a lot of time in Kolkata and it is more cosmopolitan there.
That there are some areas of Kolkata which I would always wear either a salwar kameez, I
mean I really like salwar kameez - I think - and I think that it is beautiful and they are easy
material easy styles of clothing to wear. So if I go to some places like some of the busties or
some areas – say - areas that have a high population of Muslims or conservative Hindu areas,
then I would make sure that I am, usually I wear salwar kameez or else something extremely
modest.
Generally in India I do I dress modestly and really encourage, if not completely insist, when I
can I insist, that my girls do the same. So you know wearing shirts rather than sleeve-less
tops and even though there are a lot of westerns dressed young women in India, I do not want
the combination of a more distressing and the white skins to draw more attention than they
really than they need. So that is something that I am always conscious of.
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As an academic, the issue of dress also comes up. Something I have noticed is, I have visited
institutions in India and enough parts of the world, in India are sitting for a conference as
lecturers, women and the men - but there is not so much difference in the men between
Western and Indian men but the women dress really you know quite formerly, really
beautifully. In New Zealand and in some other Western places, I think we can be too casual.
You know it is not unusual for a woman to wear jeans to work, maybe jeans and a T-shirt.
If they wear jeans and a T-shirt to a conference, to present a conference, I would be thinking
oh maybe she could have worn something a little bit tidier. Often if it is a three-day
conference, she can tell the day somebody is going to present because they well wear
something that is a bit tidier than on the other days. But that is some people do also like
probably more like me that feel that they should dress up for their own presentation.
Talking about the workplace environment too, something I have noticed here that does not
happen in New Zealand or anything like the same extent is the way we greet each other. So at
the start of the year as a lecturer, I would say, “Hi I am Dr Robyn Andrews but you can call
me Robyn” and they do and they email me, you know dear Robyn such and so.
They treat me with respect but they do use the name and I know that does not happen in India
and the Indian students I have, they do not feel comfortable with the title so they would
always call me ma’m and I know that happens in institutions here as well.
There in New Zealand or other Western countries are less hierarchical in the West in the
workplace - as well as - as well as - generally you know - we know - who is higher positioned
by their titles but that does not mean that we cannot that we do not chat with them, have a
coffee with them, used their first names when talking, when talking to people who are higher
or lower for that matter in terms of ranked position in the University. We still - so we would
be conscious - but we do not enact I think those differences as much as happens in an Indian
system.
I have been in India where I have been involved in organizing a conference I know it is very
hierarchical in terms of who needs to be approached in what order, in what way, in order for
the conference to go ahead. And that is something I have had to learn as an academic for the
last few years rather than as a tourist which I often come to India as well. In terms of
addresses, or some verbal things there are also some words that we use differently.
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One is that when somebody has passed away, for example if my grandfather has passed away
then people may come up to me and say I am sorry to hear about your grandfather’s death or
your grandfather’s passing. But I understand that it does not happen over here, you would
talk about that they had expired. Another word that I sort of another term than I picked up
recently is soft skills, somebody was talking about having gone to an Anglo-Indian school
where they had picked up English and literature.
And in the English medium school they picked up certainly the content of the subjects that
they were being taught but they said the other thing that they really appreciated about going
to an Anglo-Indian school, English medium school was the soft skills that they had picked up
along the way. I did not know what they meant by that and I asked them, and they said oh
things like you know things they described as etiquette and manners. And if they ate at
school, they said that they also learn to eat, to use cutlery, they had a lot of experience with
cutlery.
Lots of westernized Indians do use cutlery of course, that they said that was something that
they that was reinforced through the schools and some of the veracities in language, the
pleases and thank you’s and other skills of manners that they put down as manners. Now
what else would I like to say, I think over the time that I have been coming to India, yes there
is more westernization, more cosmopolitanism; it is easier to get a coffee but in South India it
was always easy to get the - you know - the yard of coffee, which was good coffee to have.
Now there are touristers, there is Café Coffee Days and the people who frequent those sort of
middle-class places are all westernized as well and the dress and their deportment and their
knowledge of the world.
Other sort of middle-class places that have noticed come up during the last 20 years are the
multiplex cinemas, the malls which have you know the top end brands, so I do sometimes
wonder, how many of the population walks into - the office population - are able to purchase
anything at those malls but certainly that is a big difference over the years.
So I am just going to go back a little bit to dress again so in India as I said, particularly for a
woman, I feel that it is really important for Westerners as well to dress modestly, to be aware
of where they are going, what they are doing, where they who they might see during a day, if
they are going to use public transport. In the West on the other hand, people are sort of one
thing that determines what they dress is the weather, you know is it going to be hot, is not
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going to be cold, that will determine that will play a part in decisions of what clothing is
going to be worn.
Okay I think I have seen what I was going to in terms of notes, that I have written here of
course, as soon as it finishes, I will think of other things that I wish I had mentioned. But for
this session I thank you for listening to a New Zealander, talking little bit about some of the
very cultural aspects she has noticed in coming here to India for these last 20 years. Thank
you.
Student: Hello my name is Tim Acknop, I am 22 years old and I am a student from technical
University, Munich in Germany. This semester, I spent my time at IIT Kharagpur, where I
studied Mechanical Engineering. It is a great honour for me to be allowed to study at this
high Institute, which contains mostly students who are top of the top, intellectual elite of
1,000,000 people. These academic studies on this campus are very nice as you share
everything together.
You will have the hostels when everybody stays together and also spend your academic life
at academic area together in contrast to Germany where you only have the academic area and
you do not live together. The campus offers many activities and is very beautiful and calm
and has the best opportunities to fulfill your full potential. But also studying in these classes
which are top-level with these professors is a great experience for me; but of course the
things and lectures are different.
So as you see, not only the studies are a great experience for me but also the small differences
in every detail, which is where I can learn in cultural differences everyday. There are so many
examples where I learn about small differences, other cultures, other people, other ideas and
which enlighten my horizon by far. I think this experience will help me a lot in my future
when I will work as an engineer for an international company where we will deal with people
from many different cultures who have many different backgrounds, who need to work
together.
So thank you for allowing me to study at IIT Kharagpur, thank you.
Student 2: Hi, how are you?
Student 1: I am waiting for the professor.
Student 1: Yeah yeah me too. Did you do did you do the assignment?
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Student 3: No, I did not.
Student 2: No, I am quite terrified and I did not complete it you know.
Student 1: I was so busy.
Student 3: Yeah, it was hectic.
Student 1: Yeah.
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Lecture 6
Metacommunication: Nature, Function and Types of Nonverbal Communication I
Welcome to module 2 of effective speaking.
In the first module we looked at the process of encoding meaning and we focused largely on
encoding meaning using words, encoding meaning using verbal symbols and we also looked
at how one could - how language works - and how one can use the right words - select the
right words and how words work. In this module I will be focusing on encoding meaning this
time by using non-verbal symbols.
How do we use a variety of non-verbal symbols to get meaning across either by substituting
verbal symbols or in conjunction with verbal symbols.
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However I prefer to use the word metacommunication instead of using the term non-verbal
communication. The reason is that metacommunication is a far more comprehensive term
than non-verbal complication. ‘Meta’ means beyond, so metacommunication literally means
beyond communication.
When we communicate, we do not always use intentional communication, we do not always

use a verbal or non-verbal symbol to communicate, sometimes we can communicate without
using either symbol. For instance, when I gave you the example of silence, silence itself
works like a symbol. So any communication that takes place beyond or in addition to
communication is metacommunication.
Metacommunication is more comprehensive than non-verbal communication as it includes

unintentional and meta messages. Now why is it that metacommunication matters? For the
simple reason that actions are louder than words. We saw that visual component of message
is 55%, which is largely based on non-verbal communication.
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So the reason why metacommunication matters is, it is because it is unavoidable. Two,

because it may have different meanings for different people. It may be intentional or
unintentional unlike words which are always intentional, metacommunication may be
intentional or unintentional and it may get more attention than words themselves.
Metacommunication provides clues about the sender’s background and motives and it is
influenced by the circumstances surrounding communication. Very often
metacommunication contradicts the verbal meaning, say you tell a friend, suppose you and
your friend were both competing for the same job and your friend landed up with the job -
landed up - landed the job - whereas you were bypassed.
Now since he is your friend or she is your friend, you are compelled to congratulate your
friend but you are not really - you are happy for your friend but you are not very happy for
yourself. So while you may say, congratulations, I am so happy that you got the job, your real
meaning is different because you are not really happy that he or she has got the job - you
would have liked to get the job.
So we should look at metacommunication very carefully because metacommunication is

something which we cannot control. What are the functions of metacommunication? The
functions of metacommunication are substituting. Many times we do not use a verbal symbol
at all, we use a non-verbal symbol in lieu of a verbal symbol. Think of the multiple ways like
you want to say, go. What are the different ways you can say go?
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You can use a hand gesture, say go. Along with the hand gesture you can use the word go or
you can - you can - just wave your hand and say go. You can use your entire arm and say go
or you can just use your head and say ‘go’, for you can use metacommunication to substitute
- for you can use metacommunication to substitute for verbal communication.
Or you can use metacommunication, non-verbal communication to repeat. So, as I said, when
you say ‘go’, you are repeating what you are saying through words with your gesture.
Complementing, it can also be complementing - that is - what you are saying verbally, it is
complemented by, look how - there it is - a beautiful day. So I am pointing in a direction and
I am complimenting my verbal message by using my non-verbal message.
Accenting – accenting - I told you to stop writing. So I am accenting the word which I want
to stress by using my fingers. Accentuating, now accentuating is different from accenting. For
instance, say if you have done, if you have messed up your job and your boss is livid, he says,
I want that report today, I cannot wait till tomorrow. So banging his fist on the table is
accentuating what the boss is telling you through words.
Regulating, regulating is one of the most important functions of non-verbal communication.

Now if you are when you are on the phone, you are not able to get any visual or audio cues
you get but you do not get any visual cues from your interlocutor. So what do you do? You
are waiting for the person to stop, you do not know whether a person has stopped speaking
and very often you will find that you are cross speaking.
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Even before the other person has stopped speaking, you start speaking. Why, because in face-
to-face conversation, we use non-verbal communication to regulate. So if I stop speaking, I
look at you and say, I am waiting for you to speak. That means or and I nod to say that I
understand what you are saying or if I nod many times it means I cannot wait to get my bit in,
right?
Or when I look up at you and am listening - I am - I am still waiting to complete my sentence,

if I stop speaking I look at you. So we use eye communication, we use head nods, use smiles,
we use facial expression to give feedback and to also to regulate our conversation. Deceiving/
revealing is the most important and the most complex function of metacommunication. Now
when we are children, we are very transparent in expressing our real feelings.
As little children, if we are angry with someone, we have no qualms about saying, I am angry
with you. If we are happy with someone, we have none, if someone makes us happy or we
like someone, again we have no hesitation in expressing our real feelings towards that person.
But as we grow older, that is a part of growing up, say teenagers, you learn to betray, you
learn to mask your real feelings.
So you have a class teacher maybe, you do not really like the class teacher but you cannot
afford to say I do not like you, so you pretend you like the class teacher by smiling in his or
her presence because you know it does not pay to say, I do not like you. Whereas a small
child would very clearly say I do not like you, I do not like this teacher because she beats me
or because she does not smile at me or for whatever reason.
So as you grow up, the process is to conceal your real feelings. Now this works really well
because people should not be able to guess what is going on in our mind, that is the work,
that is what social interactions are all about. At the same time, in the process of mastering this
art of masking or concealing our real feelings, we also grow - we also lose - our capacity to
express our emotions.
Unlike children whose faces are so expressive, who are so transparent in their
communication, adults are not able to express their real feelings because of this process of
having to conceal their real feelings of masking their emotions. So what should one do as an
adult? A judicious mix of revealing and concealing is what is called for. There are situations
where you are required to conceal your feelings.
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Suppose you are very angry with your subordinate who has messed up - botched up - a
project. You are very angry but it does not really help to be angry with your subordinate
because you will never get the job done. So without sounding - without showing - your real
feelings, you have to make your subordinate do the job.
On the other hand, suppose, in situations where you are required to reveal your feelings, so
suppose somebody has done a very good job and you want to congratulate that person, if you
say with a straight face ‘congratulations, I am very happy with your success’. It is so flat, it
does not carry any meaning at all.
So in that situation using your - accentuating with - using non-verbal communication either
through facial expression, through a smile or through a gesture, through a pat on the shoulder,
all those things count a lot. Therefore, deceiving and revealing is an art which we must
perfect we must learn to perfect as adults instead of losing our capacity to express our
feelings.
There are different kinds of - let us look at the - different kinds of non-verbal communication.
So let us split it into the different kinds. The first is symbols, so symbol is when something
stands for something, like the Statue of Liberty but it has no direct relationship. The object
itself has no relationship with what it stands for. Like rose standing for beauty, the object
does not have a direct relationship, whereas an in an emblem, there is a direct relationship.
Say a judge’s hammer, or the No Smoking sign where you see a cigarette or you see a skull in
danger zones, so that is an emblem because the image or the symbol indicates what it stands
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for. Illustrators, when you point to a direction, that is an illustrator. Adapters, regulators, as I
said, head nod is a regulator. When you nod your head, you continue your conversation with
another person. Affect displays, like a smile is an affect display.
Let us look at some non-verbal symbols. What - let us look at a complete range of non-verbal
symbols. Whenever I discuss this in my class, I ask a group of people to communicate
something using a non-verbal symbol. Invariably, people use body language. So suppose I
asked people to say go or come, a simple word like that, invariably people would use a hand
gesture, an arm gesture, head gesture, an eye gesture or some part of the body to convey their
message.
But they do not look beyond body language to look at other forms of non-verbal
communication but we must realize that it is not just body language but also other things
which can convey meaning nonverbally. Say sound, what was the happiest sound when you
were in school? The bell ringing, I do not know whether they ring the bell anymore but we
used to, when we were children, we used to have a gong which would indicate that it is
lunchtime and that was - or the class ended - you were sitting in the middle of a very boring
class and the bell rang and you were so happy.
Or it was the day when you had to submit your assignment, you had not done it and you were
hoping your chance will not come. So sound in a factory for instance, when a siren goes to
show that it’s time off, so you can use sound to communicate meaning. Color, as we said,
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colors themselves can be, there is a whole color science which - in which - certain colors are
associated certain affects.
Certain colors produce certain moods, say light soothing - the colors which are soothing,
colors which are, red, they are supposed to be a color which creates energy, brilliance, yellow
is a similar color but blue is very soothing. So colors have their association and you would
see how colors are used in communication. For instance, in a traffic signal we use color. A
red light, a green light and an orange light, so we combine light and color in a traffic signal.
But color can be used in isolation, so suppose in India you see a woman dressed in red,
usually red is the color of the bride, so you can guess, if it is a group of women in a wedding,
you know the one who is wearing a red or a shade of red is the bride whereas those who are
wearing other colors are her friends or other family members. So colors can be indicators of
what you are, they can be means of communication.
Touch, touch can also be a means of communication. Think of occasions where you do not
you are at a loss for words but touch says it all. You want to tell a friend that you care or
somebody is lost somewhere and you just press their hand, that means a lot. Smell, we do not
think of smell as a communicator but smell also works as a non-verbal symbol.
Think of the hundreds and thousands of rupees people spend these days, even males tend to
spend a lot of money, how much money you would spend on your deo and your perfume
because the smell is a communicator about the kind of person you are. So you are very
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careful about whether you want to project a sporty image or you want to communicate a
metrosexual image, if you are a male.
Or if you are woman, you are a wild child or you are a sophisticate or you are a city girl,
whatever you are, each perfume indicates your personality or the kind of person you are.
Even in places like an ambience of a restaurant is created through the kind of smell around
you. The moment you enter a hospital, you know you are in a hospital because you have
disinfectants around you.
So smell, territoriality, spatial zone since spatial distance come together, we talk about
territoriality to explain that we go back to a very old time in history where people needed to
protect their territory. We are talking about a situation where everyone is onto himself, trying
to protect their own turf or territory, so because of this territoriality we have the notion of
spatial zones and spatial distance.
How does this work? Do you have an idea of what is a spatial zone? A spatial zone means
that how far - or spatial distance goes together with - when you are talking to someone or
listening to someone, how far do you stand or sit from that person? Now mind you, all these
rules related to any aspect of communication are culturally coded. So what may be right in
one culture may not be right in another culture.
Unfortunately, in the professional space, in the workplace, we tend to follow the rules which
have been devised by Euro-American world. And in the Euro-American situation, how far do
you stand from a person? Normally when you are talking to a stranger, suppose you are
talking to your postman or a plumber or the friendly neighborhood grocer, normally we keep
a distance of about 4 feet from the person, tradepersons, somebody who is a stranger you do
not know, so normal distance is 4 feet.
And suppose you know a person and you meet - suppose you know a person but your
relationship with that person is still professional, you are supposed to keep any distance
between 2 to 4 feet. Now when you cross that spatial zone, when you stand or sit with
somebody less than 2 feet away, you are invading their spatial -you are crossing that spatial
distance - and invading their private zone.
So we have an impersonal zone, we have a social zone and we have an intimate zone. We
have three zones for each of us, the business zone or professional zone, the social zone and
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the intimate zone. So when you are standing - suppose when you are at your workplace - you
may stand, you may interact with your colleague at a distance of about 2 feet.
But when you meet the same colleague at a party, right, you are back slapping and you are
having fun, at that time you might cross the 2 feet gap and come closer to your colleague
because it is the space in which you meet your colleague. However, try crossing the 2 feet
zone - I mean you come closer than that - you would find that people look very
uncomfortable in your presence. Suppose you try to touch a person, especially of the other
sex, you will find that people will be withdrawing from you.
Why? Because you are invading their intimate zone. So spatial zone, spatial distance,
proxemics again is - how far do you stand and how far you - how close - do you sit or stand
from someone. Now this is to do with cultures, there are warm cultures and cold cultures. In
warm cultures people tend to stand or sit closer to one another than in cold cultures where we
sit further from each other or they vary.
Now in India for instance, in Asian cultures if you talk, if you see businessmen talking to one
another, you will see them huddle together. You will even find them whispering to one
another, whereas that will not be done in a European context or in an American context
because you are supposed to keep a certain distance. But you go to the Arab world, you will
see traditional Indian businessmen or traders talking to each other, you will find them
mumbling something to one another sotto voce.
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They are almost whispering something to one another, sitting very close. So these things are
culturally conditioned, what is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another
culture. Then we come to gesture, how we can use gesture to communicate meaning. We can
use clothing, what kind of attire you wear. Like don’t you judge people on the basis of the
way they are dressed?
So suppose you have expectations of how a person should be dressed. So if you see a
professor, you expect a professor or a banker to be dressed formally but if you find artists or a
photographer or advertising personnel, you do not. If they dress informally you think this is
expected of them. So with clothing, it is not a question of what is right way of clothing or
wrong way of clothing, it is the question of what is appropriate.
Architecture and objects, architecture and objects, are also very important. The way a room is
arranged, furniture the construction of a room itself or the way objects are arranged in a
particular space, they create a certain atmosphere. You would realize this when you go to
your favorite restaurant. Why do you like going to a particular restaurant or not like going to
another cause a particular restaurant has an ambience, suppose you go to Zen restaurant, it
has got this very Japanese kind of ambience.
Black, it is all black-and-white, the decor, everything is silent, whereas you go to another
restaurant which has got an Indian theme - Zafran, you find that everything is traditionally
Indian, there is music, there is sitar music, the colors are warm and vibrant. So architecture
and objects also can be used to communicate. Seating arrangement, seating arrangement, we
think as inadvertent.
We can place a chair anywhere but you will find in business how carefully people arrange the
seats so that they have the vantage point to observe others. There is a meeting, for instance,
they would arrange for their chairs to be placed higher than that of their listener so that - you
know - they have a dominant position. Time, time, is another non-verbal element.
Body language and paralanguage, so we will go into body language, body language is the
body gestures, postures and facial expressions by which a person communicates nonverbally
with others.
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Body language and kinesics are based on the behavioral patterns of non-verbal
communication, but kinesics is still so new as a science that its authorities can be counted on
the fingers of one hand. So kinesics is a science of movement. Body language is includes
kinesics and they are based on the behavioral patterns of communication.
Body language includes all of these features, eye communication, facial expression, posture,
moment, gesture, dress and appearance, voice and delivery, non-words and finally
paralanguage which includes voice, pitch, volume, pace, pause, pronunciation, phonetics,
stress, rhythm and intonation.
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So we will look at some forms of body language quickly to see how good you are at
interpreting body language. So let us look at how the face can be used to communicate
meaning. So let us look at this list, these are stereotype associations which I have got from a
standard textbook, if your forehead is wrinkled, it means anger. If your eyebrows outer edges
are up, again it shows anger. Nose upward means contempt. So we have this typical
proverbial British nose up in the air and the idea of being contemptuous or arrogant about
others.
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Eyes, eyes when you look at using eyes to communicate, when you are gazing up, so suppose
I am gazing up, I am actually thinking. When I am gazing down, that means I am ashamed.
Gazing on the side, I am guilty, wandering disinterested, bored. When you see in a classroom,
people are eyes are wandering, they are looking from one thing moving from one thing to
another, that means they are not interested in what you are saying.,
Lips, when your lips parted, it means you are relaxed or happy, when they are together, they
possibly concern. When their wide-open, they are very happy, very angry.
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Arms, arms crossed, if your arms are crossed, it means that you are either angry or you are
disapproving. When you are open, it means that you are honest and you are accepting.
Hands on top of head amazement, scratching head puzzled, confused, rubbing eyes tired,
rubbing chin thinking timid, shy.
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Fingers, fingers interlocked tense, pointing at you angry, okay signal is fine, V sign peace.
And then we look at three kinds of body language which we use in business. First of all we
make a distinction between open body language and close body language. Now in general, as
I said, due to our old ancient territorial instinct, we tend to close our we tend to build some
defenses to protect our territory and we use close body language because we fear that
someone is trying to attack us, someone is trying to invade our territory, so we tend to use
close body language.
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And when you use our close body language, you come across either as defensive or as afraid,
not as friendly. Whereas, how you want to appear is friendly or someone who has nothing to
conceal. So open body language is always preferable to close body language in a professional
situation because it shows that you have nothing to hide and to you are not afraid you are
confident. Then it can be forward or backward, you can be leaving forward or you can be
retreating backward.
And then we have four categories, responsive, reflective, combative and fugitive. I will
quickly run through these before we close.
Responsive body language, engaged, leaning forward as in this picture. Open body, you see
the arms, the hands and the feet, both are open. Open arms, open hands, open body, this is an
engaged body language leaning forward.
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Responsive, another example of responsive is eager, where you are in a sprinting position.
Open legs, feet under chair on toes, leaning forward.
Another example of responsive where you are ready to agree, you are closing the papers, pen
is down and hand is flat on the table. So by reading these language, body language clearly,
you are able to, you would be able to master any situation where you are required to guess
what the other person is thinking. It may be an interview, it may be a meeting, it may be a
negotiation, it may be a new deal that you are making, if you are able to read the body
language of others because each conveys something, you will be able to structure or
rearrange or modify your own responses accordingly.
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Now we move to reflective language. Listening head tilted, lots of eye contact, nodding, high
blink rate.
Reflective, evaluating sucks glasses/ pencil, strokes chain, looks up and write, legs crossed in
four poses, ankle on knee. So this is a reflective position and you would be familiar with that
of you have made presentations before a professor or before a before a group of experts you
know, these are the signs which tell you that the person is thinking about what you are
saying.
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Reflective can also have an attentive language where arms are behind back, you are smiling
and your feet are open.
Fugitive, now this is a negative body language where you are bored. So what do you do, you
stare into space, your posture is slumped, you are doodling, you are foot tapping. I am
familiar with this because I see my students doing it when the lecture gets boring, they start
doodling, they start staring, they start tapping their feet.
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Fugitive let me go, when you want to run away, feet towards the door, you are looking
around, buttoning your jacket for picking up your bag.
Fugitive rejection, setting and moving back, when you have decided okay, this person has
nothing to say that interests me. You sit back, move back, your arms folded behind your
head, your legs are crossed, thighs on knee and head is down and you are frowning, that
means you have rejected that person’s idea.
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Finally again another example of a negative body language is a combative body language,
when you are ready to get into a fight, a combat. Where you cannot wait, let me speak is one
example, very cannot wait for the other person, you are not willing to listen to the other
person. You are tapping your fingers, you are tapping your feet, you are staring and you are
not allowing that person to speak because you want to get your word.
Combative can
also be an
aggressive
language, you
are leaning
forwards, your
fingers are
pointing, your
fists clenched,
so these are, that is a very aggressive and when somebody is aggressive in a group, you can
guess by looking at their body language.
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Defiant, now if a subordinate stands like this, usually people get irritated, hands on hips, the
frown, because you expect them to be submissive, you expect them to have their hands folded
behind them and if they stand like this, you think, this new recruit is very defiant because of
the way the person is standing.
So with this we conclude the first unit of non-verbal communication and encoding meaning
through non-verbal communication in which we looked at the various kinds of what is non-
verbal communication, metacommunication, the functions of non-verbal communication and
the kinds of non-verbal communication and then we looked at the different forms of
examples of non-verbal communication and appropriate non-verbal communication or
inappropriate non-verbal communication when you are speaking or listening to another
person. Thank you.
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Lecture 7
How to Improve Body Language I
Welcome, in the last unit of module two, we looked at different kinds of non-verbal
communication, the importance and function of non-verbal communication. In this unit I am
going to share some tips with you as to how to improve your body language. So I will not go
into all forms of non-verbal communication that we discussed in the last unit but I would
focus largely on nine interpersonal skills, focusing on body language and show you how you
can improve your body language.
-
We will look at eye communication, facial expression, posture and movement, gesture, dress
and appearance, voice and delivery, non-words and paralanguage.
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So let us begin with eye communication, first of all we need to check certain conceptions
about eye behavior. Do you - first of all I need to ask you - do you look at others when you
are talking to them or listening to them? In where do you, do you look at all at people when
you are speaking or listening to them? Now I must narrate a very amusing incident here again
that in traditional Indian society, you are not supposed to look at your elders, or you are not
supposed, and, a man is not supposed to look at a woman when they are talking to a woman
or a woman is not supposed to look at a man when she is talking to a man or you are not
supposed to look at an elder in the eye.
So you do not normally look at people when you are speaking to someone of the opposite sex
or you are talking to someone who is elder than you because it is considered inappropriate to
look at them in - look at them - if they are elder than you and people say, look this person is
so disrespectful, he or she was looking at me in the eye, he has no respect for elders. So what
I am saying is that as with every other form of communication, every aspect of your body
language also is culturally coded.
What may be appropriate, may be inappropriate in another culture. What may be appropriate
in Western cultures might be actually inappropriate in traditional Indian cultures as I just
explained to you but again as I said, in the work place, we follow the norms which are laid
down by the Western world and we follow those rules. And according to - in - the Western
world, when you talk to people or you listen to people, you are supposed to look at them and
a person who does not look at you is considered either a very nervous person or considered a
very unreliable or shifty person.
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So according to the rules made by the Western world, when you speak to someone, when you
listen to someone, you must look at that person. If you do not look, you are seen as someone
who is not trustworthy. Where do you look when you are speaking? The next thing is, where
do you look when you are speaking or listening to others? We will come to this but again I
will recount an anecdote which I came across in a textbook from Emory about differences in
culture as far as eye communication is concerned.
And we Indians are not the only ones who regard looking at elders in the eye as disrespectful
but there are other cultures across the world as in this example that I am going to illustrate to
you. There was apparently a theft in a departmental store or a supermarket or a mart in the
US and when the police tried to enquire into that theft, they suspected a young Latino girl
who was 16 years old.
Now the reason why they suspected this girl was, one can think of any number of reasons but
one of the reasons that the police officers cited for suspecting this girl of having stolen was
that she did not look at him in the eye when she was speaking to him and that made him
suspect that she was the culprit.
Now fortunately for the young woman, the manager of that store, also happened to be from
the same culture that is, he was a Hispanic and he was the one who took the trouble to explain
to the police officer that just not looking at somebody in the eye was not an evidence of her -
of her - complicity in the crime because as a well brought up Latino girl or a Hispanic girl,
she was not expected to look at elders in the eye. So fortunately for the young girl having a
manager from her own culture rescued her from a very serious charge.
But this can happen to anyone and this shows that rules related to eye communication vary
and in the Western world, if you do not - meet someone - look at someone, you are
considered unreliable or untrustworthy. Now the next thing is where do you look when you
are looking, speaking or listening to others, where do you look? When I ask people, where do
you look, those who say they look at people when they are speaking or listening to them,
when I ask them where do you look, they are not very sure about where they look.
Usually people say, I look at people in the eye but you observe yourself, try doing this
exercise and talk to someone and tell me try to recall when you are talking to someone or
listening to someone, where do you look at them? Which part? And do you always look at
them in the eye, I do not think so. We do not look at people in the eye all the time when we
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are talking or listening to them. We do look at them occasionally in the eye but not all the
time. So where do you look?
Now again like the zones related to space we have business zones, social zones and intimate
zones, with respect to eye communication also, we have similar rules that when you look at a
person, when you are speaking or listening to them, it is okay for you to look at them
anywhere between, anywhere on the face. So each of us has their own spot, some of us look
at the lips maybe because we are reading - maybe we are reading- the lip language, we are lip
reading.
Some of us look at maybe, a particular part of the cheek, somebody looks at the forehead,
somebody looks at the eyebrow, so you must need - you need to -find out your spot. You
need to find out which spot it is where you look and anywhere on the face is okay, anywhere
from the forehead to the chin is okay but when you look at somebody who is - when you look
at - someone below the chin, I mean formally, in the business zone whenyour relationship
with somebody is very formal, you are expected to look at them only between the head and
the nose not go below the nose.
So that is the business gaze, when you are looking at - you can look at - someone anywhere
between the head up to the nose. So suppose you are in an interaction at your workplace, it is
you are expected to observe the business gaze and look at people anywhere from the head to
the nose.
Now like in the spatial distance, if you meet the same person in a social gathering, suppose
even if it is someone senior to you, you meet them in a social gathering, in a social gathering
or the party, there you are able to cross that zone and you may look at them anywhere
between the nose and the chin, so that is the social zone. However, if you look at a person
below the chin - that is considered… - people start looking very uncomfortable.
If someone stares at you below the chin, someone keeps staring at you when you are talking
to them or listening to them below the chin, they feel offended, they feel very uncomfortable
because you are intruding into their intimate or personal zone. Next we come to looking in
the eyes, it is not that we do not look at people in the eyes when we are talking to them or
listening to them. We do look at them in the eyes but how long do we look is very important.
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When you look at people in the eyes, you look at them and then you look away. You look at
them in the eyes and you look away, you look at some other part, you do not look at them
continuously in the eye.
So this looking at people in the eye is called eye contact. Now how long do you make eye
contact when you look at others? That is very important. Some of us do not make eye contact
at all. As I said, in certain cultures, we are not trained to make eye contact, it is considered
rude or inappropriate to make eye contact, particularly with elders are members of the
opposite sex, so people do not make eye contact at all. But in other places where people do
make eye contact or individuals who do make eye contact, then the problem lies in the length
of the eye contact.
Some of us make eye contact, I myself doing it particularly when I am looking at the camera
because I have a problem with the glare, I find that my eyes are inadvertently closing. So
when I am looking at the camera, I find that I am myself violating the rules related to eye
contact because any eye contact less than five seconds gives you the look of a scared rabbit. It
looks like you have - you are - you have an eye dart, your eyes darting from one point to the
other.
In my case, my eyes are darting not because I do not know the rules but because the glare is
hurting my eyes and I cannot help it because it is a problem with the eyes, I cannot do
anything. But other people do it because they are not careful to make eye contact for long
enough. You must make eye contact for at least five seconds otherwise you will be guilty of
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eye dart, you would look like a scared rabbit look here look there, you do not make contact at
all.
The other is - the eyes slow blink, if you exceed five seconds, 5 to 45 seconds is the ideal
limit of eye contact. If you look - if you make eye contact with - somebody for more than 45
minutes, the other person again starts feeling uncomfortable. When is the situation, think of
the situations where you made eye contact with the person for less then, more than 45
minutes, think of the situations. One situation could be, somebody has done something
wrong, you do not use words but you just stare at them in the air for more than 45 minutes
and - 45 seconds - sorry - and that person gets that message that you are very angry with
them.
Or it can be a more happy situation, think of you are gazing lovingly into somebody’s eyes
for more than 45 seconds. What is the affect you produce if you look at somebody for more
than 45 seconds? In Hindi film language, aakhon hi aakhon mein ishara ho gaya, people gaze
and they say a lot of things by gazing into each other’s eyes. It is a completely coded
language in the tasawwuf - the Arab - discourse where the direction of the gaze, the length of
the gaze are used to communicate meaning between lovers.
However in the workplace, we do not want that effect. We do not want the effect of intimacy
which might be the effect that lovers want in the Hindi film, nor do we want the effect of
intimidation by staring at someone in the eye for more than 45 seconds but what we want is
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involvement and for involvement you need anything in between 5 to 45 seconds, just
remember that.
Beware of eye dart, beware of slow blink, some of us when we are listening to other people,
we close our eyes for a brief second, now that gives the impression that we are not interested
in what that person is saying. So again we should watch out for slow blink.
Angle of eye incidents, this is very important, when we are looking at people say a group of
people, now it is impossible for you to look at 10 people or even three people, so if you if
there are three people and you focus on the person sitting in the centre, the people on the left
and the right would also think that you are looking at them or you can rotate your eye contact
by moving from one person to the other. Or when you are making a presentation, you move
your eyes, make eye contact with one person in the group for a few seconds, then move onto
another person and this way make eye contact with everyone in the room.
Next we come to facial expression, that is another important element in body language. Now
what is the impression you want to convey? The face is a very important means of
communicating nonverbally.
Professional actors, if you watch them you will find that just by a twirk of the eyebrow or
just a curl of the lip, even in more serious situations, think of Mr Amitabh Bachchan in
“Kaun Banega Crorepati” and how a turn of the gaze, of the eyes, the direction of the gaze,
hint of a smile or a curl of the lip would give some kind of clue which was very carefully
calibrated by Mr Bachchan to show how this little thing could convey a lot of meaning to the
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not only the viewers but also to the participant who would know what - who would try to
guess - what he was trying to convey.
But what is in general your facial expression, what is the impression you want to convey? Do
you smile, I mean do you want to appear friendly or do you want to appear formidable, do
you want to appear someone like who people are afraid to approach? So do you smile at
others, orr you, do you want to appear like a friendly person, do you smile at others or you do
not smile at all? So people who are smiling, appear like friendly people. People who do not
smile, do not appear like friendly people. Some people are always smiling, some people
never smile and some people. So what is the problem?
Some people who are always smiling, it is very difficult for them to get authority because if
you are smiling all the time, you appear so friendly that you are unable to tick off a person or
you are unable to discipline a person. So it is always smiling may be a very happy thing but it
may not be an ideal thing because you - it - may not convey the right amount of seriousness
on the part.
On the other hand you are dour which is what businesspeople are trained to, professionals are
trained to do, that never smile at all, keep a glum face, keep a poker face so that people
cannot guess what you are thinking, what is - what are - your real feelings, now that makes
you appear very unfriendly. So what should you do? It is not a question of smiling or not
smiling, you must use the right kind of - when to smile and when not to smile. So when you
are congratulating a young person, if you do not smile, they do not believe that you are
congratulating them.
Or when you are commiserating or you are reassuring a person, if your facial expression does
not show - does not carry - that reassurance, it does not help at all. Whereas if you are trying
to discipline a person and you are smiling, that does not help. So you must know how to use
your facial expression to convey the right impression about yourself.
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So let us look at some of these languages here anger.
Posture and movement, let us next come to posture and movement. Posture says it all, we
think that posture has nothing to do with our communication but it says a lot about your
personality. When we are looking at posture, you must look at your upper body as well as
your lower body. Now with the upper body, what is the right posture? I will give you two
examples to show how posture can be ingrained in a group of people or ingrained in certain
kind of professional. So I am thinking of two postures, the posture of a soldier and the
posture of a dancer, which appear very attractive.
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So the posture of a soldier is that of a very confident person, of a very alert person. The
posture of a dancer is of a very elegant, very graceful person. But what do they have in
common? The soldier, if you look at the Army manuals, what is the soldier expected to do?
The soldier must have his ears in line with the shoulder, straight-line, so that is the upright
direct posture for a soldier, shoulders square, ears in straight-line with shoulders. That is the
posture that a soldier is expected to maintain and this was the training given to the soldiers in
the British Army in the Imperial Army or European.
In the Western world a soldier should keep his head upright, shoulders square and ears should
be in line with the shoulders. So if you watch, today if you how do you guess a person is an
army man and not a civilian, their posture says it all. You will find that they have an excellent
posture. You do not have to wait for the crew cut to know that somebody is from the Indian
Army or Indian Air Force. If you watch their posture, you know this person is Army person,
this person is a soldier.
And the trace of these habits which were ingrained in warriors or soldiers particularly by the
Europeans, they are so deeply ingrained that you will find that they carry over even after
generations. So I am going to take the body of the soldier as it is mapped on the body of the
male Sikh.
If you see a Sikh anywhere in the world, even if the Sikh has shorn their hair, they have cut
their hair and they are Mona Sikhs, you can guess this person is - this young person is - a
Sikh or an old person is a Sikh because that habit as a warrior community, that habit of
holding the shoulders in straight-line with the ears and the shoulders square, the body thrust
out in a position of confidence, hands loosely hanging by the side, that impression of
confidence.
So these young men I meet on the streets of Melbourne or Sydney or Toronto or Munich, I
find from their postures I can guess which part of India they are from and they are not very
confident because many of them are immigrants, many of them are looking for jobs but they
are not exactly very confident people but from their posture they appear as if they have no
care in the world and they can take on the world squarely. So this is the body of the soldier
which is an example of a perfect posture, very stiff but very perfect.
The other posture is that of a dancer and this is what I remember the famous dance dancer Dr
Padma Subramanyam telling us about what is the first step in teaching dance or
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Bharatnatyam. So she said, that the first step to learning how to dance in Bharatnatyam is to
learn to stand. Of course, all of us stand, so what is the problem? The problem is that our
posture is not right. So the first thing Bharatnatyam dancer is told to do is, put to correct the
posture. And what is the correct posture again in Bharatnatyam, it is that the ears should be in
straight-line with the shoulders.
So like the body of the posture of the soldier, the posture of the dancer also follows the same
rule that the years should be in straight-line with the shoulders. Now that creates the
impression of confidence, of grace, elegance, you are standing tall, that is your upper body.
Now what is the problem? The problem is that many of us, with our upper body tend to stoop,
particularly those among us who are very tall.
And this a case of frozen posture, in a sense that if you were the tallest kid in your class,
when you were in class V, you continue to stoop because you have a stoop because all other
children in your class were much lower than you and you try to come down to their level by
stooping, to make yourself accepted in the group. Now by the end of class X, everyone had
shot up and maybe they were taller then you and yet you have your stoop because you think
you are taller than them.
So a stoop makes you appear very nervous, it makes you appear less confident, it does not
create the impression of you being a confident person. And you would notice, if you look at
people around you, who are not very conscious very confident about themselves or not
confident about their body shape, you will find that their shoulders are slumped, they stoop.
We are talking about males and females and that creates the impression of not being
confident.
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Now come to your lower body, when we are not confident, we tend to lean either on the left
leg or on the right leg. So this is called left lean or right lean. But what are you expected to
do? You are expected to put equal weight on both your feet. What happens is that sometimes
we watch film actors, models who are very - who deliberately lean on one side - to strike a
pose and we also find ourselves doing it. We are in a group of people and we think it is very
stylish to put one’s weight on one side of the body.
But what happens is that when you are nervous, when you are not confident, you are under
stress, you tend to shift your weight from one side to the other and it is very distracting,
particularly when you are making a presentation, you are shifting your weight from one side
to the other, which is very distracting. So watch yourself when you are standing in a group,
just watch, do you lean on your left or right leg, just find out, which is your lean, which lean
do you have. Do you find yourself leaning on your left side or you find yourself leaning on
the right side?
Ask your friends to observe because you may not notice it. What you need to do is, use the
ready position. What is that? Your weight is equally distributed on both feet and you are
inclining, you are slightly inclining forwards. Your weight is not on your heels but on the
front part of your feet, on the toes. So that is the ready position. And the same rule goes about
movement, that the movement says a lot about you. The way you carry yourself, apart from
the posture, the way you walk.
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One is not expecting you to be a ramp walker and walk like a model but how you walk
conveys a lot about your personality. So you have to find your own style. Now we come to
gestures.
Again like with smiling and facial expression, with gestures also, the problem is find out your
habits. Some of us gesture a lot and some of us do not gesture at all. My feeling is that this is
also culturally conditioned because in some cultures people tend to gesture more than in
another culture.
I find that maybe Westerners tend to gesture more than Indians and I came to this conclusion
by watching say news channels or talk shows on English-language television, English
language channels and those in Indian languages, and I found that people in the Indian
language channels tend to gesture much less than those on English-language channels
because they tend to follow the body language of Westerners when they speak. When you
speak English, you tend to follow, you tend to imitate, the body language of Westerners and
you tend to gesture more than when you are speaking Indian languages.
In Indian languages, when are speaking Indian languages, we do not use our hands gestures
as much as we do when we are speaking English. We tend to use more of our voice and
modulation rather than gesture to emphasize meaning. So on one hand you have people who
do not gesture at all and they come across as very wooden, very stilted. On the other hand,
you have people who gesture all the time, now that also is very irritating, it is very
distracting.
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If you have watched any entertainment channel, say music television, you will find these
young VJs as they are called, you will find that they gesture a lot and women tend to gesture
much more than men. Now why is it that they gesture a lot? In their case, they are being
deliberately trained to gesture, to use gesture because what is the idea? They have to create
the effect of intimacy, as if they are your friendly neighborhood young man.
So somebody is talking to you as if he or she is your friend and you know them very well and
because of that, if you use gesture on television, then it creates this impression of friendliness
or directness and immediacy and that is why you find on entertainment channels, young VJs
tend to gesture a lot, particularly young women. So it is also gendered, women tend to gesture
more than men, men tend to gesture less and whenever you see a man gesturing more than
what you would expect a man to gesture, you find it odd.
Whereas a woman does not gesture, you again think it is very cold. So there is this gendered
aspect also. Where do you, so you tell me, do you gesture a lot or not at all, find out.
Similarly, where do your hands go when you are nervous? When you are nervous, what
happens to our hands? Either we put our hands in our pocket or we start playing with our
hands, or we start putting our hands behind our back, so each of us need to find our nervous
gestures. What do we do when we are nervous? What happens, our hands are the part of the
body which show our nervousness more.
So how much gesture is appropriate? That is, you have to use your own judiciousness. Use
gesture to complement, not to substitute. When you find that, gesture enhances what you are
saying, so suppose you are showing a direction, over there, out down there, there, may be, a
gesture is important. I do not know, you shrug your shoulders, maybe it has more impact than
just saying I do not know. But let us do an exercise to show how gesture not only adds
meaning but adds impact to your local delivery. Now let me talk to you.
My name is, Anjali Gera Roy, I teach in IIT Kharagpur. I have been teaching here for quite
some time and I have been teaching this course on communication for quite some time and I
hope that I will be able to share some tips on communication with you. Now, my name is
Anjali Gera Roy, I have been teaching in IIT Kharagpur for more than a quarter of a century
and I hope that my experience of teaching communication in IIT Kharagpur would help you
improve your own communication skills. So you see how relaxed I was when I put my hands
in front and used gesture as opposed to the first time.
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Let us go to another activity, shall we start the class? Yes or no? No, okay. So say no, I want
to hear you say no. No, I am not going to stop the class. You have to say with more impact,
no. Okay, I am going to stop the class. Did you see the difference in the first no and the
second no? The second no was more impactful, so even my vocal message got enhanced
because I used gesture. You cannot over exaggerate, so learn to use gesture judiciously.
Now I stop with dress and appearance, what is again, in dress and appearance is the same
rule. What is appropriate and what is not appropriate is more important than what is being
attractive and not being attractive. There is no right or wrong way of dressing. I will go into
the details of dress and appearance in the next unit because I have a number of things to
discuss in both dress and appearance and voice and delivery.
So I will stop here, I will continue in the next unit where we will share some tips with you on
how to dress appropriately and then we will move onto voice and delivery.
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Lecture 8
How to Improve Body Language
Welcome back to the session on how to improve your body language. We stopped with
gestures and I said I will continue with dress and appearance. Now dress and appearance is
one aspect of our body language on which we spend an inordinate amount of time and money
to perfect. Majority of us, I will not talk about those who hate shopping and hate to get
dressed up and buy something nice, but a large number of people do spend a lot of time and
energy thinking about how they dress and how they appear before others.
I am not saying that everybody wants to look like a film star and everyone wants to appear
attractive but everyone has an idea of what image they want to convey to others. They have a
certain profile of themselves, a certain self-image and they dress and groom themselves in a
manner that their dress and appearance conforms to or reflects or corroborates that self-
image. When that image does not match, we are shocked, for instance, you expect a professor
to dress in a certain way and suppose in a very formal way let us say and if that professor
appears dressed in a very cool hip youthful style, you would feel slightly surprised - and you -
it would be something unexpected for you. So normally we expect people to conform, to
dress in a way that conforms to the profession they practice, their age, their regional location
and so on. So let us think of the most famous example. Now one of the most iconic image
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that we have in history is that of the founder of - the father of -the nation, Mahatma Gandhi.
And what is the image that comes to your mind when you think of Mahatma Gandhi?
You think of Mahatma Gandhi and the loincloth, okay. Now this is not the way Gandhiji
dressed in his youth or in his early years but towards later, after he joined the nationalist
movement and he began to sport the loincloth in protest. It was a kind of gesture to identify
himself with the poor in the country and to say that they could not afford to own anything
more than that.
Now this was a grand statement that Gandhiji was making through wearing the loincloth, by
showing that he empathized with the poor and to express, to metaphorically convey the image
of people living in poverty and the poverty that was brought in by colonialism. So this is an
excellent example of how we use, one may use dress and appearance, one’s dress, one’s
appearance to project a certain image of oneself.
What is important is that this image should conform to how people see us, it should also
conform to how we want to project ourselves. And the problem lies in when there is a
mismatch with the image we want to project and the image we end up projecting. So there is
nothing right or wrong about dress and appearance, there is only a question of what is
appropriate. And now dress at the conscious level, it is bigger than you think. In dress and
appearance there are two aspects, one is the conscious aspect and the second part is the
uncontrolled aspect.
What is the controlled aspect and what is the uncontrolled aspect? Now most of us can
control how we groom ourselves, the kind of outfits you wear or the way you sport the kind
of hairstyle you have or whether you wear glasses or do not wear glasses. So that is a
conscious choice, that is a conscious aspect of dress and appearance. At the same time, there
is a unconscious, I would not use the word unconscious, I would say uncontrolled aspect of
dress and appearance which is beyond your capacities.
For instance, the kind of body shape you have, whether you are tall or you are small built,
you are petite or you are obese or you are large or you are small, those are things which are
inherited. There is not much you can do about it, of course you can launch on a fitness - you
can embark on a fitness - program and become size 0 from being from obese but that is a
choice you make. But there are certain aspects of our appearance which we cannot control
like our height, like our body weight, the built we have, so those aspects are not controllable.
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Similarly if you happen to have poor eyesight, you would have to wear glasses and if you
wear glasses, people somehow associate you with being very brainy and intellectual even
though you are not. So we have these stereotypes of people, people who wear glasses because
they read and write a lot. They must be very intellectual, they must be very erudite. Now that
is something you cannot help, if you happen to wear glasses you happen to wear glasses but
of course you can help it these days by choosing to wear contact lenses instead of wearing
glasses.
So these choices are made consciously or there are some choices which are not within our
control. Nevertheless, whether it is the conscious aspect of our dress and grooming or the part
of our dress and grooming which cannot be controlled, they do have an impact on people who
are watching us. They create a certain image or the creator certain profile of ours in the minds
of others. It may be a very stereotyped image or it may be a very stereotyped profile but
people do form images of others - profiles of others - based on the way they dress or the way
they appear.
Now I would first go into what should we do to be able to dress for success. You never have
a chance to make a first impression, this is a quote from an unknown person because the
second time you may not have a chance to. The first impression is the last impression and
very often, think about yourself, you have an image of a person you met for the first time and
that seems to be the lasting image in your mind.
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The first impression is the last impression and if you come to think of it that first impression
was formed on the basis of the way that person appeared and in that appearance, the most
important component was their dress and their grooming. The apparel often proclaims a man
as William Shakespeare so aptly put it.
It takes less than five seconds to form a first impression. So whenever we see a person, within
the first 30 seconds, not five seconds I would say, within the first 30 seconds we form an
impression about that person. We make a - we construct a - profile of the person related to
their social status, whether a person is rich or poor, which class of society that person belongs
to, their health, their education level, their intelligence, ambition, all on the basis of the first
impressions. And that’s how are you judged when people make first impressions about you.
As I said right in the beginning, is the visual aspect of your appearance, the body language
and your appearance which is 55%, the way you talk, the words only 7%, the rest of the first
impression you make is entirely, half of it is on the basis of your appearance and your body
language. So studies show that it can take 21 repeated good experiences with a person to
make up for a bad first impression.
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That is why you realize, people are so careful when they appear in public or when they are
meeting someone for the first time. They try their best to make sure that they give the best
impression about themselves when they are meeting a person for the first time. In the
subsequent meetings maybe they can allow themselves to be themselves but the first time,
usually people are very careful about the way they appear before others, before strangers.
Now personal image, every person has a personal image. It is a tip of the iceberg, only a
fraction shows. Your image has the power to attract or to repel others. Take advantage of
your personal image, make it a walking advertisement. I will go back to what you can do to
make sure that you are well groomed. But before that let me see how those who are
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empowered can break the rules, whereas those who are still climbing the social ladder cannot
afford to break the rules.
So normally, you expect a person who belongs to a certain class and who has a certain status
dressed in a certain way but when you have achieved name and fame and wealth, you can
afford to break the rules. Think of the painter Hussain who would walk barefoot and who was
denied admission into an elite club in Kolkata because he had no footwear and the club had
its rules that no one who was barefoot would be allowed inside the club.
So normally again in business dressing we expect people to dress formally and usually young
aspirants are told that do not take any chances when you are appearing in an important
interview or you are making an important presentation or it is an important occasion for you.
Very often we try to play it safe and we follow the coded rules that we wear dark shades of
grey and black, err on the right side by wearing formal attire by wearing a full shirt or jacket
but when one has already achieved what one has needed to achieve, it is possible for one to
break the rules and make a statement by just breaking the rules. I recall this occasion where
our chairman of our board of governors received a very prestigious award from the
government of India and the entire institute had gathered to felicitate the gentleman for his
great achievement.
Now most of us came dressed very formally because it was a very solemn occasion and
befitting the occasion, all of us dressed in a very formal manner including our director.
But when our Chief Guest arrived, guess what he was dressed in? Instead of wearing a three-
piece suit, which would be of course ridiculous in this weather, when it is 42° in April,
instead of even wearing a formal shirt, a sober formal shirt, which a winner of Bharat Ratna
should be would be expected to wear, this gentleman who was the top -one of the top
honchos - of one of the biggest steel industries in India came dressed in a pink and blue
Hawai shirt.
Now when you are in that position, you are a CEO of a company, you are in the top-notch,
you are counted among the top-notch managers in the whole country, you can afford to break
rules and wear a Hawaiian shirt to a very formal occasion and you can make a statement
saying, look I might be big, I might be very, I might occupy a very high position but I like to
dress informally and I am like one of you, I am like the students or whatever.
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So here you can afford to make a statement but at the beginning of your career or when you
are not so well-known maybe, it is not a very good idea to take chances and break the rules.
So let us look at some of the conscious and unconscious aspects of dress and appearance.
Hands clean with limited jewellery, clean and well manicured fingernails, watch usually
worn on the left side correct time, Belt should be same color as shoes, belts did you put it
through all the loops, belt length should be 5 inches longer than your waist, pants iron, pants
buttoned in front and back, shoes shined, shoes same color as bed, most important your smile.
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Now I have got these figures of dress codes for men ranging from street wear to casual wear
to smart casual to business informal and black-tie semiformal. So there is a range and there is
nothing wrong. You cannot dress in a three-piece suit to the beach, you would be expected to
wear street wear or beachwear on the beach. Or if you are going shopping for groceries,
nobody is expecting to wear a three-piece suit or a smart casual, you need to wear something
in which you are more comfortable and you can get the work done.
So like in everything else, there is no hard and fast rule about dress and appearance, it is what
is appropriate and what is not appropriate.
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Now I come to the section on voice and delivery. Voice and delivery, which we will be doing
in great detail but I will quickly skim through this by asking you a few questions. Do you
know what kind of voice do you have you have? Have you heard people saying that some
people have a good voice, other people have do not have a good voice. Do you merely speak
or does you voice resonate? Do you speak in a monotone or vary your delivery? How do you
sound when you speak on the phone?
Your voice is related to your personality. Your voice and vocal variety say a lot about you.
Your voice transmits energy, 84% of your message not 84, 38% of your message is vocal. As
we saw earlier, only 55% is visual, 38% is vocal and only 7% of your message is verbal. The
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sounds of words are more important than the words themselves. So when you are speaking,
use vocal variety, do not read.
Let us come to nonwords, what are nonwords? Nonwords are words which we tend to use
when we are stuck for words, when we fumble for words and we return to a word which is
our favorite nonwords to fill up the gaps whenever we are stuck for words and these are
called nonwords. Now you need to find out what is your favorite nonword. My favorite
nonword is ‘so’, since I teach very often whenever I am stuck, I find myself saying so but I
know people who use the nonword ‘you know’, ‘I see’, ‘I mean’, ‘like’, youngsters
especially, high school girls tend to use the word ‘like’.
Every sentence of theirs is peppered with a number of likes whereas older people tend to use
you know, you see, I know, I see, so. But there are more colorful nonwords as well such I can
think of them in Indian lanuages rather than in English like ‘kya naam lete hai’, in Punjabi it
is ‘kee na layida ai’ and I remember my favorite uncle, every sentence of his would be
dispersed with his favorite nonword or takiya kalaam, as we put it in Hindi, ‘kee na layida ai’
and we need to know what is your favorite nonword, what is your takiya kalaam.
In Rushdie’s novel Midnight Children, Rushdie memorably captures this habit of takiya
kalaam among Asian people, among South Asian people, by having the grandmother’s
character use the takiya kalaam, ‘what is its name’. So at every sentence, the grandmother
intersperses it ,peppers it ,with so many ‘what is its name’ that it is difficult to understand
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what she is saying. So ‘takiya kalaam’ can be very interesting, nonwords can be interesting
but they are not interesting when they impede the understanding of what you are saying.
If you say a single sentence and you have 10 ‘I means’ in it, then you know you are asking
for trouble. So please watch out for your favorite non-word.
Do you use technical words or jargons? Yes, most of us are guilty of using technical words or
jargon because in our intellectual sphere, in our professional sphere, we find that it works like
a shorthand to get our message across to our colleagues and it also gives us intellectual
pleasure to be indulging in these technical words or jargon so as to distance ourselves, to
differentiate ourselves from people who are not familiar with these words and it is a way of
saying we belong, we who use these words belong together.
But when we are speaking to people who are not from our field and we use very complex
words which are everyday words in our field, for instance, in the area I work, there is a word
which people tend to use very often, like your talking about, this is the discourse of race
imbricated with the discourse of slavery. Now the word imbricated is used in a very formal
manner and it has become part of the vocabulary of post-colonial theory.
But if you use the word imbricated in everyday use, people are wondering what on earth are
you talking about, what is imbricated? Why cannot you say that, why cannot you say that it is
interlinked or interwoven or connected. Instead of that, why do you have to choose such a
difficult word like imbricated. Do you use slang? Young people in particular, youth, students,
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tend to be more guilty of using slang and the reason being that on campuses, in schools
among a certain peer group, certain age group, it is a password to belonging.
If you know the slang of your particular geographical region or of your class, your peer
group, it helps you to gain admission into that group and it is a way of saying, I belong to this
group. Now while it might sound very cool in a particular situation and it may brand you as a
member of a particular group or class, when you use it outside that group, it can be extremely
irritating.
I am not going to into the more well-known slang which is global in nature such as the slang
used by American school kids which has percolated to the rest of the world through
Hollywood films and music and so on and gossip magazines and tabloids and so on. But let
me think, let me introduce you to the slang used by the students of IIT, Kharagpur which is
different from the slang of other campuses because it is known only to a few, unlike a global
slang or the slang of hip-hop culture or rap culture.
This is a slang which is a nerdy slang of the elite educated youth of India, the creme de la
creme of India, India’s students who enter the hallowed gates of IITs. They have invented
their own slang which makes sense only to themselves and to each other, not to others. So I
am totally lost when I am in my class and I find people saying peace, okay, what on earth.
Are we at war, why should we have peace but then I find people exchanging glances which
suggest that they are talking about a different kind of piece altogether.
Or they talking of they I hear words like avoid, dhaap, funda, words which are borrowed
from Hindi, from English, from Bengali and other local languages to create a code which is
understood only by students of all the IITs or a particular IIT. So that is an example of slang
and that is an excellent way of belonging to say, well I have -I am - now an elite member of
the IIT but when others hear it, it is extremely irritating because it is not a very sophisticated
language.
Do you use pause? That is a question you have to ask and the use of pauses is related to the
use of nonwords. Whenever we are stuck for words, we tend to use nonwords. Instead if we
were to use pause, it would be more effective. The reason is that, when we pause, it creates an
impression that we are thinking about something, we are deliberating. Whereas, we tend to
use a non-word thinking that the pause is awkward for the other person. So instead of a non-
word, you use pause. How long do you pause? Do you pause for effect?
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We will go into each of these individual features and then in the units that follow but I am
briefly introducing you to the elements of voice and delivery. And finally we come to the
natural self.
Just be yourself, you do not want to be someone else. Just think, Aamir Khan cannot be
Salman Khan and Salman Khan cannot be Shah Rukh Khan. Whenever they have tried to be
each other, they have failed miserably because the romantic hero, the image of the romantic
hero is so ingrained in the minds of their fans that if you try to be an action hero, the movie
flops. Similarly if the action hero tries to be a romantic hero, it does not work. So just be
yourself, capitalize on your strengths and weaknesses and live with them. Convert your
weaknesses into your strengths.
Instead of wistfully longing for something you do not possess, just be yourself, make the best
of your strengths. Learn like a juggler because communicating is not a one-day but a lifelong
affair.
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And I conclude with paralanguage, paralanguage means short sounds that are used to show
you are feeling. For example, we say ouch to express pain. Ouch, I hit my finger with the
hammer. What sounds and body language do you use in your language to express these
ideas? I am going to set you an assignment where I am going to ask you how do you do this.
Thank you.
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Mr. Atwal with Ms. Nilinder Kaur
Lecture 09
Body Language Workshop
Angad Singh: So, now - like - we are going to do this thing -like- show you how to make, how to
impress a person - like - with your body language, right?
Nilinder Kaur: So first will have - like - how you are going to show the other person that you are
quite confident and that you are not nervous at all. There are few aspects of body language which
we need to take care of while we are meeting a new person to tell them that we are quite
confident. First of all is the handshake, okay?
Angad Singh: So how do we do the handshake thing? Like tighten up or – like - loosen up?
How? Can you come and shake hands with me? Okay.
Student 3: Yeah.
Angad Singh: Is this fine or this is fine?
Student 3: This is fine for me.
Angad Singh: Okay. You should make it - like - little loose, right? This is just a normal one,
okay. We should not - like- you know - show off our power to the other person who is going to
take our interview, or our friend or someone, okay?
Nilinder Kaur: And, also, we should not keep let our hand be too loose. Kyunki agar hum apna
haath loose rakhenge toh agla banda judge kar leta hai ki hum nervous hai[Because if we let our
hand go limp, the other person is able to judge that we are nervous. Jab bhi hum whenever we],
when we walk into an interview, not here but somewhere out there in the companies, the first
thing we do is that we shake hands with the interviewers. Woh hamare handshake se hi pehle
judge kar lete hai ki are we confident or hum confident hai ya nahi. Agar hamara handshake lose
hai aur like shivering hands hai, wo wahi bol dete hai ki this person is not at all confident [They
are able to judge right from our handshake whether we are confident or not. If our handshake is
limp and if our hands are shaking, they declare right then that this person is not at all confident] .
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Pehla body language jo hamara confidence deliver karta hai agle bande ko woh hai hamara
handshake, alright [The first aspect of our body language that conveys our level of confidence to
the other person is our handshake]. The second thing which does this is eye contact. Jab hum kisi
se baat kar rahe hai [when we are talking to someone one], we should try to make an eye contact.
Angad Singh: Like, at least, when we are talking, right, we should maintain our eye contact.
Agar hum apni aankhein churate hai toh saamne wala pakad leta hai ki ha bhai yeh banda fake
hai aur yeh jhoot bol raha hai or something. Ya confidence nahi hai bande mein, right? Toh is
cheez ka humein khayal rakhna hai [When we avert our eyes, the person in front of us is able to
make out that, brother, this person is not authentic and is lying or something. Or that the person
lacks confidence, right? So we should be very careful about this]. That eye contact is the most
important part.
Nilinder Kaur: While you are talking to a person eye contact rakho [maintain eye contact]. Jab
talking - conversation - over hai ya pause hai, look at other things . But jab conversation phir
resume hoti hai toh you should put - like - complete concentration over that person. Aur most
important jab aap eye contact kar rahe hai, zyada blinking nahi karni. Hum blink tab zyada karte
hai jab hum nervous hote hain. Jab aap eye contact bhi bana rahe ho, make sure ke zyada
blinking na ho, nahi to agla banda judge kar leta hai ki this is not confident person
Aur stare nahi karna. yeh na ho ke blinking na karne ke chakkar mein hum apni fix karde
aankhein. Woh phir hum robot lagenge ya phir fake lagenge aur agla banda uncomfortable hoga
[While you are talking to a person maintain eye contact. When you stop talking or pause, look at
other things. But when your resume your conversation, you should completely concentrate on
that person. And it is most important that when you are making eye contact you should not blink
too frequently. We blink too frequently when we are nervous. When you are trying to make eye
contact, make sure that you do not blink too frequently or else the other is able to guess that you
are not a confident person].
[When you stop talking or pause, look at other things. But when your resume your conversation,
you should completely concentrate on that person. And it is most important that when you are
making eye contact you should not blink too frequently. We blink too frequently when we are
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nervous. When you are trying to make eye contact, make sure that you do not blink too
frequently or else the other is able to guess that you are not a confident person].
And you should never stare. It should not be that we fix our gaze constantly on the other person
in the process of trying to prevent ourselves from blinking. Then we would appear either like a
robot or inauthentic and make the other person feel very uncomfortable.
Angad Singh: Saamne wala uncomfortable feel karega because like 24/7 if you are staring at
someone like it makes the person uncomfortable, right [The person facing you would feel very
uncomfortable because if you are staring at some 24/7 it makes the person uncomfortable, right]?
Nilinder Kaur: Third body language hota hai the way we stand. When we are meeting some
person, we should not stand like this or like this or like crossing our legs. Hamare legs jo hai
hamare shoulders jitne wide open hona chahiye. Kyuki if we are crossing our legs toh this shows
ki we are very nervous in meeting that person. Apne legs ko friends ke saath chalta hai but like in
official meetings or somewhere out you should not cross your legs when you are meeting a
person aur slouch nahi karna [The third aspect of body language is the way we stand. Our legs
should be as wide open as our shoulders because if we cross our legs it shows that we are very
nervous meeting that person. It is all right to do so when you are among friends but you should
neither cross your legs nor slouch when you are meeting a person, when you are in official
meetings or out somewhere].
Aise nahi khade hona ya aise nahi khade hona [You should not stand like or like this]. This show
you are complete nervous.
Angad Singh: And if it is a long time like ek ghante do ghante ke liye khada hona hai, right? You
can just like ek, matlab lean yourself but not so much, right[And if you need to stand for a long
time like for an hour or two, right? You can lean on one side but not too much, right]?
Nilinder Kaur: Weight shift karo. Ek foot se…[[Shift your weight from one foot…]
Angad Singh: Weight shift karo but like movement bhi rakho apni. Movement rakho but apni
jagah par waapis aao [Shift your weight occasionally but also maintain some movement. Move
from time to time but return to your place].
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Nilinder Kaur: This thing you need to take care. Matlab body language mein in cheezo ka dhyan
rakhna [Meaning you need to take care of two things in body language].
Angad Singh: Yeah. The shift in weight thing, right? Actually, jab do ghante ke liye hame khada
hona hai [When we need to stand for an hour or more], we cannot stand like still 24/7 or like for
2 hours or 3 hours like this, right? So we need to give some rest. So – like - what we can do is
while talking - like - I am putting my weight on the right side or again on the left, right? You got
it?
Nilinder Kaur: Now the next thing is that when we are meeting a person we need to act
welcoming. That, yes, I am glad you are meeting me and that - all sort of things. For that we
have a presentation. It is like, the first thing to remember is, never cross your arms when you are
meeting a person. Agar aapne apni arms cross kardi hai to iska matlab hai you are not interested
or you are just closing off this conversation and you want to leave [If you are standing with your
your arms crossed, it means that you are not interested or are just closing the conversation and
want to leave].
Nilinder Kaur: The first thing is to keep your arms uncrossed. And the second is, align your body
towards the person you are communicating with.
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Angad Singh: If I am standing like this - like - it is not nice, right? It is not looking good. So you
should not do this ever in front of any official person. It is okay with friends but kabhi bhi kisi
bhi official bande ke samne kabhi mat karo [It is okay with friends but don’t ever do it in front of
an official person] .
Nilinder Kaur: Aur apni body, align your body angle toward the person you are talking.
Angad Singh: Jaise, abhi main baat karta hoon tumse. Tumhari taraf hu. Usse baat karunga,
halka sa tilt karunga, right? Toh jis bande se baat karte ho focus uspe karo, aankhen uski
aankhon mein daalo, thik hai? Aur sabse pehli baat, apni hand movements ko jaari rakho [Like
now as I am talking to you, I am facing you When I talk to him, I would tilt a bit, right? So.
focus on the person you are talking to, make eye contact with that person, all right? And most
important, don’t stop making hand gestures].
Nilinder Kaur: This shows ke aap conversation mein involved hai [This shows that you are
involved in the conversation].
Angad Singh: Aur ek flow nikalta hai tumhari body se. Ek energy nikalti rehti hai. Flow hoti
rehti hai [And your body exudes a certain fluidity; it exudes an energy; there is a certain fluidity].
Nilinder Kaur: Thik hai? Next. Aur one more thing jab aap, haanji. [Is that right? Next. Now one
more thing when you, yes please]
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Angad Singh: Well, I guess if I am talking and – like - I am showing you that this is the thing.
So, this is in excess. Like it is okay. Like I was going there and - like you know - it was kind of
fun. This is cool. If I could have joined - like- it was fun -like-, this is fake. Okay?
Nilinder Kaur: Matlab agar hum koi baat kar rahe hai, agar hum passionate apni conversation ko
leke, to hand movements zaroor hona chahiye [Meaning that when we are talking about
something, if passionat about what we are saying, there should be some hand gestures].
Angad Singh: Aur sabse bada plus point kya hota hai? Jab hum kisi se baat karte hai aur hamara
hand movement hota hai. Agar hum ek-do galtiya bhi kar dete hai, who aadhe bande ka dimaag
hamesha 50 percent hamare hathon pe hota hai aur aadhi hamari baaton pe. Toh aadhi cheeze
woh samajh nahi pata agar hum kya galat bolte hai kya sahi [And you know what is the biggest
plus point? When we are talking to someone, we tend to gesture. Even if we were to make a few
mistakes, the other person’s mind is fixed half the time on our gestures and the other half on our
words. So half the time they are not able to understand whether what we are saying is right or
wrong]. So this is the plus point of your hand movement. You should have a perfect hand
movement actually.
Nilinder Kaur: Okay, and doosri baat. If you are in a group, sitting in a group, aur phir aapko
thoda confusion hai, where to align my body and where to do so? Kyunki aap sab se baat kar
rahe ho. Aap sabse haina? Aur ham jaise when I told ke when you are talking to someone, align
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your body. Group mein make eye contact with everyone. Group mein you cannot like talking to
this, then this this. You cannot move like this. Okay? So usme kya hai, agar koi aur banda jisko
aap chahte ho ke impress karna hai, bas apni body ko uski taraf align kar do. Jis bande ko
impress karna hai
Align your body towards that person. Rest of all ke saath eye contact banane ki koshish karo.
Thik hai? Aur agar koi banda us angle pe you cannot align your body, at least make an eye
contact and talk. Thik haIs se agla banda aap ki body language, matlab usko yeh batate hai ki you
are interested [Okay and the second thing to keep in mind is. If you are in a group, sitting in a
group, if you are a bit confused about where to align your body and towards whom because you
are talking to everyone, to everyone right? And when we, as I said, when you are talking to
someone, align your body toward that person and make eye contact with everyone. In a group
you cannot talk to this person and then to another one. You cannot move like this. Okay? So
what happens there is that if there is a person you want to impress, just align your body towards
that person, the person you want to impress. Align your body towards that person. And try to
make eye contact with the rest. All right? If a person is at an angle towards which you are unable
to align your body, at least make eye contact and speak. All right? The other person will decode
your body language, meaning it will convey to that person that you are interested]. Though I
cannot move towards you, but still I am interested in you.
Angad Singh: But what we cannot do is, hum jaise [for instance], I am talking to her, right? I am
interested in talking to her but I cannot do this, right? This is something different. We cannot do
it. Or we cannot stand like this. It is not meant to be like this.
Nilinder Kaur: Lean ho, par zyada nahi ki agla banda uncomfortable ho jaye Okay? We have to
lean. Main important body language yeh hai. Agar koi baat kar raha hai aur aapne usko batana
hai ki mai interested hu tumhari baaton mein, lean a bit. Thik hai? If you are sitting across a
table, table pe thoda lean karo. Yeh nahi ke ab uss bande pe chadke hi lean karna hai ke I am
interested in you. Table pe thoda lean kar loge toh agle bande ko indication mil jaayega ke aap
interested ho. Thik hai?
Jab bhi kisi se baat karte ho, aise nahi ki like the person is talking to me, mai aise baith ke bol
rahi hu, haan. Thik hai. Toh isme thoda arogance bhi show hota hai, thoda disinterest bhi ki yaar
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khatam karo baatein, I want to leave [Do lean, but not so much that the other person begins to
feel very uncomfortable, Okay? We have to lean as it is an important aspect of body language. If
someone is talking and you want to show them that you are interested in the conversation, lean a
bit. All right? If you are sitting across a table, lean forwarda little on the table. But you don’t
have to climb on that person to show that you are interested. Even if you were to lean a bit
forward on the table, the other person will get the signal that you are interested. All right?
When you are talking to someone, it should not be – like – the person is talking to me and I talk
sitting in this manner, all right? It would appear that you are arrogant or even a little
uninterested, let’s stop this conversation].
Angad Singh: Like if she is sitting and I am here, right? Toh what I will do is, I will sit in this
position.
Nilinder Kaur: Ya. We will a bit lean and we will talk. Agar peeche ho rahe hai toh [If I keep
moving back] I am giving a clear indication that I am no more interested or – like - you just
please go.
Angad Singh: And if she is in front of me, if she is in front of me, I would never cross my legs.
Nilinder Kaur: Try not to cross your legs. Okay?
Angad Singh: Lean a bit forward.
Nilinder Kaur: Alright? And then we have our body language, jo batati hai agle bande ko ki I am
kind towards you, positiveness dikhani hai. Do bande baat kar rahe hai. First of all conversation
mein jyada important hai mirror karo uski image. If the friend is sitting this way, haina? Like you
sit [Then we have body language that tells the other person that I empathize with you; you need
to show positivity. IWhen two people are talking to one another, the most important thing is to
mirror their body language, If your friend is sitting in this manner, right, like you sit like this..]
Angad Singh: Yeah.
Nilinder Kaur: He is my friend or the person…
Angad Singh: I will do the same thing.
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Nilinder Kaur: Ya. If he is sitting this way, I can copy the person. Ye nahi ki he is sitting this
way aur main official mode me baithi hu aise baatein karne ke liye [It should not be that he is
sitting in this manner and I sit in an official mode to talk to him.
Angad Singh: Official things are only with the boss and with the employees.
Nilinder Kaur: Jab interview pe jaate hain, jaise wo baithe hai, you mirror them. When you are
with your friends, jaise wo baithe hai, you mirror. If your friend is leaning, you also lean. If your
friend is sitting with arms crossed, you also cross your arms. is body language se pata lagta hai
ke aap uske saath involved ho baaton mein. Thik hai? Interview me jaate ho, jis posture mein wo
hote hain aap uss posture mein baitho. Yeh nahi ke waha jaa ke lean kar diya. Alright? Aur
friends ke samne yeh nahi ke interview posture mein baithe ho haina?
Aur who lean kar raha hai and the friend is getting uncomfortable. Are yaar yeh kya baitha hua
hai mere saamne? Thik hai? Yeh hamari body language hai jo bataati hai ke, I am kind towards
you, positivity and everything.
[When we appear in an interview, make sure to you must mirror the way they are sitting. When
you are with your friends, you mirror the way they are sitting. If your friend is sitting with arms
crossed, you also cross your arms. Through this body language one comes to know how involved
you are in the conversation with him. All right? When you appear in an interview, you must sit
following the sitting posture they have chosen. It should not be that you go there and lean on the
table. All right? And it should not be that you sit in an interview posture in front of your friends.
And when a person leans forward and the friend starts feeling uncomfortable and things, buddy,
who is sitting in front of me? All right? It is our body language that conveys that I feel
sympathetic towards you, positivity and everything else
Angad Singh: And whenever we go for an interview, right? Never should we like keep our hands
on the table, never. If you are nervous, if you are very nervous, what you can do is? Neeche
rakho haath or apne haath ko jitna tightly ho sakta hai pakdo [You can keep your hands below
and you can hold your hand as tightly as you can]. But do not let it come on your face right?
Nilinder Kaur: And while you are talking, first thing jo aapki nervousness bataati hai is when
you are playing with your clothes or with your hair. Doing anything. Iss cheez se agla banda
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judge kar jata hai ki aap nervous ho. Jab aapne bataana hai ki I am quite confident, keep your
hands relaxed. Aapke haatho se unhe pataa chalta hai.[The first thing that shows your
nervousness is when you are playing with your clothes or with your hair or doing something
similar. Through this the other person is able to make out that you are nervous. When you want
to convey that you are quite confident, relax your hands. People can make out from your hands..
Angad Singh: And do not carry a pen or hold anything in your hand because - like - you will start
playing with it.
Nilinder Kaur: Pocket mein keys hai, pocket mein haath ghusa liye, keys chhan, chhan, chhan,
chhan. This is not a good thing, alright? Yeh cheeze phir agla banda soch raha hai ki yeh toh
mere saath time pass kar raha hai. This is not a good indication. Thik hai?[Suppose you have a
set of keys in your pocket, you put your hands in your pocket and the keys start jangling. That is
not a good thing, right? These things make the other person think that this person is just trying to
while away his time with me. That is not a good sign, right?
Angad Singh: Aur sabse badi baat hoti hai jab hum wait kar rahe hote hai. Right?[And the most
important thing is that when we are waiting for something, right?]
Nilinder Kaur: For the interview.
Angad Singh: For the interview, that is the, matlab, really important point.
Nilinder Kaur: Jo hum ignore kar dete hain. Hum bahaar baithte hai, interview ka wait kar rahe
hai. Suppose I am going to some company. Kya yaar, do ghante se bitha diya. Kya karu? Phone
nikala, message kiya, I am waiting for this long.[What we ignore is equally important. We are
sitting outside waiting to be interviewed. Suppose I am going to a company and think, oh man,
they made me wait for two hours. What should I do? I pull out my phone, start sending a
message. I have been waiting for so long…]
Angad Singh: You never know who is the next person sitting beside you, right?
Nilinder Kaur: Aur woh kaun hai aur kaise judge kar raha hoon aapko. When you walk in and
you are like, Oh! This person was sitting out in lobby. Aur uske saamne aap headphones lagaye
ho kaano me bas. Lage huwe hai. Meri turn aayegi toh I will go inside.[And who is he and how
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he is trying to assess you. When you walk in and you are - like - Oh! This person was sitting in
the lobby. And you were sitting in front of him with your headphones on your ears - busy-
thinking I would go inside when it is my turn].
Angad Singh: Never ever play with the cellphone or something. Just try to read a newspaper. Uss
se kya hota hai, agle bande, chahe aap na padho. Kabhi mat padho but waha aap ko karna
chahiye. That who show karta hai that like you know, you are interested in world. You have the
knowledge, right? [What happens if you do this is that the other person - even if you are not
reading - don’t read at all if you don’t want to - but when you are sitting there you must. It shows
you are inquisitive, you are interested in the world’s affairs. You are informed, right?]
Nilinder Kaur: Waha company ke pamphlets ho, go through them. Agle bande ko pata lagta hai
you are interested in their company. Yeh nahi ki yeh table manners aur sitting posture humein
jaake unke saamne hi show karna hai. Right from the beginning, from the lobby itself, you need
to show all these things. Thik hai? Aur jab bhi koi jaise, you people are good at this. Jaise I am
talking and you people are nodding, you are smiling. Iss se aapki active participation ka bhi pata
lagta hai. This thing is good like…[If you find the company’s brochures there, go through them.
The person comes to know that you are interested in their company. it should not be that you
should reveal your table manners and the right sitting posture only in front of them. Right from
the beginning, right from the lobby, you need to show all these things. All right? And you might
be whatever you are, but you people are good at this. Like when I am talking to you, you people
are nodding, you are smiling. Through this one comes to know that you are actively
participating].
Angad Singh: And always keep a cute smile on your face. Right? No, not that one. It really
scared me.
Nilinder Kaur: Okay, so this is the body language, jo humne abhi discuss ki hai. Aur abhi hum ab
aapki hi activity hogi introduction ki. Hanji?[that we have discussed. Now we are going to begin
an activity on Introductions, all right?]
Student 4: You said earlier that if someone is leaning backwards and has folded their arms, it
means that they are not interested. Then, you said that if your friend or someone is doing
something, you can mirror them.
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Nilinder Kaur: Yeah.
Student 4: What if an interviewer has crossed his arms or is leaning back?
Angad Singh: No, your question is right. Like if we are leaning back and - like -with friends and
all. The difference, right? He is your boss and the boss is always right. He can do whatever he
wants because he has the authority to fire you.
Nilinder Kaur: In cheezo ka [These things matter].
Student 4: If he has leaned backwards and he has folded his arms.
Nilinder Kaur: No, mirror, I told you to mirror the person sitting. Har jagah pe yeh nahi chalta.
Yeh body language jo waha body language humne deliver karni hai wahi karenge.[It doen’t work
everywhere. This kind of body language should be practiced only where we need to]
Angad Singh: It is okay with your coworkers.
Nilinder Kaur: Coworker…
Angad Singh: The mirror images could work with your coworkers. But the office thing is kind
of…[[different]. With your boss you must never show a mirror image.
Student 4: Irrespective of the position he assumes, we should be maintaining our own position.
Nilinder Kaur: Yeah or maybe mostly aisa nahi hota. Agar aate hai interviewer toh lean back aur
woh toh phir hardly it happens. Maybe phir toh wohi banda is interested, who toh apna show hi
kar raha hai ki I am not interested in you. [Yeah or maybe, mostly this does not happen. If the
interviewer leans back the moment he enters - it hardly happens though. Maybe, in that case, that
person is interested but is pretending that he is not interested in you]
Angad Singh: Who toh banda uska matlab hai ki woh starting se hai aap ko dikha raha hai ke
bhai we are not interested in you.[In other words, from the very outset that person is trying to tell
you that we are not interested in you]
Nilinder Kaur: Ha, uska body language aapko hi bata raha hai ke he is not interested to toh phir
aap thodi na uska body language copy karke bolo denge, I am also not interested in you.[Yes, if
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his body language is trying to tell you that he is not interested you could also copy his body
language a bit to show that I am also not interested in you.
Angad Singh: Aur aisa hi yeh do cheezo me hota hai. If you are over confident or you are under
confident, the candidate.[And this happens in two cases, either that you, meaning the candidate,
are over confident or that you are under confident]
Nilinder Kaur: The thing is, uski body language se toh aapko pata lag gaya na ke he is not
interested. Usne apna body language deliver kar diya aapko ki I am not interested.[The thing is
that you will come to know through his body language that he is not interested. He has conveyed
to you through his body language that I am not interested]
Angad Singh: Kyunki agar hum under confident hote hai, toh hum wahan jaate hain, hum har
cheez bahut fast karte hain, right? [Because if we are not confident, we try to do everything very
fast when we go there]
Student 5: Sir, maybe the interviewer changes position to test the candidate…
Nilinder Kaur: Yeah.
Angad Singh: Yes, sometimes they do it. That is why like you have to maintain yourself.
sometimes we need to just set a line, boundaries, right? So that is the thing.
Nilinder Kaur: Okay?
Student 6: You earlier said that we should always mirror their body language. But I do not think
we should mirror their negative body language.
Nilinder Kaur: No, yes, of course not.
Student 6: Even if they are negative towards us, we can hold our positions.
Nilinder Kaur: Yes, of course.
Angad Singh: Yeah.
Nilinder Kaur: Bas yahi bataane ka motive hai ki waha jaake apni firmness aur rigidity. It is not
like everywhere you need to show. Sometimes woh relaxed hai toh you can go relax with that
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person. Taake who agla banda bhi aapke saath aapki company enjoy kar le. Thik hai na?
Interview wagaira toh phir ekdum alag aspect ho gaya, haina? [The reason behind saying this is
that when you go there you can maintain your firmness and rigidity. It’s not that you need to
show it everywhere. Sometimes when they relax, you can also relax so that the other person can
also enjoy your company. All right? Interview and so on are altogether different aspects, right?]
Angad Singh: And while preparing for the interview, us bande ko aapki aankhon me dikhna
chahiye ki, yes you are prepared and like yeah you know about the interview, you know about
the company, right? So these things should be there. Ki agar agle ne tumhe nahi ok kara toh that
is his loss, that is his loss, that is not your loss. You have other options too. Right? [And while
preparing for the interview, the other person should be able to see in your eyes that you are
prepared, yea, you are informed about the interview, you are informed about the company, right?
So these things should be there that even if the person rejects you it is his loss; it is his loss not
yours. You have other options too, right?
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Nilinder Kaur: Now, should we move on? Next is -like - how to introduce yourself. Jab hum
introduce karte hai apne aap ko, bahut sari cheeze hai jo agla banda hamare liye wahi pe pick
karta hai aur hamari personality apne mind pe bana leta hai. Kyunke hum pehli baar jab kisi ko
milte hain, hum apna saara biodata toh usko dete nahi hai. Woh hamari body language, jo humne
chaar baatein kahi hai, wahi se hamari personality ko apne dimaag mein bana deta hai. So few
things hai jo hum apne mind mein take care karna chahiye, while we are in the first part of
introduction. [Now, should we move on? Next is – like – how to introduce yourself. When we
introduce ourselves, the person in front of us is able to pick up a number of things about us on
the basis of which he forms an image about us because when we meet someone for the first time,
we hand over our entire biodata to that person. On the basis of our body language and the few
words we utter, he forms an impression about us in his mind. So, there are a few things one
should keep in mind while we are in the first part of introductions.
Thik hai? Jaise aap mein se anyone of you can come and tell me, suppose aap presentation de
rahe ho. Not complete presentation I am asking. Waha introduction kaise doge apne presentation
mein? Can anyone come and give a demo? [All right? Like one of you can come and tell me, as
though you are making a presentation - I am not asking you to make a complete presentation -
how would you introduce yourself before making your presentation? Can anyone come and give
a demo?]
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Angad Singh: Come on, let us try yaar.
Nilinder Kaur: Try karo.
Angad Singh: Everybody makes mistake.
Nilinder Kaur: Mistakes nahi nikalni humne. Hum tumhe just tell what are the things required
and what are not.[We are not going to point out your mistakes. We are just going to tell you what
are the things required and what are not]
Angad Singh: Can anyone? Okay, please.
Student 7: Just the introduction?
Nilinder Kaur: Just the presentation deni hai [You just need to make a presentation]. Toh how
you will introduce yourself to the person.
Student 7: Good evening everybody. My name is Jyoti Gupta and today I am going to give a
presentation on so and so topic.
Nilinder Kaur: Alright. Fine. Yes. Okay.
Angad Singh: So, anyone else? Nope? Okay. Yeah please.
Student 8: Good evening everyone, good evening mam and my dear friends. I am here to present
my topic which is this and this.
Angad Singh: That is good.
Nilinder Kaur: This thing is actually what is working. While you are giving a presentation, the
first thing people generally do is - like, ‘Good morning everyone, my topic is so and so’.
Nervousness pata lagti hai [The nervouseness is visible]. But like you people are quite mature,
you are doing it really well. Jab aap apne presentation mein introduction dete hai [When you
need to introduce yourself before your presentation], the first thing is greeting [your
audience ]and telling [them] about who you are. Later you are going to tell them about all the
relevant information, why I am here? For what purpose and all. Aur uss time pe, introduction
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time pe, at least make sure ke aap move na karo. Thik hai? [And at that time, at the time of
introductions, at the least make sure that you don’t move. All right?]
Apni position pe khade ho. Okay? And give an introduction. Later jab presentation start ho rahi
hai, then you have to give movements in between. But uss time pe you are told ke aap back na
karo. Aur matlab, introduction de rahe ho toh sabke eye contact banane hai. Because you are
introducing yourself to everyone out there. [Take your position. Okay? And give an introduction.
Later when the presentation begins, you have to add movements in between. But at that time,
you are told, you should not show your back, meaning that when you are introducing yourself,
maintain eye contact with one and all because you are introducing yourself to everyone out
there].
Angad Singh: Or like aisa na ho ke like pahle hi jaake aap bolu yeh ke, ‘thoda boring hoga but
still, you know I am presenting this thing’. It should not be starting with a negative thing. Sir
aapko pata hai kitna be negative ho bas usko pata hai positive way mein start karna hai. Right?
You should give your best.[Or - like - it should not be so that you state at the very outset “It is
going to be a little boring but I have to make this presentation”. It should not start with a negative
thing. Sir, do you know that however negative the message– do you know - you need to begin it
in a positive way. Right? You should give your best]
Nilinder Kaur: And suppose you are meeting an individual. Waha pe introduction dena hai. Kuch
bahut basic cheeze hai which we need to take in mind. Jo aap sab ke mind mein bhi hogi but I
should stll repeat them. Pehli baat toh handshake hota hai. Aur like kis jagah pe aap ho, us jagah
pe depend karta hai. Har culture ka apna alag way hai greet karne ka. Somewhere it is hugs,
somewhere they just a handshake, somewhere it is nothing. Thik hai? Aap uske accordingly
karo. India mein hugging karna is very like unfavorable.[You need to introduce yourself. We
need to keep a few basic things in mind. You must be aware of them already but I should still
repeat them. The first thing is your handshake. Which depends on where you are are. Every
culture has a different way of greeting. Somewhere it is hugs; somewhere it is just a handshake,
somewhere it is nothing. All right? You must act accordingly. In India, hugging is very - like -
unfavourable]
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Woh toh agla banda pehle hi uncomfortable hoke bhaagega aapse. Thik hai? According to the
[codes of] culture, you must make an appropriate greeting to the person. Uske saath eye contact
banao or the thing is ki apni tone. Agar jaisi uski soft tone hai. Yeh nahi ke woh dheere se bol
raha hai, aap joro shoro se lage hai. Ke who banda kahe, ‘yaar, I am getting so embarrassed, this
person is stealing the attention of everyone’. Apni tone uske saath poori coordinate rakho jab aap
first time introduce kar rahe ho. Aur bas apne baare mein hi nahi bolna. Try to ask that person
about them selves.
From where you? Why you are here? What are you doing? Thik hai? Iss se good impression jata
hai [[This makes a good impression]. Or like the thing you do is, hi I am, your name. Like, Hi I
am Nilinder Kaur, what is your good name? Never ignore this thing ke apna naam bata diya aur
agle ka poocha hi nahi. Jaise hi agla banda apna naam batata hai toh you should say, its pleasant
to meet you, whatsoever the name is, uska saath me uska naam bhi bolna hai. Thik hai? Uss time
pe. Iss se agla banda proper into conversation aa jata hai aur confidence mein aata hai ke, this
person is actually interested in me. Thik hai na? These things. [If you were to do that, the other
person will step back feeling uncomfortable. All right? You must make an appropriate greeting
to a person, according to their cultural codes. Make eye contact with them and the other thing is
using the right tone. It shouldn’t that if that person is using a soft tone, if that person is speaking
softly, you go on speaking loudly. So that the person says, ‘Buddy, I am feeling so embarrassed,
this person is attracting the attention of everyone.’ You must fully coordinate your tone with his
when you first introduce yourself. And you must not go on saying things about yourself. Try to
ask the person about themselves. From where you? Why are you here? What are you doing? All
right? This creates a good impression. Or like the thing you do is, ‘Hi, I am, your name.’ Like,
‘Hi, I am Nilinder Kaur, what is your good name?’ Never ignore this thing that you have told
them your name but not asked that person’s. When the other person tells you his name you
should say ‘It is pleasant to meet, whatsoever the name is,’ you must always use his name when
you say it. All right? at that time. This draws the other person into the conversation and he feels
that this person is actually interested in me. All right? These things…]
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Nilinder Kaur: Okay now I will do the presentation thing, mostly hum college mein presentation
ke saath hi aake ulajhte hai and we like hide ourselves ke presentation hai kal meri, yeh who.
Toh few things we will discuss about this thing. Main presentation clips dekhi jaise baccho ki,
bahut saari cheeze note karne wali hoti hai usme, presentation mein. Har kisi ki presentation
mein koi na koi gadbadi mil jaati hai. Kuch toh dekh ke bolne lage hote hai. Right? This is very
common to all. Hum notes pe stick rehte hai. Thik hai na? [Okay now, I will do the presentation
thing, mostly we have to grapple with presentations when we enter college and we - like - go
into hiding saying we have a presentation the next day and all such things. So, we will discuss a
few thinks that I noticed when I watched the students’ presentations, I noticed a number of
things in the presentations. One or the other mistake can be found in each of the presentations,
for instance, some are looking and reading, right? This is very common to all. We stick to our
notes, do you agree?]
Second thing is notes mein stick rehne ka sabse bada drawback yeh hai ki hamari audience ki
taraf back hoti hai. Toh we are reading for our self only. Unse toh hamari koi communication hi
nahi ho rahi. Thik hai na? This is the thing you need to keep in mind. Can you play the next
slide? [The second thing is that the biggest drawback in sticking to notes is that we have our back
to the audience. We are not communicating with them at all. This is the thing you need to keep in
mind. Can you play the next slide?]
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Nilinder Kaur: The first thing we will talk about the posture. Jo presentation ke time pe aap ko
apne posture ka take care karna hota hai. [The first thing we will talk about is the posture. At the
time of presentation, you have to take care of your posture]
Angad Singh: Like the thing is this posture ka, right?
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Angad Singh: Presentation, like if the slide is going on, main aise karke kisi ko bata raha hoon.
Bhai peeche agla kya kar raha hai? I do not know, right? So we should take care of it. We should
be prepared. Hame bas aise seedhe khada hona hai. Halka sa tilt karke, we should face the person
who we are talking and like we should show them what we are trying to make them understand.
Right? Aise hona chahiye aur doosri baat yeh. Jaise eye contact uss bande ke saath mein banaya.
Randomly go from the right to the left, left to right, center.
Randomly do those things. Right? Aur phir beech mein bande ko ek aada question bhi pooch lo
ki, what do you think about this thing? You have any suggestions? Har cheez, bande ko involve
karo apne mein. [Presentation, like if the slide is going on, I do this and speak. I do not know
what the other person is doing behind my back, right? So, we should take care of this. We should
be prepared. All we need to do is to stand upright. Tilting a little, we should face the person who
we are talking to and - like - we should show them what we are trying to make them understand,
right? This is what should happen and the other thing is this. Like when I made eye contact with
that person, move you eyes randomly from the right to the left, left to right, center. Randomly do
those things. Right? And then, in the middle, ask a couple of questions as well, such as ‘What do
you think about this? You have any suggestions?’ Do everything to involve people in your talk]
Nilinder Kaur: Hum mostly presentations chhart ko dekh ke de dete hai. Bina audience ki taraf
dekhe ya koi friend baitha hai, bas friend ko dekh ke sari presentation suna di. Kyuke humein
confidence milta hai apne friend se. Aur baaki bande phir bore hi ho rahe hote hai. Please yeh
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cheez ko avoid karna hota hai. At least 4 to 5 seconds apni eyesight har ek bande pe fix rakhni
hai. Thik hai? Aur iss se aap ko pata lagta hai ke agar bande nod kar rahe hai, toh you get to
know ke who hamari iss mein, presentation mein interested hai.[We give most of our
presentations looking at the slides without looking in the direction of the audience. If a friend is
present, we keep looking at the friend and make the entire presentation because we get support
from, our friend and then the rest of the people are nothing but bored. Please avoid this thing. Fix
your eyes on each person for at least 4 to 5 seconds. All right? And if the people are nodding you
come to know, then you come to know, that they are interested in this presentation of ours.
Body movement zyada nahi karni. Presentation ke time pe jahan khade ho, try to stay in that
place for the maximum, par zyada nahi. Beech mein movement karo but then again get back to
your position and stand there. Aur apni hand movement ke agar koi movement zyada karni hai
toh hands se woh bhi zyada nahi. Appropriately apni hand moments un ko show karni hai. Main
thing hota hai ki jo main humne problem dekhi hai, eye contact ki. Thik hai na? Please
presentation ke throughout eye contact zaroor rakha karo.
Taake har bande ko lage ki haan, this person is talking to me and that I am involved in this. Thik
hai na? Iss cheez ka presentation mein dhyan rakhna hota hai. And the most important thing is
your dress. We will be talking about the whole of that dressing thing later. Presentation mein
main hum in cheezo ka dhyan rakhte hain. Any question you want to ask? [You should not make
too much body movement. Wherever you stand in the place at the time of beginning the
presentation, try to stay in that place for the maximum period but not too much. You must try to
move a bit in the middle but again return to your position and stand there. And your hand
movement, if you have to make any movement, use your hands but that too not much, you have
to make only appropriate hand movements. The main thing is that the problem I have noticed is
that of eye contact. All right? Please make sure to maintain eye contact throughout the
presentation so that the other person feels that this person is talking to me and that I am involved
in this. All right? You must keep this in mind while making a presentation. And the most
important thing is your dress. We will be talking about the whole of that dressing thing later. We
must keep these things in mind while making a presentation. Any question you want to ask?]
Angad Singh: Anything you want to know?
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Student 8: Sir, is there any pattern which we can follow for making the eye contact?
Angad Singh: Pattern?
Nilinder Kaur: No, it should be random.
Angad Singh: It should be random actually.
Nilinder Kaur: Random actually.
Angad Singh: Because the thing is this, the pattern from right to left, then extreme left. That is
not the way, right? Just like okay, it is according to the colors, by the way which attracts one.
Like I will go for the red, then again the green, then like this yellow, right? So, it is according to
our gaze only.
Nilinder Kaur: And when you are making contact toh yeh nahi ke agle ki dress ko dekh kar
chhod diye, uski muh ki taraf dekha hi nahi. Please make sure, eye contact ki baat kar rahe hain
hum sab. Thik hai na? Okay.[And when you making contact it should not be that you look only
at the person’s dress and not their face. Please make sure, we all have been talking about eye talk
repeatedly. All right? Okay?
Student 9: How do we end a presentation?
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Nilinder Kaur: Haan, I will tell you. And one more thing is jab aap presentation de rahe ho,
hands on hips, peeche haath, pocket my haath, yeh sabse gandi cheez lagti hai. Generally maine
dekha hai presentation pocket my haath deke, de dete hain kuch log. Pocket mein ek haath hota
hai, dusra move kar raha hota hai, presentation khatam bhi ho jati hai. Jo totally wrong lagta hai
uss time pe. Thik hai na? [Yes, I will tell you. And one more thing is that when you are making a
presentation, hands on hips, hands behind, hands in pocket, looks very bad. I have generally
noticed that during presentations some people put their hands in their pockets; one hand is in the
pocket and the other keeps moving even when the presentation is over. It looks totally
inappropriate at that time. All right?]
Angad Singh: Uss se woh banda bada uncomfortable huwa hota hai, that is why.[When the
person feels very uncomfortable, that is why…]
Nilinder Kaur: Nervousness show hoti hai poori uske saath.[It gives away the person’s
nervousness completely]
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,Speaking Effectively
Lecture 10
Role Plays
How to Improve Body Language
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(Refer Video Start Time: 00:28)
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Student 1: It is getting late.
Student 2: Hey hi. What is the matter? You did not recognize me?
Student 1: No.
Student 2: You are from IIT, right?
Student 1: Yes.
Student 2: We took the same course last year; I was in the same course…
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Student 1: I am sorry I just took lot of courses last year. I do not remember you.
Student 2: I was in the CET course last semester.
Student 1: Oh! That CET course?
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: Yes. I don’t exactly remember; but, fine yes, I did the CET course last semester.
Student 2: Okay, what are you doing here this time?
Student 1: I am waiting for a bus you know.
Student 2: So you are going back to IIT?
Student 1: Yeah.
Student 2: I am taking the same bus. It looks like it is going to be a while so.
Student 1: I am getting late. I have to rush off, you know, it is pretty late.
Student 2: The bus will come when the bus will come. Hey what do you say? We go there at a
coffee shop and grab a cup of coffee.
Student 1: No I am fine, thank you. I am just fine here.
Student 2: Hey, getting a bit cool out here. What is the problem? Let us go at the coffee shop.
Student 1: No its okay you know. I just want to get home.
Student 2: Let us just get at the coffee shop.
Student 1: Yeah, it is okay. I am sorry.
Student 2: Oh, come on.
Student 1: Okay, yeah. See I am just fine here. I will like to wait. Thank you.
(Refer Video End Time: 01:46)
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Student 1: Hey Himanshi.
Student 2: Hey Zenia.
Student 1: How are you?
Student 2: I am fine. What is up?
Student 1: I am good.
Student 2: Tell me.
Student 1: You came back from home, right? Two days back, right?
Student 2: Yeah. It was so nice. Home is always nice.
Student 1: I know and how is about the cold there?
Student 2: It is cold there. Ranchi is cold you know. What about you?
Student 1: I am good. Just got engaged with this NPTEL course and…
Student 2: Yeah. So did you receive your stipend?
Student 1: I did.
Student 2: Oh my god! Congratulations. So what are you going to do with that?
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Student 1: Besides shopping…
Student 2: Besides shopping. You will have to buy something for me as well.
Student 1: Sure I will. We will see how to work that out.
Student 2: Let us go for a…
Student 3: Guys, is this seat taken?
Student 2: No.
Student 3: Do you mind if I sit here?
Student 1: Okay.
Student 3: So which department are you guys from?
Student 2: HSS.
Student 3: Oh! I have not seen you around so often; so, do you live nearby or…
Student 2: We do come here often I guess.
Student 1: Well, that is Humanities and Social Sciences, it is just besides the academy.
Student 3: Oh! Okay cool. So how long you guys have been in the campus?
Student 1: It is been like one and half year for that we are here.
Student 3: Okay and how is your routine going?
Student 2: Its fine, it is just nice.
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Student 1: Hi Zenia.
Student 2: Hi Nilinder.
Student 1: So, how are you?
Student 1: You remember last night we met over the Star Night.
Student 2: Yes, of course. I do remember.
Student 1: So, how did you find it?
Student 2: It is nice.
Student 1: Okay actually I forgot to ask from where you are?
Student 2: Actually, I have come from IIT Ropar.
Student 1: Oh! Nice. I am from PA only.
Student 2: Oh! So, this is your campus, your fest?
Student 1: Yes.
Student 2: So, it must be you are from this university.
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Student 1: Yeah. So, you are enjoying the fest?
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 3: Hey, hi girls.
Student 1: Hi.
Student 2: Hi.
Student 3: Hey, can you let me know the time please?
Student 2: Sure, it is like 2 minutes to 12.
Student 3: Okay. Can you guide me to – like - coffee shop over here? Do we have one?
Student 2: Yeah, you have a coffee shop here. Actually I am also new to this place. You go
straight and take a right.
Student 3: Uh, are you free; so, like can you join me?
Student 2: You are asking me?
Student 3: Yes you.
Student 2: Nilinder, I have got some work, so I got to go.
Student 1: Okay, no problem. Actually, she got some work so she need to leave.
Student 3: Okay. So, can you join me because like I am kind of lonely today – like - you know,
no friends, no one.
Student 1: Oh! I got you. You are, you new in this campus?
Student 3: Yes.
Student 1: Yeah definitely, but I am sorry to say I am busy right now; but later, yeah, surely I can
join you.
Student 3: Okay. So -like - I will be expecting you over there.
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Student 1: Yeah, sure you just go. I think she told, you got the way to the coffee shop? You just
go and wait; I will be there.
Student 3: Okay then; see you bye.
Student 1: Yeah, thank you.
Student 3: Okay bye.
Student 2: Bye.
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Student 1: So how did you like Spring rest this time?
Student 2: Yeah, it was kind of okay like you know.
Student 1: Yeah, even I felt the same. It was not as good as last year.
Student 2: Yeah, actually.
Student 1: The artist that came last year was much better.
Student 2: Even – like - my friends are not here – like - you know.
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Student 1: Yeah, my friends also came last time. It was much more fun.
Student 3: Hey guys.
Student 2: Hi.
Student 1: Yeah hi.
Student 3: Actually I am new in this place; so I am bit confused with the direction. Can you let
me the way to CCD?
Student 1: CCD? Yeah sure. So you go down to this road around 500 meters; later there will be a
turn on the left. So you turn and at the end of the road, there is CCD. It is pretty simple.
Student 3: Oh. okay so you study here?
Student 1: Yeah, we are students over here.
Student 3: Okay. Actually I am here for the fest so I am new in this place. So, there are many
things to see you know but I have no one to company me. So you just tell me from which
department you are.
Student 1: I am from Chemical Engineering.
Student 3: Chemical. Okay. I am an MBA student.
Student 1: Oh! Interesting.
Student 2: Okay me too.
Student 3: Okay hi.
Student 1: Yeah, he is also a MBA student.
Student 3: I am Nilinder.
Student 2: Nice meeting you. So like you are moving for a coffee shop?
Student 3: Yeah actually.
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Student 2: Okay.
Student 3: Yeah so you are from which department?
Student 2: Actually I was also talking to have - like you know - even I was interested in having a
cup of coffee.
Student 3: Oh!
Student 2: I think he is busy, kind of, so can I join you like.
Student 3: Yeah sure.
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Student 1: Hey hi.
Student 2: Hi.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 2: And once again thank you for the coffee yesterday.
Student 1: That is nothing.
Student 2: Yeah so what you are doing around?
Student 1: Nothing, just like I was just roaming around and like suddenly I saw you.
Student 2: Okay, okay.
Student 1: So what are the plans?
Student 2: Nothing yet. I am just participating in few of the events so busy with the events
actually. Yeah, so are you participating in the events?
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Student 1: No, but – like - I have plans you know like for the evening; I might click if you could
join me and we will have fun so.
Student 2: Yeah, today evening, actually, I need to go for a show. I heard there is a show so I
will be there.
Student 1: Okay. Okay catch you later bye.
Student 2: Yeah.
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Student 1: Hey hi, how are you?
Student 2: I am good. How are you?
Student 2: So, you are here for the show?
Student 1: Yeah, I am.
Student 2: So, you are here with your friends or alone?
Student 1: No, I am alone.
Student 2: Okay.
Student 1: So, are you?
Student 2: Yeah I am here with my friends. Actually we first planned to go for dinner but later
we thought to come here for the show.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 2: Yeah it was a night show, right?
Student 1: Yeah it was kind of.
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Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: So, what are the plans? Like today, I think, you are free.
Student 2: No, actually I have to be with my friends because tomorrow I will be leaving for my
city. So, I will be going tomorrow.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: So, like tomorrow can I come to drop you - like…
Student 2: No. It is totally fine. I will be going off with my friends; so we guys are going
together.
Student 1: Okay then, bye.
Student 2: Yes, bye.
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Student 1: Good evening, doctor.
Student 2: Good evening Prakhar.
Student 1: So, my reports came in, I think.
Student 2: Yes, your reports have come I was just going through. It is the second time I am going
through it.
Student 1: Anything wrong doctor?
Student 2: There is nothing right, Prakhar.
Student 1: What?
Student 2: I remember you have told me about your match that is coming next week, right?
Student 1: Yeah, I have match this weekend.
Student 2: So, you will not be able to play for that.
Student 1: That is not possible doctor. It is a very important match.
Student 2: However important that match is, it is not important than your health right?
Student 1: You do not understand the problem doctor. It is very important for me to play in it
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Student 2: All that I am trying to tell you is that you cannot play because you have a ligament
tear and you need is to rest. Okay?
Student 1: Is there nothing that can be done about this?
Student 2: As of now there is nothing that can be done and, finally, that is your call.
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Student 1: Hello Prakhar.
Student 2: Good evening doctor.
Student 1: How have you been?
Student 2: I have been good.
Student 1: So any more trouble with the ligament tear you had?
Student 2: No, I think the leg is feeling well. I am feeling (go) good about this. So the reports?
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Student 1: Yeah, they are here. Please have your coffee.
Student 2: Yeah, thank you.
Student 1: I was just going through your reports Prakhar and you know this is the second time I
was actually going through it and if I remember, and if I am not wrong, you have a match
coming up next week, right?
Student 2: Yes, this weekend I have a very important match.
Student 1: Okay, this weekend only.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: Okay. Prakhar I hope you understand that there is nothing more important than your
health right now. Okay?
Student 2: Yes.
Student 1: So as per your reports you have a ligament tear. See it?
Student 2: Okay.
Student 1: So, you need rest of at least 2 weeks with the capping and…
Student 2: But I have a match this weekend you know.
Student 1: I know. I know Prakhar you have a match but all that I am trying to say is that if you
can avoid the match now and if you could take rest then there is another tournament that is
coming next month, right?
Student 2: That is true.
Student 1: You can participate in that. Then that way you will not have any more trouble for the
match that is there next month.
Student 2: Doctor are you absolutely sure that I cannot play this match?
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Student 1: Yes, I am absolutely sure. All that you can do is take rest now so that, you know, your
injury heals well and then you can play for the next tournament that is coming next month.
Student 2: Well I guess if you think so it must be the best course to take.
Student 1: Yes. So please take care of your injury and take rest.
Student 2: Yeah, I will. I will take care of my leg. Thank you doctor.
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Student 1: Hello Nilinder, good morning.
Student 2: Good morning Angad, how you doing?
Student 1: I am doing great.
Student 2: Okay, so I went through the portfolio which you sent yesterday through mail and I
also I have also seen your Kolkata Fashion Week show.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 2: I must say you are very good with your body language and walk.
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Student 1: Thank you.
Student 2: Yes and so finally we have concluded that we want to see you for the Lakme Fashion
Week.
Student 1: Are you serious?
Student 2: Yes we are serious. So we all just want you to be there.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 2: And I think it is going to be held next week only, you might be knowing. So you just
please be there day after tomorrow so that they can train you according to that.
Student 1: Okay, definitely I will.
Student 2: Okay. So congratulations and it will be really good to see you there.
Student 1: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
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Student 1: Hey, good morning Nilinder.
Student 2: Good morning Angad. How you doing?
Student 2: And there is really a good news for you.
Student 1: Seriously?
Student 2: Yeah. I mailed your portfolio to Riya and she just said yes for you and we are hoping
to see you for the Lakme Fashion Week next week.
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Student 1: Seriously?
Student 2: Yeah seriously, seriously.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 2: That is really a great matter so we all are hoping to see you day after tomorrow.
Student 1: Thank you a lot, thanks, thanks a lot.
Student 2: That is really good to see you over there and we all are really glad. So you just pack
your bag and good luck for your shows.
Student 1: Thank you, thanks a lot. Trust me, you have done a great job for me.
Student 2: No, you are great.
Student 1: It is a really big platform. Thanks.
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Student 1: So what do you did last weekend?
Student 2: Last weekend we went for a movie.
Student 3: Yeah, the Akshay movie Jolly.
Student 1: Jolly LLB 2?
Student 3: Yeah.
Student 1: Oh yeah. There is a new part for that. Where did you guys go? There is no very good
theatre in Kharagpur.
Student 2: We went to…
Student 3: We went to Bombay Hall - like…
Student 1: Achcha, I have heard that has been renovated.
Student 2: Have you been to Bombay Hall?
Student 4: No, never.
Student 3: Yeah, it is good.
Student 1: It is something similar to – like - Inox over there.
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Student 3: In Calcutta.
Student 1: I also tried it out once. But there is no theatre over here; so we do not go to movies a
lot.
Student 3: Okay. Truly saying – like - now it is far better.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 4: Yeah, earlier it was not good. When we came here at that time it was not renovated.
But I think it is recently renovated.
Student 3: Yeah, it is recently, like now at least, families can go there.
Student 1: Okay, nice.
Student 2: So the movie was really good; but I have heard people talking about that the earlier
part was much better than this one.
Student 3: Yeah, because it was kind of like similar to the Salman Khan case.
Student 1: Salman Khan case so this is a kind of satire? People like to do that. So, what is this
new part based on?
Student 2: New part is just based upon - you know - they basically focus over the Police
Department. What things are actually running in Police Department.
Student 3: Not about Police Department only, it depends on – like - how people – like - they kill
for promotions and everything.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: So dark side of.
Student 3: Yeah the dark side of politics and Police Department.
Student 1: Lot of such movies have come out recently. Singham was.
Student 3: Yes, Singham.
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Student 1: Sorry, not Singham. Drishyam was about this, it was very good.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 3: Like now that, I do not remember the name. The some Attack movie…
Student 2: Yeah, Ghazi attack.
Student 1: I have heard that is also very good. There are no songs in it.
Student 4: Very good.
Student 2: You have seen that movie?
Student 4: No, I have heard about it and read about it.
Student 1: I have heard it is not typical Bollywood type movie. No songs and dances, random
sequences.
Student 3: This movie is based on true story.
Student 1: Yeah, even I have heard about that.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 3: So that is the thing.
Student 1: Is it running in?
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 3: Yes.
Student 1: In Bombay Cinema Hall.
Student 3: Yeah.
Student 4: Yeah.
Student 1: So maybe we can go some next week or something.
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Student 3: Yeah why not.
Student 2: They got the shows for 8:15 and 8:15 P.M and 1:20…
Student 3: Yeah, its 8:15 and 1:20.
Student 4: Yeah, afternoon show. Some of my friends, they have visited afternoon shows.
Student 2: Okay, they have seen the show.
Student 4: Yeah. Yeah.
Student 3: Like, how like how did they find out – like - that place? Was it good?
Student 4: Yeah, it was good. Actually, they all were female and they booked a car and went and
they said that it was quite good. As you said that earlier they were no families or female alone
going but right now it is quite good and safe. So there are visiting.
Student 1: Because there are no cinemas in Kharagpur it has been so long since I have seen
movie. We used to see it in a small screen on laptop, that is it. Yeah, so it will be a good change.
Student 4: Yeah.
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Student 1: Have you seen the new movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil?
Student 2: No.
Student 3: Hello, both of you.
Student 1: Hi.
Student 2: Hi.
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Student 2: We are good.
Student 1: We are good. How are you?
Student 3: I am fine.
Student 1: Okay.
Student 3: So, how, have, it is been these days?
Student 1: It is been good. We were just discussing about the new movie Ae Dil Hai Mushkil.
Student 3: My God, do not talk about Ae Dil Mushkil. Fawad Khan is just amazing, you know, he
is amazing.
Student 1: He is very cute.
Student 3: If I talk about Fawad Khan, I am going to forget about everything. So before I forget,
this is my new watch, just have a look.
Student 1: That is really nice.
Student 2: That is very good.
Student 3: Thank you. So what is these days?
Student 1: Nothing, we were just talking about actors right now. We were just discussing about
Fawad Khan only when you listened.
Student 3: Okay, so coming to clothes, you go to the Westside collection…
Student 1: Yeah, I went.
Student 3: Sale.
Student 1: Yeah. seriously and I am just looking forward for July sales you know.
Student 3: And my God I just picked up 5 tops from there and they are very good and very nice -
like - very nice.
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Student 2: 5 tops?
Student 3: Yes.
Student 1: Very nice. You are going to show me when I come to your place.
Student 3: Sure definitely.
Student 1: Yeah.
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Student 1: Do you watch cricket?
Student 2: Yes I do.
Student 1: Who is your favorite cricketer?
Student 2: Dude, Yuvraj Singh.
Student 1: Yuvraj Singh? I mean he has passed his prime.
Student 2: Dude six sixes in IPL.
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Student 1: Okay, but that was like how many? 10 years ago?
Student 2: 10 years? Are you serious? Now, also recently - like. It was – like - everybody was
thinking it is going to repeat the game.
Student 1: I think he is the recent cricketer and it is really admirable what he did with cancer and
all, but objectively speaking Virat Kohli is much better. He is the future cricket after all.
Student 2: Look, he might be the future of, right?
Student 1: Yes.
Student 2: But Yuvraj Singh, he is the best.
Student 1: I think you just think so, such a big fan of Yuvraj Singh because he is Punjabi and you
are also Punjabi.
Student 2: Not about the Punjabi and Bengali, I am fan of Dada. What do you think?
Student 1: Even I am a fan of Dada for that matter. Yeah. So, but Yuvraj Singh, I am not so
convinced. I think he should retire at this time. He has had his days, he has had his fun. He
should let the younger guys to come.
Student 2: I think Dada should also come back.
Student 1: What are you talking about?
Student 2: Dude, Dada created a team which has - like - you know - given a pillar for this thing,
World Cup. Trust me.
Student 1: That happened after Dhoni came in. I think you are confusing the two periods.
Student 2: Dada was the one then.
Student 1: Dada build it up.
Student 2: No. Dada was the one when India was like semi-final right?
Student 1: The 2003 World Cup.
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Student 2: Yeah, the 2003 World Cup. Trust me boss. Dada is the one who did it and the Dada
was the person who supported Yuvraj Singh that is why like today Yuvraj Singh is the best
person.
Student 1: I agree but if you consider the teams from then and now. We had a brilliant batting
line up and everything, but still we collapsed.
Student 2: No.
Student 1: Now the team is you know invincible practically.
Student 2: Now it will be, because the base has(been) kept by Dada and Yuvraj, Dhoni. What
Virat is doing is everybody has put the stuff on the plate and like now Virat is just feeding
himself.
Student 1: That is…
Student 2: That is it.
Student 1: You are not recognizing his contribution I think. I think…
Student 2: Dude, Virat is good. Virat is good, but still he needs to learn a lot.
Student 1: Obviously he does, everyone does but…
Student 2: Yuvraj Singh is the best, dude.
Student 1: Yeah. I guess, yeah. Yuvraj Singh is good.
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Hello everyone. Someone rightly said, that our first impression is the last impression. When two
strangers walk into a room, the impression that they leave on the people becomes an important
determinant to know about their personality. Posture and movement is an important thing in that.
We see this lady and this gentleman, who give us a very good impression about their personality.
The gentleman is dressed in a very informal look and gives us a casual impression. And the lady
looks elegant as well as stylish.
Dress and appearance of this lady and gentleman gives us a good impression of both of them.
When we look at the upper body of both of them, they are standing in the right posture, focusing
on the lower body, their legs are positioned in a proper manner. Gesture is another important
thing that we would want you all to focus on. Through their conversations we come to know that
they are not engaged in a casual talk but are exchanging a conversation that is not so light
hearted.
The gentleman brings a smiling face in between and the lady too does that. The eye
communication of both of them is something that gives a good impression. They both are
looking at each other and talking which shows that they are receptive and interested to talk about
the matter that they are engaged in. The facial expression of this lady and the gentleman tells us
that they have a good sense of engaging themselves in a conversation.
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Lecture 11
Politics of English
Welcome to module 3 of speaking effectively.
In the first unit of in this module, I will be focusing largely on English pronunciation and
before I go into the hands-on aspects of English pronunciation, I would like to introduce you
to phonetics. What is phonetics? Phonetics is the science of sounds. Phonetics and phonology
- they are, I am using very lay definitions, I am not using technical linguistic definitions of
phonetics. Phonetics roughly refers to the science of sounds and we need to understand the
science of sounds in order to be able to improve our pronunciation.
Now I begin by showing you, let us begin from the beginning. You all know how to speak,
right? Everyone knows how to speak. We began with this premise at the very beginning when
we said everyone knows how to breathe, everyone knows how to speak, so why should we
learn to how to speak? We need to speak effectively, of course we all know how to speak; but
we need to speak effectively. So when we know how to speak and we know a number of us
also know how to speak English.
If we know how to speak English, why do we need to improve our pronunciation, why do we
need to speak better? Let us begin with that question. So I am assuming that those of you
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have enrolled in this course either speak English or there are some among you, or maybe a
certain percentage among you, who do not speak English fluently, who have come from the
vernacular medium schools or who are more comfortable speaking our Indian languages, are
not very fluent in speaking English, even though you are able to write English perfectly.
This is so, if that is so, my first question to you is, what according to you is the correct way of
speaking English? What, in your opinion, is the correct English? Now that is a very tricky
question because in this question, one is the politics of English and then the other part is the
pragmatics of learning English. If I begin with the politics of English than I would abandon
teaching this course because, in the politics of English, the world has veered around to the
view that there is no correct way of speaking English.
There is no one English, there is no single way of speaking English and if there is no single
way of speaking English, writing English and there are many different ways of speaking and
writing English. There is a notion of correct English or originary English, the idea of correct
English is the English as it is spoken in its originary region; that idea has now been
demystified given the number of ways or number of englishes that are circulating across the
world today. So we can see, as someone said, that once upon a time, there was English with a
capital E and now we have englishes with small e.
So once upon a time, there was English as it was spoken in the mother country, which is
England – Britain - and that was the Standard English or that was the only way of speaking
English and that was the correct way of speaking English. But today, that idea is no longer
true mainly because the hegemony or the monopoly or the domination of British English has
been challenged for a long time by English and other English speaking nations beginning
with the US, where American English has now become, is now rubbing shoulders with,
competing for the same place as standard usage.
So today we talk about Standard British usage and we talk about Standard American usage
and they seem to be competing one another for the attention of speakers of English across the
world. In fact, most speakers in the world today seem attracted to American English because
of the power of American soft power, American popular culture and because American
popular films, music, fiction are easily available across the world and America is now the
dominant nation as the only superpower - as with - vis-a-vis Britain, which dominated the
world during the colonial era.
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Today, more people seem inclined to learn American English. Now this, this competition
between British English and American English today; we have englishes from other parts of
the English-speaking world such as Australian English or Canadian English or New Zealand
English or South African English. So now each of these registers of English or these ways of
speaking or writing English are emerging as independent languages which are threatening the
domination of both British and American English.
Then we come to English in countries which are not English-speaking countries, where
English is a second language but due to the history of colonialism, since most of these
countries were colonies of England or Britain, the speakers of these countries have begun to,
have been, learning English for a long time - since the colonial era - and English has become
part of their collective psyche.
Among these we may include Commonwealth countries or postcolonial nations in Asia and
Africa and rest of the world; their English has been practiced for a long time and English
serves as an official language because of the practical, very pragmatic, reason of (their) not
having a common language which is acceptable to speakers of all native languages. So other
than English spoken in English speaking countries, English in, as it spoken in postcolonial
nations, has now emerged as a very confident lingua which is aspiring to the status of an
independent language, take the case of Indian English.
Now Indian English, the way it is both written and the way it is spoken, is very different from
Standard British usage. However, with increasing confidence of India in the global economy,
with India’s rising economic power and India’s rising cultural power, we have Indian English
being accorded a certain respectability which it did not possess in the past. Now how did this
happen? How did Indian English become respectable and how has it become almost like a
Standard Language within the Indian context?
Let us go back to that history of the increase in recognition or respectability given to Indian
English. Let us begin with the 70s; in the 70s a young model turned journalist who was asked
to, who was the founding editor of a new tabloid called Stardust…. A woman many of you
would be familiar with, the, yes the incomparable Shobhaa De who was known as Shobha
Rajadhyaksha in those days, invented a new kind of English to distinguish the new tabloid
Stardust which she was editing with the more conventional more traditional film magazines
like Star n Style and Filmfare and so on using a mix of Hindi and English to create a register
of English as it is used by Indian speakers.
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So it was on the pages of Stardust where you would have English speech being peppered with
Indian phrases, Hindi phrases like ‘samajh gaye na’, ‘sharam ki baat hai’ … so this peppering
of Indian English with Hindi words or Hindi phrases was something which was pioneered by
this young journalist Shobha Rajadhyaksha, now known as Shobhaa De. And it became very
popular with a certain group of readers, particularly the readers of Stardust who began to
even use the same language to converse among one another, peppering their own speech with
phrases from Hindi and other Indian languages.
Let us cut to the 80s, now Shobhaa De Rajadhyaksha has not been given the credit, in my
opinion, for inventing this new variety of English which we know as Hinglish today. I come
to the 80s and then comes the publication of a pathbreaking novel, yes I am talking about
Salman Rushdie’s novel Midnight’s Children, which created a sensation of sorts, not only
because of the novelty of its narrative technique but also because of what it called its
‘chutneyfied’ language.
The chutneyfied language was the language which transliterated Indian, the syntax and
vocabulary of Indian languages, particularly Hindi and Urdu and did it so marvelously
without violating the structures of Standard English or playing with the structures of Standard
English that it became a respectable language, courtesy Salman Rushdie winning the Booker
prize for his novel and also because of the originality and the vigor and the variety of his non-
Standard English which was really a transliteration of Indian languages.
So you would have structures like where somebody is literally translating from Urdu and
saying, ‘oh come on your fatherji, your daddyji, your fatherji is going to heaven.’ So instead
of saying, ‘aapke pitaji swarg sidhar rahe hai,’ you have a transliteration of one of the
characters in the family telling the mistresses of the house, ‘your daddyji is leaving for
heaven.’ So such structures, which are not Standard English… they were made fashionable,
they were first introduced into literary fiction by Salman Rushdie.
Of course, there was his predecessors like Raja Rao who invented memorable phrases like
‘Cornerhouse Murti’ which is ‘who Murti nukkadwala,’ like we say, ‘Ganga kinare wala,’ so
Raja Rao coined phrases which could translate from Indian languages, which would capture
the nuances of Indian languages by inventing phrases like ‘Cornerhouse Murti.’ But it was
with Salman Rushdie and the international recognition that Salman Rushdie and his novel
Midnight’s Children received that this non-Standard variety of English became part of
literary fiction and gained respectability as a literary language.
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From non-standard English or Indian English becoming the language of literature, let us
come to how this language which is a mix of Hindi and English and which uses in Hindi the
intonation, rhythm and stress patterns of Indian languages, how it became the language of
media. We jump another decade and come to the 90s. In the 90s, India witnessed a mind-
boggling satellite revolution.
Indian skies were flooded with channels from all across the world, thanks to unfortunate
event of the Gulf War, where Indians who had relatives in that Gulf countries were compelled
to install ‘dishes’ by friendly operators known as cablewalas at their houses so as to get
information about their families who were stranded in the Gulf but also got hooked to
international channels, mainly American channels, which were part of the package installed
by the cablewala.
And following this we have the privatization of the Indian skies in the early 90s and with the
privatization of the Indian skies, we had the invention of a new language. Not the invention
of a new language but the formal recognition of English as spoken by Indian speakers as a
language in its own right through its use in broadcasting and in the media. Now how was this
change revolutionary, let us go back to the pre-privatization era to see what is the kind of
English which was spoken in the Indian media prior to this.
So yes, we return to DD or Doordarshan or All India Radio and All India Radio and
Doordarshan continued to remain in the British Raj and their idea of good English diction
was the Queen’s English or English as spoken in the mother country.
So you would find that the old readers on newsreaders on All India Radio or even the
newsreaders on Doordarshan, think of the generation which spoke - like Tejeshwar Singh or
Mrinalini and Meenu Talwar - each of them spoke, they tried to - Rini Simon, she is called
Rini Simon Mehta now - they would try to approximate what they considered the Queen’s
English or the Standard British English. And people and individuals who could speak in a
clipped British accent were the ones who would find themselves clearing the audition on
Doordarshan or All India Radio.
So we continued to be in the British era as far as our speech or our language of broadcasting
was concerned until the satellite revolution in the early 90s and with the coming of a
transnational channel called Star TV. Now when Star TV came to India, there was a lot of
fear that Indian culture or Indian languages or Indian speech patterns would disappear with
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the so-called Americanization of Indian skies. The fear that Indian skies would be invaded by
American modes of speech, American patterns of speech, American body language and so
on, were dispelled when Star TV came to India.
Because when Star TV came to India, it revolutionized the language of broadcasting by

introducing a generation of newsreaders who did not speak English in clipped British accents
but who spoke English the way it is spoken in India. So I am talking about, the generation of
newsreaders who we are all familiar with today, newsreaders like Barkha or chat show hosts
like Barkha Dutt, Rajdeep Sardesai, Arnab Goswami and so on, Nidhi Rajdhan.
This new generation of Star TV newsreaders, you find that they speak English the way
English is spoken by ordinary educated speakers in India and that was a sea change as far as
what is considered acceptable as English because one it is endorsed by the media and once it
becomes the official language of the media in India, it gained the same kind of respectability
that Rushdie gave to written non-standard English usage, Indian English usage. through his
novels.
And the rest is history because then we have a generation, a very confident generation of
Indians who are ready to take on the world and who are not embarrassed to speak Indian
English because as they proclaim on Channel V, a newly launched channel, ‘We are like that
only’; And proclaiming in non-Standard English that we are what we are and we have no
intention to change our way of speaking or writing is very well captured in this signature line,
the sign off line of Channel V which says, ‘We are like that only.’
As you see, it is not standard usage, it is non-standard usage but it is spoken with such
confidence, which shows the coming of age of Indian English. And what is happening with
Indian English has also happened with englishes elsewhere. Likes Singlish;, Singaporeans
when they are speaking among themselves, they do not speak in correct or - I will not say
sorry about using the word correct - they do not use Standard English when they are
communicating with one another because they feel, it does not, it makes them feel distant
from one another.
They speak like Indians speak in Indian English, they tend to speak in Singlish which is
English spoken with a Singaporean accent. But before that we have other regions which led
this deconstruction of English, let us come to West Indies and let us come to a language
which is called pidgin. What is pidgin? Pidgin is a language which is a language of very basic
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communication between two groups of speakers who do not know each other’s language and
pidgin was invented by colonial masters when they wanted to communicate with natives.
When they wanted to communicate with natives, the Englishmen invented a very basic
variety of English which was sufficient for carrying on day to day activities like giving
instructions, ‘get me water,’ ‘drive me’ and the natives, whether they were Africans or
Asians, they also mastered a very basic vocabulary of English which was incorrect, a very
basic usage of English, which was not standard but which was mutually understood both by
the colonial masters and the colonized.
Now, over a period of time when pidgin is spoken, it invents its own rules and its own
grammars and it evolves into what is called the creole language. So it is non-Standard
language, not just English, every language, every language can have its pidgin or non-creole
version where over a period of time a functional English invented by imperial masters or their
subjects, over a period of time when it evolves into an independent language with its own
systematized rules of grammar and syntax, then it is called creole.
And the best example of creole is the language which is spoken in West Indies which is
called Jamaican patois. Now those of you who listen to rap music or reggae music will be
familiar with this language. So in this language which is non-Standard, not only the
pronunciation but also the speech is different. So you have like the song by Apache Indian
which says ‘me want girl from Jalandhar city’ which is ‘I want a girl from Jalandhar city,’
‘me want girl from Jalandhar city,’ so ‘I’ becomes ‘me.’ The entire pronunciation is different.
But rap and reggae and hip-hop music has turned this language which is spoken by West
Indian people in Trinidad and Tobago and so on as a cool global language. Similarly, we can
think of African-American speech registers. Just like Singaporeans do not speak to each other
in Standard English and Indians do not speak to each other in Queen’s English when they are
talking among themselves, African-Americans also ‘talk that talk’ when they are talking
among themselves, instead of speaking Standard American English in order to distinguish
themselves from whites and in order to forge unity among members.
So even the most educated erudite African-Americans, when they are among themselves,
they slip into the African-American register where, which is different from Standard
American usage, not only in terms of its vocabulary and structures but also in terms of its
pronunciation. So with this I will conclude with the idea of concept of Standard Language
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which I will take up in the next module. With this I conclude the idea of politics of English
and I will move onto the pragmatics of English.
Yes, if we go by the politics of English, every register of language, every English that is
spoken in the world today whether it is Indian English or it is Singaporean English or it is
Jamaican patois or it is ‘rotten English’ as the famous as the celebrated writer Ken Saro-Wiva
called the English which is spoken by ordinary African people in Nigeria, he called it ‘rotten
English,’ each of these languages has a right to be a language in its own and hold its own so
long as it serves the communication needs of its speakers.
So a language in linguistics is any language serves the communication needs of its speakers.
As long as the speakers understand one another, no language is inferior or superior to another
and each language has the status of a language. So there is no hierarchy between languages,
between different varieties of English in linguistics but socially there is hierarchy. And
depending upon what kind of English you speak, you are considered entitled to certain
privileges or not entitled to certain others.
We will come to that aspect of language, the social aspects of language and the pragmatics of
having to learn what is the correct way of speaking English. Whereas, when we come to the
politics of English, there is no correct way of speaking English. Every link every form of
English is equal to other forms of English. Thank you.
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I am the one, I am the one and I do feel like I ruled the world and it revolves around me.
But when I tell how to clean up the mess, until I want to stand up and clean the mess. I would
probably treat everyone like a mother treats a child, get everyone on schedule, make sure
everyone goes to potty before bed, nor have it, have it. You have been here. I am super mom,
super mom, I mean that is that is the ultimate superhero. I get to play roles which are real
human beings.
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A question now, how to play (())(26:59) blah blah. Yes, I have been, it has been it is
interesting that that has been what has been picked up on about this film and I think this film
is timing along with the sort of arrival into modern language of the word friend zone, it is sort
of a cross purposes with one another because this film is about you know friend zoned as I
understand it is when you really fancy somebody and I do not fancy you at all.
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Lecture 12
Concept of Standard Language
Hello, in this unit of module three, I am going to look at the concept of Standard Language
and the pragmatics of English. As I said in the last unit, every language is linguistically equal,
there is no hierarchy among languages in linguistics but socially there is a hierarchy. There
are some standards; some languages are considered more equal than other languages and the
mastery of these particular registers or these particular languages can bring some advantages,
which others cannot.
Now since your interest in speaking effectively is to be able to get on in the world and to
make a success of your career, the pragmatics overrule the politics. And whether (or not) in
your personal life you feel that ‘Oh I do not need to speak English the way Englishmen speak
or Americans speak because it is not my language; it is not my mother tongue; why should I
be speaking English like an Englishman,’ the pragmatics of English compel that if you want
to be understood or you want to make an impact globally you should be able to speak an
international register of English.
That international register of English, as of now, it could be either British English, British
usage or it could be American usage. Before I come to the Standard international languages
prevalent today, of course, as I said, other languages are competing for the same position, like
Australian usage or Canadian usage or New Zealand usage, South African usage; they are
competing for the same position but two usages are still dominant in the world namely, the
British and the American. If this is so, what is the kind of usage that I am going to introduce
you to?
I am old-fashioned and I believe in going back to the origins and since I myself have been
trained in British usage rather than American usage, I would be introducing you to British
Standard English. What is Standard English? What is Standard Language? I am going to try
to introduce you to Standard British English and Standard British pronunciation but this does
not mean that only English or only British English has a standard version. Every language,
irrespective of where it is spoken, has a standard version.
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So since we are in India, let me illustrate the use of Standard Language or the idea of
Standard Language through going to our Indian languages. And I, of course, will try to give
the example of the languages I speak fluently namely, Hindi. Now, in Hindi, which Hindi do
you think is the Standard Language? Take a guess. Mostly I get answers like, ‘Oh Hindi that I
learnt in my school textbooks, Hindi that I hear on television, Hindi that I hear on radio or
Hindi that is used in official work;’ Yes, you are right!
Standard Language is the language which is used in education, which is used in media, which
is used in broadcasting and which is used for official purposes. If that is the definition of
Standard Language, what is Standard Hindi? Yes, of course, it is the Hindi - that, which is
used in education, it is the Hindi which is used for official purposes and it is the Hindi which
is used in broadcasting and media. What is this Hindi? Have you ever thought of what name
this Hindi has which we tend to use?
This Hindi that has become Standard Hindi in the - in India - after partition, after
independence - it is very important to know that it became Standard Hindi after independence
or after the 1930s - this is a dialect of Hindi called Khariboli. What is the dialect and what are
the other dialects of Hindi? Every language has a number of dialects. Dialects are varieties of
a language in which speakers understand one another. So when speakers can understand
speakers of another language, it is known as a dialect.
But when they cannot understand one another, then it becomes a different language. Now in
Hindi, let us think of what are the different dialects of Hindi. Guess? Those of you who are
from Bihar, you do not speak Standard Hindi, I understand. I learned it from my friends in
Bihar that you are extremely proud to speak Maithili, some of you who come from - who are
speakers of Maithili, you are extremely proud and there is no reason why you shouldn’t be
proud, you speak Maithili. Others from UP and Bihar probably speak Bhojpuri and again
Bhojpuri is a very well-known, very popular dialect of Hindi.
Then we go back to, then we have, other dialects of Hindi, say the Hindi that is spoken in
Madhya Pradesh, which is different from the Hindi as it is spoken in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar,
the Hindi that is spoken in Chhattisgarh is different from the Hindi in UP and Bihar. But let
us think of the earlier dialects which are no longer spoken, say, what is early Hindi poetry in?
Some of the best-known poetry in Hindi is in Awadhi or in Braj Bhasha.
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Some of the best poetry composed in Hindi, with which any student of Hindi, begins their
introduction to literature, I myself, when I was in school, I was introduced to some of the best
poetry of Surdas and Tulsidas and these poems were not in Khariboli, they were in, they were
in Awadhi and Braj Bhasha. So let us think of dialects of Hindi such as Awadhi, Braj Bhasha,
Bhojpuri, Maithili, Khariboli. Why did Khariboli become Standard Hindi? Why not Bhojpuri,
why not Maithili, why not Braj Bhasha, why not Awadhi, why not Bundelkhandi? Why not?
Why is it that we choose a particular dialect among several dialects as the Standard
Language? Guess. Is it because it is spoken by more people? Some people had given me this
answer. So they say, because Khariboli was spoken by more speakers than those of other
dialects, Khariboli became Standard Hindi. It is not true because there are more speakers of
Bhojpuri in the world than there are of Hindi, did you know that? And why is it there are
more speakers of Bhojpuri across the world?
Because the descendants of people who migrated from what are present day UP and Bihar to
countries which are now called Mauritius or West Indies or Fiji during the colonial era, they
still speak the languages which their forefathers who were largely rural migrants from these
regions spoke, which is Bhojpuri.
So even educated speakers in Fiji, in West Indies, in Trinidad, in Guyana, in Mauritius,

continue to speak Bhojpuri and they speak it with great pride unlike educated speakers in
India who tend to think of Bhojpuri as a rural rustic dialect and do not speak it in public even
though they might use it in family circles. The second reason could be, as some of my
participants say, oh but Khariboli is spoken because it has more literature and therefore it is
better than other dialects. But as I just told you, Tulsidas and Surdas did not write in
Khariboli they wrote in Awadhi and Braj Bhasha.
So the history of Indian Hindi literature really begins in other dialects rather than Khariboli.
Some other speakers are, some other participants give the answer that, Khariboli became the
Standard Language because it has a better, it is more correct, in the sense that it has a more
systematic grammar and it has a more systematic - it has a better - vocabulary than other
dialects. Now I would like to ask the speakers of Awadhi, Braj Bhasha and Maithili and
Bhojpuri to say, do you think that your language is inferior to Khariboli in terms of its syntax,
grammar and vocabulary?
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No, you would protest, you would say, no, my language Maithili or my language Bhojpuri is
as rich if not superior to Khariboli in terms of its vocabulary, in terms of its grammar. There
is no such thing as correct grammar or incorrect grammar and each of these dialects has its
own grammar and its own vocabulary and its own structures which are as correct as any
other. So why did we use Khariboli as Standard English?
That is a very long history which I do not have time to go into, it has got to do with the
history of the need to have a Hindi purified of all foreign influences, a Hindi which was
sanskritised. We will not have time to go into that but we will come with a simple answer.
Khariboli was used – became - Standard Hindi because it was spoken by the educated
speakers of North India and it is always the dominant group whose language becomes the
Standard Language.
That dominant group may not be dominant economically, it may not be dominant politically
but culturally the language, the dialect of the culturally dominant group becomes usually - is
excepted as - Standard Language which is what happened with Hindi. Now having given you
an example from closer home which you are familiar with, let me take you to English. Just
like in Hindi, there is no one way of speaking English. Even in Britain, everybody does not
speak English in the same way. English differs, varies within England, within Britain,
depending on the region you come from.
And we are not talking about languages like Welsh or Irish which are claimed by their
speakers as completely independent languages. We are talking about English itself and how
English within England is spoken in different ways depending on which region you come
from, which class you come from and your education level. So first of all the English of
different regions, so the English that is spoken in say Midlands is very different from English
in other parts of England.
English is also distinguished according to class, so the working class people, say people who
are not highly educated and who are working class, they speak a different variety of English
which in earlier days was known as Cockney and the speakers of, educated speakers of
English, tend to look down on these speakers because they are not as educated as them. So
class, region and also level of education. Even within London, people speak English in
different ways.
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So the English which is spoken, say. in the south of London would be different from the east
of London and the west of London because these regions are inhabited by people with
different levels of education belonging to different classes and so on. Now what is Standard
English? What is Standard British sage? Standard British usage is the language spoken by the
educated speakers of the south of London.
Please remember, the language spoken by the educated speakers of the south of London
became the standard British usage for reasons similar to those for the acceptance of Khariboli
as Standard Hindi because of their domination, cultural domination, of England. So people
who were highly educated, who went to elite institutions like Oxford and Cambridge, their
speech, their usage was considered, was elevated to the status of, Standard British usage and
what we call the Queen’s English. Now there is another name for Queens English, a technical
name for Queens English, which is RP.
What is RP, what does RP stand for? RP stands for Received Pronunciation. When we are
talking about pronunciation, the Queen’s English, the pronunciation of Queen’s English, the
Received Pronunciation… and again it is not unique to English, we have the received
pronunciation of any language which is the Standard Language of that region.
So we will be looking at, when we are trying to look at improving your pronunciation, we are
looking at RP and we will look at how RP or Received Pronunciation and Standard
Language, Standard British usage, are different from Indian English. We will not have time
to go into American English - because - for the very simple reason that I do not claim
expertise in American English, so I will be confining myself to Standard British usage and
RP.
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So I would try to show you that not only the words and structures but also the sounds of RP,
sounds of Standard British English, are different from the sound structures and words of
Indian English.
Let me begin by introducing you to the sounds of English and the notion of phonemes. What
is the minimal distinctive unit of writing? We all know from our schooldays, we were told,
that the smallest unit of writing was an alphabet, a letter and we said that alphabet was
divided into vowels and consonants. Now let us forget, when you start speaking you need to
forget writing, you have to start thinking verbally. You have to start thinking orally, you have
to stop thinking of translating writing into speech.
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So let us begin again, like we started, you started, learning the alphabet in school, let us begin
from the beginning by learning the smallest unit of sound as you learned your basic alphabet,
your ABC, let us go to the basic unit of speech, it is called a phoneme. What is a phoneme?
Phoneme, technically, is defined as the minimal distinctive unit of sound. How do we, how
do you define a phoneme? How do you know what is a phoneme and what is not a phoneme?
So let us look at the idea of producing sound and the notion of what are called primal sounds
or primal vowels.
It is humanly possible to produce certain sounds, for human beings, okay. This is what that is
what is called primal sounds or primal vowels. Now among the primal sounds and primal
vowels, every language chooses particular sounds. It does not choose all the sounds, that is
why languages are different, that is why sounds of languages are different because all the
languages do not use all the sounds which are humanly possible for people to produce.
Let me illustrate from an example from Africa, for example in Africa, the sound ng, ng,
which we use in Indian languages or in English in word final or word middle position, like
sing, singer, right? This sound is used in the initial position in African languages.
So one of my favorite authors, one of my favorite novelists is a man whose name begins with
this sound and even though he is my favorite author, I find it very difficult to pronounce his
name, but now his name is on everyone’s lips because he was slated to receive the Nobel
Prize in literature, he was a top contender for the Nobel Prize in literature this year which he
unfortunately lost. What is the name of this famous writer?
His name is Ngugi wa thiong’o, Gugi wa Thiong’o, so some of us say his name by silencing
the ‘ng’ sound and we say Gugi. Some of us pronounce the first sound and we say Engugi, it
is neither Engugi nor is it is Gugi, it is Ngugi, Ngugi. Because none of our languages use this
sound in the word initial position, we find it so difficult to pronounce the name of this very
brilliant and talented writer. Let us come to India, look at the sounds, which are there in some
languages are not there in other languages. So let us look at a very sharp distinction between
Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages.
The two main language families which we have in India, of course we have many other
language families, I will not have time to go into that but one of the basic distinctions in
Indian bhashas or Indian vernacular languages is that some of them belong to the Indo-Aryan
family and languages in the south of India are believed to belong to the Dravidian language
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family. Now the most important thing between the Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian
languages is that the Dravidian languages have certain sounds which is impossible or almost
impossible for speakers of Indo-Aryan languages to produce.
Now I am going to take the sound ‘wa hya’ which is used in Dravidian languages, I am not
familiar with all the Dravidian languages but I have a smattering of Tamil and I would
illustrate it from a sound in Tamil. The sound which is used in the word in Tamil for fruit, the
sound which is used in that, which is the sound ‘palam’, ‘palam’. Now this sound when you
ask a North Indian to produce, you would find North Indians shopping for vegetables or fruits
in Panagal market and asking ‘padam kud, padam’.
So they make it like Hindi ‘da’ whereas the sound is palam, you have to roll your tongue and
say the sound. So, of course, the functional English(Tamil)) is such that the fruitvendor or the
greengrocer understands what you are saying but you are mispronouncing the sound when
you say ‘wayapadam kud’, ‘I want a banana.’ So what you need to say is, ‘ Vāḻaippaḻam.’
Forgive me or pardon me if I am mispronouncing the sounds, those of you who are speakers
of Tamil, but I am just trying to illustrate that for a North Indian like me also, however hard I
try, it is difficult for me to produce this sound.
So basically what I am trying to say is that phonemes of two languages are not identical
because each language chooses certain sounds which it is humanly possible to produce, to
create their own sound system. And even with Indian languages we found that there is a
world of difference between the sounds of Indo-Aryan languages and Dravidian languages.
When the sound is not there in another language at all, it is impossible for you to produce that
sound, like in the case of these two examples I gave you.
The other example is when you have sounds in your language which are similar to the sounds
of another language but not identical, that is when you mispronounce the sounds. So either
you are not able to pronounce the sounds or you mispronounce the sounds because the sounds
in the other languages do not show a one to one correspondence with the sounds of your
language. In linguistic terms we say they are not isomorphic, that is they do not show a one-
to-one correspondence between the sounds of your language.
What happens is, you try to use the sounds which are familiar to you and you try to
pronounce the sounds of a new language in the way you pronounce the sounds of your own
language and you mispronounce because they are not identical. So this is what…, let us
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return to phonemes, when the sounds of two languages are not identical, they are two
separate sounds in one language but not separate sounds in another language, they are
considered phonemes in one language but the phonemes of one language may not be the
same as the phonemes of another language.
So let me give you an amusing example, with no offence intended, but I will take examples
from different regions to show that - just to illustrate with humor that - when the phonemes of
two languages do not intersect there can be a lot of confusion and it can produce a lot of
humor. So let me begin with the sounds ‘/k/’ and ‘/kh/.’ ‘/k/’ and ‘/kh/’ in Hindi are two
different phonemes, so when you say ‘kal’ which is tomorrow and ‘khal’ which is fraud or
cheating somebody, that is ‘khal.’ when you substitute the sound ‘/k/’ with ‘/kh/,’ it brings
about a change in meaning.
So whenever a substitution of one sound with another brings about a change in meaning they
are phonemes. But when the substitution of one sound with another does not bring a change
in meaning, then they are not phonemes but they are allomorphs. What are allomorphs? Let
us take the same sounds to show that these two sounds which are phonemes in Hindi are
allomorphs in Hindi, in English, sorry, in English. So ‘/k/’ and ‘/kh/’ not ‘/kh/’ but ‘/k/’ and ‘/
kh/’ in English, so whether you say ‘car’ as Indians say it or whether you say ‘car’ as the
native speakers say it, it does not bring about a change in meaning.
You can say ‘I bought a nice car,’ as we say in India, or you say ‘I bought a nice car’ as they
would, as a native speaker would, say and people will understand what you mean unlike in
Hindi where ‘kal’ and ‘khal’ are two different phonemes. In English when the substitution of
one sound from another does not bring about a change in meaning, then they are considered
allomorphs. Now let us come to our humorous example with no offence intended. In Chinese
‘/l/’ and ‘/r/’ which are phonemes in English and in Indian languages, so we say ‘lice’ and
‘rice….’
They are two different phonemes because when you substitute the sound /l/ with /r/, it brings
about a change in meaning and they are different phonemes both in Indian languages and in
English. But in Chinese, /l/ and /r/ are allomorphs, they are not phonemes. So whether you
say /l/ or whether you say /r/, it means the same thing and that is why when you have takeoffs
on Chinese pronunciation and when you have people copying the Chinese accent and saying
‘get me some flied lice,’ it is a genuine problem because in Chinese /l/ and /r/ are not separate
phonemes.
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So when somebody says ‘do you want flied lice,’ he or she is actually using the rules of their
own language. Similarly, come to Indian languages and, again, I will illustrate first from a
South Indian language and then from a North Indian language to show the sounds which
maybe phonemes in one language are not phonemes in another language and when the
speakers of that language say that sound, it sounds like a mispronunciation to the native
speakers. Look let us take the sound /b/ and /bh/; /b/ and /bh/ in Hindi are two different
sounds.
So whether you say ‘bala’ or you say ‘bhala,’ ‘bala’ is trouble and ‘bhala’ is welfare or doing
good for someone. Now the sounds which are two different phonemes /b/ and /bh/ in Hindi,
in Tamil, they are not two different sounds. So, whether you say /b/ or /bh/, they are
allomorphs they are identical. And that is why when new learners of Hindi from the South,
when they speak, when they pronounce these sounds, they tend to confuse one sound with the
other. So they would say, instead of ‘bharat’ they would say ‘barat,’ instead of saying ‘bhala’
they would say ‘bala.’
So these confusions are natural because in Tamil these are allomorphs, they are not two
separate phonemes, okay. When native speakers find it amusing, but when someone says
‘barat hamara desh hai, ham sab barat wasi bai behen hai,’ they are just following the rules of
their native language which sounds odd to the native speakers of Hindi because in Hindi /bh/
and /b/ are very distinctive phonemes, whereas in Tamil they veer into one another. Similarly
in /k/ and /g/, in Hindi ‘kala’ and ‘gala,’ ‘kala’ is art and ‘gala’ is throat, are very different
phonemes, they are separate phonemes.
Whereas in Tamil, I understand my knowledge of Tamil is not so deep but from consulting
my friends who are Tamil speakers, I understand that they slide into one another, the sound
/k/ and /g/. Should somebody whose name…, the name Shakuntala which seems to be my
favorite example in this unit, Shakuntala, somebody I knew in Chennai, her name was
Shakuntala but whenever I would address Shakuntala, she would say my name is
‘Shaguntala’ and she would correct me ‘Shaguntala’.
And in my class, I remember people would make fun, there used to be a popular film starring
Jaya Bhaduri now Jaya Bachchan called ‘Kora Kagaz’ and everyone in my schooldays would
say have you seen ‘Gora Gagaz’ because Tamil speakers would pronounce that film name as
‘Gora Gagaz’ not ‘Kora Gagaz.’ So what I am trying to say is that, I am not intending to
make fun of any speaker or speakers of any languages, I am trying to show how the
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phonemes of even Indian languages are not identical. Even within North Indian languages,
the phonemes are not identical.
So say Hindi and Punjabi, very often Punjabi is not given the status, was not given the status,
of an independent language earlier because it was said that Punjabi is similar to Hindi and it
is a variety of Hindi. But in Punjabi you have certain sounds which are not there in Hindi and
the Hindi sounds are pronounced differently in Punjabi. So when Punjabi speakers say ‘bhai,’
the sound is not ‘/bh/. In Hindi the sound is /bh/, whereas Punjabi speakers are unable to
make that sound because in Punjabi the sound that is used for this word is the sound which
ranges between /bh/ and /p/.
/Bh/ and /p/ in Hindi are two different sounds, ‘prath’ aur ‘bhaat’, bhaat is rice and ‘prath’/
‘prataha’ is ‘subah’ morning. /p/ and /bh/ are very different sounds in Hindi. In Punjabi also
they are different sounds, there is a /bh/, there is a /p/ but they are pronounced differently. So
when Punjabi speakers say the sound /bh/, they say it as something between /bh/ and /p/ and
they say ‘papa,’ it is said, the /bh/ is said with an aspiration, it is said like a /p/ with aspiration
so it is /pa/.
And when Hindi speakers try to speak Punjabi, they will say, there is, the word for brother in
Punjabi is ‘papa’ or ‘paaji,’ so /p/ said with an aspiration ‘paaji’ or ‘papa.’ But when Hindi
speakers say that sound, they will say ‘bhapa’ or they will say ‘papa.’ So Kapil Dev the
famous cricketer who is affectionately known as ‘paaji’ by his fellow cricketers, Hindi
speakers tend to pronounce it as ‘paaji’ which in Hindi has a very bad meaning because they
cannot say the sound with the aspiration, they cannot say it as /p/.
So like the song ‘paape pyaar karke pachtava, pachtaya’ from the film ‘Pyaar Ke Side
Effects’ and rendered brilliantly by the late singer Labh Janjua, most people cannot get that
sound and they will say ‘paape pyaar karke pachtaya’ whereas it is ‘paape,’ in pure Punjabi it
is /pa/. So with this I conclude by saying whenever we learn a new language, we bring over
the habits, the speech habits of our mother tongues and when we bring over the speech habits
of our mother tongue, this phenomena is called mother tongue interference in linguistics.
It interferes with our learning of a new language and this is the problem with your speaking
English, your correct pronunciation of English. All of us Indian speakers including myself,
we are unable to speak like native speakers of English because we carry over the habits of our
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mother tongue in our learning of English and that interferes with our learning of a new
language and as a result we do not sound like native speakers of English.
Now I myself cannot do not claim to be speaking Queens English, I do not claim to be
speaking RP but I am trained and I have received formal training to show you the difference
between RP and Indian English which is what I will be doing in the unit that follows to show
you why we do not sound like native speakers and what we need to do if we want to.
I am assuming that some of you want to, we do not need to as I said in ‘The politics of
English,’ we can speak in Indian English if we want to speak Indian English. But those of
you who want to, who aspire to speak an international register of English and maybe British
English, maybe want to know the difference between Queens English or RP and Indian
English, both in terms of sound but also in terms of stress and intonation.
In the next unit, I will introduce you to the vowels, consonants, diphthongs which constitute
the phonemes of English. Remember, unlike in writing where we have only vowels and
consonants, in spoken English we have vowels, diphthongs and consonants. In the unit that
follows, I will introduce you to the sounds of English, to vowels, diphthongs and consonants
of RP and how they differ from vowels, diphthongs and consonants of Indian English.
But it is appreciating ke I have done a tremendous work. Hmm, each and every year I have
earned crores and crores every day and they are saying Lalu Yadav has planted ba ba fruit
tree and every year, it is duty of my to ba ba fruit tree.
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The Bombay film industry, why don’t they object to it that I am Bollywood. It means you are
perpetually servile to somebody else.
In other, like all in other films like all his earlier films, he talks about the problems within a
small family. The protagonist the father goes to a bar and in a bar you know they talk he says
he casually this a reference to Second World War and the way how they lost the war.
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Lecture 13
Sound of English: Vowels1
Welcome to the third module again. In this unit of module 3 on phonetics, we will look into the
sounds of English. In the last module I introduced you to the vowels, diphthongs and consonants
of RP. In is this unit, I will guide you to the vowels and diphthongs of British English comparing
them to the sounds of Indian English to show you how the sounds of Indian English are slightly
different from those of RP, hat is the reason why we sound different from native speakers of
English.
Let me introduce you to the vowel chart first. How do we distinguish between vowels and
consonants in spoken English as opposed to written English, I said we can divide phonemes of
English into vowels and consonants. But in addition to vowels and consonants we also have
diphthongs. How do we separate the vowels and diphthongs from the consonants? That has to do
with the degree of the obstruction of air when a sound is produced.
1
Transcriptions of sounds are approximate. Learners are requested to look at the symbols in the vowel
chart for representing sounds.
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When sound is produced and when there is no obstruction of the passage of air, as the air passes
from lungs to the upwards to the vocal chords and escapes either through the nasal or the oral
cavity. If there is no obstruction to the passage of air then that sound is a vowel sound or a
diphthong sound. However when there is an obstruction to the passage of air from the lungs to
the …, as it escapes through the oral or nasal cavity, those sounds are consonants sounds. This is
how we separate the vowels from consonants.
Let me first introduce you to the vowel sounds of English and then the consonant sounds; in
addition I would also look at the diphthong sounds. But before that let us try to understand how
do we produce sounds? How do we produce sounds? When we talk about the production of
sounds we need to talk about articulators. Can you guess and tell me how is sound produced?
What are the articulators that we use when we produce sounds?
It is very important to have a knowledge of the articulators that we use in producing sounds,
because every language has a different way of using those articulators or uses different
articulators to produce the same sound. And you would find as I give you examples, when you
use a different articulator to produce a sound which seems identical to the sound of another
language, the sound quality changes. So let us look at the articulators we use to produce sounds.
So, first of all the air escapes from the lungs.
The lungs are one of the important articulators and that is why breathing is so important and
those of us who have problem with our lungs, we have asthma or we have breathing problems,
you will find that we have a breathy voice because there air is not able to escape easily. From the
lungs, the next important articulator is the voice box, the most important part of the production of
voice and (ha) you must have heard people say that I have a very good voice box.
Those who have good voices, those who have very clear voices, boast of having a good voice
box, which resonates. And from the voice box we go to the mouth. As I speak to you would find
that you can see my lips moving because the mouth is very important in the production of sound,
it is a very important articulator. By mouth we do not mean lips; however, lips are different from
the mouth. We use all parts of the, different parts of the, mouth when we are producing sound
and lips are outside. So lips are yet another articulator in the production of sounds.
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Teeth. Did you ever think that the teeth could play a role in producing sounds? Have you ever
tried to guess that people who lose their teeth, like elderly people, you‘ll find that there is a
difference in the speech of an elderly person who has lost teeth or an elderly person who wears a
denture. You would find that there is a distinctive difference in the voice quality. Why? Because
even though we do not realize it, our teeth also play an important role in producing sounds. They
are very important in the articulation of sounds.
Along with the teeth we have the tongue. So the other word for languages is tongue. Why do we
use the word ‘tongue’, zubaan, tongue, for talking about languages? Because the tongue is the
most important articulator. You say that he was tongue tied or people who have a problem with
their tongue, a disability, they are not able to speak clearly.
And, finally, the nose. Not only in nasality but also when we normally speak, even when we do
not speak in a nasal tone, the nose has an important part in producing sounds.
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So let us look at it in this visual image of the air escaping from the lungs to the vocal chords,
passing through the vocal cords, the voice box, then escaping, then entering the mouth and
entering from the mouth and the tongue and escaping through the oral, the lips, the oral cavity or
the nasal cavity.
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Now let me go back to the vowel sounds. What are the vowel sounds of English, of Standard
British English or RP? And how is it different from the sounds of Indian English? Before I show
you the difference I will first list the sounds of RP and I will show you the difference between
the different kinds of vowels. How do vowels differ from one another? So we make a distinction
between different vowels on the basis of whether we use the front of the tongue or the back of
the tongue to produce that vowel sound.
The vowels which are produced through using the front of the tongue are called front vowels.
And those in which we use the back of the tongue are called back vowels. So, front vowels and
back vowels, that is one way of distinguishing between vowels. Then the second way of
differentiating vowels sounds is to look at closed vowels and open vowel sounds. What are
closed vowel sounds? When the distance between the roof of the mouth and between the tongue
and the roof of the mouth is minimal, those vowels are called closed vowels, where the tongue
almost touches the roof of the mouth.
And vowels sounds where the distance between the roof of the mouth and tongue is maximum,
those are called open vowels. In between closed and open vowels we also have categories of
half closed and half open.
So those where the mouth is not fully open or where the mouth is not fully closed, where the
distance is halfway between the distance used to produce closed vowels or to produce front
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(open) vowels, those are called closed vowels, half closed and we can have more ranges - near
close, closed mid, mid, open mid, near open and fully open. These are the two ways of
distinguishing between vowels.
Another way of distinguishing between vowels is the position of the lips.
What is the position of the lips when you say a vowel sound? Are the lips spread? Are the lips
neutral? Or are they rounded?
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So let us see how these little differences change the quality of the sound and I would introduce
you to the 12 sounds of RP, dividing them into close, front and half close. Front, back and central
vowels. Sorry I forgot to tell you about the central vowels. The third category of vowels is those
which is produced through the center of the tongue. And that is why they are called central
vowels. So I am going to take you through all these sounds with examples.
So the first sound is, /i/’. I will jump between the two slides. The first sound is ‘/i/’ as in ship or
‘/i/’ as in pit, pit, ‘/i/’. The second sound is a near closed sound. It is not a closed sound. Unlike ‘/
i/’, ‘/i:/’ is a near close sound as in /pi:t/. So, /pit/ and /pi:t/, /pi:t/. That is the second sound. The
third sound of RP is, /e/’ as in /pet/, ‘/e/’ as in /pet/. Close mid. The next sound is, ‘/ae/’ as in
/paet/, /paet/, ‘/ae/’ as in /paet/. The sound that follows after /paet/ which is ‘/a:/’, which is a near
open sound is a fully open sound. And the sound is ‘/a:/ as in /pa:t/, ‘/a;?’ as in /pa:t/.
So these are the five front vowels differentiated according to whether they are close or open or
near close, open mid or near open. This is how we differentiate between the five front vowels.
From front vowels, let us move on to back vowels.
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In the back vowels we will begin with the sound ‘/o/’, which is an open vowel. ‘/o:/’ as in
caught, ‘/o/’ as in cot. The second sound, the second back vowels is ‘/o/’ as in cot, ‘/o/’ as in cot.
Mind you, watch me. The first one is ‘/o:/’ as in caught. The second one is ‘/o;/’ as in cot. Now,
what is the difference between two? One is a short sound and the other is a longer sound. So the
first ‘/o/’ is ‘/o/’. The second ‘/o:/’ is ‘/o:/’. It is a longer sound. And what is the other difference?
Lips are more rounded in the second ‘/o:/’. So the first one is ‘/o:/’ as in caught. The second one
is ‘/o/’ as in cot.
So you need to round your lips more. Let us have some fun with my name. My name is Anjali, as
I said at the very beginning. My name is Anjali and I am from the north of India and my name is
pronounced in the north as Anjali. Now I have been living in East India where the local language
is Bengali and nobody calls me by my name, as I am called in the north. Everyone calls me
Onjoli. Why? Because ‘/a/’ becomes ‘/o/’. It becomes rounded and that is why the name itself
changes.
So you can choose to say the same name of a person in Hindi with the position of lips in a
neutral position or if you say the same name in Bengali, you need to round the lips. So instead of
saying Anjali, you would say ‘Onjoli’ and then it becomes a Bengali sound because your lips are
rounded. Similarly in this case if you do not round your lips adequately for the second ‘/o:/’, then
what happens is the ‘/o/; and the ‘/o:/’ sound alike.
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For instance, when I go into the example of Indian English and how it differs from RP, I will
show you how Indian speakers make these two sounds alike. They do not differentiate between
the short ‘/o/’ and the long ‘/o:/’. Because they do not round their lips sufficiently.
From ‘/o/’, which is an open mid sound, we move to a close mid sound, which is ‘/u:/’. ‘/u:/’ as
in /pool/, ‘/u:/’ as in pool. And sorry this is a near close sound, not close mid sound, it is a near
close (mi) mid sound which is ‘/u:/o’ as in pool. And the final vowel is a close vowel which is ‘/
u/’ as in /pull/, ‘/u/’ as in pull. So, how many have we completed? Five front vowels and now we
had four back vowels. when I was taught phonetics, I was not taught this fifth, fifth back vowel.
But I see in this chart, there is a fifth back vowel which is ‘/o/ as in, a close mid sound, ‘/o/’ as in
cot, ‘/o/’ as in cot.
So there is a fifth back vowel here. From the back vowels, let us move on to the central vowels
of English. And what are central vowels? Central vowels are the sounds which are produced
through the center of the tongue. And what are these vowels? There are 3 central vowels. The
first central vowel is ‘/^/’ as in /bud/, ‘/^/’ as in /bud/.
The second central vowel is ‘/e:/’ as in /bird/, ‘/e:/’ as in /bird/. So the same sound ‘/^/’ as in bud,
you have to make it longer and make it like, ‘/e:/’ as in /bird/. And then we have the final central
vowel which is ‘/a/’. Now this is the only vowels which has a name. This vowel is called
‘schwa’. And this vowel ‘schwa’ is used either at the beginning or words or at the end of words.
Say in a word like, about, among, along, aside, awake. So instead of saying, awake, along, about,
aside, you need to shorten the sound and use the vowel ‘schwa’ which is ‘a’, the short ‘a’ sound.
At the end of words we use it in words like sugar, bitter, better. So we do not say better, we do
not say bitter, we do not say sugar, we say /bitter/, /better/, /sugar/. This is how we use the vowel
‘schwa’ in word final positions.
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Now, as you saw here, vowels on right and left of bullets are rounded and unrounded. Which
vowels are rounded and which vowels are not rounded. On the right of bullets are rounded
whereas left of bullets are unrounded. The lips are in a neutral position. Let me show you the
same with the example of words.
So, let us do a recapitulation of vowel sounds through use of words. I also used words but here
we have list of different words to see. Ease, ‘/i:/’ as in ease, ‘/i/’ as in /his/, ‘/i:/’ as in /ease/, ‘/i/’
as in /his/, ‘/ei/’ as in /take/, ‘/e/’ as in /then/, ‘/e/’ as in /then/, ‘/ae/’ as in /act/, ‘/ae/’ as in act,
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‘/a:/’ as in art. So let us begin from the beginning. ‘/i/’ as in //his, ‘/i:/’ as in /ease/, ‘/i/’ as in
/his/, ‘/ei/’ as in /take/, ‘/e/’ as in /then/, ‘/ae/’ as in /act/, ‘/ae/’ as in /act/ and ‘/a:/’ as in /art/.
Now let us come to back vowels and do the same. ‘/o:/’ as in /ought/, ‘/o:/’ as in /ought/, ‘oou’ as
in no, ‘/u/’ as in /would/ and ‘/u:/’ as in /who/. Central vowels, ‘/^/’ as in /must/, ‘/e:/’ as in
/learn/ and ‘/a/’ as in /uff/. Okay. So here we have the 12 vowel sounds of British English or RP.
And let us see how these 12 vowel sounds are different from the sounds of Indian English. What
is the difference?
In the first sound ‘/i/’, which I began with. Say in the word /pit/, /pit/. What is the difference
between the RP sound and the Indian English sound? There is a very slight difference and that
slight difference can tell whether a person is a speaker of RP or whether a person is an Indian
speaker of English. Why and how? Because as Indians we tend to close the gap between the
mouth and the tongue when we produce the sound.
So we would say ‘/pit/’, we close the mouth. /pit/, /pit/, /pit/. And what happens when we close
the mouth and make the sound? The distance between the roof of the mouth and the tongue
closes completely. And we use the exact tip of the tongue to make the sound. So we say /pit/,
/bit/, /hit/, /writ/, /sit/, okay. That is an Indian English sound. Now let us go to the RP sound. In
RP you would find the mouth opens a little more and the position of the sound is little lower on
the tip of the tongue.
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So you would hear something like, /pit/, /pit/, /sit/, /hit/, /writ/, /wit/, see the difference? /Pit/,
/pit/, /sit/, /writ/, /hit/. And RP, /sit/, /bit/, /hit/, /writ/, /wit/. The mouth is open, slightly open and
therefore the distance between the roof of mouth and the tongue increases and the position of the
sound is little lower on the tip of the tongue than it is on Indian English. This is the perfect
example of how even slightest difference in the place of articulation changes the sound. ‘/i;/’ as
in /shi:t/ or /pi:t/. We do not have any problem making this sound unlike ‘/i/’ which we tend to
make less full than the RP sound.
But many of us particularly in East India have notice that people are not able to differentiate
between the short ‘/i/’ and the long ‘/i:/’. So people tend to use the long ‘/i/’ when they need to
use the short ‘/i:’ and they tend to use the short ‘/i/’ when they need to use the long ‘/i/’. So I
have come across, I have not doctored them, I have heard people say or somebody who is very
articulate and people who pride themselves on speaking English well, they would be caught
saying, making simple mistakes of this kind.
‘I have ‘sin’ this in New York, I have ‘sin’ this in New York.’ ‘Sin,’ my god, you have ‘sin’ this
in New York, what do you mean? I have ‘sin’ this in New York instead of I have ‘seen’ this in
New York, I have heard somebody say, ‘I have ‘sin’ this in New York’. Whereas, ‘Have I
committed a ‘sin’ by coming late?’ ‘How many ‘keeds’ do you have madam?’ ‘How many kids
do I have?’ ‘Do you want to know how many kids do I have?’ No, ‘how many ‘keeds’ do you
have?’ So people tend to lengthen the short ‘/i/’ and shorten the long ‘/i:/’ and this is very
rampant in East India.
Now let us come to next sound ‘/e/’ and how it differs from RP when we use the sound in Indian
English. The sound ‘/e/a’. The sound ‘/e/’ which is a close mid sound that is the roof of the
mouth and the tongue, the gap is somewhere, it is not in the middle, it is somewhere between
half close. It is between close and mid close. That is the distance between the roof of the mouth
and the tongue when we are making this sound. Now what happens when Indians make this
sound ‘/e/’? Again, they tend to close the distance. Make it completely close vowel.
So, you would hear people saying, ‘give me a pen’. Close the mouth fully and say, ‘give me a
pen’, ‘My shirt is red’, ‘I have a red shirt’. So what happens is, the sound is different when you
say /pen/, /red/, /head/. Why you shouting at me? My head is hurting. So, /head/, /bread/, /shed/, /
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wed/, /pen/. These sounds are said with almost the mouth closed. Whereas in British English, it is
said with a fuller sound. So it is between, it is not mid close, it is between close and mid close,
not fully close, it is mid close.
And you would hear people saying, /head/, /wed/, /red/, /shed/, /sad/. So what is the difference? It
is little more open than the Indian English sound. And in Indian English, it is not that everyone
speaks in the same way across the country. What would people say in the north of India,
particularly in Punjab, people would say, /had/, /wed/, /bed/. So, you would hear people saying, I
have a double bed which looks very nice. So double bed. So ‘/e/’ becomes ‘/ae/’. And east of
India or in the west of India, usually this sound is mispronounced as ‘/ei/’.
So people will say , I had an egg form breakfast. Or , I went to see London to see the Big Ben.
The ‘/e/’ becomes ‘/ei/’ in west India. In particular, speakers of Gujarati, no offence intended
again because I am making fun of all communities, one and all and also just doing in a
humorous manner to illustrate some differences and illustrate some pronunciation differences.
Please do not get offended if you are a speaker of that language. Mind you, I am also the speaker
of one of the languages I am making fun of.
So, it is neither ‘/had/’ nor ‘/heid/’ but, I have heard my colleague saying, ‘the heid has not come
to the office as yet’, ‘this needs the heid’s signature’. So, it is not /had/ or it is not /heid/, but it is
head, head, head, wed, said, read, okay.
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From ‘/e/y’ we go to ‘/ae/’, pat, ‘/ae/’ as in pat. And from pat we go to, ‘/a:/’ as in part. Now
what is the difference between the British sound and the Indian English sound, the difference is
that, we do not open our mouth. And that has to say with the etiquette of our languages. In our
languages, we are taught, particularly Hindi which I speak or Urdu which I hear and speak.
People are taught from their childhood that when you speak, you should not open your mouth
very wide. It looks impolite to open your mouth with your speaking because it does not look
good.
So most of us speak with our mouth closed. Whereas in English, westerners, in European
languages you open your mouth, particularly in English. So when we say the sound ‘/a:/’, we do
not open our mouth fully. We say /part/, /father, /paa/, but a native speaker of English would say,
/father/, /rather/, /car/, /part/. So you need to open your mouth more.
Next we come to the back vowels and the two back vowels with which most Indian speakers
have a problem. The sounds ‘/o/’ as in /cot/ and the sound ‘/o:/’ as in /caught/. Now, what
happens with most of us, we say the two sounds alike. So you would say ‘cot’ and ‘caught’.
There is no difference between the ways you say the two sounds. You would say, ‘caught’, ‘cot’.
You say, ‘I caught a thief, thief, sleeping on my cot’. Instead of that you would hear people say,
‘I saw a thief sleeping on my cot’. ‘I caught a thief sleeping on my cot’. There is no difference.
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But there should be. The second ‘/o:/’ is longer and it is also more rounded. So, you say ‘cot’,
not ‘caught’. Do not make it ‘caught’, ‘cot’, ‘cot’. And as it is shown in this chart, we have
another sound which is similar but different. ‘Court’. So, ‘caught’, ‘cot’ and ‘coat’. Like the
supreme ‘court’. That is different. Because that is a close mid sound. Then we come to ‘/u/’ and
‘u:’ as in pool and pull. Again in east India, people tend to make the short sound long and the
long sound short. So you would say, ‘why are you pu:lling my leg?’, ‘I am going to fall in the
swimming pool.’ So, why are you pulling my leg becomes, why are you pooling my leg.
I am going to fall in the swimming ‘pool’ becomes, I am going to fall in the swimming ‘pull.’
So, again like in the short ‘/i/’ sound, when we make the short ‘/u/’ sound, we close our mouth
fully. Indian speakers, we say, pull, pool. Instead of pull you need to say pull, pull. Open your
mouth and say it, pull. And if you say like that, your sound will be closer to the, it will not be
completely, but a bit closer to the native RP sound.
Now let us come to the central vowels and we have the same problem, /^/’ as in but. Either we
make it very long. Some parts of India, we make it very long. We say ‘bud’. I have a rose bud.
So the bud becomes so long. In east India people would say ‘bud’, make it very full. In North
India, as I said, people swallow vowels, so they say, close the mouth and say, ‘bud’. The rose
bud looks very nice. Or in east India they would say, ‘Rose ba:d is very nice’. None of them is
accurate because it is in between the two bud. Bud, bud, open your mouth and say bud.
Do not make it bud. Bud, bud, bud. Do not say bud, do not say bud. Bud, bud. See sounds are
very tricky. There is a range of sounds. So if you vary the range even slightly, the sound changes.
So the difference is almost inaudible. But people can tell the difference, those who know. ‘/^/’ as
in bud. Again some people make the sound very long. They say, /ba:d/. So bud becomes the bud
of Avon. Instead of saying bud, you say /ba:d./ Curd you say /ca:rd/. ‘Can I have some ca:rd
rice?’ No, ‘can I have some curd rice?’ ‘Did you bring me a greeting card?’ So that is card.
You do not say, ‘greeting curd’. You say, ‘greeting ca:rd’. But when you want to eat curd rice,
you say ‘I want some curd rice.’ Not some ‘ca:rd rice’. And finally the sound ‘/a/’, which Indian
speakers do not tend to use because they use the fuller sound. With this we conclude our session
on unit on the sounds of English part 1, I which I introduced you to the vowels of English. The
12 vowels of RP and how the 12 vowels of RP differ from the vowels of Indian English.
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In the next unit, I will introduce you to the diphthongs and consonants of RP and show you how
diphthongs and vowels of RP differ from those of Indian English. Thank you.
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Lecture 14
Sounds of English: Diphthongs and Consonants1
Hello and welcome to module 3 unit 4 on phonetics and in this unit we are talking about
diphthongs. In the last module I introduced you to the sounds of English and vowel sounds of
RP. In this unit I will move on to diphthongs and consonants. What are diphthongs? Diphthong is
a glide from a vowel sound to another vowel sound. A smooth glide from one vowel sound to
another vowel sound is defined as a ‘diphthong’. What is a glide? Glide is a smooth movement.
When you move from one vowel sound to another in a very smooth fashion then, that is how,
you produce a diphthong.
In addition to 12 vowel sounds we have 8 diphthongs in RP. What are these 8 diphthongs? And
how do we produce diphthongs? One needs to follow only one rule when one is producing
diphthongs. One that the movement from one vowel sound to the other vowel sound should be
smooth. It should be a glide. It should not be a gallop or a jump. It should be a very smooth
glide. The second rule is that, the first vowel sound in a diphthong is more prominent than the
second vowel sound.
Let us look at the diphthongs of RP and see how these diphthongs are pronounced differently by
Indian speakers of English and why they sound different.
1
Transcriptions of sounds are approximate. Learners are requested to look at the symbols in the
diphthong chart for representing sounds.
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Let us come to diphthongs. The first set of diphthongs are diphthongs, which are based on, which
end with the vowel ‘a’, with the vowel ‘schwa’. The diphthongs ‘ea’ as in beer, the diphthong
‘ooa’ as in the sound poor and the diphthong ‘aea’ as in the diphthong , ‘aea’. So, ear, hear, fear,
ear. The second diphthong is ‘ooa’ as in poor, tour and so on. And the third sound which ends
with the vowel ‘schwa’ is ‘aea’ as in pear, sear, care. That is the vowel. three diphthongs ending
with the vowel ‘schwa’.
Next we move to the diphthongs which end with the vowel ‘u’. Say the diphthong ‘au’ as in how,
now. The diphthong is a combination of ‘aa’ and ‘u’, ‘aa’ and ‘u’, now, how, wow. That is a
diphthong ‘au’. Another diphthong ends with the vowel ‘u’ and this is the diphthong that we are
most guilty of mispronouncing in India. The reason is that the sound which is really a diphthong
in RP is pronounced as a vowel sound in Indian English. The diphthong is ‘ow’, ‘ow’ as in go, as
in home.
Do you ever use this sound in Indian English? No, no. Why? Because Indian users of English
make this diphthong sound which is a combination of vowels ‘a’ and ‘o’, ‘ow’ into ‘oo’. So we
tend to say, go, home. It is not go, its go. It is not no, it is no. It is not home, it is home, ‘ow’. So
the diphthong is turned into a vowel sound by Indian learners of English. Now we move on to
diphthongs which end with the vowel ‘i’. And we have 3 diphthongs which end with the vowel
‘i’. ‘ai’ as in fly, ‘ai’ as in fly, ‘oi’ as in boy, ‘oi’ as in boy and ‘ei’ as in gate, ‘ei’ as in gate.
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So what is the problem with the sound again? As Indian users we tend to make this sound which
is a diphthong in English, ‘ei’, we turn it into a vowel sound and we say, ‘ay’. We change it to
‘ay’. Do you remember there being a sound ‘ae’ among the 12 vowels that we spoke about? No.
There was no ‘ae’ sound. There was either ‘e’ or ‘ae’. There was no ‘ae’ sound. But Indian
speakers tend to make this sound which is a diphthong ‘ae’, ‘a’ and ‘e’ into, ‘ay’. So we say,
gate. Have you taken the GATE exam? The gate of your house is wide open. So it is not gate, its
gate, gate, late, hate, state and so on.
So let us revise the eight diphthong sounds of RP. The 3 diphthong sounds which end in the
vowel ‘schwa’, ‘ea’ as in beer, ‘ooa’ as in poor, ‘aea’ as in ‘air’. The 3 diphthong sounds which
end in the vowel ‘i’, ‘ai’ as in fly, ‘oi’ as in boy and ‘ou’ sorry ‘ei’ as in gate. Finally the two
diphthongs which end in the vowel ‘u’, ‘au’ as in how and ‘ow’ as in go. What is the problem
with Indian learners of English? The problem is that we forget the rule that in a diphthong one
must not stress each of the sound equally.
One must not distribute the stress between each of the vowel sounds equally. As I said, the first
vowel sound should be more prominent. And in order to make the first vowel sound we must
stress it more than the second vowel sound. So that the second vowel sound is very faint. So
instead of saying I, we say I. Indian speakers say I, fly, cry. It should be, fly, I, high, cry. They
say, why are you crying? I want to tell you this, I want to go flying, go fly a kite. Instead of that,
go fly a kite, this is very high, I want to tell you this.
So I, high, why, try should be ‘I’ should be more prominent than ‘e’. Similarly with how. Indian
speakers say, how did you do this? How did you do this? How could you do this to me? You are
putting equal emphasis on the first vowel and the second vowel. It should not be equal. The first
vowel sound should be more prominent that the second vowel sound. So it would sound like,
how, now. Not how. Not now. How, now. So I, how. This is how you must put equal weight, not
put equal weight on both the sounds but make the first sound more prominent than the second
sound.
In fact, what happens to us is that when we are speaking fast, in connected speech, the second
vowel sound almost disappears. So, if I say, ‘I am so happy today’. What happened to the ‘I’? I
didn’t say, ‘I am so happy today’. I said, ‘aam so happy today’. The I became ‘a’. ‘Am’ become
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‘um’, ‘aum’. I am so happy today. I didn’t say, ‘I am so happy today’. I said ‘I am so happy
today’. So, the second vowel sound almost disappears. Now with that, that brings us to
‘triphthongs’. What are triphthongs? Triphthongs are a combination of 3 vowel sounds.
Like diphthongs are a combination of 2 vowel sounds, triphthongs are a combination of 3 vowel
sounds. The rule is the same. The first vowel sound should be prominent, the second should not
be prominent. And because of this the second sound in a triphthong is almost inaudible. Let us
take some examples. So let us take the same examples which we took for the diphthongs and turn
them into triphthongs. So let us take the triphthong ‘a’, ‘aya’.
‘Ei’ as in play and, if we say, ‘player’, it becomes a triphthong. So ‘ei’ and ‘a’, ‘aya’, player. ‘Oi’
and ‘a’, employer. Employ, employer. ‘Aoa’, that is the most commonly mispronounced
triphthong. So we say, in the first ‘a’ let us meet. What do we do with the ‘u’? We swallow the
‘u’ because the ‘u’ is supposed to be said very fast and when you say it very fast, some people
tend to make it disappear altogether. You say, ‘I am gonna meet you in the first hour’, ‘let us
meet in the tower’, ‘let us have a, have you had a shower?’
So, it is not shower, it is not tower, it is not shower, it is not tower, it is not hour, its hour, tower,
shower. Remember that they are triphthongs but in the triphthongs we use the same rule that the
second sound is not as prominent as the first sound.
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From diphthongs we come to consonants and in consonants what do I need to tell you? I need to
tell you that in consonants Indian learners of English do not have that many problems as
compared to, say, Chinese learners of English which, whom…. As because in Chinese language
there no separate phonemes for ‘/l/’ and ‘/r/’ and because of that Chinese tend to confuse ‘/l/’ and
‘/r/’, which might be allomorphs in Chinese languages, to confuse, to make these sounds, to use
these sounds interchangeably.
In India we do not do this, Indian speakers do not do this. What are the problems with consonant
sounds when it comes to Indian speakers? The problems with consonant sounds when it comes to
Indian speakers is, mother tongue interference, not in terms of the sounds of Indian English or
sounds of Indian languages being similar but not identical to those of the sounds of RP or British
English. How is that so? And how do these sounds change? Because there is a very
imperceptible difference between the two sounds.
It is very easy to confuse one sound with the other and make a fool of oneself. So, we have a
sound in English, remember in the very first lecture I said if we do not have a sound in our
language we are unable to produce that sound. So, say the vowel sound, ‘ö’ as in German like the
sound in the German spelling or German pronunciation of city of Cologne, you say Cologne’,
‘Cologne’. That sound is ‘ö’, ‘Cologne’.
It is not there in Indian languages so when Indian speakers pronounce that sound, it is difficult
for them to pronounce that sound just as it is difficult for North Indian speakers to use the sound
‘zh’ as in, in the Dravidian languages. So one of the sounds in English which is difficult for
Indians speakers to pronounce is the sound ‘scha’, ‘scha’. The ‘scha’ sound as in the word
pleasure, leisure, pressure. So what do Indian speakers tend to do? They tend to pronounce the
‘scha’ sound as either as ‘/sh/’ or as ‘/z/’ but never as ‘scha’.
So they would say it is my pleasure to meet you, it is my pleasure to meet you. They would not
say, it is my pleasure to meet you, pleasure, ‘scha’, ‘scha’. Come in your leisure time. They
would say, leisure time, leisure time or leisure time. And there is one variation which I find in
the north of India, particularly in North, among a certain generation of people who are in their
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mid-70s to 80s. They, for some unforeseeable, unfathomable, reason that I am not aware of, this
generation of speakers in Punjab always tends to pronounce the word pleasure as plaier. Pleasure
as laier.
So I would hear elders in, of, that generation say, ‘It is my pleasure to introduce so and so’. And
it is very embarrassing when you are the head of an institution and you are introducing a very
renowned speaker. You are standing before a crowd of 500 people and you say, ‘It is my
pleasure to introduce so and so’. Oh! Do not worry do not worry do it at your layer, there is no
hurry’. So I do not know how they got to pronounce this sound ‘scha’ as ‘ayy’, but they do it.
They still continue to do it.
But in the majority of other consonant sounds in English, we find that the sounds are not
completely impossible to produce. They are not completely not there in Indian languages. But
they are said differently and they are said differently because the place of articulation in the
Indian languages is different from the place of articulation in British English. And as a result,
when new learners of English, new speakers of English who come from Indian languages of
Indian languages speakers, when they learn English for the first time, they carry over the
articulators and the speech habits of their mother tongue into English language that sounds very
amusing to people who are fluent in English. So let me give you a very common sound which is
mispronounced. Which sounds very amusing to people fluent in English but new learners often
make this mistake and are very confused when they find that when they are not able to, people
are laughing at them. What are these sounds? The sound ‘/f/’. ‘/ph’ and the sound ‘/f/’. The
sound ‘/ph/’ and the sound ‘/f/’. ‘/ph/’, ‘/f/’.
What is the difference? What is the English sound and what is the Indian sound, Indian language
sound? In Indian languages, particularly in Hindi. Let me take the example of Hindi, not all,
because all languages are different and I might be making too wide generalizations if I claim to
speak for all languages. Forget all Indian languages, even all north Indian languages if I make
this generalization. So, the sound ‘/ph/’ in Hindi, is the sound ‘/ph/’. Please watch my lips, the
sound is ‘/ph/’ as in the word ‘/phool/’.
The term in Hindi for the word flower is ‘phool’, ‘phool’, ‘phool’. Watch it, it is a bilabial sound,
that is, we use both the lips to produce the sound ‘pha’, ‘pha’, ‘pha’, ‘phool’. Now, when we
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make the sound in English, it is not a bilabial sound. We do not use both the lips. We do not say,
‘/ph/’. it is an alveolar sound. What does that mean? That the upper teeth touch the lower lips. So
you say ‘/f/’, /f/’, ‘/f/’, ‘/f/’. You do not say, ‘/ph/’, ‘/ph/’. You say, ‘/f/’, ‘/f/’.
So suppose you are saying the same word in English, the word which is ‘FOOL’ which is very
different from Hindi word ‘phool’ which means flower. The English word ‘FOOL’ which means
someone who is stupid. If you say it with the Hindi articulation place, if you say it like a new
learner of English, who is a Hindi speaker, says it, it will sound like ‘phool’. Why? Because you
are using the articulators of Hindi ‘/ph/’ to say the sound ‘/f/’. So you would say, you are a
‘phool’, my ‘phather’ told me; it is not funny at all.
Because this learner is applying the rules of, all the familiar articulators of Hindi to produce a
sound which is English sound. So you would say instead of saying, ‘my father told me’, you say,
‘my phather told me’. Why? You are making a genuine mistake because you are carrying over
the articulation habits or the articulators of Hindi into the enunciation of English sounds and they
sound ridiculous. They sound very amusing to native speakers of English. But for most of you
who do not make this mistake, I am sure you do not say ‘pha’ instead of ‘fa’.
You say ‘fool’ and you say ‘father’. You do not say ‘phool’ or ‘phather’. But do you realize that
most of the mistakes Indian users make are of this category. That we use the articulators of
Indian languages to produce the sounds of English and they sound different when we speak
English. Let us take some other sounds which are not so familiar to, which you do not realize...
What are these sounds? Like the sounds ‘/v/’, ‘/w/a’. Now in English, there are two sounds.
There is a sound ‘/v/’ and there is a sound ‘/w/’. ‘/V/’ and the other is ‘/w/’.
And they are two different sounds. ‘/V/’, ‘/w/’. One as in, ‘very’, the sound as in ‘/v’, ‘very’.
And the other is the sound ‘/w/’ as in ‘well’. So you say, ‘very well’. But in Hindi we do not
have two sounds for ‘/w/’. We have only one sound which is closer to the second sound of
English as in ‘well’. It is ‘/v/’. We say, Vinod, Vishal. Which is like the sound in ‘well’. It is not
the sound in ‘very’. So when we are speaking English, Indian users are speaking English, we say,
‘very well’, ‘very well’ ‘very well’. We say it identically.
Whereas the sound is ‘very well’, ‘very well’, ‘very well’, ‘very well’. We say ‘very well’.
Similarly when we say the sounds ‘/th/’, ‘/th/’ and ‘dha’. Take the sounds ‘/th/’ and the sounds
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‘dha’. Indian users of English say them as ‘/th/’, ‘/th/’, ‘/th/’, ‘/th/’. Because the Hindi sound is ‘/
th/’, with your mouth closed ‘/th/’. With both your teeth you say, ‘/th/’, ‘thakaan’ ‘fatigue’,
‘thakaan’. In English you do not say, ‘tha’, you say ‘dha’. It is an alveolar sound when your
upper teeth touch your lower lip, ‘dha’, ‘dha’.
So Indian users would say the English sound as they say the Hindi sound ‘/th/’. And they would
say ‘/th/’ as in ‘think’. I think, I think. Whereas the British sound is ‘dha’, ‘dha’ and that sounds
like ‘think’, ‘think’. So Indian users would make it like the Hindi sound ‘think’, ‘think’.
Similarly, ‘think’, ‘think’, ‘think’. In English, it is an alveolar sound where the upper teeth touch
the lower lip, ‘think’, ‘think’, ‘think’. But Indian users would say, ‘think’, ‘think’, ‘think’. They
would not say ‘think’. They wouldn't say ‘something’. They’d say, ‘something’, ‘anything’,
‘anything’.
So these are the slight differences. When we use the consonant sounds, we are able to produce
these sounds but we are not able to produce them exactly because we use the familiar articulators
of our Indian languages. The sounds we produce are very different from the sounds produced by
the native British speakers of English. Let us move onto consonant clusters. That is another area
which is a problem for Indian speakers. When we have a combination of two consonants
together, how are they said?
Indian speakers tend to make these, when they are using the consonant clusters they tend to
pronounce each and every sound. And they sound different from native speakers. Say the two
sounds ‘/ng/’. One is the sound ‘/ng/’ as in ‘sing’ and there is another sound which is ‘/n/’ and
‘/g/’. Combination of sounds ‘/n/’ and ‘/g/’. The cluster where you do not have a vowel between
‘/n/’ and ‘/g/’, the two sounds ‘/n/’ and ‘/g/’ in a consonant cluster and that is very different from
the sound ‘/ng/’. So sing, hang and finger, finger.
So you say sing, hang, finger. In finger it is not ‘fing’ the sound ‘/ng/’. It is a combination of two
vowel sounds ‘/n/’ and ‘/g/’. Indian speakers tend to confuse the two and they will say give me a
hanger. They do not say hanger. My finger is hurt. I need a hanger. But the two are different.
One is a consonant cluster, which is finger, ‘inger’ and the other is ‘ng’ which is hanger, hanger.
So we must watch out for these that we must realize that is one is finger ‘ing’, the sound ‘ing’
and the other is a constant cluster ‘/n/’ and ‘/g/’.
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There are similar consonant clusters where we make these mistakes. Finally we have a problem
with sounds which we call semi-vowels. At the end of words like hidden, little, kitten, the sound
‘/n/’ and ‘/l/’, which are actually consonants turn into vowels. They turn into vowels. So, you
say, kitten, little, hidden. As here ‘/n/’ and ‘/l/’ themselves work as vowels. So you do not have
to add a vowel between this. Indian speakers say, kitten, hidden, little. They add a vowel
between ‘/t/’ and ‘/l/’.
You must understand that ‘/l/’ itself is a vowel; it is a semi vowel so you do not need to add the
‘i’ or ‘a’ sound between ‘/d/’ and ‘/n/’ and ‘/t/’ and ‘/l/’. So you say, kitten. You have to say it
very fast, kitten, hidden, little, written. So these are semi vowels. Other than this, Indian speakers
of English do not seem to have major problems with consonants except the slight variation in the
place of articulation or the use of a difference set of articulators.
As I said in ‘/ph/’ if you make it a bilabial sound instead of an alveolar sound, the sound will
change and you will say ‘phool’ instead of ‘fool’. You will say, ‘phoo’, ‘phool’ instead of ‘fool’
when you are pronouncing that word. Other than that we do not seem to have too many problems
pronouncing the consonant sounds of English language; another thing that occurred to me is
vowels, consonants, diphthongs, triphthongs, these are the four sounds of English that we
practiced and understood.
Now most of the problems of Indian speakers, one of the problems I would say, which native
speakers have identified is, they say, that the sounds you make are not sounds of English at all.
They are not British sounds at all, they are different. So the first area that you must try to work
on if you are trying to improve your pronunciation of English is to learn first of all what are the
sounds of English and try to imitate the sounds of English either by practicing these sounds in a
drill form, which I’d be happy to share with you if you would like.
Or a better way is to listen to native speakers of English or to professionals who have mastered
the art of speaking English even though they were not native speakers. The best way for you to
improve your pronunciation of the sounds of English is, the first stage is, to know how the
Indians English sounds are different from those of British English. And the next stage is to try to
unlearn the way you use these sounds and to speak them, to enunciate them as a native speaker
would do. Thank you.
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So, for speakers of some languages, it may be difficult to tell the difference between the
voiceless sound, ‘s’ and its voiced partner ‘z’. Listen carefully to hear the difference. For each
example, I will say the word with the voiceless sounds’ first. ‘Hiss’, ‘his’, ‘course’, ‘cause’.
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Lecture 15
Stress and Rhythm
Hello, the next problem area for the Indian learners of English is stress. It is not that, what is
stress?
We are not talking about stress in the sense of mental stress, we are talking about stress used
in language. When a syllable in a particular word, a particular syllable in a particular word is
said more loudly or more force than other syllables then that syllable receives the stress in
that particular word. Now English is a stress timed language which means that we do not
stress each syllable equally. We stress certain syllables in a particular word and we do not
stress the other syllables which is different from Indian languages.
In some Indian languages we put equal stress on each syllable, in some Indian languages we
put the stress on the second syllable. But in English the rules are very complicated, we have
rules of stress related to syllables. of words of two syllables - bisyllabic words, stress in
polysyllabic words and also the notion of stress shift, how does one use stress and why is
stress important?
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Indian learners of English, Indian speakers of English tend to put the stress on the wrong
syllable in a particular word and because the stress is on the wrong syllable, people are not
able to understand what they are trying to say, native learners are not able to understand what
they are trying to say. They tend to stress either the first syllable or they tend to stress the
second syllable or they put equal stress on each and every syllable. Whereas in English, in
some words only the first syllable is stressed, in some bisyllabic words only the second
syllable is stressed.
And in polysyllabic words we have more complex rules for stressing syllables. Let us begin
with some commonly mispronounced, mis-stressed words. So either we do not stress the
syllable at all or we put the stress on the wrong syllable and this may be misunderstood by
native speakers. So let us take some very commonly mispronounced, mis-stressed words by
Indian learners. I was thinking of, let us take some public, some examples from the public
domain which might be familiar to some of you or most of you. I was thinking of the
advertisement for the phone, for the provider Idea, the campaign for Idea.
Now what happens, if you remember the older campaigns for the service provider, you had
advertisements in which you had Abhishek Bachchan, the actor who was the celebrity
endorsing the cellphone, dressed in rustic attire, most probably dressed as a village elder,
village chief and when…, and you have his cronies and a sycophants addressing him as Sirji.
Now in these campaigns, the first campaign that came about, it used a combination of humor
and stress in the wrong syllable to do a takeoff of a rustic Indian accent probably because the
company was targeting rural users.
So dressing the suave Abhishek Bachchan, who is educated abroad and who speaks perfect
English, as a rustic chief who is addressing a gathering of village, villagers, and one of his
villager says, ‘What an Idea sirji! what an Idea sirji!’, and he says get an Idea yes get an Idea.
Now in this, since the advertisement is using humor, it is okay to use, to mispronounce the
word because the advertisement is trying to show this is how rural speakers, rustic speakers
of English speak English in the villages. But what does it do? It uses stress to create this
humor.
So now when you compare the new campaign for the same provider, in which you have a
very sophisticated looking, very suave looking Abhishek Bachchan walking through
boardrooms, walking through elevators and advising people to ‘Get an Idea, get an Idea.’
You see the difference? Get an Idea sirji, what an Idea sirji and get an Idea.
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So you see how the whole campaign depends on, how the whole campaign has changed from,
addressing the rustic rural user to an urban sophisticated user, a more youthful urban
sophisticated user just by changing the stress in the word which is commonly mis-stressed by
rustic or non-English speaking speakers in India and the stress is put on the first syllable you
say Idea so ‘What an Idea sirji!’ Now the correct usage is, the stress is put on the second
syllable Idea not Idea.
And the film star, the celebrity Abhishek Bachchan uses two different accents to create this
rural or urban sophisticated ambience for the company ‘Get an Idea’ when he says ‘Get an
Idea.’ This is a perfect example of how Indian non-sophisticated users or rustic users of
English in India tend to mis-stress commonly used English words. Let us take another
common example, the word which most of us use, you say hotel, in Indian English we tend to
say hotel and hotel.
So you say like in the song you say ‘kisi hotel mein jayen kisi disco mein jayen,’ normally
the commonly, the common way in which this word it is pronounced in India is hotel. ‘Hotel
mein rahenge,’ in Hindi you say, ‘We will stay in a hotel.’ So in the South people say ‘hatel;
and ‘hotel ko pore,’ ‘I am going to the hatel.’ So what is the correct stress? In North India,
people say hotel, they are stressing the first syllable hotel. In the South, they are stressing ‘ha’
‘hatel’ mispronounced, the sound is wrong and also the stress is wrong. Whereas the stress is
supposed to be on, the second syllable, hotel.
Not hotel, hotel; it is the second syllable which is stressed and you do not say ‘tal’ you say
‘tel’ so ‘hotel’, ‘Idea.’ For my students here in IIT Kharagpur, the most commonly
mispronounced word is what they all are, they tend to, when you say what are you, who are
you, what are you, what is your profession? They would say engineer and you would have
parents saying ‘I am going to make my son into an engineer,’ ‘engineer doctor mera beta to
engineer banega.’ Now that is one of the most commonly mispronounced mis-stressed words
because the stress is on the second syllable engineer.
Engineer, you do not say engineer, you say engineer, right. So this is about stress in words of
two syllables. So either we put the stress on the first syllable or we put the stress on the
second syllable and in India we tend to stress the wrong syllable invariably. How do I know
when to stress, how to stress the right syllable? Are there any rules? Yes, there are a number
of rules but the rules are so mind-boggling and so confusing and there are so many exceptions
to the rule that I strongly advise you not to go by the rules but just do the simple thing.
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When you consult a word in a dictionary, normally you have the pronunciation of the word.
You would also notice a vertical mark in front of certain syllables, now that vertical market
indicates the stress of that particular word. So one way is to use the dictionary and, I know,
we are all very lazy, when we have common words like ‘Idea’ or ‘activity’ or ‘follow’ or
‘husband’ or ‘industry,’ we do not want to go consult a dictionary for looking up such simple
words, we tend to look up only more complicated words. So that is one option that you check
the stress by saying, by looking at where the vertical mark is placed.
Usually the stress is, the vertical mark is placed before the stressed syllable. The other easier
way and quicker way is to listen to people, listen to people who you think, you consider, good
speakers of English. Just listen to their speech and compare your own stress patterns with
theirs. Take, well, common words, I myself find myself doing it because I found, what was
the word the other day, I found I was tripping over that word because I was putting the stress
on the wrong syllable, I will come to that but even a word like ‘activity’ we tend to say
‘activity.’
‘There is no activity in the class,’ ‘there is no activity in the campus’ but we are putting the
stress on the wrong syllable because the stress is on ‘tiv,’ so you say ‘activity’. ‘activity.’ Or
you ask people, ‘the steel industry in India is going through a loss’, steel industry, but where
are you putting the stress? On ‘dus’, ‘industry’, Industrial Revolution, okay. But the stress in
in the word is on ‘ind,’ it is not on ‘dus’ so you say industry, you do not say industry, you say
industry, you do not say industry.
Similarly, you do not say ‘holiday’ because if you are saying ‘holiday,’ you are putting the
stress on the first, you are putting equal stress on both syllables, you are saying ‘tomorrow is
a holiday’; but you are supposed to stress the first syllable, so you say it is a holiday, ‘hawl,’
when you say that you do not stress the second syllable, it becomes ‘holiday’ not ‘holiday.’
from words of two syllables I take you to the next example where in words of two syllables
bisyllabic words, the stress shifts depending upon whether a word is a noun, an adjective or
whether it is a verb; the stress changes.
So there are certain words which can be used, both as nouns and adjectives and as verbs.
Now when these words are being used as nouns and adjectives, we put the stress on the first
syllable. When we use the same words as verbs, we use the stress on the second syllable. So
you would say produce, if you are using the word as a noun but if you are using the word as a
verb, you would see produce. ‘The agricultural produce of Punjab exceeds that of Haryana.
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The Punjabi farmers produce a lot of food.’ So you see from ‘produce’ we changed to
‘produce,’ okay.
Similarly, ‘What subjects are you studying for your B.Tech’? when you are using it as a
noun? Or when you use it as a verb you say, ‘I was subjected to a lot of mental abuse.’ So the
stress shifts from the first syllable to the second syllable which is ‘ject,’ you do not say
‘subject,’ you say ‘subject.’ Similarly object, ‘He is the object of my affection’ or you say ‘I
object to your remarks,’ so ‘object’ becomes ‘object.’ Do you see what happens to the
syllable ‘/o/’, ‘ob’ when you do not put stress? When you do not put stress on the syllable
‘ob,’ the first syllable, the /o/ turns into /aa,/ sure.
So you do not when you put the stress on the second syllable, you do not say object, you say
object. But when you put the stress on the first syllable, then you stress /o/ and you say /ob/
but when you stress the second syllable and the first syllable is unstressed, then you say
/object/. So you say insult or you say insult, ‘I take that as an insult, I take that as an insult,’
you do not say insult, you say insult, ‘I take that as an insult. You are insulting me,’ then you
can say ‘insult’ but otherwise you say ‘insult.’
There is a stress shift in polysyllabic words also, so when we turn a bisyllablic word of two
syllables into a word of more than two syllables we have a different set of rules. What are
these rules? In polysyllabic words we have a set of rules which we can safely follow to put
the stress on the right syllable. In polysyllabic words…, what are polysyllabic words? Where
we combine syllables to form complex words by using a suffix. So the rule is that it is always
the syllable before the suffix that will take the stress, just follow this rule.
And most of us in India do not follow this rule because we tend to put the stress on the same
syllable which we would when the word is not polysyllabic. Let me illustrate this through
some examples, so say a word like ‘politics.’ Where is the stress? The stress is ‘pol’, politics,
politics but when the word becomes polysyllabic, when we add a suffix ‘cal’ to it, then the
stress shifts to the syllable just before the suffix. So we normally, we hear people saying
political, political; it is incorrect because the syllable just before the suffix ‘ical’ should get
the stress.
So you should say, political pol becomes pa and the stress is on it political political. You do
not say political, you say political, the stress has shiffed from pol to it. Similarly you say
politician because the suffix is ‘ian’ or ‘cian’, ‘cian’ so you say politician, the stress is on ‘ti’,
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politician, physician, right. Take another example, photograph, where do we put the stress?
Photo. But when we say the art of taking photographs, we say phoTOGraphy, we do not say
PHOTOgraphy.
Indian users tend to say they carry over the same stress of photograph and they say
PHOTOgraphy; ‘usko badi achi photography karni aati hai, he knows how to photograph
very well usko photo photography.’ Instead of photography, the stress shifts the suffix is ‘hy’,
so the syllable before the suffix will take the stress which is photography, TOGraphy,
photography photographer. photography.
So I have found myself mis-stressing a word which I do not use commonly when I heard a
professional like cinematograph, cinema, cinematograph, cinema, where the stress is on ‘cin
‘, cinema but when you say cinematograph, the suffix ‘graph,’ you say take the put the stress
on the syllable just before the suffix cinematograph, the stress is on ‘matograph’,
cinematograph, cinematograph.
And the person who takes, who does this camera work in films is called a cinematographer so
very often we say cinemato, cinematographer, we trip over that because we are not putting
the stress on the syllable before the suffix. So you break up the syllable, syllables into cine
mato grapher, cinematographer, cinematographer, cinematographer, okay. So it is a question
of how you break up a word into different syllables so that that word sounds right. Only if
you break up the word into the right number of syllables, you will get the stress right.
So the first thing you must know, in order to stress words is, to learn to break up words into
its constituent syllables and then to discover and find out the syllable that is to be stressed and
put the stress on the right syllable. Now in polysyllabic words there is another complication,
in polysyllabic words, in addition to, in addition to primary stress we have a second stress
which we call secondary stress. And why do we need to know the difference between primary
stress and secondary stress?
We need to know this difference because when we come to the next unit which is on rhythm
and intonation particularly on intonation, we will find that when we change our tone, our
pitch changes and the syllable on which the pitch change takes place, that has to be the
primary stress, the pitch cannot change on the secondary stress. Let me now give you some
examples of secondary stress. So it is noon now and suppose I enter my classroom, I find my
students wishing me, and how would they wish me?
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They would say ‘Good Afternoon mam, Good Afternoon mam’ and that is what I have been
used to hearing and even repeating when I was a school kid myself, and even in my college
days. until I got to tell the difference. So in this, in the word afternoon, we tend to stress the
first syllable, we say ‘good afternoon, good afternoon,’ we tend to stress ‘af.’ Now in this
polysyllabic word, we have two stresses, one is a stress before ‘af’ which is correct but the
prime stress is before noon, so you say ‘good afternoon, good afternoon, good afternoon.’
So the first stress primary stress is before ‘noon’ and the secondary stress is before ‘af.’ So
when, when, if I want to change my tone, ‘good afternoon,’ I said it with a falling tone and a
very glum tone but if I want to say it in a cheerful tone and I want to change the pitch, I say
‘good afternoon.’ So the pitch change takes place on the primary stress which is on ‘noon.’
So we have a number of words like this where there are two stresses like in ‘opportunity,’ I
heard a lot of people saying, particularly in interviews for jobs, I would have people make…,
speaking very grandly about or they want opportunities, they want to get a lot of
opportunities or they want to get opportunities. Invariably they mispronounce the word and
the reason why they mispronounce the word is because they put the stress on the wrong
syllable and they do not realize that there are two stresses in the word ‘opportunity.’
So one is before ‘op,’ the secondary stress, but the main stress is before ‘tun,’ so you say
‘opportunity,’ ‘responsibility.’ Normally in Indian English you say, this is my responsibility
and you put the stress only on ‘res,’ this is my responsibility but the stress is on ‘bility’, ‘bil’
so you say ‘bil’ is the main stress and ‘res’ has the secondary stress, so you say
‘responsibility’, responsibility, opportunity, right. So in polysyllabic words, in addition to
primary stress, we have a secondary stress.
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Now I will quickly sum up with rhythm, what is rhythm? When we combine a certain number
of stressed and unstressed syllables, we string them together in a sentence, that produces a
certain rhythm. But first of all let us get the meaning of the word rhythm. What do we mean
by the word rhythm? We tend to use the word rhythm in our everyday speech, in a number of
contexts. You say you like the rhythm of the song, you say that the rhythm of this dance is
different from the rhythm of that dance.
Or you, when you are talking about music, when you are talking about dance and sometimes
even in other contexts you tend to use the term rhythm. So did you know that the grand old
philosopher Aristotle in his poetry said? What is common to poetry, music, dance and tragedy
was, according to him? Rhythm. So extrapolate from Aristotle, let us say that rhythm is not
only the common thread running between music, dance, poetry and tragedy but it is also
something which is prevalent, which is a part of language.
Every language has its own distinctive rhythm. Every language has its own distinctive
rhythm. Now when we speak a new language, why that new language sounds different from
the way the native speakers speak it, it is because we carry over the rhythm of our own
languages into our learning of the new language. And how do we carry over the rhythm of
our mother tongue into the learning of new language? We tend to carry over the stress
patterns of our mother tongue into the stress patterns of the new language.
So in English, if we put the stress on the wrong syllable, like we do, we will not get the
rhythm of English right. Why, what is it then? Rhythm is a certain pattern, it may be in
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music, it may be in dance, it may be poetry or it may be in language. The pattern which is
produced by a succession of, by something which is repeated after periodic intervals. So it
may be a step or it may be a sound, it may be a note which is, or it may be a rhyme scheme
which is, repeated after regular intervals, that produces the characteristic rhythm of a
particular musical composition or dance or a poem or a language.
Now if you were to listen to say, tune into your radio or tune into your television and you do
not know what language is being spoken, you can guess. How do you guess? Very often
when you travel to another country and you switch onto the local television, you cannot
follow the language but of course because you are in that country, you know that this is the
language of that country and you can guess, oh this must be German this must be Russian.
But when you have multiple channels in a country and you are listening to those multiple
channels switching surfing channels and you are moving from say a French channel to a
German channel to a Russian channel to a Turkish channel, how do you know what is the
language. You do not know either of the languages, you know just by…, because you are for
some reason or the other you are familiar with the rhythms of that language.
You have been introduced to the rhythms of the different languages and you cannot tell
different, the meaning of, particular words in Russian or in Turkish but you know what is
Turkish and what is Russian, alright? So that is because the rhythm of Russian would be
different from the rhythm of Turkish.
Now let me narrate one amusing example to you, now when I moved into Singapore for a
year long appointment, I switched onto the channels in my hotel room and, of course, like
they were not too many, choice of channels, we just got the local television and there was an
English language channel, there was a Chinese channel and there was a Tamil channel, I was
surprised to find that there was a local Tamil channel.
And then I find a channel which is called Suria which is spelt as Suria and it is spelt Suria and
I see a kind of, I watched, I mean, I could watch something like a chat show in, on, Indian
television. a more like female, feminine kind of exchange of tips on make-up and dress, the
kind of lifestyle chat show and you, I, found these two women who were dressed identical to
Bollywood film stars and they had images of Shah Rukh Khan, Priyanka Chopra in the
background. Now what was my assumption?
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My assumption was that this is an Indian language channel because of the way these young
women were dressed and also because of the posters adorning the walls behind them and also
the confusing name of the channel because in India also we have a channel called Surya in
the South which is of course spelt as Surya. So I was completely confused but yet I was not
sure, I kept thinking, now this is not that Tamil language channel because I do understand a
bit of Tamil, it did not sound like Tamil to me. Later when I got to stay there for longer, I
found it was a Malay channel.
So just by the rhythm of the language I could guess that this is not an Indian channel, even
though there was confusing signals like the dress of the young women or the Bollywood and
star posters in the background. So every language has its own distinctive rhythm and if we
change the stress pattern…. Now I will quickly summarize how is the rhythm of English
different from Indian. In English, in RP, stressed syllables occur at regular intervals. What
does that mean?
It means that the time gap between two stressed syllables, irrespective of the number of
unstressed syllables that intervene, that come in between, so whether we have one syllable
between two stressed syllables or whether we have two syllables between two stressed
syllables or whether we have three unstressed syllables between two stressed syllables or
whether we have four syllables between two stressed syllables, the time you should take to
say these unstressed syllables should be the same.
What does it mean? That you have to say the four unstressed syllables in the same time that
you say the first unstressed syllable to get the rhythm right and if you do that, you will get the
distinctive drumbeat rhythm of English. So if you say I am going to the market, that is not the
right way to stress, you say I’m going to the market, I’m going to the market. So the time I
take to say ‘I am’ which is unstressed and ‘to the mar in’, ‘to the mar in’, to the which is three
unstressed syllables, it should be the same. ‘I am going to the market, I am going to the
market.’
So the three unstressed syllables are said in the same time as two unstressed syllables to get
the right rhythm. Now how do we get the right rhythm? Let me close with that. How do we
stress, how do we know the rules of stress to get the rhythm? All the content words,
remember when I was talking about words, I introduced you to the difference between
content words and functional words. Content words are words carry meaning and functional
words are words which we need to connect different words into get a sentence.
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So all the content words should be stressed in a sentence and the grammar words, the
functional words should not be stressed, which means, nouns, adjectives, principal verbs are
stressed and pronouns, auxiliary verbs, conjunctions and prepositions are not stressed. Now
when I say nouns, adjectives and verbs are stressed and pronouns, auxiliary verbs,
conjunctions and prepositions are not stressed, what do I mean? I do not mean that the entire
word is stressed because you saw in the rules of word stress, you do not stress the whole
world, you only stress a particular syllable in a word.
So only the stressed syllables in content words should be stressed and the syllables in
unstressed words should not be, in the functional words, should not be stressed at all. So only
the stress syllables, I do not stress, ‘I am going to the market.’ I do not stress the whole word
‘going,’ I do not stress ‘market’ fully, I just stress ‘go’ and ‘mar.’ So in this whole sentence, I
stress only ‘go’ and ‘mar,’ ‘I am going to the market, I am going to the market.’ Let us take
some more simple examples, ‘What is your name? What is your name? What are the stress
syllables?’
‘What’ and ‘name’ and ‘is’ becomes ‘iz’, ‘your’ becomes ‘yer’ unstressed. So what is your
name? What is your name? You have to say that without putting any stress, what is your
name? My name is Ram, my name is Ram, my name is Ram. So what do you say? Name and
Ram is the stressed syllable, you do not stress ‘My name is Ram’ because then you would be
stressing the pronoun. You say my name is Ram. When you are speaking very fast, the ‘my’
is almost not heard, you say ‘my name is Ram,’ ‘name is Ram, my name is Ram.’
But in Indian English, think of the song, my favorite song in fact, you hear it on Star Gold all
the time, ‘My name is Anthony Gonsalves,’ now what are we doing? The song is very nice,
very pleasant but we are using Indian English, so we are stressing ‘My name is Anthony
Gonsalves.’ We are stressing each and every syllable, whereas we should stress only ‘name’,
‘Anthony Gonsalves,’ right. So it is forgivable because we are not trying to speak Indian
English, we are just singing a pleasant song but normally we do not stress a pronoun. But
when do you stress a pronoun? There is an exception.
So suppose you want to say, ‘Your name is Sita and my name is Ram,’ then we say ‘My
name is Ram,’ then you vary the stress, ‘Your name is Sita.’ Normally we do not stress yours
and mine. So with this we come to the end of rhythm and I will give you some activities in
which you will be able to work out the stress pattern of particular sentences using non-
syllables. Thank you.
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One more time to be or not to be that is the question. And I want to tell you one last thing that
Shakespeare wrote, that I think tells us about I am iambic pentameter ‘diddum diddum
diddum diddum diddum’ because you can also have the opposite rhythm. You can do stress
unstress stress unstress stress unstress.
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Lecture 16
Speaking: Voice
Welcome back, we touched upon voice and delivery in the session on how to improve body
language and it was one among the nine interpersonal skills I focused on. Now I would focus
exclusively on voice and delivery in this unit. In the art of speaking, voice and delivery play
the most important role.
As we saw, the vocal component of speaking is forms 38% of the total message and in this
vocal component, half of it is the voice and the other half is delivery. Like conscious and
unconscious aspects of dressing, voice and delivery form the unconscious and conscious
aspects of speaking. Because, voice is something we are born with. Some of us are naturally
born with good voices. Some of us do not have very good voices. Think of the nightingale of
India, Lata Mangeshkar and think of the voice she is born with.
Even if Lataji was to mispronounce something, whatever she were to say, it would sound
most pleasant because her voice is so mellifluous. The quality of the voice itself is so
mellifluous, it sounds so pleasant. So, the voice really depends on the voice box, which some
of us are born with naturally and we cannot help the quality of our voices. But we can help
the quality of our delivery. We can control our delivery irrespective of the voice we have.
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And even in voice, of course, all of us cannot have Lata Mangeshkar’s voice or Amitabh
Bachchan’s baritone voice, but we can improve the quality of our voice through correct
breathing, through correct phonation, through posture, even posture; if we improve our
posture we find our voice also improves. So let us look at elements of voice and delivery.
Now, regardless of what kind of voice we have, we must remember that like appearance and
dress, like the visual aspects of our appearance, the vocal aspects of our personality, the voice
and delivery, voice in particular has a personality. It creates a profile of the person.
Depending on the kind of voice one has, people create a profile of you. So if you listen to a
person who you have not seen face to face, who you have not met and, on the basis of a
phone call you have made, you try to… don’t you often do this?
On the basis of the voice of the person you try to guess the how that person looks like. so if
someone has a heavy voice, we try to think it must be a big person. Someone has a thin voice,
very pleasant voice, you think it must be a very small looking person. We fork these images
which are of course stereotyped images on the basis of the voice of the person. And often we
are surprised to see the person when we meet them, when we find that the voice does not
conform to the personality of the person.
Now think of people who work in the Reception of companies or of hotels. Or even people
who are in public relations; usually they hire people with good voices. And on the telephone,
people who speak on the telephone, people, you know, people in the past in particular when
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they had telephone operators. People who had a naturally good voice, they had to audition for
the job and if they passed, they were given the job.
So, this would often create misunderstandings because these would be young women who
would have very pleasant voices and when they spoke on the phone, people on the other end
would form an image of that person taking the call, and form an image of a very attractive
person. But many a times this was not the case because there were women or there were men
who had very pleasant voices but were not very particularly attractive, physically, to look at.
And people when they met them, they came in for a rude shock and they found that the image
did not conform to the voice. This also happens with celebrities. Some celebrities we
associate with a certain character. But when we hear them, the voice does not carry that
image that we have. Think of some cricketers for instance, Sachin Tendulkar. Sachin
Tendulkar, he is one of the best cricketers we have had, you know.
Nobody is comparable but his voice is a letdown because, particularly in his early years,
because he has a very thin weak voice which does not convey the authority he has displayed
on the field and off the field. So, whenever there is a mismatch between the voice and then
personality, that is something we need to watch out for. Because people do form an image, a
profile of you, based on your voice. In other words, voice has a personality.
How do you sound? Have you ever asked yourself how you sound? These days it is pretty
easy. In the older days we used to ask people to call strangers and ask them to guess. Even
today it works. You call a stranger, speak to a stranger on the phone and try to ask the
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stranger to guess how old you are, how tall you are, guess your physical features and then
meet face to face. You do the same with a stranger and then meet face to face and find out
how right you were in guessing the profile of the person.
But today it is possible to find out how you sound just by recording. If you record your voice,
haven’t you found that, the very first time you record your voice, you are pleasantly or
unpleasantly surprised because you find that the voice does not conform to the image that you
have of yourself. I myself am surprised that, even though I have recorded my voice several
times and have spoken, I have had recordings done, there are moments, there are sessions,
where the voice quality is very different from what I think my voice is.
Maybe I am in a rush, maybe I am in an emotional state where my voice does not have the
same quality which I expect from it. But it does happen that your vocal image, you do not
understand unless you record your voice. Now voice provides clues to many things. First of
all it provides a clue to your personality. What kind of person you are? Two, it conveys a
clue, it expresses a clue, it provides a clue to your attitude. What is your attitude? And that is
to do with your tone.
If you sound tired, people will say okay, this person is not interested in listening to me. So
that is your attitude. And your emotional state. Suppose your voice is high pitched at a certain
moment, normally you speak in a level tone, but at a certain moment you find yourself
speaking with a high pitch.
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Perhaps that is a day or that is an hour when you are going through some emotional turmoil
and you find that your voice is different from what it normally sounds like.
What I am trying to say is that irrespective of what voice you have, which in many cases you
cannot help because you are born with some voices, of course you can improve them. But,
what you cannot help is the stereotyped perception that people have of certain kind of voices.
So let us look at some of these stereotyped perceptions and once again like everything else
there is a cultural factor because certain voices which are considered attractive in some
cultures are not considered particularly attractive in other cultures.
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Similarly it is also historically situated in the sense that voices which were considered
attractive in a particular era are not considered attractive in another era. The most famous
example is that of again Lata Mangeshkar. Because prior to that if you think of the singing
styles of the singers of the Lataji’s predecessors, you will find that they had a.., even the
female singers had a rich full-throated voice.
Whereas when we come to the Lata Mangeshkar era, not only Lata Mangeshkar but also all
her admirers and her fans and the so called clones of Lataji start, cultivated, this thin, very
mellifluous, very thin, which Sanjay Srivastava calls a virginal voice and this voice,
according to Sanjay Srivastava, became the voice of the nation.
So this voice of a teenage young women, a thin voice, high pitched voice, very mellifluous
voice was considered began to be considered a very pleasant voice and a very desirable voice
and became the voice of the nation, when she was given the title of the Nightingale of India.
But if you think of other singers before her like Noor Jahan or even Malika Pukhraj or
Shamshad Begum, the more hereditary trained singers, you find that they did not have the
kind of trained voice that Lata Mangeshkar has which is the voice of a very young girl.
And this voice became the ideal voice ever since in playback singing in Hindi cinema and in
other kinds of singing as well. But let us look at the stereotyped perceptions of voice in, again
in western cultures.
So let us look at the clues. Now, breathiness in the voice, now breathiness is something you
might not able to control sometimes like if you are asthmatic you tend to have a very breathy
voice because you have to keep breathing and keep pausing for breath. But if you have a
breathy voice, it is considered…, in males, the perception of a male who has a breathy voice
is considered younger, more artistic.
In a female, again it is gendered, that what might be considered right in a male may not be
considered right in a female and vice versa. So in a female, a breathy voice is considered
more feminine, prettier, more petite, more effervescent, more high strung but also shallower.
So it also depends on who you are, what is the profession you practice, what is your role and
how you want to come across to others. So you are a filmstar or an artist or you want to
project yourself as a very pretty attractive person, then breathiness is a very desirable quality
in a voice.
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But if you have a position, if you practice a different profession, you are a, say, a
management professional or you are a banker, you do not want to come across as high strung.
It might be a very desirable quality in an artistic woman, but not in a businesswoman. So, it
might also make you appear shallow.
Thinness, thinness again in a male did not alter listener’s image of the speaker. In females,
thinness indicated increased social, physical, emotional and mental immaturity. So a thin
voice which we might consider very attractive in a singer, in the west indicates increased
social, physical, emotional and mental immaturity, but also increased sense of humor and
sensitivity.
So these attributes which are given to the thin voice may themselves vary. Maybe considered
positive as we said in the case of India, where a thin voice was considered positive, attractive.
It may be considered negatively because it might be seen as indicating social, physical,
emotional and mental immaturity. But these traits themselves might be considered desirable
in one culture and not desirable in another culture. But it also issues increased sense of humor
and sensitivity.
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Flatness is another quality of our voice. Flatness in males indicated a more masculine, more
sluggish, colder, more withdrawn. So, a flat voice is used by males when they want to appear
more masculine, but more withdrawn, cold. But it also makes them sound sluggish. In
females, the same attributes, more masculine, more sluggish, colder, more withdrawn may
not be considered a very desirable quality unless it is cultivated deliberately.
One of my friends for instance. I found her speaking on the phone in her office and I found
that she, who had a very thin mellifluous voice, cultivated a very flat voice when she was
speaking to her clients and I said why are you speaking like this? And that is when I
understood that acquiring, cultivating a flat voice made her sound more masculine, more
cold, more withdrawn and also, according to her, gave her more authority because her clients
were not used to dealing with women. So if she acquired this masculine voice, the clients
were more willing to listen to her.
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Nasality, nasality in males and females both is considered an undesirable quality and
(connotes) a wide array of socially undesirable characteristics. But as I said there isn’t a hard
and fast rule. Think some of our singers. Himesh Reshamiya, for instance, or Mika, they have
a nasal voice but they have a millions of followers. So, what maybe undesirable in one
culture may not be undesirable in another culture or in another profession.
Now we come to tenseness, tenseness in males means older, unyielding, cantankerous. Not
very desirable but suggests maturity. In females, tenseness seems more desirable I would say.
It indicates youth, younger women, more emotional, feminine, high strung but also less
intelligent. So it may be a very desirable trait in a young women who wants to project of an
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image of herself as very feminine and very high strung and very artistic and very emotional.
But may not work for a woman who is trying to project herself as less, as intelligent, because
it suggests less intelligence.
Now we come to a desirable voice, throatiness. In the west particularly people say, ‘oh! he
has a deep throaty voice’. Which is considered a very attractive voice. And in men it is
considered older, more realistic, mature, sophisticated and adjusted but also less intelligent,
more masculine, more boorish, unemotional, ugly, sickly, careless, inartistic, naïve, humble,
neurotic, quiet, uninteresting, apathetic, in short ‘cloddish or oafish’ in females. In males,
throatiness is considered a very desirable voice.
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Orotundity in males suggests more energetic, healthy, artistic, sophisticated, proud,

interesting, enthusiastic, in short, ‘hardy and esthetically inclined’. In females it means
increased liveliness, gregariousness, ‘increasingly proud and humorless’. So, orotundity is a
very desirable quality in a male which has a whole range, a string of, positive qualities,
artistic, energetic, sophisticated and so on but in females it indicates arrogance and lack of
humor.
Other cues relate to the rate of speech. If you speak fast in both sexes, you sound more
animated and extroverted whereas we speak slowly (we sound) less animated and less
introvert, (sorry) extroverted.
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Increased pitch variety. If you show more pitch variety instead of speaking in a level voice, in
males you are considered more dynamic, but also more feminine, more aesthetically inclined.
So you will find that artists, painters, photographers, they might get away with a voice which
has increased pitch variety. But not other males who do not want to be seen as esthetically
inclined or feminine. In females it is seen as more dynamic and more extroverted.
Now, qualities of the normal voice are, you must speak at appropriate volume, it should have
clarity, should have pleasantness, variety and, most important, it should conform to the
speaker’s image of himself or herself.
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Let us conclude by saying what is the quality of an effective voice? An effective voice is
pleasant, it is balanced, it is relaxed, it is clear and it is also expressive.
An ineffective voice is a voice which is breathy, which is hoarse, which is nasal, whiny or
monotonous.
So, let us conclude with a checklist. Can my voice be heard by the listeners facing me? In the
back of the room? Is my voice too loud, suggesting that I am self-centered and insecure with
a poor self-image? Or is it balanced, suggesting that I am open with a good self-image? Is my
voice volume right? Is it clear? Am I sending a message that I am confident?
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Clarity. Is my voice clear or is it muddled?
Pleasantness. Is my voice pleasant sounding and relaxed? Does it send a positive,

professional message about my sense of self? Is my voice high or rising or nasal? Do I sound
as if I am angry, frightened or insecure? Is my breathing natural? Or does my voice sound
breathy making me sound nervous and shaky? Does my voice sound hoarse, strident or tense?
Am I sending a negative message to my listeners? Does my voice sound warm or cold? What
is it saying about how I feel about myself and my listeners?
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Variety. Does my voice have vocal variety? Do I sound expressive as if I am interested in my
listener’s reactions? Is my voice monotonous with no change in pitch or emphasis? Do I
sound as if I am bored?
And does my voice conform to my image of myself. So, as I said there is no hard and fast
rule about what is a good voice or what is a bad voice. The litmus test is, does your voice
conform to your image of yourself. So if you want to sound artistic, it is alright for you to
have a breathy voice. But if you want to sound very authoritative, confident, in command,
then may be it is not a desirable voice.
But people do judge you, people do form an opinion of you based on how you speak, whether
your voice is pleasant or unpleasant, whether you speak too loudly or you speak too softly,
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whether you speak in a level voice or you speak in a high pitched voice. Each of these
provide certain clues to your listeners; to what kind of person you are, what your background
is, what your emotional state is and therefore as I said at the very beginning, voice has a
personality. People create a personality for you on the basis of your voice. Thank you.
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Lecture 17
Speaking: Delivery
Hello. In the last unit we looked at the importance of voice and delivery in speaking and
listening.
And we found out that we are born with certain kind of voices and voices have certain
stereotyped associations. Now, we will address the issue of, how does one improve one’s
voice, which to a certain extent can be improved. And how does one works on one’s delivery.
In other words, how to improve your voice and delivery. As I said, we are born with certain
kind of voices but there are certain things we can do I order to improve the quality of our
voices such as posture.
Now look at me, when I was speaking earlier, my voice sounded a little constricted, why?
Because I was leaning forward. The moment my posture is correct, the moment my ears are
in straight line with my shoulder, you find that there is a distinctive difference in my voice
quality. So this is to illustrate that even by minor changes like changing one’s posture or
changing one’s breathing, one can improve the quality of one’s voice.
Let us begin with the checklist I shared with you in the last unit. The checklist on what kind
of voice you have. You can improve on your voice only if you know what kind of voice you
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have and then start working on it. So, the first thing is volume. What is the kind of volume we
have?
Some of us have naturally loud voices and some of us have very soft voices. Now, in my
classes, complaints against my classes from the beginning is because I have a very low voice.
‘Lectures are very good if they can be heard in the back row.’ So there is a genuine problem
that I have a very low voice and if I do not have the microphone, I need to increase the
volume of my voice so as to be able to reach the last row in the classroom. And we have
these lecture halls which can seat up to 300 students.
So you can imagine what kind of voice you must have to be able to reach the last row in these
old fashioned classrooms which did not have a public address system until recently. So, your
volume. Now, on the other hand some people have very loud voices because people
particularly who are not used to telephoning, or to whom the telephones were new in the past,
such people would tend to speak very loudly on the telephone thinking that they can be heard
better if they speak loudly.
Now, the person on the other end would get a jarring impression because they could always
hear the receiver. You know, bang bang on their ears when the other person spoke. So, you
have to determine whether your voice is soft or too loud. You cannot help it but, as I said,
people form an impression about you based on…; if you speak in a very loud voice, people
think you are very domineering. You might not be domineering but people tend to think that
you are domineering if you speak in a very loud voice.
And if you are soft spoken, people think you are gentle, you may not be gentle at all. It is just
the quality of your voice. So you need to check can my voice be heard by the listeners facing
me at the back of the room? Is my voice too loud suggesting that I am self-centered and
insecure with a poor self-image? So loudness can also mean lack of confidence increased,
instead of more confidence. Or is it balanced, suggesting that I am open with a good self-
image?
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Is my voice volume right? Is it clear? Am I sending a message that I am confident? So how

does one work on the volume? There is a very simple exercise which we do in the classroom,
which I can share with you. So one way of increasing the volume of your voice is to project
your voice. And how do you project your voice? By gradually calibrating your voice instead
of increasing your volume suddenly. Because if you do that, you sound as if you are shouting.
Instead what you need to do is, gradually increase the volume. So let us to it together, say
first we have to count pennies and the first time you are counting pennies, I am counting
pennies, only I can hear. So let us begin with that. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine, ten should be heard by the person in the first row. One, two, three, four, five, six,
seven, eight, nine, ten. Third row, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Fifth
row, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
Last row, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. You could try doing this
exercise by yourself and see; if you have a soft voice like me, you can increase the volume of
your voice by making your…, project your voice, do not shout, project your voice. And if
you want to learn a lesson from people who have perfected this art, travel in a local train.
When you travel in a local train, you find these vendors. Coffee vendors and tea vendors and
cold drink vendors and snack vendors, who enter the coupe and they start selling tea or
coffee.
Now if you observe them, you will find that, since their whole life, their earnings depend on
their ability to project their voice how well they have mastered the art of projecting their
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voice. So when the person who is selling tea comes close to you, he speaks softly. Chai, chai,
chai, chai. But at the same time he wants the person sitting four rows away from you to hear
that he is on his way. So the second chai is louder. Chai, chai, chai, chai. Chai, chai, chai,
chai. And the last row, chai, chai, chai, chai, chai, chai.
So the moment he has entered the train compartment, if he is next to you, you do not want
him to be screaming into your ears. So he or she starts on a very low voice. But at the same
time, he increases the volume gradually so that people in the middle of the compartment,
coupe, can hear him and they can make up their mind, whether they want to buy the tea or
not. And he also wants people in the last row to be prepared that the chaiwala is on his way.
So learn the art of using simple tricks to improve your voice and delivery by listening to
ordinary people who have mastered it without going to a classroom or listening to lectures
like this. Clarity, of course, one should speak clearly. How do we lose clarity? We lose clarity
for a number of reasons. If we tend to mumble, we do not say the words clearly we mumble.
Or we, our speeches, slurred in the sense that we do not enunciate each and every word, every
sound clearly. Our voice, our sounds are not clear. And as a result there is no clarity in our
voice.
Finally, those of us who tend to speak very fast, it is possible that we miss what they are
saying. Because they are speaking too fast and there is no clarity in what they are saying. So
the second aspect is developing clarity.
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Pleasantness. How do we make sure that our voice is pleasant, sounding and relaxed? Does it
send a professional, positive message about my sense of self? How do I do this to make my
voice pleasant? It has to do with breathing and relaxation. So if, you will find that, your
posture, your breathing, if you are relaxed, all these little things count a lot when you want
your voices to sound pleasant. As I showed to you that the moment I change my posture, you
find that there is a difference in the voice quality itself.
Similarly, with breathing. If we do not pause for a breath or if our breathing is not regulated,
we tend to take short breaths and, in the process, our voice comes out in a in a rush. Instead
of that if we were to regulate our breathing and speak slowly after taking a deep breath and
releasing the deep breath, we will find our voices sound very calm and composed. So,
regulate your breathing. Is my breathing natural? Does my voice sound breathy making me
seem nervous and shaky?
Now if you have certain problems such as if you are asthmatic or you get breathless, of
course, then you can’t help your breathing. But in other situations, just improving your
breathing can improve the pleasantness of your voice. Is my voice high or rising or nasal? Do
I sound as if I am angry, frightened or insecure?
We said that the nasality is considered an unattractive quality in our voice. So if your voice is
very high pitched or you sound as if you are frightened, so you need to control your, the,
highness or the rising quality in your voice or nasality in your voice. Does my voice sound
hoarse, strident or tensed? Am I sending a negative message to my listeners? You find that
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some people for various reasons, their voices sounds very hoarse. They sound as if they are,
you know, you have a description of people saying, he had a rasping voice.
So the voice quality is not very attractive because it sounds as if it is raspy, it is hoarse. What
can you do to improve the hoarseness in your voice? Does my voice sound warm or cold?
What is it saying about how I feel about myself and my listeners?
Variety. Does my voice have vocal variety? Do I sound expressive as if I am interested in my

listener’s reactions? What do we mean by vocal variety? By vocal variety means that we do
not speak on a level tone. We keep varying the pitch, the volume and the pace. So, depending
on…, you would find when you are excited, you tend to speak faster, your pitch changes.
Whereas when you are calm, your pitch is level, you speak in a more moderate tone.
But if we would speak in the same tone throughout, it sounds so monotonous that people go
to sleep. People do not feel like listening to you. What should you do to acquire vocal
variety? Do I sound as if I am interested in my listener’s reactions? Is my voice monotonous?
So if one does not change the pitch, pause or emphasis, not only one does one sound bored
oneself but also makes others bored by listening to the person. And finally, as I said, there is
no such thing as a good voice or a bad voice.
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The voice should conform to the speaker’s image of himself or herself. Now let me share
some tips with you as to how to improve your voice.
The first step to improving your voice is; identify what is a good voice. First of all, you must
know what is a good voice and what is not a good voice. So, I’d like to ask you who in your
opinion, give me some public figures, and who in your opinion has a good voice. Let us take
a politician, who, in your opinion, has a very good voice? And take a celebrity, it may be a
cricketer, it may be another kind of sportsperson, it may be an actor. It may be a writer, take
any person and think of who you think has a good voice. Who is an effective speaker?
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So, one can improve one’s voice through systematic and persistence practice. One, by
listening to people who are good speakers. Two, by practice and three, by oral reading and
rehearsing.
Now let us go step by step and see how one can improve one’s voice. So first of all cultivate
proper breathing. What do you mean by saying cultivate proper breathing? All of us breathe.
If we do not breathe we will not survive. So, obviously you know how to breathe. So, what is
proper breathing? The problem with our breathing that most of us do what is called chest
breathing, shallow breathing. So, what we need to do is to be able to do deep breathing.
What does deep breathing mean? Deep breathing means, you should feel the muscles of your,
you should feel your diaphragm when you take a deep breath, take a deep breath, when you
take a deep breath, release your breath, when you release your breath you should feel the
muscles of your diaphragm contracting and expanding. So, put your hands on your ribs, put
your hands on your lower ribs and take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, hold your breath
up to a count of ten and release your breath.
You will find if you, if you touch, if your hands are on your ribs, you can find, you can feel
your diaphragm contracting and expanding as you take a deep breath and then you release
your breath. So, that is deep breathing, diaphragm breathing as supposed to shallow chest
breathing. If you do deep breathing, your voice quality automatically improves. However it is
not enough just to do deep breathing. One must also know how to regulate one’s breathing.
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What is regulating one’s breathing? That each time you breathe in and breathe out, there
should be equal time between each breath. that is. you breathe in, hold your breath up to a
count of ten, breathe out. Again breathe in, hold your breath up to a count of ten and breathe
out slowly. Release your breath slowly. Keep doing it until you find a rhythm and your
breathing becomes regular. So that is what is meant by regulating your breathing.
Otherwise what happens is, we tend to take some short breaths some long breaths and when
we speak our breathing is not measured. It does not have a rhythm. And as a result our speech
also sounds jerky and not very calm and composed.
Cultivate proper breathing. As I said before breathing you must know how to correct your
posture. The first step, in fact, before even before breathing is to correct your posture and we
begin to go back to the old formula, the old recipe on correcting the posture which we learnt
earlier in the unit on non-verbal communication. Good posture, to be able to breathe properly
and to speak clearly is to make sure that your ears are in line with your shoulders. And two,
your neck muscles are completely relaxed.
If your neck muscles are completely relaxed, your posture will be relaxed. So your head,
what you need to do is do some head rolls so that your neck muscles are relaxed. Do a few
neck rolls before you start speaking. Secondly, do some shoulder rolls. Roll your shoulders
forward and backward until your shoulders are completely relaxed. So when your shoulders
are relaxed, when your neck is relaxed, when your neck muscles are relaxed, you will find
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that your posture and your ears are in straight line with your shoulders, you will find that your
voice quality immediately improves.
And your breathing also improves because your muscles are relaxed. Cultivate proper
phonation. That is the next thing to be done. So, you must cultivate proper phonation. How
does, what do we mean by phonation? What we mean by phonation is that some voices have
a deep resonance, they have a resonance. Whereas other voices sound shallow. So how does
one acquire a voice which has resonance? That is by proper phonation. By proper phonation
one means that all the chambers in your head, your skull, your nose, your lips, your face, they
should all be clear.
And one simple way of doing this is to use the sound ‘mm’ and to rotate that sound across
your head and across face, up to your nose to be able to get best phonation. Do you have you
ever wondered why in India we begin our day by chanting. And the first syllable with which
we begin the chant is the syllable, the prime syllable Om. In other cultures also we have other
sounds which help to acquire, to improve phonation, but in the Indian context, particularly in
the Hindu context, we find that beginning the day with the syllable Om, the prime syllable
Om clears the chambers and helps us to acquire proper phonation How does this happen? Let
us practice it. So I am going to do it, I am not as good as yoga teachers who do it more
efficiently but I will try to share with you what I have learnt from them. So let us begin with
the sound, Om and we are going to rotate this, we are going to circulate this sound all over
our skull and our face and take it back to practice phonation.
So let us begin with the sound. Om. So what did I do, I started with my lips, the sound ‘mm,’
took it to my nose ‘mmm,’ forehead ‘mmm’, head ‘mmm,’ and then brought it back ‘mmm.’
Try do it doing this to see how you can get proper phonation.
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You can cultivate proper phonation just by starting your day with the prime syllable. If you
have any objections to using Hindu practices you can start your sound; just you can start it by
just using the sound ‘mmm.’ You can substitute the sound ‘mmm, mmm.’ Cultivate a
pleasing and responsive voice quality.
All of these things would help you cultivate a pleasing and responsive voice quality.
Articulate properly. One of the reasons why your voice is not clear is because of the lack of
proper articulation. And some of these are culturally acquired. In some cultures there is an
emphasis on the right enunciation of each sound. So speakers of that language, those
languages or speakers of those cultures tend to enunciate every sound clearly so that when
you listen to them, you can hear each and every sound very clearly.
For example, in West Bengal where I live, I find speakers of Bengali language tend to
generally articulate and enunciate each and every syllable, each and every sound extremely
carefully and slowly. As a result when they speak, whether they are speaking Bengali or
whether speaking English, they tend to speak in a very clear fashion. Whereas if one goes to
the north, particularly parts of Punjab and Haryana and so on, speakers have a habit of
swallowing vowels because in these languages one tends to stress the second syllable and not
the first syllable.
And usually the sounds in the first syllable, the vowel sounds in the first syllable are usually
said so fast as that one can almost not hear them. So I have heard Punjabi speakers say
instead of Naarayan’ they would say ‘Nrayan.’ They would swallow ‘Na’ in the first syllable
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and ‘Ra’ and ‘Ya’ in the second syllable and turn the sound the word ‘Naarayan’ into
‘Nrayan’ or the name ‘Shakuntala,’ Kalidas’s heroine Shakuntala, when we will swallow the
first syllable then it sounds like ‘Shkuntla.’
So that is lack of enunciation, lack of clear enunciation. If you want to articulate properly,
you need to relax your facial muscles completely and you’ll find that, I heard this from a very
well-known trained classical singer that when he was teaching music to somebody, he found
that the students, when they were scared they tended to tense one or other muscles. So when
they were asked to relax their facial muscles, they relax, they tended to tense up the muscles
in their throat or they tensed up the muscles in their shoulder.
As a result the voice quality was not correct, nor was the singing full-throated. So, the first
thing he would tell his students is to relax their muscles, relax all their muscles. Neck
muscles, shoulder muscles, hands, not have tension in any part of the body whether it is hand,
face. usually when we want to hide the tension in our face, we tend to take the tension to our
hands and clench our hands, clench our face. So, relax all your muscles and particularly your
facial muscles then you will be able to articulate clearly.
So when you speak, speak in a manner that your jaw is almost…, let your jaw drop until it
almost falls off. So let us practice the sound, ‘Bob’ and you keep on saying the voice till your
facial muscles are completely relaxed. Open your mouth and keep on saying it. Bob, bob,
bob, bob, bob, bob, bob, bob, bob, bob, bob, bob. So you need to do these simple exercises to
improve your articulation by relaxing your facial muscles.
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Cultivate control of loudness, I have already practiced that with you by showing how you can
count pennies to yourself and then count pennies to somebody who is a little further away
from you, then somebody who is very far away from you. Say someone is two feet away,
someone is four feet away, someone is eight feet away and this is the way you learn to project
your voice and not shout.
Control your speech rate. How do you control your speech rate? Some of us speak very fast
and some of us speak very slow. So when we speak very fast, the listeners, our listeners, are
not able to make out what we are saying. And some of us speak so slow that the listeners get
bored. They switch off even before we have completed our sentence. Listeners are so bored
that they do not want to listen to us.
What is the correct rate of speech? About a hundred and twenty-five words a minute is the
ideal pace. Means if you speak about a hundred and twenty-five words a minute, that is
alright. So control your speech rate. If you speak too fast, learn to speak slowly. If you speak
very slow, learn to speak a little faster. Develop satisfactory pitch control.
Remember in the.., when we were looking at the voice qualities and stereotyped associations
of voice, we said, if you have a high-pitched voice it makes you sound immature or it makes
you sound tense, highly strung. So, people who tend to speak with high-pitched voices, they
come across as highly strung, as immature, as unprofessional. Especially women who tend to
have high, more high-pitched, voices as compared to men. If they speak in their normal
voice, in the voice they use in their everyday speech, in the workplace they might come
across as immature.
So professional women take care to lower their pitch. Not to speak in the normal high, in the
high pitch, associated with women in general and which sounds very feminine; they tend to
control their pitch and to speak on a lower pitch so that their voices sound flat and carry more
authority.
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So, the crucial factors in delivery are articulation, variation of pace, volume and pitch, use of
pause, use/ avoidance of non-words, phonetics, control of rhythm and intonation. In the next
unit, I will introduce you to the sounds of English, English phonetics and show you how to
improve your delivery. We stop here with how to improve voice.
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Lecture 18
How to Improve Voice
In the last two units of voice and delivery, I demonstrated the relationship between voice and
delivery and speaking, the impact it has on speaking. And in this lecture we are going to do some
activities related to how to improve your voice and delivery. So in the first part we look at how
to improve your voice.
In ‘How to improve your voice’, we are going to look at posture and voice, cultivation of proper
breathing, cultivation of proper phonation, articulation, cultivating control of loudness,
controlling your speech rate, developing satisfactory pitch control and cultivating, ultimately, a
pleasant and responsive voice quality. Let us begin with looking at the relationship between
posture and voice and see… I would recommend this video that I found online, which you will
find very useful for correcting your posture.
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It is related to singing but you might as well consult it when you are trying to look at how to
improve your posture for improving your voice in speaking. So we are going to demonstrate
some ways in which you can improve your posture in order to be able to improve your voice.
The first thing is to find out what kind of posture you have.
(Refer Activity Time 01:53)
So I would ask a friend to pass his or her hand below the back of your, small of your back. Now
if the hand passes through that means your spine is bent. In this case we have an example of a
person who does not have a bent spine, whose posture is correct. That is why when we pass the
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hand, it does not pass through. Thank you. Now we look at another person and see what happens
when he lies down and we do the same thing to him. So now when we pass, does it pass through?
No. Okay. So even in his case, his spine is not bent. Good.
But this is for you to find out. You have to find out for yourself if your spine is bent, they, the
other person, will be able to pass his hand entirely through the back of your, small of your back.
Good. Let us move on to the next activity. In this activity, I would request you to try the old
grandmother’s recipe. The best way to improve your posture, to get the right posture, was to lean
against a wall and walk forward. We are going to watch this in action. Lean against a wall. Let
the back of your head and your shoulders touch the wall. Try not to push your back, head, so
much forward. Let there be, yes, let there be a little gap. Okay.
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Now, you walk forward, do you see a difference in the way he walks? His shoulders are now in
straight line with his neck. The third exercise you could do in order to strengthen your back and
straightening your shoulders is, the normal head roll that we call.. where you turn your… in
order to relax your neck muscles, we normally roll our head and let the neck muscles relax by
rolling our head. You could do it backwards also. Turn your head back, yeah, the other way. This
is an exercise that is recommended for removing the tension from your neck muscles and
straightening your back.
A better way of doing this would be to do to rotate your chin against a wall. Face a wall, this
wall is rather scratchy but I hope in the walls of your house you have smoother walls. So try to
inscribe a circle using your chin. Inscribe a circle using your chin. Try doing it and see how it
helps you. You immediately find that your back is straightening when you try to do this. Thank
you. In the next one, I would like you to do the shoulder roll. In order to take the tension away
from your shoulder there is nothing like the shoulder roll. Roll your shoulders. Repeat this
exercise ten times and increase the number gradually. Excellent.
The final one which we will be doing is, raise your hands, raise your arms straight. Now bend to
one side, to your left as much as you can. Good. Go back to the original position. Bend to the
right, bend as much as you can and do this a few times. Straight, your arms should be straight.
Little more, more, as much as you can. Bend to your left, bend to your right, bend to your left,
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bend to your right, bend to your left, bend to your right. In addition to these, you could try any of
the activities, any of the abdominals you are used to doing because the moment you do the
abdominals, you will find that your back immediately straightens.
Any back strengthening exercises that you do, would help to improve your voice because as your
posture improves, your voice also improves accordingly. The next thing we move on to is
breathing. What is the importance of breathing in your voice? As we said, most of us do chest
breathing. We do shallow chest breathing. As a result of that our voices are very constructed.
What we need to do is, to do diaphragm breathing. Now I am going to demonstrate to you how
one does diaphragm breathing.
Put your hands on your lowest rib. Put your hand on your lowest rib.
Yeah, now breathe in. Hold your breath. Breathe out. You can feel your diaphragm contracting
and expanding. You should be able to feel your diaphragm expand and contract. The moment
you master this art of doing diaphragm breathing, you will find a significant difference in the
quality of your voice. Let us try a few more breathing exercises which can help to improve your
voice quality and to raise the volume.
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Proper breathing is the foundation for a healthy voice and control over nervous energy that can
make the voice quiver. Breathe deeply and exhale on a hissing sound. Breathe deeply and exhale
on a hissing sound. Repeat ten times. In the next activity on breathing you need to exhale all air
from your lungs.
Exhale all air from your lungs. Continue pushing it out even after you feel it is totally expelled.
When no more air can be forced out you will automatically inhale. Inhale deeply. Observe how
the air rushes in. Only a deep full inhalation will satisfy your hunger for air. Repeat this process
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frequently but not than three or four times at each repetition. We move on to the next exercise.
Exhale comfortably. Then a moderately filling breath not crowding your capacity. Hold it for
fifteen seconds. Now exhale quietly.
Repeat this process frequently for several days. Then gradually increase your holding time to
twenty seconds, thirty seconds and forty five seconds. Eventually you will be able to hold your
breath for a full minute. This exercise will help you to develop breath control by strengthening
your diaphragm and related muscles. Let us move on to the next exercise, exercise three.
Standing erect, inhale with five quick, short gasps through an open mouth. Inhale with five quick
short gasps through an open mouth. You will notice that you cannot gasp like this without using
your diaphragm. Five gasps should fill you to capacity. Now, exhale in five quick gasps. Exhale.
Wonderful. Now practice gasping and puffing through your nose with your mouth closed. Close
your mouth, gasp and puff through your nose. Brilliant.
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Now let us try this one. Laugh heartily with a big Ha Ha Ha.
Student: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.
Carry this through to complete exhalation.
Student: Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha.
Now inhale deeply and quickly. Close your lips and laugh soundlessly through your nose. You
will exercise your diaphragm whether you breathe through your mouth or your nose. But
laughing silently through your nose will promote better control. Let us move on to the fifth
exercise for correct breathing.
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In this one, you have to lie on your back. Lie on your back, place a book on your diaphragm, try
to relax each part of your body. Try to relax each part of your body and concentrate on the
movement of your diaphragm. As you inhale, the book rises. As you exhale, flatten your
abdomen as much as you can. Repeat this exercise until you automatically expand and contract
your waist as you breathe.
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Stand, then bend over as if to touch your toes but just hang limply. Bend over as if to touch your
toes but just hang limply.
Remain in this position for a full minute. You may straighten. Now you can repeat this as many
times as you want. Remain in that position for a full minute and repeat it as many times as you
can because this way your breathe is expelled naturally when you bend at the waist. Okay.
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The eight exercise is stand, standing place your hand on your hips, lean your head back, look at
the ceiling and yawn.
Your waist will expand as your diaphragm flattens and draws in air. Then as you exhale, produce
the sound ah, hold it as long as you can without discomfort. Great.
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The ninth on is, standing take a deep breath. Take a deep breath. As you exhale, count aloud
from one to five on a single breath. Repeat the exercise counting from one to ten. Do not strain.
Allow the air to flow easily.
The final one. In this you need to read aloud a paragraph that contains a mixture of short and
long sentences. Read each sentence on a single breath, if possible, inhaling before the sentence,
then controlling your exhalation as you read. We will do this when we move on to delivery and
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we will show you how correct breathing also impacts correct delivery. How your reading of a
paragraph changes if you read with the right breathing.
Now we will have Shubhangi Goswami, our young eastern and western vocalist, demonstrate to
you and also share with you some tips on how to improve your voice.
Good morning everyone. Thank you, mam, for giving me the opportunity. Today I will be
sharing some tips regarding how to improve your voice. I will be mainly focusing on four areas
which are extending and controlling pitch, projecting your voice, how to improve resonance, and
last but not the least, articulation which refers to correct and clear pronunciation of every word.
So let us begin with extending and controlling the pitch. In order to do that, we first need to
know the pitch, the correct pitch or the vocal range of your voice.
So to begin with, first you relax yourself, sit in a correct posture and then make an aah sound
without any undue pressure on your voice. Like, aah. So, while I did this I did not feel any undue
pressure, nor did I feel any kind of breathiness or heaviness in my voice. Then start moving up
the ladder. Like, aah, aah, aah, aah, aah, aah, aah, aah, aah. So after this I am feeling a certain
constraint in my voice. So I have to understand that after this my voice will be strange. So this is
the upper range of my or upper limit of my voice or this is the pitch that I can go to.
Similarly to find the lower half the lower limit of the range, I started with aah. I have to go down
the ladder now. Aah, aah, aah, aah, aah. So now I am feeling a breathiness and my voice is
continuously coming from within. Just from just above the diaphragm. So when we do this, we
are actually going towards resonance. So when you find the range, your vocal range you will be
able to understand that when to use or how much of power to give to your voice when you need
to talk at a louder pitch. A louder pitch is actually narrowing your voice. So, it is coming from up
the chest or the throat.
So when you find the correct pitch you know where to use the correct pitch like when you are
talking in public, make sure that your pitch is just perfect because if you talk in a very loud pitch,
your voice might get cracked. There is a risk of voice cracking if you talk in a very loud pitch.
Then next we come to projecting your voice which basically comprises reducing the vocal
constriction. Now what do we mean by that. Here when we talk, we generally do not know or we
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are not aware or how the muscles are moving like when I am talking the muscles of my jaw, the
tongue is a muscle.
These are doing continuous random movements because of which different sounds are being
produced. So to understand this, let me give you an analogy. Like, suppose you want to use your
bicep to the fullest. So what do we do? We exercise the bicep, that is constriction followed by
relaxation, followed by constriction followed by relaxation, which actually strengthen the
muscles to the fullest. And then we all know that an exercise muscle can lift more load. Similarly
whatever sounds we are producing it is because of the movements of the various muscles in co-
ordination with our voice box that is the larynx located right here.
So the muscles that are involved when we speak are the entire facial muscle starting from here to
our diaphragm. Just from where the chest and the stomach begins. So the entire use of these
muscles to the fullest will be beneficial in order to project your voice. So first we have to start
with reducing a vocal constriction. If you tighten our jaw or talk in a very compact manner like if
I talk like this while using the minimum of my jaw and tightening my jaw muscles in fact. This is
constricting my voice as well as putting a lot of undue pressure on my jaw.
But if I relax, like, say for example, repeat after me the sound aah, eeh, aah, eeh. Now you can
clearly see that I am using my jaw while I pronounce aah and eeh. But I can do the same thing
without using the maximum of my jaw. Now put your hand like this and now similarly
pronounce aah, eeh, aah, eeh. Use your tongue, roll your tongue to pronounce eeh. So these
muscles are relaxed. Aah, eeh, aah, eeh. Now you see that the jaw muscles were not used. The
jaw is relaxed. So first is to know how to relax the jaw. So you pronounce any vowel or
consonant and let the jaw hang or drop. Like aah.
Concentrate on the voice coming from here, from within and not on the movement of the jaw
muscle at all. So, one thing is relaxing the jaw and the other thing is exercising the jaw. Quite
contrary, but both are essential. When you exercise your jaw, you have to actually as I said use
or find the range of the muscles and use the maximum of it. Like if you say eeh, aah or nay, you
are actually extending your muscles, constricting them to the maximum. Open your mouth as big
as you can and then close it slowly. Again open it to the maximum as you can then close it
slowly.
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Then smile to the widest like ee, like you should feel the pressure here and then come back to
normal. So these things will actually exercise your jaw muscles which will in turn help in
projection as well as articulation. We will come to that. We will see that how jaw exercises can
help one articulate properly. then in projecting we also need to focus at reducing the breathiness.
Now when we are talking, obviously the breathing, we’re, if you are suffering from cold or if
you already have a breathy voice, along with the voice the air comes out.
Like haa, this haa sound also comes out along with the voice. In order to reduce this we have to
isolate these two. Like if you are fully voicing means, your voice in totality is coming out and the
breathy part is removed out of it. So, to do this, you might start with an aah sound. Like aah. So
when I started, there was a breathy part to it like, aah. I could feel air. Like a breathy aah will
sound like this, haa. Along with my voice the sound of my breath is also coming out. But if you
want to isolate that, you can just go on saying aah till you find that the voicing and the breathing
is isolated like aah.
The moment I increased the loudness, the breathy part was isolated. So you what you can do is
you can exercise till you find that this is isolated. Do not, again I am repeating it, do not strain
your voice. You can do it in short spurts. You can do it only till your breath lasts. Then we come
to resonance. Now resonance or phonation is basically the reverberation, how your sound
reverberates or comes back or in simple terms it is the humming or the heaviness of a sound. A
resonant voice is very much liked, desired by people, people who have a good baritone.
Say for example, the announcers on radio. We have not seen them but they sound very resonant.
So how to improve the resonance? I is a likeable quality definitely but in order to in improve the
resonance we need to low know the lower limit of our voicing. So, the best exercise for
resonance is humming. Simple but true. So, when you are humming any song, say normally, so
we hum it in our normal day to day voice. but if you do the hum sound and progressively come
down, say, for example, hmmm, hmmm. Now this is the normal hum that we do. Now if you
continuously come down ladder by ladder like say hmmm, hmmm.
Feel it, feel it, feel it coming down your throat until you reach the diaphragm. Hmmm, put your
hand on your chest, if you put your hand on your chest you will feel your chest vibrating. Now,
progressively if you feel that your sound is resonating, you will feel the vibrations coming from
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deeper and deeper. So I do this, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm. Until actually
just a vibration come out and there is no sound. That is the point where you have hit the lowest
and that is improving on that actually increases your resonance. And the more you exercise you
will see that the lower level is going even lower.
So this humming sound, humming is one of the best exercises and to give you another example
to understand from where actually the voice comes in or come out. Maybe sometime in your life
you must have felt very pukish or vomited. At that time the force comes just right from above the
diaphragm. So when you do this, puking exercise or activity, the pressure comes just from above
the diaphragm. Now from there is from where the resonance comes in. So you have to exercise
till that point in order to improve your resonance.
Then, lastly, we come to articulation or a correct or clear pronunciation. Now I will go back to
the jaw exercises. I have already covered how to relax your jaw. So the more you relax your jaw,
the more actually you can constrict them. This is like the law of pendulum. Like the more
pendulum goes to the right, it can go to the left. So the more relaxed you can go with your jaw,
the more constriction you can actually apply to your jaw. So first you need to learn to relax it.
So, hang the jaw, then while pronouncing just let it loose so that you do not feel any kind of
pressure in your jaw as if your jaw is dropping.
So and put your hand like this and try to pronounce the vowels and the consonants. Without
feeling any kind of movement here. So, that is relaxing the jaw and similarly when we come to
exercising the jaw, fully extend the jaw, aah or eeh. Do these exercises for full extension of the
jaw and then repeat these after me. Aah, aah, eeh, eeh, zee, zee, nay, nay. Sounds like this with,
you can use mix consonants and vowels. you will be surprised to know that while using all the
vowels we do not need to use our jaw. Like, while you say A, E , I, O, U. I have extensively used
my jaw.
Specially while saying E and I. But I can say all the vowels without using my jaw. See, A, E, I ,
O, U. Just while rolling your tongue, you can pronounce all. So, practice both. Practice both.
pronounce all the vowels while using extensively your jaw. Similarly pronounce all the vowels
without using your jaw. So, jaw exercises, I will again repeat exercises does not only mean
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constricting, relaxing followed by constricting, relaxing followed by constricting. So jaw
exercises will actually help you to articulate properly. Another very important thing is to listen.
In order to speak effectively, you need to listen very properly. So there are many languages that
we come across. In India we are all multi-lingual. So listen to the different pronunciations
properly and it our tendency human tendency to copy, to.. there are mirror selves in our body
which generally copy what is happening. Like children sometime copy the facial expression of
whatever they are seeing in front of them. Similarly when we are pronouncing, we tend to listen
and then the muscles of our entire mouth will try to repeat the same sound.
So, the key to speaking effectively is first of all listening effectively. So with full concentration
listen, close your eyes, maybe, listen to the different pronunciations, then break them and then
slowly repeat them at first. We know that we are not specialist in all languages or all kinds of
sounds. So first listen, break them into components, then repeat them and may be then you can
increase the speed to attain perfection. So, I think that is all from my side. Thank you very much
for your time.
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Lecture 19
How to Improve Delivery
Hello, in the last unit we talked about how to improve your voice and you had our guest speaker
Shubhangi give you some tips on how to improve your voice.
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Today we move on to delivery, how to improve your delivery and in this again we demonstrate
to you through actual examples, how you can improve your delivery. We begin, when we talk
about delivery, we talk about phonetics and we do not need to take you through phonetics once
again because you had one entire week of practice of phonetics.
I hope you have been able to try out these activities which we will be posting for you and
improve your pronunciation of English because pronunciation is very important. The second part
was articulation, and yesterday Shubhangi demonstrated it beautifully, how you can improve
your articulation. Today, we in this unit, we move on to variation of pace, volume and pitch, use
of pause, avoidance of non-words, control of rhythm and intonation; these are some of the things
we will be doing in this unit.
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We will skip these because we will upload these for you on the activity sheet for you to try out.
But we will demonstrate, what is duration? And how does one use duration to get the maximum
impact. Duration refers to the amount of time you take to say a word. You can change the
meaning and importance of words by saying them quickly or drawing them out.
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Now we will have …try this while you read the following poem. Where the mind is without fear
and the head is held high, where knowledge is free, where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls, where words come out from the death of truth, where
tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection, where the clear stream of reason has not
lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit, where the mind is lead forward by thee into
ever widening thought and action, into that heaven of freedom my father, let my country awake.
You found how she lingered lovingly on each sound. How she used duration perfectly to bring
out the meaning of each word, the keywords. She held out on those keywords to get the full
impact and remember that you can do that if you pronounce the sound right, pronounce the
diphthongs right. Where the mind, so the diphthong ‘mind’. Look at the way she lingered on the
mind. Now if you say ‘where the mind is without fear’ you will not get the impact.
So what I am saying is you need to combine pronunciation, the right pronunciation, with the use
duration in order to get the impact in diphthongs such as mine. So you saw how she used each of
these sounds, striving, stretches, dreary, ever widening, father, country. How she lingered on
each sound to use duration. Now I’d request Shubhangi; what do you think of how she used
duration?
Yes, Zenia used durations beautifully and one other important thing is when you are reading out
from the passage the punctuation marks, they indicate where to actually give the pause and once
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you understand what the passage of the poem is trying to deliver; to enhance the impact, as mam
rightly said, to enhance the impact you need to stress on some words and move on quickly to
others. The words which are adjectives followed by the nouns. you have to quickly move on in
those words if they are isolated.
Like here umm, there certain words like umm where knowledge is free, the world has not been
broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls. So, stopping at narrow, after narrow will
actually break the meaning. So, narrow domestic walls, these three words have to be quickly
spoken. On the other hand, the word fragment, it is has to be lingered on. So the adjectives
instantly followed by the nouns, we have to move on quickly which she did beautifully and the
word which needs to be stressed on need to be lingered on. So, I think that is what exactly Zenia
did.
Thanks. Now how about trying it out yourself, reading out this passage aloud by yourself and
comparing it with Zenia’s version, which we see as the model version. Why don’t you try it
yourself? Read it and record it and then compare your version with Zenia’s and try it out yourself
once again using duration. Now we will move on to loudness or volume.
Now loudness or volume variety, we also used this in the session on voice and delivery where we
looked at how some people have an actually loud voice and some people have an actually soft
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voice and those who have a very soft voice, who’re used to speaking very softly are usually
taken to be non-assertive whereas people who have a loud voice, they are assumed to be
confident and dominating. So, the key is that you should be able to control the volume depending
on what the situation is, the context is.
Somewhere it is important that you use a loud voice, in another it is important that you can lower
your voice to a whisper. So this modulation of voice from raising it to soft whisper to a shout,
that is a trick, how do we use loudness and volume variety in delivery. We did some exercises
for you; remember when we talked about counting pennies and how do you count pennies to
yourself? How you project your voice when you count them to somebody in the first row, then
the second row, the third row, the fourth row, the fifth row?
And Shubhangi did it using musical notes yesterday, she did it beautifully. So, now when you
use…, remember that you cannot do things in isolation, you cannot say okay, I am going to
breathe and I am going to stop using right sounds. All the things that we have shared with you,
you have to combine them. So correct posture, correct breathing, using the right volume, they all
come together.
So when you read this you use (diaphragm) diaphragm respiration to project volume. Remember
we said we speak with chest breathing, we need to speak with diaphragm breathing. So once you
read this, you will find that how diaphragm breathing…. Just watch me, I have a very bad
posture and when I lean forward my sound is not clear; the moment I straighten and I use my
diaphragm, do you notice the difference in the quality of my voice? Because I am doing
diaphragm breathing and immediately my voice quality changes, because my head, my chin is
not leaning forward.
Now let us listen to this speech and you read this speech by the former prime minister, Indira
Gandhi at the Golden Jubilee Celebrations of the Indraprastha College for women, New Delhi in
November 1974 and interpret, what words should be spoken loudly and which one's softly? The
passage is, what educated women can do?
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What educated women can do? A Sanskrit saying says, woman is the home and the home is the
basis of society. It is as we build our homes that we can build our country. If the home is
inadequate, either inadequate in material goods and necessities or inadequate in the sort of
friendly loving atmosphere that every child needs to grow up and develop. Then that country
cannot have harmony and no country, which does not have harmony, can grow in any direction
at all. That is why women's education is almost more important than the education of boys and
men.
We, and, by we, I do not mean only we in India, but all over the world have neglected women's
education. It is fairly recent. Of course not to you, but when I was a child the story of early days
of women's education in England, for instance was very current. Everybody remembered what
had happened in the early days. I remember what used to happen here. I still remember the days
when living in Old Delhi even as a child of 7 or 8 I had to go out in a doli if I left the house. We
just did not walk. Girls did not walk in the streets.
First you had your sari with which you covered your head. Then you had another shawl or
something with which you covered your head and all the body. Then, you had a white shawl with
which everything was covered again although your face was open fortunately. Then you were in
a doli, which again was covered by another cloth and this was in a family or community which
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did not observe pardah of any kind at all. In fact, all our social functions always were mixed
functions. But this was the atmosphere of the city and of the country. I am one of those who
always believe that education needs a thorough overhauling.
But at the same time I think that everything in our education is not bad, that even the present
education has produced very fine men and women. Specially scientists and experts in different
fields who are in great demand all over the world, and even in the most affluent countries. Many
of our young people leave us and go abroad because they get higher salaries, they get better
conditions of work.
This was a wonderful example of how one could use volume to get the best message across.
Have you noticed that Zenia started on a fairly high note, when she started and when she came to
the line, ‘that is why women's education is almost more important than the education,’ her voice
lowered and when she comes to the words, ‘by we,’ her voice almost drop to a whisper.
When she, and then. when she changes and says ‘I am one of those who believe.’ So you find
how her voice is continuously rising and falling. She does not speak on a level pitch.
Because if you speak on a level pitch you come across as very monotonous. Your experiences of
listening to the lectures, how often have you gone to sleep because someone was speaking at the
level pitch? But you need to vary your volume. Sometimes we use volume when we increase our
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voices, when we want to emphasize an important part and sometimes we use. we lower our
voices. when we want to emphasize the more important part of the passage or whatever we want
to see.
Think of natural speech. In natural speech when you are excited or when you have something
important to say you find that your voice rises, okay and otherwise you speak on a low level
tone. So it should be like that it should not be a monotonous volume, it should not be the same
volume. You should change the volume. And now we have expert advice from Shubhangi.
Thank you. As mam correctly said, that volume indicates the level of assertiveness. Also to add
to that, volume is a very good indicator of emotions. So in this passage, was fairly full of
emotional content and we see that this is a passage where Indira Gandhi is going back to her
childhood and she is reciting the conditions that she had been in, or the general scenario of the
country where she is explaining the condition of the women. So, we can see going back and forth
coming again to the current scenario. So these emotional changes are very well explained by
again, pauses and volume.
So wherever she is depicting the condition of the women where it was not very promising like
there are sentences like ‘I still remember the days when living in Old Delhi even as a small
child,’ ‘even as a small child.’ That she is going back to her past, so there the volume is lowered.
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And then when she is expressing that there is a need to exalt the condition of women, she is
becoming louder. Like, in the sentences like, girls did not walk in the streets. First you had a sari
with which you covered your head.
Then you had another shawl or something, so gradually the voice is, the volume is going up
because gradually the condition, she is explaining is how the condition of women is not
improving at all, in fact, deteriorating. In fact, despite the pardah system they had to be under
covers. So, as she is moving on. increasingly the volume is also depicting the intensity of the
emotions. So. volume definitely indicates assertiveness and is a very very good indicator of
emotion. The same sentence with the different levels of volume means different things.
Try it yourself. Say just one sentence in different volumes. Even a request can mean different
things in different volumes; so if you say in the same tone ‘by the way like, can I have a pen?’
Can I have a pen? So both the sentences were the same tone but just changing the volume,
changes the meaning. The second one is not only more assertive but also indicates a more angry
tone whether the person is annoyed. So that is what I mean by changes in volume.
Try to get this, one of the speeches online, if you can, because Mrs. Gandhi’s example is a
classic illustration of how someone who is a very shy person, in fact, when she was asked to
speak she said, how was she going to address a crowd of thousands of peoples, and then people
around her encouraged her to speak and gradually she was able to sway thousands of hundred,
you know, lakhs of peoples by her speeches. So maybe if you can get the whole of the real
speech. Some of us have lived long enough to have heard her speak but those of you who have
not, maybe you can get one of her speeches online. And try this out yourself.
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From volume we will move on to pace. How fast you speak or how slow do you speak.
Remember in the first or the second lecture on voice and delivery we spoke about pace and I
asked you to find out, do you speak very fast or do you speak very slow. Some of us speak very
fast and some of us speak very slow. What is the correct rate? So they say that anything between
125 to, between, 150 words a minute is acceptable. Lower than that you sound very monotonous.
If you try to squeeze in more words than 125 or 150 it come across as unclear.
So how to use pace. Talk with time, not against it. If you are a high energy person you probably
will not be able to permanently slow down your rate of speech. But you can learn to vary your
rate. See you have to find your pace. I remember I had this student in IIM very feisty and very
effervescent kind of young women, who came across as a very high energy person. So when she
came to do the interview I found she is not her real self because she is trying to speak in a very
calm, very measured, very slow manner. Now, she got the calm effect which she wanted to
project, she came across as very calm and composed.
But at the same time her personality was lost. You know the bubbly effervescent person that she
was, it did not come across. So you find your ways and see what you can do best with your pace.
Do not try to speak very fast if you speak naturally very slow. Do not try to speak very slow if
you speak fast but try to find a kind of balance between the two.
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So people live according to the patterns or rhythms usually structured around a work week and a
weekend. Think of languages as also rhythmic. We think of dance, we think of music, we think
of poetry as rhythmic, but we do not think of languages as rhythmic but language also has its
rhythm. It contains regular beats and pauses.
Your language rhythm is an expression of your life’s rhythm. If you are a slow speaker you can
consciously vary your rate to increase speed. Your speaking rate is similar to your rate while
reading out loud. A slow speaker reads about 120 words per minute while a fast speaker reads
more than 190 words per minute.
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Now let us read the following words passage in your everyday speaking style. Do not attempt to
read interpretatively or use vocal variety. A slash occurs in, at, 50 words intervals. Use a
stopwatch or a watch with a second-hand to time yourself and determine your speaking rate. This
is from the US president’s message on education to the Congress on January 29, 1963. This is
John .F. Kennedy himself.
Education is the key stone in the area of freedom and progress. Nothing has contributed more to
the enlargement of this nation's strength and opportunities then our traditional system of free
Universal elementary and Secondary Education, coupled with wide spread availability of college
education. For the individual, the doors to the school house, to the library and to the college lead
to the richest treasures to our open society to the power of knowledge, to the training and skills
necessary for the productive employment, to the wisdom, the ideals and the culture which enrich
life and to the creative self-disciplined understanding of society needed for good citizenship in
today's changing and challenging world.
For the nation increasing the quality and availability of education is vital to both our nation’s
security and our domestic well-being. A free nation can rise no higher than the standard of
excellence set by its school and colleges. Ignorance and illiteracy, unskilled workers and school
dropouts, these and other failures of our educational system breed failures in our social and
economic system. Delinquency, unemployment, chronic dependence, a waste of human
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resources, a loss of productive power and purchasing power and an increase in tax supported
benefits.
The loss of only 1 year’s income due to unemployment is more than the total cost of 12 years of
education through High School. Failure to improve educational performance is thus not only
poor social policy; it is a poor economics. At the turn of the century only 10% of our adult had a
high school or college education. Today, such an education has become a requirement for an
increasing number of jobs. Yet 40% of our youths are dropping out before graduating from high
school. Now only 43% of our adults have completed high school.
Only 8% of our adults have completed college and only 16% of our young people are presently
completing college. As a science advisory committee has reported, one of our most serious
manpower shortages is the lack of PhD’s in engineering, science and mathematics. Only about
one half of 1% of our school age generation is achieving PhD in all degrees. Thus, we see that it
requires a scientific effort which demonstrates the superiority of freedom and it requires an
electorate in every state with sufficiently broad horizons and sufficient maturity of judgment to
guide this nation safely through whatever lies ahead.
Okay. Now we will show you some tricks. If you are a fast speaker. This was almost perfect
incidentally. She managed 125/minutes. I was timing her and it was almost 125 words a minute.
Try this, take a full two seconds to say each of the following words. Droopy, roar, lovely,
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glimmer, rustle, lonely, crash, grumble, snowflakes, sluggish, stroll, fluffy, gloomy, luscious,
merry, passion, hush, happy, sputter, murmur, stretch, moan, lover, delicious, grisly, rumble.
Now come to, if you are a slow speaker, say each of the following words rapidly. Flip, glib, tip,
snap, clip, nit, flip, chip, snit, pip, blip, fib, flit, dip, glint, bit, snit, click. You can try this out.
Write a 1 page composition describing your daily activity. Then read it aloud. If you are a slow
speaker read it as rapidly as you can. If you are a fast speaker, lengthen the time you spend
saying each word.
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Now we move to pause. Whether to pause or not. Let us question ‘to be or not to be,’ ‘to pause
or not to pause.’ Some of us do not pause at all and some of us pause for so long that people
think have we gone to sleep. Now pause is a very effective substitute for non-words. Many of us
when we are stuck for words we use non-words and these non-words are very irritating for the
person who is listening to you. You have to find out what is your non-word. High school girls,
their favorite non-word is ‘like.’
Every sentence they say, it is punctuated with ‘like you know what,’ ‘like I was going,’ ‘like I
was going,’ ‘like you know he was so good,’ so it is ‘you know,’ ‘like’ and somebody I know,
somebody I know used, ‘what is its name,’ if you have read your Salman Rushdie there is a
character who uses the term ‘what is its name’ as a non-word. In Hindi it is, ‘Kya naam lete hai?’
in Punjabi it is, ‘Ki na laida ai?’ and my favorite person, my uncle, used to punctuate every word
with, ‘Ki na laida ai?’ What do you say? So you have to find your own non-word.
In Hindi we use the word ‘takiya kalam’ to talk about non words but the substitute for non-word
is, whenever you find yourself using a non-word, stop. Instead of non-word use pause. We know
some of our leaders, some speakers, some very well-known orators. Think of Atal Bihari
Vajpaiji. How he used pause to an art. Now remember, you think when you pause people are
bored, or you feel nervous that people are not listening to you. No you give the opposite
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impression. You give the impression that you are thinking, you are thoughtful, or you give the
impression of giving emphasis to the part of the information you are emphasizing.
So read the following selection and pause at each dash. We have not marked the dashes for you;
we will mark it for you and send it to the activity. Then take a selection from a book, magazine
or newspaper and do the same.
Gone forever. Here I sit amongst the long grasses and the reed, in a solitary place
where my breath is freed, on an Indian summer evening on the lake bed, autumn
has come, yet the warmth has not fled. Blazing orange skies are mirrored to
reflect, I cannot imagine a scene been any more perfect as I looked up and an
unfallen leaf got my gaze, spotlight it in the sun's last golden rays. I noticed this
crimson leaf as it began to wave the end of a short life that I could not save, then
swept away suddenly by the winds’ rake and ripples formed as it landed on the
still lake.
The leaf was carried away and my eyes followed, then drowned by the water’s
surface and swallowed, windy fingertips tugged it from the branch to sever,
existing once, like today and then was gone forever.
This was brilliant, because she combined volume along with pause. Now you see one of the ways
of using pauses, the guide is punctuation. So we are trained to pause after, for a small time after a
comma, a longer time after full stop. But in addition to the punctuation which is marked in the
written passage, we also need to mark out the breath pauses because when we speak we need to
take a breath. And if we do not take a breath pause, we get stuck.
You know our voice comes out because you are unable to breathe, which I tend to do because I
get so excited and start talking so fast that I forget to pause for breath. So the voice is not clear.
You need to use breath pauses, the way she used. First she uses pause after ‘here I said’ and after
‘and the reed, in a solitary place,’ where she was using punctuation but when she said ‘here I sit,’
there was no punctuation. She broke up the sentence into breath pauses.
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And as she went lower, look at the way she uses long pauses when she says, ‘I could not save by
the wind rake as it landed on the lake’. So by the time you came here, ‘swallowed’, she was
using long pauses and she was combining the long pauses along with volume to get the effect. I
wonder if you could explain the notion of breath pause.
Yes definitely. As we speak, and we are breathing you do not really, are, aware of breathing. it
happens, it occurs very spontaneously. But if you try to speak very fast what happens is that the
words which need to be emphasized maybe we would just rush through them because we did not
breathe enough, because the voice comes from right from the chest. It is a chest voice in which
we talk. So the continuous flow of air is very necessary. The lungs get filled with air and if you
try to speak very fast sometimes the lungs. At one point of time, the lungs will need the air back
and may be.
Say for an example if I talk continuously and do not stop for any kind of breath as I am doing
now, see, I have to breathe. I have to just stop for a breath because I was not normally breathing,
I used once stretch. I used one half of the air that was there in my lungs to continuously speak.
So it not only hinders the understanding of the meaning of whatever is being said, what I want to
deliver. It also creates a difficulty in producing the correct volume, producing the correct pause
both. So we need to stop for breath pauses in order to, you know, speak effectively and to deliver
the meaning properly.
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Now we come to inflection. Inflections compromise another important characteristic of speaking.

An inflection is a raised pitch, a high note used to add emphasis to a word. A change in inflection
may often change the meaning or implication of a sentence as illustrated in the following
example. I was born in India, I was born in India, I was born in India, I was born in India, I was
born in India. How do we choose, how do we use pitch?
Here we are using emphasizing the different words. In inflection basically, as mam said, that
inflection is a change in the characteristic of the speaking. Suddenly change the tone, the pitch.
So as you speak with the raised pitch and emphasize a particular word, the entire meaning of the
sentence changes. The basic meaning remaining the same, the emphasis changes. So here like, I
was born in India, ‘I’ not ‘you’.
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So I was born in India how dare you say I was not, I was, I definitely was born in India. So there
is, I definitely was, is, definitely is missing in the sentence but emphasizing or a raised pitch on
was, is indicating that I definitely was born in India. And I was born in India. Can you illustrate
that using a nonsense syllable? How we use pitch in the nonsense syllable like in music how
would you raise your pitch?
Okay. Like in music also when we use pitch in music it is little different from speaking because
in music there are different tones. So when you raise the pitch again, especially in general like
opera, gradually we raise the pitch and a higher pitch, we go to the higher pitch only when we
again want to emphasize or the intensity of emotion is very high. So if you raise the pitch like,
say, for example, the pitch actually indicates a lot of emotion like the songs, the music which
have basic notes like aaa, aaa, hmm. We say that this is a very dark kind of music.
But as you go higher like haaa, haaa, haaaa. May be you want to express something very deep or
it higher pitch can also express something dark. It is not that only it expresses something with but
whatever it is it will be very intense if the pitch is very high. And generally female voices have
high pitch. So songs and music with that kind of quality are generally sung by females.
So you might have seen, say, for example, the patriotic songs, towards the end of the song it goes
to a very high pitch like, if you heard this particular song from the movie Roja there is ‘Bharat
Humko Jaan Se Pyara Hai,’ starts with a very low. ‘Bharat Humko Jaan Se Pyara Hai,’ so very
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soft but then it raises to the higher pitch, ‘Kashmir se Gujarat Tak’ it is a very high pitch, it goes
to very high pitch. So it indicates the kind of vigor or energy.
Thanks. So we conclude with inflection; we talked about paralanguage where you can use only
sounds to express your…, what you want to say. You do not even need to use words. Without the
use of words you can use certain sounds to convey your attitude, to how you feel. And we will
conclude this with practicing some of these non-words to express certain emotions using, a
certain attitude using intonation. Uh-oh, Ah hah, Mmmmm, Tsk! Tsk!, Oops!, Shhh.., Uh-huh,
Humphf!, Hah!, Huh-uh, Whew!, Phew!, Hmmm.
Shubhangi, how about you doing it in different way? Maybe I can try. Each of the word
nowadays it is very much used in the conversation because now we are gradually moving to
texting and we use these things when we are chatting on either Facebook or WhatsApp or other
messenger or whatever. So expressing yourselves becomes very difficult when you are not face
to face. So these words you know, come to rescue because while reading you will read like Uh-
oh. So there is a tone, ok.
There is a tone to it, ‘Uh-oh’ something wrong has happened, ‘Uh-oh.’ Then ‘Ah hah,’ ok. So
appreciating something. Then ‘Mmmmm,’ thinking something, so it is like thoughtful something
like ‘hmmm hmmm,’ it is like the last one. So that is so common while texting. Then.
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Could you do it? ‘Hmmm.’
It also indicates something either something, oh something fishy going on or maybe, okay great.
So there is a lot of paralanguages something, para means beyond so it goes beyond language.
Even without using language you are actually expressing a lot.
So then we come to ‘oops,’ then ‘shhh,’ ‘Uh-huh,’ ‘Uh-huh’, ok ‘Uh-huh’, it is like I am

listening, yeah continue. Then, ‘humphf!’ It is like an irritable sound. Then ‘Hah! Hah!’ Really
ok. Then ‘Huh- hu,’ then ‘whew!’ Ok its appreciating, it is surprising, great. Then, ‘phew!’
Thank god, the exam is over. So this ‘phew’ will add a lot of emphasis to that. ‘Hmmm…’ is the
most common paralanguage that we use while talking.
Now why don’t you try it out yourself using tone to express feeling when we say ‘we did not like
the tone of someone's voice,’ ‘we like the tone of someone's voice.’ You can do it on your own
using these nonsense syllables and if you are stuck, try listening to my favorite song which uses
this very well. Listen to ‘Guru Naal Ishq Mitha,’ Malkit Singh and try to do different ‘aye hais’
and see how one can use just the tone to indicate different meanings using nonsense syllables.
You want to try it out? ‘Aye Hai.’
‘O Guru Naal Ishq Mitha, aye hai! O Guru Naal Ishq Mitha, oye hoye!’ Something like that.
Thank you. Thank you so much.
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Lecture 20
Sample Speeches
Hello. Now I am going to illustrate to you through some of the well-known public voices,
how people can combine voice with delivery to make a perfect speech or to make a proper
perfect recitation. Some of these are professional actors but not all. And you will see how
they combine some of the things we shared with you about improving your voice and
delivery, to say things which if we were to say would sound very ordinary. But when they say
it, let us see what happens when they say it.
I would like to begin with one of the most famous voices of this century, that of Mr.
Amitabh Bachchan. His deep baritone voice and I would have him reciting his father’s poetry
from Madhushala in this particular video to show how he uses duration.
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I wanted to illustrate this as an example of some of the best voices in India and at the same
time how Mr. Bachchan lingers on each and every word when he recites the Madhushala. All
of us speak Hindi, I am sorry some of you are not happy with our use of Hindi but I am using
these examples from various Indian languages to show you that our voice or delivery is not a
prerogative of any particular speaker of any language.
And if someone speaks Hindi in the Allahbadi style that Amitabh Bachchan uses or the
Lucknowi style, one enunciates each and every syllable, each and every sound very clearly,
lingers over each and every syllable, relishes each word when one pronounces that word and
saw an example of that. But Mr. Bachchan is also a past master of perfect enunciation
whether he is delivering in English or in Hindi. So now let us watch his magic work when he
recites ‘India Poised’ anthem.
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Did you notice how he load his voice and then he raise the volume suddenly and what impact
it did had?
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Okay. You found the combination of the use of pause, pitch, volume, pace, when he delivers
this ‘India Poised’ anthem. Those of you who want to watch it in Hindi, it is available in
Hindi as well. And you see how you use a different delivery style when you use a different
language. Now we move on to another actor and her inception speech native speaker of
English, we have Emma Watson speech.
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Look at the way she uses pause here. She uses pause, pitch, volume, again to get her message
across. Now we may that they are professional actors and professional actors are trained.
They get paid to do what they are doing. So they have perfected the art of speech and
delivery of voice. They have perfected their voices, they have perfected their delivery. But let
us look at people who are not professional actors but some public figures who are also
equally adapted at using different ways of doing things to get their messages across.
So let us listen to Prime Minister Modi talk about the Swachta Abhiyan, the clean India.
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Look at the way he used volume when he wanted to get across right from the message that it
is our duty to clean India. Look at the way his volume rises.
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So, how he lowers his voice when says, ‘Desh Ko Badalna Hai’. At this point he lowers his
voice. This is an excellent example of the control of volume to get your message across. And
we will end with the speech of another Prime Minister, Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee to
understand how pause can be used as an effective tool.
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I hope that some of these speeches we have played to you along with the tips we have
provided you on how to get these effects. Here we have finished products of how people
spoke and we also shared with you, how you can also develop into a powerful speaker, how
you can improve your voice and delivery by practicing some of the activities we have shared
with you. Thank you.
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To Speaking Effectively
Lecture 21
Conversation Skills (Continued)
Good morning. Today we are going to introduce you to how to make introductions. Introduce
you to how to make introductions. I am going to look 2-3 things. The first thing that I am going
to show you is, how do you greet people? What kind of greetings to use? The second thing we
are going to do is, what is the hierarchy of introductions? How does one introduce oneself? How
does one introduce one person to another person? And the third thing we will do is, the rules for
using first names titles and so on. Okay, so these are the three things you will do in the session
today.
Now the importance of greetings. why do we greet people? Why do we greet people? Have you
ever thought about that? Why do we greet people at all? What is the meaning of greetings and
salutations? There are some kind of rituals, right? So what is the meaning of the ritual of this
kind? When I come to the classroom you wish me, you wish me in the morning. What is the
meaning? Why do we do it? When you pass a friend you wish them. In every culture we have
some kind of greetings and salutations.
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What is the meaning of these? Why do we do them? We do them because it is our way of saying,
I acknowledge you. You want to show your friendliness towards another person. You want to
acknowledge the presence of another person. Yeah, just want to create the feeling of - to build
relationships with people. So such small rituals, they are very small gestures. But they go a long
way in improving your relationships. They go a long way in showing your attitude towards
another person.
Now in every culture we have people greeting one another using local forms of greeting. In
every language we have greetings. So, how many of you’re doing ‘Art of living?’ Anyone doing
‘Art of living?’ In ‘Art of living’ they have a greeting ‘Jai Gurudev, Jai Gurudev.’ But what I am
saying is that in every culture we greet somebody with a ‘namaste’ or ‘Jai Ramji ki’ or could be
‘Salaam Walekum’, ‘Aadab’. But in the western world we use greetings like ‘Good Morning’
and so on.
But it does not matter what the greeting is. The importance is whether you greet or you do not
greet. Now if you’d notice in India and in the western world, I will not name the institutions, but
in most institutions people will just pass you by without greeting you. You know when you pass
someone in the corridor, you meet someone in the parking lot, you know each other but people
just pass you by without even greeting you.
Whereas in the west, whenever you go to work, when you enter your workplace, you meet
somebody at the door, you meet someone at the parking lot, you meet someone when you are
entering your room, you meet someone in the loo. Whoever you meet, they always say ‘hi’ there;
they shout a greeting to you. They nod even if they do not use verbal greetings. So that is part of
the etiquette. But in India we tend to forget that even if someone, we know someone, we just
pass them by without greeting. because there seems to be a confusion, whether we should greet
or we should not greet.
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So do not.. at work always make it a habit to greet anybody you meet pleasantly, the first time
you meet someone, particularly subordinate staff. Now we, there is also hierarchy like, do not go
on an ego trip, you say, ‘OK, this person does not is junior to me, why should I be greeting
them?’ You could also greet your juniors. There is no problem with that and initiate the greeting.
You can initiate the greeting. Let me give you an example. Like we have different kinds of
people at the top and some, say, directors within IIT Kharagpur, they wait for you to greet them.
They feel, you know, the director is supposed to be the highest authority in IIT and the director
waits…, for everybody is junior to him. Whether you are students or staff or faculty and the
director waits for you to make the first move and nods to you. Usually that is a position.
But then we had a director who would, you know,… initially it was unnerving because that is
actually polite but none of are used to it. So when he would be passing by, you would find
somebody shouting ‘Hello, Good Morning’ to you, nodding to you and you are not used to, first
of all, the head of the institution greeting you. But that is the normal thing. Whereas we had
expected the other way to be normal that you greet your senior person.
Respond to all greetings especially from juniors with a smile and pleasant eye contact and
perhaps a brief word. So usually you have seen the people, when you greet them, they very curtly
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nod to you. Okay, like I am doing you a favor just by greeting you. So you can be pleasant even
if someone is junior to you. Now you will look at some of the structures for greeting.
May I have some of you come here and look at the range of greetings? I will quickly show you
the slide, to show you the range between the very formal greeting and the very informal greeting
and the responses to that. If it is a very formal greeting, then the response also should be a formal
response. If it is an informal greeting, then the response is also informal. Otherwise it is very
odd. So, and then there are cultural norms.
Now in western cultures, like if you, when you, go to the US or wherever you go to study abroad
you will find that you can shout a ‘hello’ to your supervisor or your professor. It is okay to do
that. But in India some senior people, more traditional academics, do not like being greeted by a
‘hello’. I do recall a former professor who complained in fact. He said, ‘This person has no
etiquette. If an American student comes and says hello to me, I do not mind. But an Indian
student coming and saying hello to me, it is not acceptable to me.’
So, you have to think of who you are greeting and depending on that you have to decide
accordingly what greeting you would use. So, let us have some role plays on what kind of
greetings, going from the very informal to the very formal. You run into your friend on your way
to class.
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Student 1: Hey Yashpal.
Student 2: Hey yo man.
Student 1: So, going for class?
Student 2: Yeah, had your breakfast?
Student 1: Yeah. Oh, I remembered one thing. Have you done your math’s assignment?
Student 2: Oh, I totally forgot about that.
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Student 1: Okay, no problem man. See you later.
Looking for his way to some room in IIT.
Student 1: Hi, this is my first day at IIT. Can you please tell me the way to NR 222 classroom?
Student 2: Hi, actually just go straight and take the first left, there is it.
Student 1: Thank you very much.
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You meet a stranger at the CAT interview.
Student 1: Hello, have you come for the interview?
Student 2: Ha yes sir, ha.
You have come to meet me in my office.
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Student: Good morning mam.
Teacher: Good morning.
Student: I just to see my answer a bit.
Another way of greeting as they do it in the US.
Student 1: Hey man, how are you doing?
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Student 2: Fine bro.
So this is the range from very informal to the most formal. It is a range. We will begin with the
most informal.
Student 2: Hey Anjali. Going to class?
Student 1: Yes, you?
Student 2: See you then.
Student 1: Bye.
Little more formal.
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Student 1: Hello Zenia.
Student 2: Good morning, have a good day.
Student 1: You too.
Most formal.
Student: Good morning mam.
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Teacher: Good morning Anjali.
From greetings, we move onto introductions. Why do we need to introduce and where?
Whether you are at business meeting or at social mixers, board room, when overlooked by
someone's introduction, when seated next to someone at the luncheon, when someone is having
trouble placing you. So, we need to introduce yourself and we need to introduce others. In the
olden days when the people knew each other, one did not have to introduce them. But today we
often come into contact with strangers, people we do not know. So it is very important,
introduction has become a norm.
We need to introduce people to one another. We need to introduce ourselves to others. How does
one make introductions? And what is the hierarchy of introductions? We will look at that next.
introducing yourself. How do you introduce yourself? That is the first thing we are going to do.
So how would you do it? So suppose you go to a party, we will begin with the social situation
and then we will move to the business situation. We go to a party and you are standing there and
the host is too busy to introduce you, so what would you do?
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Or you may meet a group of people who assume you already know the new person. So, they do
not think that introductions is necessary. So you might have to introduce yourself if you are
going to be talking to anyone in a party with unfamiliar faces. Remember that if you forgot your
introduction etiquette, a bright smile goes a long way. So you are in a party and you are
introducing yourself.
Student 1: Hey, my name is Nachiketa.
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Student 2: Hi, my name is Dhairya.
Student 1: Nice meeting you.
Introducing yourself in a business setting. The first version.
Student 1: Hello, my name is Nachiketa Vagela. I am in the account section.
Student 2: Hi Nachiketa Vagela, my name is Dhairya Solanki, I am in the shake office.
Now we have a second version.
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Student 1: Good morning, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Anjali Jha.
Student 2: Hello Anjali, nice to meet you, have a good day.
Okay. Which version was better, the first or the second? And which response was better? How
do you respond when someone introduces himself or herself? How are you supposed to respond?
When someone says, ‘how do you do?’ You are supposed to say, ‘how do you do?’ You do not
say, ‘I am doing well’. You say, ‘how do you do?’
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With younger people and in more informal settings you say ‘hello’ or ‘hi’. But do not say
‘pleased to meet you’. Because you cannot mix up, remember you cannot mix up the formal and
the informal. If you are using formal, use formal throughout. If you are using informal use
informal. Never assume, ‘how do you do’ means ‘how are you’. That is what I said when you
say ‘how you doing’, ‘how do you do’, that does not mean you start a string of, a list of the
ailments you are suffering from or the problems you had in the last week. You are just supposed
to say ‘you are good’.
Do not give a true account of your state of health. So if imagine how odd it will be if somebody
says ‘I would like to introduce myself’, and you say ‘Fine fine’. Because you are mixing the very
informal and very formal. If someone says, ‘I would like to introduce myself’, you say ‘Pleased
to meet you’, ‘I am happy to meet you’, ‘I am pleased to meet you’, ‘It is a pleasure meeting
you’. So you always use the formal in the formal. Do not mix up the informal with the formal.
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Now we come to the hierarchy. Introductions, greetings are all about hierarchy. As I said earlier
the senior person always waits for juniors to greet them because there is a hierarchy. You say,
‘Okay, this person is junior to me, so he should be greeting me, not the other way around’. And
in the older days, the rules were very clear. But now the rules are so confusing, that people just
do not greet. Because the Old Army rule is that the man always greets a woman.
So if you meet friends from, our Air Force officers from Salua or Kalaikunda, they are extremely
well-mannered because they immediately greet a woman because they are trained to do it. They
will open doors. Now all the things are considered very old-fashioned now when the Old Army
rule is the man always greets a woman, the woman does not greet a man. But today the business
world has changed.
Precedence and respect is signaled by the name said first. Courtesy gives honor to those who are
female, older or more distinguished. Men should be introduced to women. ‘Chandana, May I
introduce Amit Sengupta? Amit, this is Chandana Basu’. You always introduce younger people
to their elders or junior employees, say, to more senior people, such as directors. A new arrival
should be introduced to a group and husbands and wives should be introduced separately by
name, Pooja and Aditya Mehra, not as the Dewans or the Mehras. That is not how you do it.
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Introducing men to women. So let us do role play. Watch a role play on how a man is introduced
to a woman. Role play on introducing men to women, first version.
Student 1: Hello Astike, she is Vibhuti Singhania.
Student 2: Pleasure to meet you.
Student 3: Hi Astike. Nice meeting you.
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The second version now.
Student 1: Hello Astike. I would like you to meet my friend Vibhuti.
Student 2: Hi Astike.
Student 3: It is a pleasure to meet you.
Introducing younger people to older people. You are introducing your friend to your mother.
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Student 1: Hi Vibhuti, she is my mother Anjali.
Student 2: Hello ma'am, nice to meet you.
Mother: Nice meeting you.
The second version.
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Student 1: Good morning mom. I would like you to meet my friend who has come from IIT.
Student 2: Hello mam.
Student 1: Astike.
Mother: Hi Astike, how are you?
Student 2: I am fine ma’m.
Introducing people to someone in authority.
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Student 1: Good morning sir. Sir, I would like you to meet a fresh MBA graduate who is the
head of finance team of our company, Mr. Sandeep Tandya. Sir, who is the CEO of our
company.
Student 2: Okay, nice meeting you.
Student 3: Nice to meet you.
Introducing a single person to a group.
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Student 1: Good morning everyone. if you would allow me, I would like you to meet the new
person, this gentleman who is a fresh graduate from IIT Kharagpur who joined our company. So
you already met Mr. Sahil. So, he is Mr. Vishwanath and he is Mr. Basu.
Student 1: And, they are there in the finance team along with you.
Student 3: Hello.
Let us look at the rule about using names. When do you use surnames and when do you use
names?
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Bear in mind that introductions should help people to decide, what modes of address to use. If
you know someone very well and use a nickname, it is more helpful to introduce your friend by
the name (that) the other person may be expected to use.
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Student 1: Okay, before we proceed with the meeting, I wanted to introduce you sir to them so
we will quickly go by the introduction once again. Meet Mr. Vishwanath.
Student 2: Hello sir, my name is Vishwanath.
Student 1: Mr. AV Ramacharylu.
Student 3: No, I am sorry but my name is AV Ramacharylu.
Student 1: And Mr. Sandeep Tandya.
Are you one of those people who forgets names? I always do that. if you are kid soul and you
forget names, what do you do? You have just been introduced to someone and you have
forgotten their name.
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Student 1: Nice meeting you. Sorry, I usually forget the names. So may I have your name please?
Student 2: Vishwanath.
Student 1: Vishwanath. Is this the right way of pronouncing your name?
Student 2: Okay.
Student 3: AV Ramacharylu.
Student 1: It is AV Ramacharylu?
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Student 3: AV Ramacharylu.
Student 1: Nice meeting you too.
Student 3: Thank you sir.
Student 4: Sandeep.
Student 1: Sandeep, nice meeting you too.
In the more formal context, you may also use titles such as Lord or Professor.
Older people will be expected to be introduced by their title. So suppose you go to the Jaipur
festival and you meet the author Naipaul. Are you going to say this is Mr. Naipaul? You know
that now he is a Lord. You say, Sir Naipaul. And in IIT for instance, people are very particular,
you cannot dare to introduce someone as Mr. so and so. Even medical doctors, if you dare to
introduce, a medical doctor by saying Mr. Bhattacharya, he is going to be very offended. You
say, Doctor Bhattacharya, Professor Roy, not Mrs Roy. So you must be very careful about titles.
The second thing is about using first names. You must always play it safe. Always address
people who are senior to you by their surname. It is always the appellation followed by surname
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Mr. so and so, Dr. so and so, Prof. so and so, unless the person himself says, call me John or call
me Jane or whatever. You wait for them to tell you. You do not initiate.
The person you are introducing should not have to guess that the other is, for example, a doctor
or lawyer or even someone who would rather be called ‘Mrs.’ It is considerate for the person
making the introduction to provide information that may avert future embarrassment. Now this
embarrassment is very common in Indians. mainly because everyone assumes that the women
above a certain age should be married.
And I myself being, I have heard people introduce colleagues of mine who are single, very
happily single, but they were introduced as Mrs. so and so and these women, they, have learned
to take it in their stride that they would never correct them, they will just say ‘OK its fine’
because they have got used to the idea that everybody should be Mrs. so and so. But in today's
world you dare do it, you address somebody who is single as, even married women, as Mrs.
Because today the correct title is Ms. Let us watch some role plays.
Student 1: For you go ahead with your presentation. I have already introduced you to Mr. Daik.
Student 2: Sorry, you should say, Dr. Daik.
Student 1: I am sorry. Dr. Daik.
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Using first names. it depends on your organization, different organizations of different cultures;
in IIT Kharagpur, for instance, even if we are talking to a junior colleague, we always add the
designation, doctor or professor before we address them. We do not use first names. But in IIT
Bombay everyone uses first names. You can call your senior by their first name and they do not
feel offended. So it depends on which kind of organization you are in.
Advertising companies, for instance, or software companies, you call your boss by your first
name because they allow you to do it. But do not initiate the move. Wait for your boss to ask you
to use his first name.
Student 1: Good morning Mr. Daik. I have come up with the new presentation for the project we
are working on.
Student 2: So, it is nice meeting with you again but you know you can simply call me by my first
name.
Student 1: Mr. Jia.
Student 2: Yes, that is right.
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It is less common in everyday practice to introduce someone as Mr. Joy Bhattacharya, although
Mr, Mrs, Miss are titles too. An exception may be made when introducing a child to an adult.
Some adults wish children to address them ass for example, ‘Mrs. Sinha’. However to introduce
people using the titles Mr, Mrs, or Miss for one party and not the other may imply that you are
insinuating one party is less important, so you must be sensitive and not appear rude.
Student 1: So I would like you to introduce to Professor Roy. Ramakrishan Raut.
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Etiquette for nicknames, pet names, shortened names. If you have been introduced to ‘Natasha’,
but everyone calls her ‘Sha’ or ‘Tash’ you should continually call her ‘Natasha’ until she
requests to be called by her shortened name. That is because you are not at that level of
friendship and familiarity as others. However if she introduces herself as ‘Sha’, you may call her
‘Sha’ then. Now let us watch what happened in this situation.
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Student 1: Hello Miss Nanra. How are you doing?
Student 2: You can call me Zenia. You do not have to say Ms.
Student 1: Hey Zeenie. How are you?
Student 2: I mean you cannot call me Zeenie and my friends call me by that name.
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Student 1: Sorry.
I will conclude with some of the structures that you can use for making introductions. Just like
greetings there is a range from the very informal to the very formal and again back from the very
formal to the very informal. So you could say like one of my former professors used to introduce
me. With a very formal introduction. ‘Allow me to introduce you to Professor Doctor Gera Roy.’
Now if you are the seniormost person in the group, a person in the authority and on the wrong
side of 80, you are permitted to do that because it goes with your image.
But if I try to do it, I would sound very pompous and stupid. ‘I would like to introduce you’, it is
the other variation. ‘I would like to introduce you’, ‘Let me introduce you’, ‘I would like you to
meet’, another way of saying it is, ‘Have you met so and so?’ or just say, ‘Meet this is’ and
followed by the name. We just say the name. When there are a lot of people you do not have
time to say ‘Allow me to introduce you’ or ‘Let me introduce you’ or ‘Meet so and so’. We just
say the name.
So, like an introduction, like in greetings, we must know when to use the right form, the very
formal usage or the very informal usage depending on the age, gender, the contexts, the
atmosphere in which you meet. So you may never use your bosses’ name in the business
contexts even if the boss happens to be your friend. But if you meet your boss in an informal
situation, maybe in the evening or at a social occasion, you may use the first name. With this we
conclude the session on greetings and making introductions.
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Student 1: Hi, I am Richa, Richa Sharma.
Student 2: Hello Richa I am Zenia.
Student 1: Nice meeting you.
Student 1: I am fine. How are you?
Student 2: I am fine. You have come from where?
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Student 1: I am from Ranchi. I stay in Ranchi. My hometown is also there.
Student 2: Okay. So you have come here to participate like the fest, right?
Student 1: Yes,
Student 2: So how is your experience so far?
Student 1: I have been to HS like I am coming to HS So, it is, like, it’s very nice it is fun. That is
why you know it is very compelling that I need to come like each year.
Student 2: Okay, so the competitive spirit keeps you like coming to visit here time and again.
Student 1: Yeah, actually. Most importantly it is the fun you know like the people around. So it
is like very cool, very cool.
Student 2: Okay, so what are the events that you have participated in so far?
Student 1: Like, in the first year I participated in Sense of Humor. So, although we did not win
anything but it was really fun and (in the) second we participated in MIT, right. So, that was fun
too because it gave me a lot of information about the social causes.
Student 2: Okay, okay. Centrifuge here is a very nice event.
Student 1: Sorry?
Student 2: Centrifuge
Student 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly. Lot of innovative... People get very creative.
Student 2: Thanks. Thanks for sharing here.
Student 1: Yeah, nice meeting you.
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Lecture 22
Hello. We looked at greetings and making introductions. Now let us move on to how to ask for
information?
I am going to do two or three things again. I am going to show you the phrases and the structures
you should use when you are asking for information. I will also take you through the entire range
from the most informal to the formal and show you what is ok and what is not ok.
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Now, whatever, whether asking for information may be a very simple thing like asking
somebody the time. Or it could be asking for something very detailed like a complicated process
but in our everyday transactions we do need to ask for information. you should be able to ask for
information without giving offence.
In both cases it is important to use an appropriate form. This is what we are trying to find out
today. For example, when asking for information from a friend use a more informal form. When
asking a colleague, use a slightly more formal form. Finally, when asking for information from a
stranger, use an appropriately formal construction.
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So, sometimes you want to ask English people for information. In English, it is not very polite to
start a conversation with a direct question. For this reason we have a number of phrases. Let us
begin with the most informal.
When structures used for, when asking for information, very informal and these are permissible
only when you are with friends and family. So it begins with a very simple question, what? +
Helping Verb + Subject + Verb. So if you are asking a friend or a family member for
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information, you can ask a direct question. Like, how old are you? Where do you live? It is okay
to do that.
Student 1: Hi.
Student 2: Hi.
Student 1: Nice shirt.
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Student 1: How much did it cost?
Student 2: A lot.
Now we move on to more formal, for, every day simple questions. Use these forms for simple
everyday questions in stores, with colleagues at work and in other informal situations. Pardon
me, excuse me, can you tell me + wh? + subject + verb. Can you tell me when the train arrives?
Pardon me, could you tell me, how, what the book costs? Now let us watch a role play.
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Student 1: Excuse me.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: Do you mind me asking how much did the book cost you?
Student 2: Yeah, sure you can. It is for Rs.500/-.
Student 1: Okay.
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Formal for more complicated questions and asking important people questions. How formal can
you be? You have to use your discretion to decide how far formal you can go. Sometimes it is
very awkward when you try to be formal. What is okay in one language is not okay in another
language. So I have a German friend, a young German friend, who is studying Punjabi music.
He speaks pure Punjabi and pure Hindi but whenever he asks for information, he uses a German
structure. In German, we never ask for information without saying, ‘Entschuldigen sie, bitte,’
excuse me please. So now we are on a busy intersection on Janpath in Delhi and I have my
friend, say, stopping at the corner on a very busy intersection and asking people, ‘maaf kijiyega,
aap hume bata sakte hai ke waha ka raasta kaha hai?’ (Excuse me, could you please tell me the
way to get there?). And people look at him okay what is wrong with you.
People do not have time on a busy intersection for ‘excuse me.’ Instead, ‘udhar kaise jaana hai?’
usually in Hindi you say, how do I get there? But in German you always ask ‘Entschuldigen sie,
bitte,’ Excuse me please, how do I get there? So you have to use your discretion to decide what
is okay in what situation. Use these forms when asking complicated questions that require a lot
of information, as well as asking information, questions, from important people such as your
boss or on a job interview, etc. Such as I wonder, you always use buffers, because you want to be
tentative, you do not want to ask information directly.
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So you use phrases like, I wonder, would you mind? ‘I wonder if you could explain how health
insurance is handled at your company’, ‘I wonder if you could provide information on your
pricing structure’, ‘Would you mind telling me a little more about the benefits of this company’,
‘Would you mind going over the savings plan again’. Let us watch another role play.
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Teacher: Come right in, Zenia Nanra. I have some good news for you.
Student 2: Hello, mam.
Teacher: You are hired. We’ve selected you for the position of the P.R. Officer.
Student 2: Thank you so much mam. I was wondering if I could ask you about my package.
Teacher: Not at all. You may go to Accounts Section and they will explain the company policy
to you.
Student 2: Thank you so much ma’m.
Asking for information, mind you, there is world of difference between, a can and could, do you
mind, would you? They are not the same.
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We tend to think that we can substitute one for the other, but it makes a lot of difference. Which
particular phrase you use in which situation. So, a phrase like, can you tell me? Could you tell
me? I'd like to know. Do you know? Do you have any idea? Could anyone tell me? Would you
happen to know? I do not suppose you would know. I wonder, if you could tell me? I wonder, if
someone could tell me? Now, phrase one to ten are all followed by an indirect question. So
instead of saying, ‘What is the time?’ becomes, ‘Can you tell me what the time is?’ you are
tentative. phrase two is a little more, phrase two is a little more formal and polite than phrase
one.
Instead of saying ‘can you’ if you say ‘could’, it is more polite. Phase three, six, seven, eight,
nine and ten are polite and good to use if you are asking a stranger or you are asking at a Public
Information Desk. Phrases like, do you know? Do you have any idea? Could anyone tell me? I'd
like to know? You could use these with a stranger. Phrase four is more formal, ‘do you know?’
Phrase five and seven are more informal if you say them without the part in brackets.
So, the phrase, ‘Any idea what is cooking for dinner today’? That will be informal. But, ‘Do you
have any idea if the boss is out of station or in town?’ That becomes formal. Phrase nine and ten
are very formal. I wonder, if you could tell me? I wonder, if someone could tell me? And in an
informal situation some people may react strangely, if they think that you are being sarcastic. So
if everyone has not shown up for the meeting and I say, ‘I wonder if someone could tell me when
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we are going to start the meeting?’ that would sound as if I am being sarcastic. By using phrases
one to ten we make it easier for the listener to say, ‘Sorry I do not know.’
Okay. Formulas for asking for information. Here are some of the most common ones, could you
tell me? Do you know? Do you happen to know? Do you happen to have a piece of paper on
you? Do you happen to have a pen on you? We do not ask, ‘Give me a pen.’ You say, ‘Do you
happen to have a pen on you’? I would like to know. Could you find out? I am interested in. I am
looking for. And now, you try them out. Could you tell me what is the time by your watch? Do
you know we have ‘Spring Fest’ coming up next week? I would like to know, at what time will
the professor come? Could you find out about my mid semester marks as I am unable go to class
because of my injury? I am interested in finance. I was wondering, if you could tell me about the
upcoming projects?
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So, you can try these. Could you tell me when the next train leaves? Do you know how much
that vase costs? Do you happen to know where Tom lives? I’d like to know, what you think
about the new project. Could you tell me when the next train leaves? Could you find out when
she is going to arrive? So these are some for you to try out. You can try out the variations. Let us
watch these siblings waiting patiently for their favorite movie to start.
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Student 1: What time is the movie?
Student 2: I think it is at 8 o clock.
Student 1: Can you check please?
Student 2: You are such a lazy... Give me a second.
Student 1: Thanks sis.
Student 2: Yeah, the movie is at 8. Get off the couch sometimes.
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Now try this yourself. Try this role play yourself in a simple situation and then watch a customer ask a
shop assistant for information.
Student 1: Hey, excuse me. can you guide me to the men’swear please?
Student 2: Sure, the men’swear is right at the top floor.
Student 1: Okay. Can you just guide me to the sheets section?
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Student 2: No problem. The sheets are right at the 3rd floor, at the back.
Student 1: Oh, thank you. Thanks for your help.
Student 2: My pleasure.
Now let us move to a more complex, more formal situation between two colleagues.
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Student 1: Hello Angad.
Student 2: Hey hi.
Student 1: How you doing?
Student 1: So, you are ready for the event?
Student 2: Yeah, yeah.
Student 1: Do you mind me asking some of the questions about your event?
Student 1: Okay. You could tell me have you planned about the date when would it begin so that
I could start the publicity?
Student 2: Yeah, it is like starting from 1st March.
Student 1: Okay. And I was wondering if you’ve decided upon your sponsors?
Student 2: Yeha, I had a word with like few multinational companies. Let us see which one I
finalize.
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Student 1: And the cost of your, some, sources in the event?
Student 2: It is quite big.
Student 1: Okay. And how about the outsourcing of the event?
Student 2: It is going great yeah.
Student 1: Okay, wonderful. Okay see you then.
Student 1: Thanks.
Asking for information, asking for directions to go somewhere. Where is the chemist? Can you
give me the directions to the nearest bus-stop? How do you get to the train station? Where can I
get the nearest bakery? How do I get to the park? Is there a super market here? Is there a sports
shop around here? Can you tell me how to get to the library from here? What is the best way to
get to the computer stop from here? What is the quickest way to get to the music store from
here? And what is the easiest way to the nearest McDonald’s from here?
So you would find yourself asking for information when you go to a strange place, a strange city
and you often ask people for information. How do you do it?
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Now we move on to, we conclude how to reply to a request for information. When you are asked
for information, how do you reply? If you would like to provide information when asked for
information, start your reply with one of the following phrases. Informal, ‘sure, no problem’, ‘let
me see’. More formal would be, ‘I’d be happy to answer that’, ‘I should be able to answer your
question’, ‘It’d be a pleasure to help you’. When providing information people will sometimes
also offer to help in other ways. See the examples, we are gonna watch some examples now.
Informal.
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Student 1: Could you please tell me if there is a Subway in the campus?
Student 2: Sure, yeah there is one.
Student 1: Okay. And if you are not busy could you please direct me to Subway or take me
along?
Student 2: Yeah, let me see because I think I have an appointment right now.
Student 1: Anyway, thank you.
Formal.
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Student 1: Do you have any idea at what time the seminar would begin?
Student 2: Yeha, I will be happy to help you with that. I think it will begin in next half an hour.
Student 1: Okay. And would you mind taking me to the registration desk?
Student 2: No, I will be happy to help you with that.
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How do you say no when you are not able to help someone and not provide the information.
How do you say you cannot provide the information? If you do not have the answer to a request
for information, use one of the phrases to indicate that you are unable to answer the question.
Informal, Sorry I can’t help you out, sorry but I don’t know that, that is beyond me. More formal,
I am afraid I do not have the answer to that question. I’d like to help you. Unfortunately, I don’t
have that information/I don’t know. Saying ‘no’ is never fun, but sometimes it is necessary. It is
common to offer a suggestion as to where someone might find out the information required. In
India, on the other hand, people are very afraid to say no. They want to be so helpful that they
would always tell you something even if they do not have the answer.
You must have faced it when you tried driving through a city and you asked your way to
somebody’s house and people say, turn left, turn right even if they do not know. From this point
they say, ‘okay go and ask at the next traffic signal you can ask the person’. But people do not
like saying, ‘no’. You can say no. Let us watch the two ladies say ‘no’ in the right way. Formal.
Informal.
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Student 1: Hey, hello.
Student 2: Hello.
Student 1: Could you please tell me if there is a Subway in the campus?
Student 2: Sure, yeah there is one.
Student 1: Okay. And could you please direct me to Subway or could you come along there?
Student 2: Umm, let me see.
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You were supposed to be informal. Informal.
Student 1: Hey.
Student 2: Hey.
Student 1: Is there Subway around in the campus?
Student 2: Ya, there is one.
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Student 1: Okay. So come along if you are not busy. You can direct me to the place.
Student 2: Umm, let me see.
Student 1: Okay.
More formal.
Student 1: Good morning.
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Student 1: Could you tell me at what time the seminar would begin?
Student 2: Yeah, I will be happy to answer that. It will begin in next one hour.
Student 1: Okay. And do you mind taking me towards the registration desk?
Student 2: Yeah, it will be a pleasure to help you. I will just lead you to the desk.
Sometimes you don’t know the answer. When someone asks you for information, and you don’t
have the answer, don’t be afraid to say no. It is okay to say no. But it is important to say no in the
right way.
If you do not have the answer to a request for information, use one of the phrases below to
indicate that you are unable to answer the question. Sorry, Informal, ‘Sorry I can not help you
out’, ‘Sorry but I do not know that, that is beyond me’. You could also say it more formally. ‘I
am afraid I do not have the answer to that question’, ‘I’d like to help you, unfortunately I do not
have that information’. Saying ‘no’ is never fun, but sometimes it is necessary. It is common for
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people to offer a suggestion as to where someone might find out the information required.
Informal.
Student 1: Can you help me out with this problem?
Student 2: Sorry I cannot help you out.
Student 1: Umm, actually it was about the electronics you know.
Student 2: I am not interested in electronics, that is beyond me.
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Formal. Let us begin with an informal way of saying no.
Student 1: Hey, can you help me out with this problem?
Student 2: Sorry, I cannot help you out.
Student 1: Oh, I understand because I think it is about electronics.
Student 2: My God electronics, that is just beyond me.
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More formal.
Student 1: Hey, can you tell me why this device is not working? I am not getting the correct
readings.
Student 2: I am afraid I do not have the answer to that question.
Student 1: Oh! And can you tell me, when is the end semester?
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Student 2: I’d like to help you but unfortunately, I do not know when is your end semester. You
would get to know soon about that from the Acad section.
We conclude the session on asking for information here. We will move on to making requests.
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Lecture 23
Hello again. In this lecture we are going to talk about how to make a request and how to respond
to a request. This is one major problem area in some cultures like our culture. I often have my
students come up to my office and demand, rather than request. They would say, ‘I want to see
my answer script. Show me my answer script’. In an exam hall somebody’s pen runs out of ink
and he or she demands, ‘I want a pen’. So how do you make a request? We will show you how to
do it.
We will have three points again. One is how to make a request? How to answer a request? How
to do it in the formal way? And how to do it in the informal way? Now remember there is a
difference between cultures. Some cultures are direct cultures and some cultures are indirect
cultures. In direct cultures, we tend to be very direct without being impolite while asking people
to do things. People in direct cultures tend to use imperative sentences and simple statements. So,
they would not use ‘thank you’ and ‘please’.
So in India for instance, suppose I want someone to fetch me a cup of coffee I would say,
‘Bhaiyya, coffee le aao’, which literally translates as, ‘Brother, get me a cup of coffee’. Now
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this, if I were to ask him, ‘Could you please get me a cup of coffee’, as one would ask in a
request, it would translate as, ‘Aap kya mere liye coffee la sakte hai?’ and he would be extremely
confused because he is used to getting more direct requests. In indirect cultures, if people are
direct while making requests they are considered rude and aggressive. So, in the west, if you say,
‘Get me a cup of coffee’, it would sound very rude if this exact translation was used. People in
indirect cultures prefer to use question forms and word expressions to make a request.
They also use ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ and it is very irritating, I must tell you, for Indian parents
when they… now we have a number of families and in a rich middle class family, you would
have at least one member of the family staying abroad and the members of the family who are
living (there) get into the habit of thanking everybody, even family members for everything say,
‘Oh mom, you cooked a very nice meal for me, thank you.’ And Indian mothers are extremely
surprised and sometimes irritated. Do you have to thank me for every little thing? So that is the
difference of cultures.
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So in direct cultures we would say, ‘Get me those figures’, but in indirect cultures we would say,
‘Can you get me those figures’? Or it is a range, like I said. ‘Could you please get me those
figures’? ‘Do you think you could possibly get me those figures please’? ‘I am so sorry to
trouble you but I wonder if you would mind getting me those figures’? So, you see the
difference? The direct is, get me those figures, can you get me those figures? ‘Could you please
get me those figures’? ‘Do you think you could possibly get me those figures’? ‘I am so sorry to
trouble you’. So, there is more tentativeness, more indirectness depending on the phrase you use.
And we are going to share some of these phrases to you to show you how you can make
commands into requests.
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If you use the imperative to make a request, it sounds like a command. So if you say, ‘be quiet’,
‘take care’, ‘listen’, ‘sit down’, ‘get me something to drink’, you should always soften the
imperative form with, ‘Let us go now shall we’? ‘Let us take a break shall we’? ‘Please listen to
what I am saying’. So the moment you say ‘let’s do it’, it becomes softer. The other way to make
it softer or to make it sound like a request is to use a modal verb. If you use a modal verb, you
can turn an order into a request.
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So auxiliary verbs can be used to ask, they can be used to give instructions, to give orders and to
be more polite; so you could say, ‘Could you help me’? Instead of saying help me. ‘Could you
make me some tea’? ‘Could you post this letter for me’? ‘Could you lend me 50 dollars’? ‘Could
you bring me that file please’? ‘Could you pick up the kids from school please’? ‘Can you come
here please’? ‘Can you do something for me’? ‘Can you do this for me’? ‘Can you wait a
minute’? ‘Can you give me a lift’? ‘Can you fetch Mary from the airport’? ‘Will you keep quiet
please’? ‘Would you wait here until I am back’?
So remember ‘could’ is more polite than ‘can’. Both ‘can’ and ‘could’ are followed by a verb
without to... Now let us move on to asking someone to do something for you. Requesting, asking
someone to do something for you.
Learn these common ways for making requests and offers so that you sound polite. Making
requests, asking someone to do something for you. ‘Could you open the door for me please’?
‘Would you mind opening the door for me please’? ‘Can you open the door for me please’? This
happens to me every day because due to certain reasons I am not able to open the heavy door as I
enter the studio, but I find that nobody is opening the door for me; so I would have to, suppose..;
let us do a role play. You have bags in your hands and you cannot open the door.
You are requesting someone in the shopping mall or in the classroom, you have something in
your arms. How would you do it? Let us see how they do it.
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Student 1: Excuse me.
Student 2: Yeah.
Student 1: Do you mind if you could open the door for me?
Student 2: Yeah, sure.
Student 1: Thank you so much.
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Making a request, asking if you can do something for someone.
Student 1: Hello Nivya.
Student 2: Hello.
Student 1: You look completely tensed. Do you mind if I can get you some coffee? You can
relax for a while.
Student 2: Yeah please, thank you so much.
Now there are different ways of making a request. We will move from the less formal to the
more formal. in the less formal request you can use, ‘can’.
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‘Can I leave early’? ‘Is it a problem if I leave early’? ‘We are leaving early you do not mind, do
you’? ‘I need to leave do you mind’? ‘Is it ok if I leave early’? So these are some of the ways in
which you can make an informal request.
(You can) try expressing, granting and denying request by using the modals, can/could. When
you make a request you ask someone for something or ask them to do something. The simplest
way to ask for something is to say, ‘can I have?’ You could also add the world ‘please’ to be
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more polite. ‘Can I have my book back please’? ‘Yes of course you can’. ‘Can you help me lift
this chair’? ‘Sure I can’. If you want to make your request more polite use the modal, ‘could’.
‘Could I have another cup of coffee’? Or, could I have another cup of tea? ‘Yes, you can’. ‘No,
you cannot’. Remember, do not use the word ‘could’ to grant or refuse a request.
To grant a request use the modal verb ‘can’. To refuse a request use ‘cannot’. Now let us watch a
role play. In formal between friends.
Student 1: Hey Nivya.
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Student 2: I am fine.
Student 1: Nivya, I was just wondering if I can ask you to do the proxy for me because you know
I’d like to skip tomorrow early going to department. I have to meet Jagdish actually.
Student 2: Oh, that is…
Student 1: Please do not say no. You gotta do this for me.
Student 2: Ok, I will do it.
Student 1: Sure?
Student 2: Ya.
Between acquaintance. How to request an acquaintance? So here we have her requesting another
student to cover up for her class.
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Student 1: Hello Nivya, good morning.
Student 2: Good morning Zenia.
Student 1: Nivya I was wondering if I could ask you to take my Friday class because I have some
work and I will be leaving early.
Student 2: Friday…
Student 1: And there is nobody around.
Student 2: By what time?
Student 1: That is at 3 ‘o’ clock.
Student 2: I am afraid I have got a class I think. I have to check.
Student 1: Okay, if you could just let know whether, if, you could be able to take the class
because there is nobody around. So I thought I would ask you to do that.
Student 2: Ya, ok. Let me see.
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How to ask a messy roommate to help you clear up the room?
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Student 1: Not again. Nivya, Nivya.
Student 2: Hmm yeah.
Student 1: Nivya could you please clean the table and everything around so that we can study in
a clean environment?
Student 2: Yeah, but later.
Student 1: Okay.
How to request a messy husband.
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Student 1: Not again. Angad, what is this? You do this every day but today you want to clean
this mess because my friend is coming. And you know she is on her way. Now let me tell you,
you cannot give me this reaction. Because she is on her way. So please clean this mess.
Let us look at some more formal structures. How do you make requests in formal settings and in
a more formal manner?
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You could use instead of ‘can’, you could use ‘could’, ‘would’, ‘could’, may, may I leave early?
Or might, which is the most formal. So, as I said,' in each case, there is a range. From the very
informal to the most informal and ‘might’ is on the other side of the range, the formal side of the
range. ‘Would, would you mind if I left early’? ‘Would you mind my leaving early’? ‘I'd like to
ask you, if I might leave early’?
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Expressing, granting and denying a request by using the modals ‘may’ and ‘might’. You can also
make a request with the modals, ‘may’ and ‘might’. A request with ‘may’ or ‘might’ sound very
polite and formal. In less formal or casual situations you should use can or could. So I will not
read these, instead of that we could have some role plays on making formal requests using ‘may’
and ‘might’. We have a person asking her subordinate to come to her office.
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Student 1: Hello. Do you mind if you could come to my room? I have some work for you.
Let us look at a second situation.
Student 1: Could I have a word with you, if you could come to my room?
A third situation.
Student 1: I got some, I got stuck in some work. I was wondering if you could come to my room.
How to ask your boss for leave?
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Student 1: Good morning sir.
Student 1: Sir, actually I am going home for the weekend. So, I just thought I will ask you if you
could allow me to take a day off and come back on Tuesday instead of Monday? Because it is
my parent’s anniversary.
Student 2: I am really sorry but I’d like you to know there is two deadlines coming on, so you
cannot take a leave.
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Student 1: Okay, so do I have to come back then?
Student 2: Yes, sure you have to.
Student 1: Okay, I will be back to the office on Monday then.
Student 2: Okay.
How to ask your supervisor for permission?
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Student 1: Good morning mam.
Student 1: Mam for tomorrow’s class I was wondering if you could take the rest half of the class.
I will take the first half, if you could take the rest half, I have some bank work.
Student 2: Of course.
Student 1: Thank you so much mam.
Student 2: I will be happy to take your second half of the class.
Student 2: No problem.
Asking your mother for another night out.
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Student 1: Hey mom.
Mother: Yes Zenia.
Student 1: What are you doing?
Mother: Cooking, what else?
Student 1: You look very pretty in this yellow color.
Mother: Zenia, what do you want from me?
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Student 1: Just another weekend night out.
Mother: Zenia!
Student 1: I was just wondering if you could allow me to just take the weekend off to my friend’s
place.
Mother: You are begging me to ask you to let you out?
Student 1: I am just making…
Mother: You are begging me?
Student 1: Yeah, if I could beg you to allow me to be there. Just last night out.
Mother: And what do I tell your dad?
Student 1: I am sure you will be able to handle the situation at home.
Mother: Okay, this one last time Zenia. I am not gonna do it next time.
Student 1: Thank you so much mom, thank you so much.
Mother: This girl!
‘Might’ is a most formal way and might sound very little old fashion. But people do use it. They
say, ‘You might want to go to the library and check out the latest collection of books’.
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‘May not’ is used to deny a request. ‘May I borrow your car’? ‘No you may not’. ‘Excuse me, I
wonder if I might have a look at your newspaper for a moment’? You do not deny a request by
saying ‘you might not’, you say, ‘you may not, no you may not’.
Now let us move on to practicing and reading aloud the following phrases to make polite
requests. Let us see you do it. ‘Is there any way you can’? ‘I do not suppose you could’? ‘Would
you do me a favor’? ‘And I wondered if you could’. ‘Would you mind doing this for me’? ‘Do
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you think you could possibly’? ‘Would it be possible for you’? ‘I'd really appreciate if you
could’? And now let us see them being used in sentences, complete sentences.
‘Is there any way you can get me a vehicle to get to Kolkata’? ‘I do not suppose you could take
my class’? ‘Would you do me a favor and get me a cup of tea’? ‘I wondered if you could bring
me something from Big Bazaar when you go shopping’. ‘Would you mind giving me a ride’?
‘Do you think you could possibly take my classes because I need to go’? ‘Would it be possible
for you to bring me this book from overseas? It is not available in India’. ‘I would really
appreciate if you could complete your task in time’.
Asking for help. When you ask for help also you can’t ask people directly for help. You have to
make it sound like a request if you really want people to help you out. You do not say ‘help me’
unless you are in an emergency situation when you say, ‘Help! Help!’ But otherwise you have to
ask in a polite way. ‘Can you give me a hand with this’? ‘Could you help me for a second’? ‘Can
I ask you for a favor’? ‘I wondered, if you could help me with this’? ‘I could do with some help,
please. I cannot manage, can you help’? ‘Give me a hand with this, will you’? ‘Lend me a hand
with this, will you’? ‘Could you spare moment’? I need some help.
Now let us see how using or substituting one word with another makes a hell of a difference.
Phrase one is quite a direct question to use with friends and people you know very well. Phrase
two is more polite. We include the words for a second to show that we do not need a lot of help
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and that'll be difficult. It will not be difficult. Phrase three is a general way of introducing a
request for help. Phrase four is polite and can be used with people you do not know very well,
with your boss. Phrase five is quite direct and the focus is that you really need help. It is quite
strong. Phrase 6 shows that you have a big problem, you are desperate for help. You often hear
this phrase when somebody ask too much work to do.
Phrase seven and eight are similar and are direct request for help. ‘Lend me a hand’, is a little
more polite and an old fashioned than ‘Give me a hand’. We use phrase nine to show that we
respect that the other person is really quite busy and to say that they only need to help you for a
short time. Phrase ten is a direct question and the asker does not expect the listener to say no.
This is often used by people in authority.
Making a request; instead of …you can use ‘please’. You can say, could you please? ‘Would
you’? ‘Can you’ is not very polite, as polite as ‘could you’. It is a kind of casual. Would you
mind is very special expression, for example, when someone asks you, ‘Would you mind
opening the window’? What he is really trying to say is, do you have any objection in opening
the window? So the answer should be ‘no, no problem, I will open the window’. Please notice
that if we use expression ‘would you mind’, the verb that you are going to use has to be
infinitive.
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Examples, ‘Would you mind turning on the light’? ‘Would you mind taking this book back for
me’? And then responses to this would be, ‘No, not at all’. Of course not. Negative response
would be, Yes, I would’.
Now we have tried out some of these business situations already. You asking a coworker for
help, which we had in the role play earlier. You are requesting a colleague in another department
to help you with your work. You ask a supervisor for help. Now these situations, I would like
you to try out yourself.
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We stop with this.
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Lecture 24
Hello. In this lecture we are going to look at the issue of agreeing and disagreeing, asking for and
giving opinion. And remember there are cultural differences. In Asian cultures we are expected
to agree with people who are older than us, who are senior than us, or in India, in China
whenever an elder person or a senior person makes a suggestions, the etiquette is that you do not
disagree with them. You bend rules, but you are not supposed to express your disagreement
openly. It will be seen as a form of insubordination.
Whereas in western cultures, it is perfectly alright for you, in fact, you are not expected to keep
your opinions to yourself and if you do not agree with something or agree with something, you
are supposed to indicate, express, your opinion openly. What is important is not keeping silent
but using the right form to agree or disagree. So that even if you disagree with someone, it does
not come across as impolite. So whether you are at work or at the University with colleagues or
friends, at business meetings or discussion with your professors, you would sometime need to
disagree with them.
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Even the classroom, in my classroom, for instance, I find that students always nod, then I say,
‘No, my word is not God's word, please disagree’. And gradually I find very young students, 18
years old students coming forward with their views and they say ‘no’ and ‘I do not think your
explanation is correct. I beg to disagree with you’. So that is perfectly all right in the western
culture. It is important to share your opinion and express your ideas, but how do you do it in
English that is important. To disagree politely with someone changes from culture to culture, as I
said, situation to situation and person to person. In English, we have formal and informal
expressions we can use to disagree.
So rules for disagreeing. English is a polite language even when you think someone is wrong
about something, it is rude to contradict that person. This means that you have to do so
indirectly. You also have to be careful to notice that when an English person wants to disagree,
you might think that he is just discussing the subject or even that he is agreeing with you. So you
have to do it very politely.
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Let us look at some of the problems. Sooner or later you will be in a situation where you need to,
you have the urge to, agree or disagree with something that is been said - in English. Offering an
opinion can be difficult when it is not your first language. You may know exactly what you want
to say in your native language, native tongue, but you do not know how to express your views in
English. You may also worry that your words will not come out properly or that you might hurt
someone's feelings.
So, in Hindi, for instance, we say ‘ha ha bilkul thik’ (It is absolutely right), ‘bilkul’ (absolutely),
‘beshak’ (Undoubtedly. We use terms like that. We know the exact word we need to use. ‘Bilkul
nahi’ (Not at all), ‘bilkul’ (Absolutely) to express our agreement or disagreement. But perhaps
we are not familiar with how to do it in English.
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So let us look at how you need to do it. It is easier to sit back and say nothing at all but you will
get bored and frustrated if all you do is nod your head or shake your head, no. Especially if you
had some strong opinion about something. So, the best thing for you is to learn and practice
some of the common expressions that are used in discussions and debates. For example, there is
a difference between agreeing strongly and or only slightly.
So let us look at some examples on how to agree and disagree politely. We will show you how to
agree politely and how to disagree politely and how to do it rudely if you want to do it. It also
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shows how to avoid agreeing or disagreeing. Sometimes you will have to agree or disagree with
an opinion. For example, ‘What a beautiful baby’. I am afraid not many people will disagree
because we all love babies and we say we do not find any baby ugly. But there are situations
where you might not agree.
So let us have a young man expressing his opinion about a beautiful filmstar and have him being
refuted by his friend.
Student 1: Hey, you know Alia Bhat is so cute.
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Student 2: Yeah, you might find her cute, but then you know I mean her sense of humor and
intelligence level does matter and I think she is very dumb in that. And you have seen her
performances on ‘Koffee with Karan’. And I think she is very dumb.
Agreeing strongly and disagreeing strongly. And we are going to watch some role plays on the
current, the brouhaha about the ban on having foreign artists and players coming to our country.
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Student 1: What is all about like ban on the foreign artist? What do you guys think?
Student 2: I think that of course there should be ban. I mean I have seen the, I mean ,the jawans
of our country have been fighting abroad the borders over there and you know I have seen
closely my father’s friend fighting and I have seen them dying for the country and here are we
promoting the artist of foreign countries and that is ridiculous.
Student 3: I totally sympathize with you Zenia but don’t you think we should separate war and
talent?
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You need to use certain expressions when you want to agree strongly, when you need to agree
mildly or you want to stay neutral. So, try using some of these next time you agree with
someone. You could use any of these expressions when you are agreeing strongly, agreeing
mildly or staying neutral.
Similarly, with disagreeing mildly, disagreeing strongly. You could use any of these phrases like
the people in the role play did it.
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And now we will have another role play where you will watch people agreeing and disagreeing
in a formal meeting.
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Student 1: Hey, Hi Zenia.
Student 2: Hello Angad. You would asked for this media person?
Student 1: Yes, I did.
Student 2: So here she is; Rajeshwari.
Student 1: Oh, hi.
Student 3: Hi.
Student 1: Okay, what you can do is both of you just go through it. I, made some plans.
Student 2: Okay.
Student 3: I am afraid I might not be able to help you with this because our company does not
do, take, promotions. Also will the Calcutta people be receptive enough towards such a kind of
an event?
Student 2: Yeah, if you have that doubt that is fine but, I think that absolutely goes with the
outline of the event that we had made earlier.
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You can disagree indirectly with people. But when you disagree indirectly with people you have
to give the reasons like she did in the situation when she said, ‘will the Calcutta people take it’.
So whenever you disagree with someone, people always give the reasons why they disagree. So
let us look at some of these examples when you say, ‘that film should be banned’, ‘it is one of
the most popular of the films of the year’, ‘maybe people think it is a classic’, ‘it has not upset
many people’. And to make their disagreement less forceful, English people will use the words
‘well’, ‘actually’, ‘yes’, ‘but’ at the start of their sentence. They might also apologize for
disagreeing.
So you say, ‘I am sorry’, like she said, ‘I sympathize with you’, if you remember the role play;
she said, ‘I sympathize with you’. So you apologize for disagreeing, ‘But I do not think so’. Or
you say ‘yes’, ‘well, actually it is not that bad as a matter of fact’. So, if somebody uses his or
her disagreement by using the words ‘with the greatest respect’ or ‘with all due respect’, he is
about to say something disrespectful, remember that.
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Now let us look at some informal expressions of disagreement and these are very very informal.
You can use them only when he you are with friends. You cannot use them with everybody. You
can use them with friends. So let us have some examples of informal phrases.
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Student 1: Zenia, my friend is coming for dinner tonight.
Student 2: You got to be joking.
Student 1: Can we go out for party?
Student 2: You can’t be serious Angad.
Student 1: He is going to stay here overnight.
Student 2: No way.
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Using irony to express disagreement.
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Student 1: Hey, can you please be show stopper for me tomorrow, please?
Student 2: Are you pulling my leg.
Student 1: No, seriously.
Student 2: Are, you got to be kidding Angad? I mean you can’t be serious.
Student 1: Yes, I am serious.
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I am now going to run you through some formal and professional expressions for disagreement.
We will not have role plays because we will follow this up on the session on meetings, where
you would be using them. The most polite way to disagree with someone is to use one of these
strategies when introducing your disagreement, so that you understand the other person opinion,
that is important. Apologize before introducing your disagreement. Pretend to be in the middle or
unsure about your position. Now using these strategies help to soften the disagreement and the
argument more effective.
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So we will practice these phrases when we come to meetings in actual situations. Agreeing, this
is one way of saying different expressions for agreeing.
Different expressions for disagreeing.
Simple now, there can be different kinds of disagreements. There can be a simple disagreement
or refusal.
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Or there can be a very strong disagreement where you say, I completely disagree with you.
There could be a third way of disagreeing diplomatic diplomatically which we watched actually
when we saw the role plays throughout. When you say, ‘I wonder whether that is the case’,
‘Hmmm, I am not sure about that’. So you can also disagree diplomatically.
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Accepting, declining, expressing acceptance. This is another way of… before you disagree, you
accept the other person point of view. You say, ‘I accept your point’, ‘Sorry I cannot accept
this’. So begin by saying, ‘Great idea, I accept your point’, and then you can disagree.
Partially agree. So that is the third situation, agreeing, disagreeing, partly agreeing. When you
say, ‘I agree up to the point, but…’, ‘I see your point, but…’, ‘that is partly true, but…’
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Okay. So, the ‘but’ phrases. We have a whole lot of ‘but’ phrases here. Where you counter
politely through partial agreement followed by antithesis ‘that maybe so but’, ‘that may be true
but’, and so on.
And whenever you disagree you can always offer an alternative or a suggestion to effectively
argue for your position or opinion, it is best to finish your disagreement by offering an
alternative or a suggestion. So this is a solution focused argument and can also soften the
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disagreement. So you can say, ‘Instead we could do this’, ‘My suggestion would be’. So,
suggestions in agreement and disagreement can come together.
Now opinions, opinions are often stated as fact. Whenever someone gives an opinion you can
agree with them, you can disagree with them, ask for more information or show that you do not
want to discuss that matter. For example, ‘that film is really good’, you could say ‘yes I really
enjoyed it;, you can disagree ‘I can’t say it is my favorite’ and you can disagree rudely say,
‘What a load of rubbish, I don’t watch films’, you do not want to discuss it. Notice that asking
for more information is often a polite way of disagreeing. So if someone says, ‘that film is really
good’, you say, ‘do you think so?’, ‘What do you like about it?’ So that is one way of
disagreeing.
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Question tags at the end of the sentence demand response. Therefore, they are useful in asking
for agreement or starting a discussion about an opinion. So you say, ‘Should we end the lecture
today? Should we?’, ‘That road is really dangerous, isn’t it?’ So whenever we use a question tag
we are seeking agreement. ‘Do not you think this is a good idea, don’t you?’ So whenever we
use question tags we know we are being asked to agree or disagree.
We will quickly look at, place them together; sorry, the table has gone awry. You can use these
expressions to express your opinion. We will now move on to how to give advice and how to ask
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for advice. Asking for and giving advice. How many times have you asked for advice or given
advice? Very often you have your parents giving you advice. Uncalled for advice. Now there is a
way of giving advice and there is a way for seeking advice. We all know how to do it
instinctively in our mother tongue.
For instance, in Hindi you can say, ‘ab kya?’ All you say is, ‘What do we do now?’ And that is
the opening for the other person to suggest something. Or you say, ‘now?’, ‘ab?’, ‘hun?’ in
Punjabi. But in English there are very clear ways of asking for advice and giving advice. Let us
look at some of these.
Asking for advice. ‘What do you think I should do’? ‘What should I do’? ‘What should you do’?
‘What would you suggest’? ‘Can you give me some advice’? So again we are moving from the
most informal to the most formal. ‘Can you give me some advice’? ‘What do you think I should
do’? ‘What do you suggest’? ‘What would you do in this situation’? ‘What do you advise me to
do’? We do not always use the word ‘advice’ but we can ask people what we should do.
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So, I have got a bad toothache. ‘What do you suggest’? ‘What do you advise me to do’? ‘What
should I do’? ‘What ought I to do’? ‘What is your advice’? ‘If you were me what would you do’?
Similarly, on giving advice. Now giving advice is more tricky than asking for advice because
people do not always like taking advice from you. So whenever you are giving advice you have
to be tentative so that the other person does not take offence or does not think that you are trying
to impose your views on them. You got to be very tentative. Now let us look at the different
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ways in which you can give advice and let us see 5 different ways, 5 simple ways to give advice
in English. The first is to use the modal verb should.
And the second is to make it into a question. So, ‘should’, ‘why don’t you’, ‘how about’. Let us
practice some of these.
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Student 1: Zenia you are sneezing again. You should go to the doctor.
Student 2: Angad, right now I am rushing for the meeting. Just tell me, is this dress okay?
Student 1: Yes it is okay. How about if you wear your glasses on? It will look much professional.
Student 2: Okay.
You could either make it into a question such as, ‘why don’t you?’
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Or you could put yourself in the other person's position. If someone is asking you for advice,
sometimes it is useful to imagine yourself being in that person’s position.
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Student 1: Good morning, Mr. Singh.
Student 1: Good morning, Zenia.
Student 1: I was thinking of featuring your event in the page 3 section of a newspaper. What
would you advise Mr. Singh?
Student 2: Why don’t you think it on air?
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Student 1: Okay. And Zenia, what is your take on this?
Student 3: I think if I were you then, I would have taken this on a very different level. I would
rather publicize it during Spring Fest. Wherein you have students from across the country and
that will be like publicity on a very, larger, level.
Student 1: Okay.
Another way you could do it is by making a suggestion.
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Student: Hi madam.
Teacher: Hi Angad.
Student: I was just passing by so I just thought like I could just ask for any work. Is there any
work for me?
Teacher: Yes there could be a lot of work Angad. But you need to get back into shape. It is high
time you started going to the gym again.
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Also advise in a stronger way.
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Student: But I really need a campaign.
Teacher: Then you better get into shape. Come back after 2 weeks and I will have an assignment
for you.
Student: Okay.
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So as we saw there are so many ways of giving advice. But depending on the phrase you use, the
exact phrase you use, it changes the meaning. So suppose you come to me for advice on
something. As we saw, there are so many different ways of asking for advice and giving advice.
But it makes a lot of difference the way you give advice. The exact phrase you use to give
advice. Suppose you came to me for my advice.
Student: Good afternoon, madam.
Teacher: Good afternoon, Zenia.
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Student: Madam, I just want to talk to you something about.
Teacher: Yeah sure.
Student: Beside studies. I was just thinking of continuing my PhD here as a regular student until
I give my registration seminar.
Teacher: I think it is a great idea but I think you ought to tell your parents
Student: Okay, madam.
Teacher: You have to always tell your parents.
Student: Okay, madam.
Have you thought of telling your parents Zenia?
‘In your position I would tell your parents’. ‘You should perhaps tell your parents’. ‘May be a
good idea to tell your parents’. ‘Maybe we can tell your parents’. So I can say it in so many
different ways.
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‘I think you should tell your parents’. ‘I’, the focus changes, about I am not sure about telling
your parents. So I think you should not tell your parents. So, suppose she asked me about giving
her registration seminar and I am against it, so I will say, ‘I think you should not tell your
parents’, ‘Do you think it is a good idea to tell your parents?’ Because they are preparing, they
are ready for something else. ‘Are you sure it is a good idea to tell your parents?’, ‘I don’t think
it is a good idea to tell your parents’. So you can use these variations.
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We saw a lot of structures as to how to give advice. Using ought, should, using questions, putting
yourself in somebody else's position and we have a whole lot of phrases here for you to practice.
You can also decline to give advice. You say, ‘I do not know what to advise I am afraid’, ‘I wish
I could suggest something but I cannot’, ‘I wish I could help’, ‘I am afraid I cannot help you’.
Giving advice, so please try some of these structures along with the combinations they come
with.
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And advice and opinions often go together. We ask few people for advice but we also seek
people's opinions on something. So we would ask, ‘What do you think?’, ‘What is your
opinion?’, ‘What are your ideas?’ Asking for opinions, ‘How do you feel about it?’, ‘Do you
think?’, ‘What do you think about it?’ This is the way you ask for opinion
And how do you give opinion? So, usually when we give opinions it appears like a fact. But if
you want to make it more tentative, you can say ‘this is my point of view’. So you say, you
always say, ‘in my experience’, to make it sound less like a fact and make it like an opinion you
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say. ‘as far as I am concerned’, ‘speaking for myself’, ‘in my opinion’, ‘personally I think’, ‘I
would say that’, ‘I suggest that’, ‘I like to point out that’, ‘I believe that’, ‘what I mean is’.
But you could also have a general point of view. We say , ‘it is thought that’, ‘some people say
that’, ‘it is considered that’, ‘it is generally accepted that’.
So we will see we will try to look at some role plays on how to give opinions.
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Student 1: Zenia, I was planning to take up this course on research methodology. What is your
opinion on this?
Student 2: Rajashree, I have earlier taken this course but I mean I personally thought that you
know this, as a student of literature, this is not of much use to you. So, I think you should have a
second thought upon that before taking up the course.
Student 1: Okay.
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We have looked at giving opinions, asking for opinions and informal conversation. Giving
advice is always used, suggested through, modals ‘you ought to’, ‘should’, ‘could’, ‘if I were
you’. In informal conversations we say, ‘I feel that’, ‘in my opinion’. So sometimes we say,
nowadays everybody has started using ‘trust me’. People use this term very often, ‘trust me’ to
show both negative and positive opinions, emotions. You say, ‘I know’: so, to know is better
than saying, to think. Nowadays when we know someone well we say, ‘trust me, what I am
saying is fine’.
So we looked at, in the module we have just completed, we looked at a whole lot of structures.
We looked at a whole lot of phrases for making conversations. Yes, I know that all of you can
converse very fluently in your own language. But in English when you translate from your
languages and use them in colloquial… your conversation in English, it sounds very odd. So I
have tried to put you through some structures, some standard structures, you can always vary
them. There is no hard and fast rule.
But I have tried to show you how each structure or how each phrase, what kind of feeling or
what kind of attitude it conveys. We will practice, I hope that when we move on to the next,
more advanced activities, you would be able to use these structures in actual situations. Whether
it is an interview, whether it is an appraisal, a meeting, or a presentation, I would like you to use
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each of these structures. Due to time constraints we have not been able to go through the entire
gamut of phrases we use in English conversations.
But we tried to supplement the lectures by giving you an entire range of activities which we will
cover, additional structures, the ones we were not able to cover is the lectures, we will give you
role plays. We will give you activities and pen and paper exercises related to more
conversational structures. Thank you.
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Lecture 25
Planning a Presentation
Hello, we have been rehearsing a whole lot of basic conversational skills. From this unit
onwards, this module onwards rather, we are going to move on to more advanced activities
such as presentations. How to appear and how to participate in meetings? How to appear in
an interview and so on. And we begin with how to make a presentation. How to make killer
presentations or what makes a presentation click.
You yourself must have noticed that whenever somebody makes a presentation, it is not the
content, but it is the way a person makes a presentation that makes you sit up and listen or
make you yawn. It happens to me all the time. I have this celebrity writer friend, who you
might have watched recently on television. But whenever we go to make a talk or
presentation, before the talk ends, he makes such an impact. He dresses in a kurta, so he
appears like a Guru and by the end of the presentation….
And he makes such an impactful presentation that before the presentation is over people are
smiling at each other, nodding at each other and before the talk is over he gets invited to
another talk. And here I am waiting to be invited, waiting to be noticed. Does it happen
because my friend has been making presentations since he was an 18 years old and he has
mastered the skill of making presentations?
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So, we will begin with what happens to us, when we are asked to make a presentation. Most
of us focus on what we are going to say. Most of us want to impress people. So we decide on
what am I going to say in my presentation? How do I get a lot of information? How do I seem
intelligent? How do I show that I have done my homework? The problem is precisely that, it
is not what you put in the presentation, but many other factors that make a presentation.
So the ‘what?’ in a presentation really depends on why you are making a presentation?
Where you are making the presentation? ‘Who?’, the ‘why?’, the ‘where’, ‘when?’ That
decides what goes into the presentation. So first of all you need to find out why am I making
a presentation?
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You need to lay down the objectives of your presentation. Of course it will vary depending
on the kind of presentation you are making. But you need to lay down your objectives very
clearly, the general objectives as well as the particular objectives.
So your general objectives may not be…, we never have a single objective. Your objective
could be to inform, it could be to arouse interest, it could be to motivate, it could be to make
recommendations, to persuade or sell, to inspire action, evaluate, interpret or clarify and it
goes on to infinity. Because you might have different reasons for making presentations. Now,
as students of course we are asked to make only informative presentations. We are supposed
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to show what kind of information we have collected and we have to present that information
as effectively as possible to experts.
But later in life, in your professional life, you will be making a whole lot of presentation
which will require you to have any of these or any other infinite objectives.
But at the same time from a general objective, it is not just enough to say that my objective is
to persuade. You have to have a very particular objective. Persuade people to do what? To
persuade the company that hiring a new sales executive during the current financial year will
result in increased sales. So you have to state, write down the objectives of why you are
making a presentation? What is your particular objective? Because only then you can get the
results you want.
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The second thing that you need to take into consideration is, who is your audience? Who are
you making this presentation to? And in this you need to know, what does your audience
know? What does your audience need to know? What do they want to know? Take for
instance, you might have a vague idea of what your audience knows, but it may not be the
same as what they need to know or you think that they need to know something but it is not
necessarily what they want to know.
In my English class I strongly feel that my students need to learn, improve their vocabulary
and if I put them through some good rich texts, they will be able to do it. But my students are
not interested. They go to sleep if I think, if I start doing what I think they need to know.
Instead they want to know, how do I improve my communication skills? ‘How would reading
Gabriel Garcia Marquez help me to improve my professional communication?’ So I need to
know, what do they want to know? It is just not enough for me to decide what they need to
know.
What is your audience’s language? Now, if you are a computer scientist and you are
explaining what computers are to somebody who does not understand your technical terms
like hardware and software and how many GBs and stuffs like that. Would people listen to a
presentation like that? Suppose you are making a presentation to lay persons. No. So you
need to know your audience’s language. By language we do not mean the language of the
region. But what kind of.., do they need expert language? Do they need an informal
language?
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Depending on their age, their education level, their familiarity with the subject you are
speaking about, you need to cater, you need to tailor your language to fit the audience’s
language. Now what are your audience’s interests? That is equally important. What are your
audience’s interests? You want them to talk about soccer and they are interested in cricket.
So, you need to, suppose you are using all your analogies from soccer, it is not gonna cut any
ice with them because they are more familiar with, they are fans of cricket.
And if you were used to use terms from there, maybe you would be able to vibe better with
them. What do you want your audience to know? Now you might have that as your agenda
also. What do you want them to know? So, suppose you find that you are making, you are
creating a campaign about polluting the waters of a river. And you are talking to an audience
who are wasteful in the use of water and the way they release their effluents into the river. So
what perhaps you need to do is appraise them of what is happening.
Say, ‘what is happening to the Bellandur Lake in Bangalore? What happened to the lake
because of the effluents being released or the damage that’s going to… ?’ So, sometimes you
want the audience to act on that. And in order to do that you need to inform them what you
know.
You and the audience. Know your attitude towards the audience. Now that is very important.
What is your attitude towards the audience? Are you very often.., we who are in the academic
professions, we’re used to talking down because most of the time we’re talking into students.
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And the students, we feel, do not know as much as we do. So usually we adopt a very
patronizing, very superior attitude and act as if we are dealing with people who do not know.
Now if we use that kind of attitude when we are talking to our peers or our equals, that would
be very annoying. The tone would be very annoying to the audience. Know the audience’s
requirement of you. What does the audience want of you? That is equally important. Now I
think most of us have this problem. That whenever we go to make a presentation, we want to
know what kind of impact we have made. We do not think of what are the results we want.
We want to inform our audience, we want to persuade our audience. We do not want to
impress them with our knowledge. So, you decide what you want them to do. Do you want
them to act on what you have said? Even if you are not very impressive. So suppose you
speak in Queen’s English and your audience don’t understand Queen's English or they feel
distant from you because you are speaking Queen's English.
Now instead of that if you were to speak their language and explain to them what you are
saying in their language. Maybe you earn their trust, you strike a rapport with them and
probably they are more likely to listen to you rather than if you are standoffish and they think
that you are not one of them.
So what do they want? Are they agreeable or result oriented or busy audience or they are
hostile or analysis oriented audience? I am sure we all face this. Whenever we have an
audience who are friendly towards us, who are agreeable, or who are result oriented. We go
with a very positive mindset. We know that they are going to be receptive to our ideas. Even
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if they are busy they will be receptive. But when we think that the audience are hostile, that
we are going to encounter opposition from them.
Whatever you say, mind you, it happens to all of us because presentations, meetings,
interviews in real life are not ideal scenarios. There’re always hidden agendas. So there is a
possibility that the audience is hostile. They are not inclined to agree with you. They come
with that attitude or they do not want you to make a good presentation. So they deliberately
introduce, interrupt, you or they do something so that your presentation does not work. What
do you do? It is easy to handle an audience who is neutral or friendly.
Don’t you find yourself doing it in a presentation? Our students have mastered this game.
They plan their friends in the audience and they say, ‘Whenever I am making or whenever I
am looking, I look, at you and you will smile at me and you will nod’. And the friends are
supposed to do that. They are supposed to smile and nod, look at them very encouragingly.
So that they do not lose their nerve. So you have to analyze your audience to see what kind
of, it is better to know before-hand, what kind of audience you are likely to have.
What baggage do they bring? Now we talk about their needs, their attitude, their background,
their style, their clout. This is the baggage. These are the five things we look at. So, the most
important thing is, okay, you are making a presentation you are a great speaker, but why
should someone come and waste his or her time? Why should they come and attend your
talk? Because ultimately people want to know what’s in it for me.
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So good speakers know instinctively that if I can find out what they need, if I can promise
them something which is going to help them, immediately this audience are going to sit up.
So, in my classroom if I say, ‘I am going to tell you something which will help you in the
end-sem exam paper’, immediately I find all the sleepers in the back row have woken up.
People have stopped yawning, they are sitting up in the chairs, they are ready to make notes.
But in real life we say, ‘Okay, I am going to teach you a trick how to make a million dollars
or become a crorepati and people will immediately if, because that incentive usually works
the people. And people say, ‘Yes, okay, let’s listen to him or her and see what tricks we can
follow’.
So now the ‘what?’ that goes into the presentation is really determined by the ‘why?’ and the
‘who?’ So, this is something I should have begun with, is that when we think of
presentations, we normally think that people just come and make a presentation and some are
naturally good, some are naturally bad. It is not so. Presentations, 99% of the presentation,
only 1% of your presentation is a presentation proper. The rest of the 99%, like success, is
perspiration. It is all the planning, it is all the hard work you put into the presentation. So the
‘what?’ goes into it is determined by the ‘why?’ and the ‘who?’
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An expert suggests this strategy that you develop a position, action and benefit. So you need
to take a position. Whatever topic you are presenting on, or you are giving a talk on, most of
us just talk about that topic. We summarize whatever information we have related to that
topic. That is not enough. It is really important that you take a standpoint. You identify a
central argument. Take a stance and state your central argument. So, what is your position
towards that? Okay.
So, even if it is a controversial topic like, capital punishment. What is your position on that?
You feel that, yes, people who commit even the most heinous crimes, they should be
punished but I am opposed to capital punishment because it is taking human lives. So, or you
can justify, yes, the most heinous of crimes deserve the most painful or the worst of
punishments, which is capital punishment. We do not like doing it but we need to do it
sometimes. So you must take a stance. Then what is the action would you want as a result of
that?
Maybe you are making a speech where you are appealing against reservations in the
educational institutions. So, you feel that reservations are not going to help people to come up
to the level of the general category, people, students. So, you, this is the action. You want the
policy makers to take note and say that this argument that I make or my persuasive skills will
actually help the policy makers to make a decision based on what I am saying and what is the
benefit.
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So, suppose in IIT where I am, or in India, I am making a suggestion and I say, ‘What is the
benefit of it?’ It will bring peace, it will prevent conflict or hostility between different classes
or different castes and so on if we extend reservation or we do not extend reservation it is not
going to help.
So you also have to think of the benefits. Now, getting your act together. That is the next
stage. You have decided on your main argument, what is going to be your main argument.
You are going to decide on what action people want to take and what benefit is going to bring
them. Now you move on to capturing your ideas. Now what happens to you when you are
asked to make a presentation? Usually we all do, a last night marathon. The night before we
sit up all night and we decide ok I am going to now put together my presentation.
But that is not how a presentation ideally should be prepared because you might get ideas
anytime. Therefore you must capture the idea that comes to you. Maybe you are talking to
your friend over a cup of tea in the office canteen or you are driving home and you noticed
something. So an idea can come to you anywhere and whenever the idea comes to you, like
Einstein got his idea, right? So, wherever you are, whichever place you are in, capture that
idea, put it down, note it down.
In olden days, we used to note it down on a card or on index card. Today we have
technologies. You can note it down on your PC, you can note it down on your cell phone, you
can note it down whenever you want. That this is the idea I am going to put in my
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presentation. Now the next thing is to brainstorm. What is brainstorming? Everyone knows
what the term brainstorming is.
Whenever people get together and think of different ideas about something, put together you
know, just wildly throw ideas and think about it without coming to any decision, that is
brainstorming. That is how we understand it. Now how do we use brainstorming in making
presentations? In making presentations, brainstorming means that do not try to work in a
structured, coherent manner from the very beginning. Instead of that use the process of free
thinking. Do not let structuring inhabit your thinking.
Whatever idea comes to you, even if it is the wildest idea that comes to you, do not eliminate
it. You must put it down, note it down on the post it note and you know, suppose you are
asked to make a presentation in a month from now, in the next 30 days a whole lot of ideas
would come to you and whenever that idea comes to you, put it down on a post it note. Now,
say even if you’re sitting the night before making a presentation, you have this whole lot of
post it notes where you have jotted down, scribbled the idea that came to you.
What is the next stage? The next stage is to eliminate ideas that are redundant. So, suppose I
am making a presentation on ‘Non-violence defines India as a nation’. Suppose I am making
this presentation. Now I have just watched, it is 23rd March two days from now and I have
just been watching the Bhagat Singh films which the media is inundating us with. And I
remember, I see, okay no, the non-violent leader was very intolerant towards the others who
advocated violent means.
Or when Bhagat Singh and his associates first threw the bomb in the Assembly. What was
their intention? It was not to kill anybody. It was really to attract attention. Now I am not
going to use the Bhagat Singh film. I am not going to use a Hindi film obviously if I am
making a very serious presentation. I might, but I may not. So, what I would do is, I have this
idea, but at this stage I feel, no, the kind of audience I have, they are not very friendly. They
might have not seen this film. So, immediately eliminate this idea.
That is the first stage. Eliminate whatever does not belong. Whatever you think does not fit in
or you are not going to use. That is the first stage. The next stage is to organize your ideas. So
suppose you have 100 ideas. 100 ideas are far too many, but say you have 50 ideas and you
have now eliminated 20 of them because you thought there were too wild or they were
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unrelated. Suppose you are talking about the history of violence in Africa. Now what does it
have to do with India?
So, you say, okay, I do not want to use this. So, you will eliminate it and now you have to
organize these ideas. How do you organize the ideas? The next stage would be to group
together similar ideas. So, if you have ideas which are similar to one another. So, say,
suppose you have written down violence in France’s, France’s Idea of Violence, the Gadar
Movement, Bhagat Singh. Okay? These are three related ideas. So you can put them under
one sub-heading, which is, alternatives to non-violence. You could group these 3 ideas that
came to you under one sub-heading.
Now at the end of it what you have is, you should not have more than 3 to 5 ideas in your
presentation. Otherwise it becomes too long. 3 to 5 at the most is enough and within the 3 to
5 ideas, key areas, you can have other sub areas. And the explanations, evidence, benefits
become your sub points. The next thing is to structure your ideas. What do you mean by
structuring your ideas? Do you always have to present your key ideas in a chronological
order? Or can you present them in a geographical order?
Or will you do it in a…, you will start from the beginning and you will come to the end and
then come back to the beginning again? Or would you use a causal effect, logic, to present
your ideas? So you have to think of which idea you are going to, which pattern you are going
to use. You are free to use any patterns so long as there is a pattern. And the pattern will be
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decided by your content. So suppose you’re presenting the sales figures of, all India sales
figures.
Now maybe a geographical distribution, like you can say, okay figures from the north, figures
from the south, figures from the east. That might be a way to it. But suppose you are tracing
the history of dance in India, you would use a chronological sequence. You will begin from
the beginning and you come to present. So your topic will partly decide what your structure
would be. From structure we move on to preparing and outlining and I am now going to show
you how to prepare an outline. None of us prepare an outline.
Let us look at how to prepare an outline and how do you craft an outline. First of all you need
to identify your topic. What is your topic? Figure out your main points. Arrange your main
points. But do not forget brainstorming. I told you that first have to capture your ideas. Now
within your ideas you have to figure out what will be your main points and the next thing is
arranging your main points, creating your sub points and then evaluate your outline.
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How do you evaluate the outline? How do you structure the talk? Now I have put them
together, they are not very visible because I did not know how to make them. But say you
have three key areas here. You have Key area 1, you have key area 2 and key area 3. Now
within the key area 1 you have sub point 1, sub point 2, sub point 3. Within key area 2, you
have sub points 1, 2, 3 and you know, so on. Then you have an introduction and conclusion.
So this is the way we normally structure our talk. I am sorry this is an extra slide. We’ll just
return to the slide.
The body of your presentation. How do you start and where do you end?
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I need to tell you that in whenever, like, when we were children, from our childhood, we have
been told, you should have an introduction, you should have a conclusion and then you
should have a middle. But when you are making a presentation, there are two more things
you need to do. In addition to your introduction, you need to have an opening. What is an
opening? We will go into that in more detail later. So, in addition to the introduction you
need to have an opening and in addition to your conclusion you must have a close. Just
remember that.
Now, when you are structuring your talk, you need to choose a starting point. As I said,
where will you start? Will you start from the beginning or will you start from the middle?
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You have to think of the best route. How will you run through the material? Suppose you
have 5 key areas, how will you run through the material? Which area would you place the
first, at the beginning? Now here the rules of writing and speaking vary. In writing what do
we do? In writing, we start with the least important point and we move to the most important
point.
In speaking, we do the opposite. We start with the most important point. Why? Because when
you are speaking people do not have the patience to wait for you to come to your main point.
You have to grab their attention. So, state your most important point first and then go on to
the least important points.
Okay, now what is, as I said, in an introduction, in addition to introduction you must have an
opening. What is an opening? Opening is an attention grabber. Anything which will help you
grab the attention and also to strike a rapport with your audience. That is the objective of an
opening. Later on, as we move through these modules, these units, we will show you how to
make an effective opening but there are. what you need to do is, do not leave it to the last
moment.
That I will go there and I will make a very impressive opening. Because it will not work. You
will be nervous. You will be tongue tied. You will not be able to find a very effective way of
breaking the ice with your audience. Or you will not find an effective way of saying
something interesting to capture their attention. Think of something that works for you and
write out your opening, write the beginning.
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It could be a story, it could be a quotation, it could be an anecdote, it could be a question. The
next thing is to state, make your thesis statement. State your objective. What is the specific
purpose of your presentation? Do not state your topic. The topic is there on your topic slide.
Instead of that you state your objective. What are you going to do today? So, today like I
said, today we are going to move on to more advanced communication skills such as
presentation skills. That is the objective of my presentation today. State your objective
clearly.
And then you talk about the order in which you will go. So, most of us await for the audience
to guess the order in which you are going or do not provide any cues to the audience. But tell
the audience, first I will do this, first I will show you the figures,then I will show my
conclusions. So. do not use the standard structuring device but state the order. First. I will
provide you an overview; then I will show you the findings and then I will give my own
conclusions or my own work in this area.
So, always state the order because the audience need to know the…. See, visually we have
cues. We have dividers like, we have sections of your report where you have bold headings to
show, that this is a separate section. In speaking, we don’t have because you are speaking
continuously. So, you need to tell your audience that the first 10 minutes I will talk about this,
the next 10 minutes I will talk about this.
So, the audience, after a while, is waiting for you to move on to the next section and when
you are later… We will show you when you move on to next section, how do you use
transitions to show that now I am moving on to the next section.
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And then we come to conclusion where you put down all your summaries, reviews of all your
main points. That is your summary statement and your concluding statement, which is
preparing a closing statement that ends your presentation smoothly. So again there is a
difference between the conclusion and the close. Because conclusion is a conclusion of your
topic but close is a way of saying goodbye or taking leave. Just like an ice breaker.
In a closing, the best closing is one where you arouse your audience to take action. By the
end of the presentation they are ready to do something. They are ready to buy your product or
they are ready to kill or whatever. Whatever your objective will be.
Now we talk about support materials. We will have a separate section on it but I will quickly
show you what are the support materials and how do you use support material. Because you
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need to prepare it. So prepare the material. Have a clear purpose for the material. Make sure
the material is clear and legible. Here we are talking about visual material, such as making a
Power Point presentation but we can also have other support material.
Suppose you are a sculpture or you want to show people things you have made or you want
them to feel how a stone looks like. So you might distribute those. That could be your support
material. It could be your handouts. It could be your survey. Any support material or your
data. Whatever support material you have, it need not be only visual material; it need not be
only your Power Point presentations. But when it comes to your Power Point presentations,
make sure the material is clear and legible.
Use layout as part of the message. Use the material in the right places and make sure
everyone can see the material. Remember this is something people forget. Make a clear
purpose for the material. Because suppose you are very good at making Power Points or very
good at animations. I find lot of people try to impress just by using visuals or by using PPTs.
Yes, you like the PPT. You say PPT was very good.
You can do it but so long as you complement with the, if there is really a need for it. If there
is no need for it, there is no point in impressing people with your interesting visuals.
Now there are four ways of giving your talks and your preparation. We will go accordingly.
Depending on whether you are going to read, whether you are going to memorize, whether
you are going to give an extempore talk or you are going to give an impromptu talk.
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We will go on to these later but your materials will depend on whether you are going to write
your entire presentation or you just going to make your PPTs or are you going to memorize
the whole thing, you will have a script for yourself or would you just have small notes or you
just walk in because you are such an experienced speaker that you do not need anything. But
mind you, make sure that you have a route map. Prepare a route map through your material.
Identify your keywords and your phrases and prepare your notes.
So let us summarize this part of this unit in which we talked about planning your
presentations, planning effective presentation and as I said making a presentation is only the
tip of the iceberg. The rest of it is how you plan and prepare for your presentation. So let us
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sum up. Research and analyze, define the purpose, know your audience, know the setting and
conditions and analyze the subject matter in the light of all the above. Okay.
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Lecture 26
How to Get Over Your Fear of Speaking and Take Control
So you prepared your presentation and many of us are rather good at it, we know how to
prepare presentations but if we are asked to make a presentation then we start getting
butterflies in the stomach.
This unit will focus on how to get over your fear of speaking and taking control.
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First of all we must begin with the premise that anxiety is normal. It is not normal for us to
speak before a group, so if you are anxious before a presentation when you are asked to make
a presentation, you are not alone. Most people in the world share your fear of speaking before
a group. Even professional speakers feel nervous but they have found ways of dealing with
their anxiety.
So actually in the real world we have four kinds of people or three kinds of people. The first
category of people are ‘non-speakers’. ‘Non-speakers’ are people who…, even wild horses
will not be able to drag them to the stage, that is the first category, the avoiders. You ask
them to make a presentation, they will get a stomachache, they will fall ill and they will do
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anything to avoid the presentation. The second category of people is ‘would-be’ speakers or
resistors. People who do not like making presentations but if they are asked to make, okay, as
the last resort they agree to do, they do not really enjoy it.
So, they resist making presentations but do it if they have no way of avoiding it or they
accept that I have to make this presentation. And the third category or speakers are ‘born
speakers’, ‘born speakers’ are speakers who can hear the applause even before they go up to
the stage, they are the speakers. First of all you need to find out which category you belong
to, are you a ‘’non-speaker, a ‘would-be’ speaker or a ‘born speaker’ and trust me, speakers
are not born, they are made. Even you can become a speaker, if you work hard. It is not a
skill…; we tend to think that people are born speakers, but they are not.
Now all of us have the same problem when we are asked to make a presentation, we have to
deal with our nerves and we are going to show you how to deal with your nerves, how to
control your body language before you make a presentation. So, the first stage is remember
the first page is your psychological state. What is your fear? Identify your fear. What
precisely is your fear? Most of the problem is not physiological, it manifests itself in
physiological symptoms but the problem is really psychological, you are afraid.
Now I am afraid that I am making this presentation before you and maybe you will give me a
very bad feedback. So I am afraid, I am afraid that my peers are not going to give me, if I am
trying to get ready for my company, I am not going to get that contract. So, you have a real
fear, what will happen. Now if you are afraid, what happens to you? What happens to you
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when you are afraid? That is the first thing and if it happens to you, how likely is it likely to
happen to you and what would you do if it does happen.
I will share my fear, so, I am afraid that if I go to make a presentation in a group of five, you
know, before an audience of 500 people, sometimes I have to do it. If I am asked to do a
keynote, I do not really enjoy doing it but, you know, if everyone says, no, you have to do it,
I agree to do it. But you have 200 people in the hall, what do I do, what happens to me? My
heart goes, my heart starts beating fast. The moment, I am nervous, okay, I am introduced
and I am told, okay, you start speaking, my heart starts beating fast. What do I do?
I just wait for the thudding to stop, take a deep breath and then I start, go up and smile at
people. So what would you do, if it does happen?
Student 1: Here you see a lady who is formally dressed and has come for a presentation but is
equally nervous. We find adjusting her clothes and her hair, she is fidgeting with her hands,
avoiding eye contact with the audience, swallowing, biting nails, she’s shifting weight from
one leg to another, she takes deep breath, she is nervous because this is probably her first
time that she is making a presentation.
Remember nerves are not a disaster, it is normal to feel nervous.
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People do not worry so much about nervousness. The audience expects you to be nervous, it
is a natural body response that can actually improve performance. It gives you energy to
perform and keeps your mind sharp. Remember, think of sportspersons, sportspersons, they
feel anxiety but what do they do with the anxiety? The adrenaline that they, that flows to
them, it actually makes them perform better. So, nervousness can actually be a good thing for
you.
Acknowledging your nervousness is not always a sin and, actually, that vulnerability, that
acknowledgement of your nervousness can actually be very engaging. So we have this
experience of a TED Speaker who wrote a book about introverts and spoke at a 2012
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conference, she was terrified about giving a talk but she began by saying that she was
nervous and she looked so fragile and nervous that everyone wanted to hug her and this
happens to a lot of young people.
When someone is making a presentation, if you confess to the audience, look this is my first
presentation and I am very nervous, this is the first time I am making a presentation before a
big group, think of Malala giving a speech before the UN assembly and she says she is the
first Pashtun girl to be making it. So when people think of a 16 year old coming and making
it, you want to hug her and you want to protect her. So it is not always a sin to say
acknowledge that you are nervous. Remember, even professionals, people who do it day in
and day out, they have pangs of nervousness.
Let us now hear a professional, we’ll hear Mr Angad Singh Atwal, who is a professional
model, tell you what happens to him when what happens to him and how does he deal with
his nervousness. That is the difference between ordinary folks like us and professionals; they
know how to deal with their nervousness.
(Student Speaks 08:00)
Student 2: Hi friends, I am sharing my experience. The time I was nervous and it was a big
break for me. I started my career and that was like my first ramp ever, I was about to walk on
the ramp and I was thinking what should I do. I thought, like why should not I sing my
favorite song rather than feeling nervous. So, at the moment I started on my ramp, I started
singing and it really helped me out.
Now let us hear Ashmit Pratik, an amateur actor, who will share with you how he deals with
his fears on stage.
Student 3: Hello, people, as we know we are all talking about dealing with our anxieties,
right? So everyone gets anxious and even I used to when I used to go on stage or for
auditions and the, my, biggest fear or anxiety was to remember those lines, those heavy duty
lines that we had to deliver on screen or on stage. So how I dealt with that was get into the
character. I did not know when I got into the character, when I delved into it further, It did
not matter much whether I missed out one or two heavy words, the point was to get the
character across to the people.
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So that way, with practice, the realization dawned on to me that, once you get into that, you
will not have that feeling of anxiousness within you and you can easily transpire what is
going on to your audience. Now, now acting was something that I used to do and now I am in
the management field. So, now I have to present, give presentations, right? So, and
presentations across varies across a varied domain of knowledge. So whether it is marketing
or finance or human resources, what I do, I get into the character.
If I am giving a marketing presentation, I become a marketing person, if I am if I am giving

something for the finance, I become a financial, finance oriented person. And if I am going,
giving something for human resources, I become an HR manager, so, that way I get into the
character and give the presentation. So. that is it.
(Prof continues 10:09)
Let me tell you about the 30 second rule. They say that people form their impression, first
impression about you in the very first 30 seconds. Even before you go up to the stage to
speak, people have already made up their minds whether they want to listen to you or don’t
want to listen to you. And this impression is based, largely, mainly on the basis of your visual
impression which includes two things; the first is dress and appearance.
Student 4: For a lady, clothes should fit well but should not be tight. The length should be
decided upon by what works for you, generally longer sleeves are recommended to maintain
a more businesslike appearance. Colors should be muted like blue and black, avoid jewellery,
make-up should be simple, footwear should have decent heels, hair, like other aspects, should
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add to the positive overall impression of our appearance. Last but not the least; you must
wear only those clothes that you are comfortable in. If you like putting up Indian wear, then
you must wear a saree or a salwar kameez.
Or break the rules, depending on your profession; it is important that you dress according to
your profession. So if you are a graphic designer, you can bend the rules, or you are an artist,
you can dress different.
Hello mam, this is the presentation which we are trying to show today. Actually we have
done the graphic designing as well as made some short films in this current scenario. So we
would like to present some kind of PPT’s and Power Point presentations regarding it. In
addition to the regular co-curricular activities and academics that we have done in our course,
we have indulged in a bit of graphics and we have also gone and try to make some short films
and ad films in order to assist.
And make the current scenario with the, with the, current places known and also the
newspaper content, whatever occurings are happening, we tried to make them
scenorizingand we try to make them more clear to our readers and in the magazine, whatever
be published in our college. So these are some the points which we would like to cover.
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For men, clothes that are chequered, brightly colored or that clashes (sic) with your image
will reflect on, with, the presentation that you are doing. Depending upon the level of
formality, you may wish to button the jacket, unbutton it or take the coat off altogether. Shirt
should fit well and color should not be too bright. Ties can be used to complement the color
of your eyes and face, hair frames the face and, therefore, it should be properly combed.
Posture and movement. Stand straight with shoulders back and hands free for using them to
gesture. Do not sway or rock while speaking. Do not lean to one side; do not turn your back
towards audience. Walk around to show how comfortable you are.
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Gestures. Avoid placing hands on hips.
Do not cross arms.
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Do not cross hands in front.
Do not clasp your hands behind your back.
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Do not put hands in your pocket.
Starting to speak. Relax your face and neck muscles, regulate your breathing, establish eye
contact, occupy your hands, start your opening ritual.
Probably you will not be able to do this in front of others. Now let us see how the model does
it, Mr Angad Singh Atwal.
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Many of us have this problem of making eye contact at the initial level. If you are among one
amongst those, you can probably start your presentation by looking at a fixed point. Slow
down your fear, get onto your nerves and slowly bring your eyes down and make an eye
contact with the audience. Gradually, evenly, spread your eye contact to each and every
person sitting in the room, smile and begin your presentation. Now let us do everything
altogether.
Thanks for the wait people. We have two eminent people from the HR industry, let us
welcome them and see what they have in store for us.
Hi, everyone, this is Angad Singh Atwal. Hi, everyone, this is Nilinder Kaur.
Develop stage presence, you do not have to be someone else, just be yourself.
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Hi, everyone.
Hey, everyone.
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Hello, everybody.
Good morning, everyone.
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Getting the words, story and substance right is a much bigger determinant of success or
failure than how you stand or whether you are visibly nervous. We will move onto that in the
next session.
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Lecture 27
Delivering a Presentation
In the last section, we looked at how we begin how we break ice with the audience and use
greetings, eye contact and body language to make an impression. As I said, but body
language and making an impact visually mix is important to a presentation, but it is not
everything. It is also what you have to say, your content, your words, your language, your
main idea that is equally, or even more, important in making a presentation. Now let us look
at how does one deliver a presentation?
In this section, I would look at two things. What are the four different ways of making a
presentation, of delivering a presentation? The second is how to make openings? And the
third is, how to set your main purpose and central idea and state the order in which you will
proceed. So, let us now decide the different parts of a presentation and see how we proceed
after we have greeted our audience and have made, struck a rapport with our audience. We
stopped there in the last unit. Now let us move on to how to begin a presentation.
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You have to think of a presentation as a journey in which you take your audience along with,
where, you are going, where you want them to go and it is your role to guide them through
that journey and in order to (do so), if you think of a presentation like a journey, you have to
think of how you are going to frame your story? How you are going to frame your
presentation? That is very important.
The difference between a good presentation and a bad presentation is that one presentation
has no central idea, it does not have a central framing as to what you really want to say.
You’ve merely put down all the information, but you really do not have a central idea about
what you want to say. Remember people are not interested in getting information. Today,
particularly, they can get all the information they want from different sources. What people
are looking for is what you have to say about this subject? What is your take on it?
And remember, people like listening to stories. Since time immemorial, people have loved
listening to stories. So, frame your presentation, think of a narrative in which you embed this
presentation and then take your audience on the journey in which they move along with you
slowly, the way you want them to move. So, once you have got the framing down, it is time
to focus on your delivery. There are 4 ways, not just 3 ways but 4 ways, which I stated at the
beginning of making a presentation.
You can read directly from a script or a teleprompter. So, you can watch me, one, or you can
memorize your talk which entails rehearsing it to the point where you internalize every word
verbatim. Now what happens if you are reading? Now watch me. Do not read it and do not
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use a teleprompter. It is usually just too distancing. People will know you are reading and as
soon as they sense it, the way they receive your talk will shift. Suddenly your intimate
connection evaporates and everything feels a lot more formal. So this is what happened when
I was reading from this teleprompter in front of me.
Instead of that if I memorize, that is the other way and we find people, new learners in
particular, they tend to memorize each and every word of what they are trying to say. In this
situation what happens is…, I have sat through presentations of our students who have
memorized every phrase, every gesture, every pause, they have rehearsed it time and time
again. So they have done it and it is when you sit through the presentation like that, it sounds
so perfect, but it also sounds so bad, because there is no flaw in it.
It is as if someone has mugged up, like, in school, we use to mug up the poems. Someone has
mugged up each and every word and they reproduce it. The problem with this is what
happens if you forget? It happens to people that you forget what you wanted to say. Since you
memorized each and every word, what do you do then? You have a very awkward moment
because you forget your lines.
And this also happens when, in the middle of the presentation, if I ask somebody to stop and
clarify something, I find that the person loses their nerve, they get very awkward because
they have rehearsed it in a particular manner and they are not prepared for any breaks. So
most people go through what somebody has called the ‘valley of awkwardness’, where they
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have not quite memorized the talk. If they give the talk while stuck in that ‘valley’, the
audience will sense it.
The audience, the words, will sound recited or there will be a painful moment where they
stare into middle distance or cast their eyes upward as they struggle to remember their lines.
So this creates…, we are doing a style of delivery. We are looking at a style of delivery
which enables you to make contact with your audience. Remember, we stopped with how you
make contact with your audience, eye contact, you distributed your eye contact, you smiled at
everyone and you greeted them.
Now if you start reading from that point onwards, either from your slides or from your notes
or from a text, you have immediately lost contact. Now the next thing is or if you have
memorized, you forget to make eye contact because you are focusing on your words. You are
focusing on remembering what you want to say. So, the third way is more suitable for adult
learners, is to make notes.
If you do not have…, you can make your notes and now there are two things about making
notes. In the olden days, we used to use cards on which we made notes. Before the days of
the PPT. And we would have these little slips of paper or we’d have made notecards where
we put down, jotted down the main points. And if we were stuck, we did not remember a
particular detail, only then we glanced at the notes or we quickly glanced at our notes and
then explain the point and move on to the next point.
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Today we, PPTs is, the PowerPoint presentation system has made us very lazy, in my
opinion. So, we have people who put all the information they have got on a PPT and they just
read out. Some people even make the mistake of cutting and pasting from different sources so
they have not even assimilated the information they have got. But they put it on PPT and they
just read it out from the PPT. Students tend to do that very often. The other alternative is
people who put down the text of their report or the paper on a PPT and they read to the
audience.
That is the other option. If you must use your PPTs, you must not put too much text on a
PPT. You must use bullet points. So, just like we did it for notes on index cards. Just put your
bullet points on your PPTs and explain the rest instead of reading from the PPT.
Making notes, that is a third option. And the fourth option, I do not have a PPT for this, but
experienced speakers tend to do that. They also do what is called ‘impromptu’ speaking.
Where they neither use notes, nor do they use slides. They do not memorize, they do not read
from something. Now it is something which comes with experience.
After a period of time, you learn to make a presentation without having to consult your notes
or without having to memorize, because you have such a wealth of experience that you can
draw on that wealth of experience to find examples, to code, to provide data. It is rare, but
there are people who do that. And if you are one of those lucky people, go ahead and use
‘impromptu’ speaking. I cannot forget a speech, which I heard in this campus.
We have a Tagore Memorial Lecture once a year and we had a professor of economics, who
is the professor of the leading economist, Professor Amartya Sen. This was his professor and
you cannot imagine the treat it was listening to him because he used neither PPTs nor did he
read from a text as we are used to. In lectures, people read from a text or they use a PPT or
they use notes.
This professor gave a talk on welfare, I recall, and I recall each and every word of what he
said because without using any notes, without any PPTs, he really lad us through that journey
through which even a lay person like myself who does not understand complex concepts in
economics and, mind you, he was explaining very very complex concepts. But the way he
explained them, by the end of the presentation which was 45 minutes long, each of us knew
how he moved from one point to the other, from the second point to the third and then to the
conclusion.
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By the end of it, all of us could understand what welfare is or what a welfare state is. So try
this, remember, there are two things which are important in deciding what delivery you use.
One is your own comfort zone. What are you most comfortable doing? If you do not
remember things, do not try to memorize. If you are not, if you do not have the gift of the gab
and you cannot compose your words immediately, do not try impromptu. But sometimes it is
also the occasion which demands that people use a particular mode of delivery.
You would find that people in authority, particularly, heads of states or people who are
making statements to the press, you always find them reading from a text. Why do they do it?
Experienced veteran leaders, veteran speakers, why do they read a speech instead of
delivering it? So, the same person, say, the Prime Minister who would in an election
campaign use an impromptu speech, will resort to reading from a text if he is speaking in
Parliament or if he is giving a press conference.
Why? They do this because you cannot afford to be misquoted. There is going to be a record.
And if you use a word which is inappropriate or you make a commitment, you make a
statement which is inaccurate or not actually correct, you will get into a lot of trouble. So in
these situations people tend to read. From choosing how to deliver a presentation, now let us
move on to the next important aspect of delivering a presentation, which I did mention in the
last lecture also is about the importance of opening.
I said that it is not enough as we do to just make an introduction. It is equally important that
we write an opening. Why do we need an opening? We need an opening because when we
are asked to make a presentation, we have to strike a rapport with our audience. So we need
to use some kind of icebreaker, which helps us to establish a rapport with our audience.
So all the things we showed you yesterday, we demonstrated to you, making eye contact or
smiling, greeting, all these are tricks, all these are strategies you need to use in order to break
the ice and strike a rapport with your audience. Now I return to the 30 second rule which I
spoke about yesterday.
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In the 30 second rule we said there are 12 ways to hook an audience in 30 seconds. So if you
have not got your audience in the first 30 seconds, you have not got them at all. And I have it
on the authority of David Ogilvy, who is the father of modern advertising. he said when you
advertise fire extinguisher, open with the fire and this is the advice for making your
presentation. Apply this advice when you are making your presentation. you have to grab.
These are called attention grabbers. These are called hooks. You have to use this hooks to
grab the attention of your audience. There are different ways in which you can grab your
audience’s attention. I will show you 12 different ways in which you can hook your audience
and these I have borrowed from Bruna Martinuzzi, who is the President and founder of
Clarion Enterprises Limited.
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We can learn from advertising people to how to hook because you know that advertising
personnel work with time constraints. So suppose you are buying time on television and you
have to get the attention of your audience, you are paying a hell of a lot of money for a 30
second commercial. And that is why advertising folks are used to grabbing your attention in
the first 30 seconds. What are the different ways you can hook an audience?
Use a contrarian approach, ask a series of rhetorical questions, deliver a compelling sound
bite, make a startling assertion, provide a reference to a historical event, use the word
imagine, add a little show business, arouse curiosity, use quotations differently, quote a
foreign proverb, take them through a ‘what if’ scenario, tell them a story. Now remember,
whenever you choosing these hooks, you must do what works for you.
Do not ever think of doing something which does not work for you and I must share this
experience, my own experience, when the first time I was asked to speak to a group of mid-
level executives. I was not really used to doing training programs of mid-level executives. I
was more used to dealing with students, a younger profile of learners. So when I was asked to
make these presentations, I did not make an opening or I made an opening which was not
appropriate.
So I tried copying my colleagues, my other colleagues. May be your most senior colleagues
or male colleagues and its okay, now let me do this, let me see this because I found that if
their lectures are going well, maybe my lectures will also go well. So, I found that most of
my male colleagues in the IIMs would use humor. They would use humor to strike a rapport
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with the audience. So, there was this very, majority of the audience, majority of the
executives in that particular program were male.
So there would be some kind of male joke and there will be lot of guffaws and lot of buddy-
buddy feeling between. No, I said, when I shared this with my friend, now this is how this
person got a very good feedback and his lecture was appreciated. I was wanting to do it.
Because do not do anything which does not work, does not suit your style. If your style is not
humor, do not ever dare to attempt it. Make something and what happens is sometimes
people follow these rules to the letter and they try something which is not their style.
Suppose you make a startling assertion. So, begin with a bang because you are making
startling assertion. But after that you fall flat because that is not really your style or you used
a historical event and you do not really have a grasp on history. Or you use a quotation, so if
you use a quotation or you are not good at remembering the phrases, it’s not a very good
strategy.
But people some of us who love reading, who love reading poetry, or who love reading
quotations and we can reproduce them at a drop of a hat, we do tend to use quotations and
sometimes there is nothing like a quotation when you are making an opening to as an effect,
the affect it creates on the audience. Telling them a story, you could tell them a story, that is
one way of grabbing your audience’s attention. Now there are some of us are very good at
telling stories.
Some of us are not good at telling stories. If you are going to tell a story and you are not good
at telling stories, do not you try it. Try it if you are good at telling stories, because people love
listening to stories. But they like listening to stories which they can relate to. So we had a
former director who was again a very good speaker, who would make impromptu speeches
because every other day he would have to make a speech to different groups of people.
And I’d never see him rehearsing or preparing his speech because he was moving from one
inauguration function to another inauguration function. But I was amazed that at each
Inaugural he will find something new to say, something interesting to say because he was 80+
and he had this, you know, this great experience as a academic, as well as a person.
So, all he would do is, he would draw on some anecdote in his long and distinguished career
to, and related to the topic at hand, to, get the audience’s attention and he’d proceed in that
manner but he’d hold us all spell bound. So do it if you can copy him, but do not attempt a
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style that does not work for you. Now we have for you illustrations, examples of 12 different,
several kinds of openers that you can use for yourself. You can choose one or any of them
that works for you. From hooks we move on to tailoring your presentation.
How do you tailor your presentation? I will return to this when I will talk about the language
of presentations. So, most important is, as we said, ‘who?’ is very important in the ‘what?’ So
the ‘who?’ is, who are you making this presentation for? So suppose you are making a
presentation for experts. Does it really help them to give them all the preliminary
information, all the basic information related to the topic? No, because you are making it to
an expert. To an expert audience.
Now if you are making it to new audience, then maybe it is wise to give very basic
information. For instance, suppose I was making a presentation on, making presentation
before, trainers or before colleagues. Then I would not do it like the way I am doing it today
or I am doing it in these lectures. The way I would do it is, I would just share some strategies
which have worked for me. I wouldn’t go into how one should to do it, line by line.
Instead of that I would say, ‘Okay, you know how about trying this new kind of opening or
how about doing it this way.’ So I would just share techniques. Because I assume that
everyone knows how to make a presentation. And they are only interested in exchanging
ideas. So always tailor make your presentation for your audience. Now, in these you have to
do 3 things, which we will return to later. Use appropriate language. Always use appropriate
language. Take examples from your own experience and analogies from theirs.
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So whenever you are talking about something you have to make the audience identify with
what you are explaining. Remember, audience do not like listening to facts and figures,
numbers, concepts. They are very boring for them because it is a new area. Now how do you
explain something which is unfamiliar to somebody? A concept which is unfamiliar or if you
bombard them with numbers, they say ‘Okay, if I do not understand numbers so I just switch
off’.
I want to know, okay, what do these numbers mean?’ So, what you need to do is, you have to
give examples from your own experience. Now this is also tricky because some of us do not
have the requisite, the kind of experience that is needed to make a, you know, to be able to do
it. Maybe we do not have examples from our own life. suppose the area is different for you.
So I am in academics, I do not have examples from the corporate world. When I am talking
about presentations, I am giving you examples from my own experiences in academics.
Now, if I were making a presentation like this in the corporate world, they would not be
impressed with these examples because they would like to know, I mean, they would have
more respect for you, if you give examples from the corporate world. Since I confess that I do
not have that experience and I am not going to make it up. My solution would be I could put
together the experiences of people, I could illustrate that from the experiences or examples of
people within the corporate world.
What they would say? And, but it will not be as personalized then, like it is now. And
analogies from theirs. Now you also need to use analogies from their experience. Now, if
you’re using your experience and your audience-’s experience is not the same. Now if you
start using your examples, they do not identify with it because they say, it means, it’s alien to
them. Now, if you want to grab their, students, your learner’s, interest, if you come down to
their level and you use an example from them, from their own life, then it cuts some ice with
them.
It makes an impact on them. So, suppose I am talking about, say, suppose I am giving a talk
on racism and I am teaching a poem, say, on racism and my students are not literary students.
they have no background on that in poetry. So when I read about this poem or when I explain
this poem, they do not relate to it. They say, some poet, some dead poet or some living poet
in some other part of the world is talking about it. What does is it, how, what does it have to
do with me?
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So suppose I draw their attention to the recent incidents of racism in the US or recent
incidents of racism in Australia, which might…, or in India. So, which might happen to them
tomorrow. Then probably they would say and if I ask them a question like, have you ever
seen incidents of racism in your own family or in your own friends? Then probably they will
understand what I am trying to say. Involve the whole audience, we will get back to this. And
now I will conclude by showing you what you need to do after you have grabbed the
attention?
Okay, you have grabbed the attention of your audience in the first 30 seconds. But it is the
first 2 minutes that count. The first 2 minutes you have to get this, after having got their
attention you need them to understand, you need them, you need to convince them that you
are worth listening to. And how do you do that? You have to sell them an idea. I said, great
presentations are about framing. You must have a big idea. It is not just enough to say I am
going to talk about this topic. That is not enough.
You must have a great idea. What are you going to say about this topic? You have to frame it.
Within and construct a story about it. So suppose, I am going to talk about say, feminism. I
am asked to give an overview of feminist theories or feminism. I could just run through the,
chronologically the history of feminism from the 18th century or 19th century to the present
and explain different forms of feminism. That’ll be a very informative presentation, fine. But
to make it a good presentation, I have to frame it.
Like, I have to take the standpoint and say, ‘Okay, why am I not a feminist?’ Maybe that is
my standpoint. It is very politically incorrect today to say, ‘why I am not a feminist?’ So, my
argument is that, ‘why I am not a feminist?’ Is it because I feel that the conceptual aspects of
feminism do not translate into the social and legal framework. So, I am taking a standpoint.
And then I use the same historical overview to, within this main framing argument, I could
tell stories, I could relate anecdotes.
But framing is very important. Now after having made your opening and framing your
argument, you have to state the purpose.
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What is the purpose or objective of your presentation? We worked on this even when we
were planning the introduction. I said, you have to be very clear about what is your main
idea, what is your main purpose, what is your central idea. So you must have a specific
purpose as well as a central idea.
This specific purpose will be something like, I will inform my audience about the two major
forms of performance in India. So, I say, the two major forms of performance that have
played a role in... I am an extrapolating from the slide, this is an example from Hawaii. And
so I can say that those who have played an important part in Indian history and have
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developed into unique dances are Bharatanatyam and Kathak. And I come to main point one.
Let us stop with this. I will come to the points later.
So now this purpose, specific purpose differs depending on what kind of talk or what kind of
presentation you are giving. If you are giving an informative speech which students mostly
give, is to give informative speeches.
Very simple statements like, ‘to inform my audience about three excellent day hikes in
Gulmarg’, ‘to inform my audience about the history of the Red Fort’, ‘to inform my audience
about the plans for the new School of Medical Science and Technology at IIT Kharagpur’, ‘to
inform my audience about how to tie and dye a shirt’, ‘to inform my audience about how
agricultural run-off leads to water pollution’. So this will be true for informative speeches.
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But when we come to persuasive presentations, we can have, this is a kind of specific
purpose we will have, ‘to persuade my audience that SMST should build another student
parking structure’, ‘to persuade my audience that California should raise or lower driver's
license fees’, ‘to persuade my audience that the United States or India should withdraw from
the UN’, ‘to persuade my audience to boycott Guess Jeans’, ‘to persuade my audience to
become organ donors’. So, depending on what your purpose is, your statement will differ.
Now the central idea is different from your purpose. You also need to write down your
central idea, like, ‘in an emergency situation, the hard braking methods used to stop cars with
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anti-lock brakes can lock up traditional brakes on older rear-wheel and front-wheel drive
cars’. So, you need to have your central idea clearly.
But remember the rules for both specific purpose and central idea are the same. You need to
express each as a single complete sentence, avoid stating the purpose, avoid stating the
sentence as a question, use clear language, avoid vague or general statements. The next stage
would be, you have to state the order.
Mentioning the main points to be covered in the body, prepare the audience to listen to them.
So, this is why you need to state what is your central argument, what is your objective. Now
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we will watch some typical statements of purpose or stating of your central argument in the
examples that we will show you. After having, stating, introduce your specific purpose and
your central idea, we have to show the order in which we will proceed. why do we need to do
that?
Because, remember, like I said yesterday, that in the last class that you cannot, you have to
provide oral cues. Since we do not have visual cues, we need to provide oral cues to our
audience, to show that we are moving from one path to the other. So, when you are moving
from, say, from your opening to your introduction and then your, how much time you will
spend doing each.
It is good to state what you will be saying in the body of your presentation and how you will
move from one point to the other. So, this preview should be ending with a transition, a brief
phrase or a pause to signal to the audience that the speech is moving out of the introduction
and into the body. This is after you have stated the order. So we will also show you some
examples of how you can state the order. After this we will move on to different audience
involvement skills. Most important being repetition.
Why is it that we repeat when we are speaking, unlike in writing? In writing if you repeat
something, it appears very redundant. But redundancy is a happy quality in a presentation,
when you are speaking. Because people’s attention wanders and people are listening to you,
they tend to veer off, they start thinking in some other direction. So if you repeat, someone
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who might have missed out what you said the first time, will hear it, you said it the second
time.
So repetition is a very important aspect of public speaking, for listening is an imperfect art
and audience members nearly always tune out in parts, sometimes to think about previous
parts of the speech, sometimes for other reasons. So now, how do you engage your audience?
You have to use analogies to clarify unfamiliar ideas, as I said.
Use samples and illustrate illustrations to support the message. you can also use questions as
an opportunity to involve your audience.
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But we tend to think that questions will come at the end. The questions do not have to come
in, in the end. They can come after each key area. Take the question and answer after each
key area. So, I conclude by saying that we must know how to make an opening, the different
part of a presentation, how to make an impact, how to frame your presentation, first of all,
four different ways of making a presentation. The third thing we talked about was, how to
grab the audience's attention.
The next would be, how to state your main purpose and objective and then how to state the
order in which you will proceed and, finally, how to get your audience’s attention.
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Lecture 28
Language of Presentations
Hello. In this unit I am going to move on to the languages of presentations. I am going to look at
both verbal language and nonverbal language of presentations.
Indian speakers have a major problem when they are making a presentation in English. I know
several speakers, students, colleagues, people I have heard on television or live, who have the
gift of the gab, who have a flair for using the right word when they speak in their own languages.
But when it comes to English, they have a problem because of the limited vocabulary they are
unable to get the same message across as effectively in English as they would be able to do in
their own language.
I said at the very beginning that because we have good speakers in any language and language is
not a constraint. But when English is not a mother tongue it does become a constraint and if you
have a limited vocabulary…. So what is the kind of language we must use in presentations? That
is what we will first, examine first, and then we’ll look at what are the standard phrases which
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are used in presentations to indicate that you are making a beginning, you are introducing and so
on.
So. first of all, the kind of language. Now Indian speakers tend to make presentations and I have
sat through so many of them in which people are just reading from, they sound as if they are
reading from a book. The reason is that they use a very formal language when they are speaking.
So most people write a report and they read out the report, they memorize the report or use a
PowerPoint, taking clips from the report and they just read them out. Now when you do that you
sound as if you are reading from a book. You are not making a presentation.
And the reason why people do it is the same as we said at the very first lecture that, we are not
very fluent in colloquial, conversational English though we can make very advanced arguments
in formal English. That is the reason we went through those conversational structures so that you
can also express yourself in simple colloquial conversational English. What is the trick to
making a speech? When you are writing, particularly if you are writing ann academic paper, it
helps if you use a very heavy, very erudite language with big words, big complex structures.
But when you are speaking, remember that if you use long sentences, polysyllabic words,
difficult words, people do not understand you and you sound as if you are reading from the book.
So you must always use words that are conversational. That is the first trick. The second is, it is
not just enough to use conversational words. Remember you have to sell an idea to your
audience. You are framing your argument, you are making something interesting for them. In
order to get their attention, how does one use language to get their attention?
Now if you use denotative words, remember we talked about the difference between connotative
and denotative words when we did that section on verbal communication? If you use tentative
words, you tend to speak in a very straightforward, matter of fact manner, which might be okay
if you are giving instructions which might get your message across, very clear message across,
but which will not help you make an impact. Which will not help you get your audience to move
with you or to sway your audience.
What are the kind of words that can help you do that? Words that draw pictures. So you need to
draw words which create a picture in the minds’ eye of your audience. What are those kind of
words? Remember we said figurative language, use of metaphors, use of similes, use of
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allusions. These are the kind of words that help the audience visualize what you are trying to say.
So if you say that our president or the president of our company is a very efficient person. That
probably does not indicate to the audience how efficient your president is.
But if you say your president of the company is like the Bill Gates of the Indian industry. So that
helps people to visualize, okay that is the kind of impact, that is the kind of journey your
president has made. So people are able to immediately visualize. So, use words that draw
pictures. Also use words that sound good. We can use words which are synonyms for one
another. But they do not always sound good. You have to instinctively use your discretion to
decide what sounds good and what does not sound good in a certain place.
A certain phrase may sound inappropriate or just the sound of words…. Remember the sound of
word is as important as the meaning of words. So how do we choose words? I thought there is
nothing better than doing this other than analyzing this famous speech by Dr. Martin Luther
King. His speech. ‘I have a dream’.
This speech is used as an example of one of the best speeches of the last century one can say in
which Martin Luther King shows himself to be a past master of using the art of rhetoric, the use
of not only words but the use of all the devices one can use to capture the attention of one’s
audience. Let us look at some of the words that he uses and the effect that they have on his
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audience. So he begins by the ‘you’ tone. That is very important when you are talking to people
you must always use the ‘you’ tone.
If you start with the ‘I’ tone, people tend to think you are self-centered, you are egoistic and you
are showing off. They do not say they do not see how it relates to them. So one quick way of
grabbing your audience’s interest and involving them is to use the ‘you’ tone. So he begins by
saying, ‘I am not unmindful that some of you have come out of great trials and tribulations, some
of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells, some of you have come from areas where your
quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of
police brutality.’ So notice, throughout this sentence, these sentences, each sentence has a ‘you’
feeling. ‘Some of you’, ‘some of you’ has been repeated 3 times within 3 sentences.
Along with ‘you’ feeling, we have the use of figurative language, use of words that draw
pictures. So ‘trials and tribulations’, we are talking of his punning on trials and tribulations. We
are talking of people who have actually been in prison or we are also talking about
metaphorically being in a prison and the tribulations faced by people. He speaks about the storms
of persecution staggered by the winds of police brutality. Instead of stating it in a straightforward
manner, he uses this metaphorical language ‘the storms of persecution’, ‘winds of police
brutality’, that is what I meant by figurative language.
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Now let us see how he uses repetition? ‘Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to
South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Luciana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our
Northern cities knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.’ So notice this is
4, 5, 6, 6 times the phrase ‘go back’, 7 times the phrase is repeated and then from ‘you’ we make
a transition, from ‘you’ to ‘us’, all this while he was saying, ‘some of you’, ‘some of you’, using
imperative ‘go back’.
And now he says, ‘let us not wallow in the valley of despair’. Immediately he has made himself
as one of them. The ‘we’ feeling. ‘Let us not wallow’, and again the metaphoric use. Instead of
saying, ‘let us not’ ‘give in to despair’, he says ‘let us not wallow in the valley of despair’. So
look at how memorable or how figurative this phrase is, ‘wallow in the valley of despair’.
I have a dream. Wow, we come to the key sentence which gives the speech the title, ‘I say to you
today, my friends, that in spite of all the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a
dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this
nation will rise up and leave out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-
evident that all men are created equal”.
I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation, where they will be not be
judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of the character. I have a dream today. I have
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a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low,
the rough places will be made plain and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of
the Lord shall be revealed and of all flesh shall see it together. This is our hope. This is the faith
that I go back to the South with.’
So, look at how many times the word ‘I have a dream’ and he does not spell out the dream, he
keeps repeating, he has a dream and then he fits it within this idea of the American dream. The
American dream of prosperity, of a good life and how he embeds his dream of equality of all
people, that all men are created equal within this larger American dream. And then what is the
dream? That people will not be judged by the color of their skin. And now again when he talks,
he is not spelling out.
Because if he says, ‘Okay, I want hundred percent reservation for black people in the American
government. I want fifty-five percent.’ So that will be a very boring way of saying it and that will
be a very limited way of saying it because who knows that the wants and dreams might change.
So slipping into using a metaphoric language to show what that dream is, helps us to use this
speech even today because it becomes a classic which one can use across time and place.
That, ‘every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places
will be made plain and the crooked place will be made straight.’ So you see how the use of
metaphoric language helps him to transcend that immediate situation of the problem of black
people in US. These are words, these are phrases that can be lifted or can be borrowed by any
group of people anywhere to share their dream. this is an example of how language can be used.
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With this faith we will be able to hew out the mountain of despair a stone of hope. So look at
how he uses phrases like this everywhere. ‘Jangling discords of our nation into’. This is
contrasted with, ‘Beautiful symphony of brotherhood, work together, pray together, struggle
together, go to jail together, stand up for freedom together, this will be the day when all of God's
children will be able to sing with new meaning.’ So he uses a Christian hymn. ‘And if America is
to be a great Nation this must become true.’
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I wouldn't read the rest of the speech because it is very long and I would rather that someone
who is good at reading does it or we hear. I would advise that you hear Martin Luther King
delivering his speech himself to see how, what impact the speech makes. And how the repetition
of the word ‘freedom’ in the last paragraph, how that, it is kind of, it begins to ring with the idea
of freedom. The number of times he uses the word ‘freedom’. You know, the message of the
speech is ‘freedom’, that begins to resonate, that begins to ring.
And the use of metaphors ‘freedom ringing from the heightening of this place from the slopes,
freedom ringing.’ So the idea of freedom ringing rather than the church bells ringing. How he
uses this metaphor to convey the idea of freedom. How can you do this to your own speech? You
can try it out yourself. How you can use metaphoric language to make your speech more
interesting than stating the same ideas in a denotative language. How do you use words which
are conversational? How do you use rhetoric?
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So always pay attention to your tone. Do not speak to people in an authoritative way. Sometimes
we come across as very authoritative or powerful. But it is usually much better just to sound
conversational. Just do not orate. Just be you. You do not have to be an orator. You can be you.
Now I am going to introduce you to some structures, some phrases you can use in different parts
of your presentation in order to be able to make a presentation more impactful.
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So when you are introducing your main points what are the phrases you can use? ‘Now ‘I am
going to start by’, ‘now I am going to focus on’, ‘first we’re like to look at’, ‘let us start with’,
‘the first problem that I would like to focus on is’, ‘turning then to my first point’, ‘to begin with
I would like to say a few things about’, ‘I would like to begin by’, ‘ok so let us start by looking
at’, ‘I would like to take a minute or two to define what exactly we mean by’, ‘I would like to
mention these points here’.’
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The next stage is what we do, what is referring to researchers. ‘ I have identified three key issues
here they are’, ‘researchers have shown quite conclusively that’, ‘a number of recent studies
notably the ones by so and so have shown that’’, a number of studies have shown that, research
suggest that’, ‘according to’, ‘figures from this show that, a very interesting study shows that’,
‘the study by so and so is on your reading list and I encourage you to look at it’’, basically what
he found was’’, one of the most interesting studies carried out in this area shows that’.’ So this is
how you refer to other people’s work.
Referring to visual data. When we are showing visual data, we should turn to, we should use
some phrases to indicate that we are turning to it. ‘If you look at this table you can see that, the
data here shows that, please take a handout and pass on, there are some handouts coming round.’
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Presenting a point of view. So, ‘those in favor of argue that advocates of so and so claim that,
some people claim that but others, most people would argue that, I think it is fair to say that,
personally I think there is overwhelming evidence that, evidence does seem to show that.’
Analyzing in argument. ‘Let us take a closer look at the argument put forward by so and so’’, his
main contention is that’, ‘but he fails to consider’, ‘even if we accept the point’, ‘that still leaves
the question of’, ‘the argument you put forward by so and so and so on’.’
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So, emphasizing important points. Remember you have to give verbal cues to your audience that
you are moving on and what they should look for and what they should not look for. So
emphasizing main, important points. ‘It must be remembered that’, ‘it must be emphasized that’,
‘I would like to draw your attention to the point’.’ These are some of the ways you can use
language.
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And the second part we will deal with how to use your voice. So I will quickly list these
examples of how you can use your voice to make a more impactful presentation. But before that
we will look at examples of how to use words. What kind of words to use in different situations
or when you are making transitions from one part of the presentation to another. In the second
part, we’ll look at voice and delivery which you practiced in the session on voice and delivery.
But we will see how to use it in a presentation.
So we will look at voice control, we will look at projecting your voice, varying the pitch tone and
volume, using pause, using repetition, using questions and varying the voice in volume, pace and
emphasis.
We have another speech here and we will have people delivering some of these speeches to
show you how you can improve your own delivery and speech.
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Lecturer 1: Friends, I think most of us have already guessed what is the topic about? How many
of you have actually seen, friends? Okay, so.
Lecturer 2: We communicate through two different channels. One is verbal, one is nonverbal.
Verbal when we exchange words to communicate with each other and other is nonverbal, when
we exchange our messages without using any of the linguistic means. So, today I am going to
discuss about.
Lecturer 3: That is the point. When you give sarcastic feedback or when you give a feedback
which is not very positive and more on the negative side, it might not help the speaker to
improve what they are doing wrong. So coming to what is feedback, it is nothing but you are
giving, you are feeding the speakers something from your side after they are done speaking. Now
it consists of everything. The nonverbal cues as well. Not just what you speak but also what.
Lecturer 4: We will end up with the confusion, whether it is a man or a woman. Okay, let us
begin with the introduction. Electronic commerce or e-commerce.
Lecturer 5: To begin with, I would like to ask you a question. What if I came up and told you all
of a sudden that in this class we will not use any lab projector or any other projector or any
pointer in this classroom? Is it possible? Can we really imagine a postgraduate lab class of
communications IIT Kharagpur without, made up of just walls and no technical instruments
whatsoever?
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A proper presentation is a complete process which begins right at the preparation for the
presentation till the end. One cannot think of making a presentation without proper body-
language, posture and gesture. Now we’ll look at two individuals, a lady and a gentleman
showing body-language, posture and gesture. How they start the process right from entering the
room, till living the room and in between. How they go about doing the presentation.
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We see this lady and the gentleman entering the room with a smile on their face, with a proper
positive posture. You must keep your notes ready. Prepare a handout or jot down the points and
keep your notes ready. Greet the audience with a smile on your face. Keep moving, do not be
static. You should not hunch back. Keep a confident posture which would definitely take you a
long way. Use hand gestures to be more expressive during the presentation. Show receptiveness
which would include interactiveness with the audience.
Be prepared to be asked anything related to your topic. Know a topic well so that you are ready
to answer any question with relation to that. Be informative while answering the question. You
must not shift weight from one leg to another. You should look confident, look professional
while making the presentation. End your presentation with confidence and liveliness on your
face. Say thank you while you end your presentation. Leave the room without showing your back
to the audience.
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Lecture 29
Analysis of a Presentation
Student 1: Hello everyone. In today's lecture we have a lady and a gentleman making their
presentation. It is for you to analyze the presentation in accordance with the parameter discussing
the presentation skills. We will be happy if you could share your views regarding the
presentation in the forum. Thank you.
Student 2: Good morning everyone. So, today I am going to present before you all a topic which
I feel very strongly about. Something that holds a lot of relevance in today’s society. Where we
have been smothered by patriarchy for so many years. So, without much ado let me start with
what feminism means in general what relevance it holds and how it came into existence and what
shape it has taken today. Let us talk about the dawn, the beginning of feminism. How it came
into existence? Why it came into existence?
So, you can call it a revolution. A political, a cultural, an economical, a social revolution.
Anything you know it started off when these two women Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia
Mott, these people were denied seats at a Convention Centre, which, imagine how demeaning it
is for women to not be allowed a place at a, you know, seat at a public place. We are not animals,
right?
We are people, we are equals, this is what sparked the fury. This is what sparked the actual you
know incited the anger amongst the women that we need to hold equal status, equal relevance in
the society. People have campaigned after that. Even before that at a very small scale but after
that people started campaigning for legal rights. People started campaigning for their integrity,
their, you know, the freedom to express themselves. Women, the freedom to express themselves
in front of people openly, freedom to express their sexuality.
And it came in waves. You know just like everything starts from somewhere, transforms into
something, it came in waves. The first wave of feminism can be dated back to 19th century and
the earlier 20th century, which was generally about women's suffrage and legal inequality. That
is, suffrage was, woman was not allowed to vote. Women were not given the basic right to
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actually take part in legal activities. They were not allowed to, you know, like the example of not
sitting in a conventional centre.
Then, came the second wave which was further more it actually targeted cultural inequality. How
they were, you know, the culture how it demean them how it shoot them in a, you know, in a
lighter note. Women were not considered as important and as relevant as men. Then, came the
third wave which is ongoing. In fact the ongoing wave is a much higher version of the third
wave. It can be termed as a 4th wave but the third wave has ended like a couple of years like a
decade ago, maybe. And this wave actually target sexual liberation.
Women now have the freedom to openly express their sexuality. How important they are
globally? How much they can assert themselves? How they can take decisions they are CEO’s of
big companies. They are managers, they are taking charge in the corporate world. This all has
been tackled in the third wave. So let us come to the fear of feminists. Why are we being feared
today? Why are women who stand up for women and their rights being feared?
See feminism is not about women overshadowing men or women taking charge and, you know,
dominating men. Feminism is about bringing women from here to here, that we are equal to men.
But why is that fear there in the society? Why are we being, you know, people are being scared
of us? There are some myths and there are some facts. The myth is feminism is considered that
women want to gain power. They want to gain a status where they can actually you know just
dominate the men around them.
Make them do things according to their own wish. But the fact is women were always at a lower
pedestal in the society. They were always dominated and they need power to come to an equal
status, not to surpass the status. Also, it is not about dividing the society into men, women and
making the man feel inferior. It is actually about equality and respect. Also, it is not that men are
not feminists. Men are feminists, men who stand up, who have spine to respect their women,
respect their wives, their mothers, their daughters, their sisters, they are feminists, they are not
spineless man.
What is the perception today, all of us use social media. We see the term feminazi. What is that?
It is actually how feminist are been perceived today as Nazis. People who have slaughtered and
killed Jews during the holocaust, but we are not that. We are not torturing anyone; we are just
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standing up for our right we are standing up for what we believe we should get and what we
deserve. It is not about, it is all about getting the right education, getting the right freedom,
getting the right power, getting the right opportunities.
It is not about taking the opportunities and actually dominating others. See people feel that
women who do not believe in marriage, women who are just, you know, who feel the divorce is
the solution during marriages, the woman who are commitment phobic, they are feminists. But
that is not so, you know, that is wrong perception. Women who are standing up for themselves
because they are being wronged, they are the feminists. But again one cannot fight the perception
that is there in the society. So, the feminist today are the fourth wave feminists, as I explained,
recent times.
They are the ones who are at the hand leading everything, you know, look at all the banks across
India, all the top chairperson are women at this day and time. So, we are the fourth wave
feminists who are standing up for jobs, who are standing up in politics, who are doctors,
engineers, what not? Building roads, driving cars, so we are the fourth wave feminist. The
feminists who are no more fighting for equality but who are actually there equal to men and
maintaining what we have.
Maintaining and preserving what we have been able to achieve. Due to feminists of feminazi , as
I told you, the myth started attached to feminism. These are people who claim that they are
feminists but they are not actually taking it in the right, you know, right manner positively they
are not taking the word positively they are not believing that you know what feminism means.
They do not I can give you an instance where feminist people perceive that they are feminists.
People believe that they are feminists but that is not true. I have friends I have people around me
women around me who feel that, you know, we are working, we are working in class women and
we are doing jobs. Yet they feel that by putting down their husband, belittling men around them,
they are the feminists. So women going topless like, you know, why we cannot I go topless if
men can on the beach? They are not feminists, feminism is not about what men do and, you
know, doing everything that men do.
It is about doing what we deserve to do and what we should do. So the thought has to change the
concept has to change the fear has to go away and whatever we have been able to achieve we
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should not throw it away just because of the forced notion of feminism that we hold today. Men
and women must coexist as equals and it is okay for a woman to pay money in a restaurant, to
open the door of the car if a man wants to come out and it is okay for women to respect their men
as much as their men respect them. This is what I believe feminism is all about. Thank you.
Student 3: Hello everybody. Today I shall talk about a topic that is intimate to my heart, to your
heart and to everyone's heart. It is about love and intimacy. So, we always, we come across love
right? In daily lives, in movies, in literature, but how do you perceive it? Is it an object, a thing, a
feeling, an emotion, a state of mind, what it is? It is a chemical reaction, a biochemical reaction,
what exactly it is? So let us try to get into it and understand love from maybe a psychological
perspective or maybe a psychosocial perspective, let us see.
So, what is the agenda today on the presentation? I will talk about love and I will talk about
being in love and how can you distinguish between when you love someone and you are in love
and how can you be aware or conscious about that you are in love or you love somebody? And
then maybe there is a situational position okay? There is a love matrix that people may not be
aware of. And how do you position yourself in it? So let us carry on.
This was a theory by Sternberg, it is a psychological theory that talks about different precepts of
love and how in various degrees of combination you experience love. So you can see there are 3
precepts passion, intimacy and commitment. Now, if you have all of them in equal proportion
you will experience consummate love that is the love you are supposed to expect out of a
marriage, okay?
Other than that all three, like from college, school, work, the day you are born to the day you die.
You keep on feeling all the other stuff. You get infatuated, you feel empty love at times, you
have affectious love, you have a liking for some people and then you have companionate love
and romantic love. You can see the presets and as you can see in the triangle, the various degrees
where it reaches to, and it is basically a combination of various precepts. I have talked about this
as I have shown in the diagram passion; what is passion?
Now passion is the sexual desire. Obviously when we talk about love the first thing that comes to
our minds are the movies and how they show it and that shows about attraction. The first
attraction is the girl and boy or nowadays even boys and boys and girl and girls and even the 3rd
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genders if there are. So it is passion. So passion talks about your sexual desire and your physical
attraction and that is a part of romantic love. When you see romantic love, it is only intimacy and
passion. Then intimacy that is a closeness.
Closeness or connection that you feel with the people and you can also term it as emotional
investment. And the third is commitment that is commitment to maintain your relationship for
long. Now there is some stuff that Sternberg talked about and it was love changes as we mature.
It is not that, what the kind of love that we felt when we first saw the partner, is it the same we
feel when, maybe, if you get married to her, she is 60-65 years old and we will feel the same love
about her. It is not like that. It changes as we mature.
And even when you are in a relationship, maybe a successful relationship and not a toxic one and
you have carried it on for decades, you keep on feeling various degrees of love and various kinds
of love. That is what Sternberg said in his theory and another theory was given by Lee. Now Lee
talked about colors of love. He said that love styles are neither dependent no independent. Now
they are these colors of love and it is a very complex matrix you know. When we are talking
about situational matrix, that I will talk about in the end.
So basically he tried to identify 6 colors of love and Bollywood have done that very
magnificently. They have various colors of love. If we hear recent songs, ‘Rang De Tu Mohe
Gerua’, saffron and it talks about pink, ‘Gulabi’. So we all have different colors and Bollywood
has prioritized color in various ways and the emotion that every kind of love has with the color.
So what did Lee talked about? Lee gave his color wheel model of love. You can see pink, Eros.
That is loving an ideal person.
When you see a person for the first time, you think he is perfect or she is perfect, perfect hair,
perfect skin, perfect eyes, perfect nose, everything perfect. No one can perfect than that person
and then you have Mania, that potion of love when you get when you get obsessed by that
person. Then there are some people who see love as Ludo. That is a game. For them it is a game.
They like the feeling of falling in love and the moment they fall in love they are out of it because
they cannot get that essence of it.
Then you have Pragma, which everyone should actually aspire for. That is realistic and practical
love and then we have Stalge. That is love as friendship. To get more into the feel of this, let us
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play a game. These are the colors, I will pronounce a name and I will expect an answer in the
name of the movie that you have watched and you have experience that form of love in that
movie. So let us start with Mania.
Student 4: Tere Naam.
Student 3: Tere Naam, any other? Tere Naam was good and there was another movie in
Hollywood that is Fatal Attraction.
Student 5: Darr.
Student 3: Darr, yeah, and in Hollywood Fatal Attraction and in Bollywood Pyaar Tune Kya
Kiya, Darr, Tere Naam, Pyaar Tune Kya Kiya. All shows that. Ludo, love as a game.
Student 5: Ladies versus Ricky Bahal.
Student 3: Yes and one more? One more, one more. Lesser known movie but perfectly banging
on the spot. Lesser known actors, low budget movie, love games. Okay, what about Stalge?
Student 6: Kuch Kuch Hota Hai.
Student 3: Yes. Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, Jab We Met.
Student 7: Pyar To Hona Hi Tha.
Student 3: Pyar To Hona Hi Tha and it goes on and on and on, that is Bollywood cashing on it.
About Agape Selfless love. Very hit movie, superstars.
Student 8: Aamir Khan and Manisha Koirala. Mann.
Student 3: Mann, another one very super hit big banner, Yash Chopra productions.
Student 8: Veer Zaara.
Student 3: That is a perfect example of Agape.
Student 8: Jab Tak Hai Jaan.
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Student 3: Jab Tak Hai Jaan is another one. Okay, so that is thing and I think we are done with
the colors of love and I think it has transferred perfectly to the audience right now. So we will
move next. Now I think it would be redundant to go across this again because it has been
transferred, right? Now, now you know when you talk about these colors, it is not just colors, it
actually highlights your psychological health. People feel these kinds of love at various points of
their life. But if you continuously feel maniac and you did love, you know, we have a poor
psychological health.
Okay If you feel Stalge and Eros continuously you have a high psychological health. So next
time when you think you are falling in love just remind yourself of this PPT and maybe you can
improve your psychological health. Now, how do you develop your intimacy skills? Okay. Now,
when you want to develop your intimacy skills, I would just say one thing.
Just try to be intelligent and intelligent emotionally and when you are emotionally intelligent you
can actually look, go through this process and find that you can actually adjust yourself better in
a relationship and if a point comes that you have to exit a relationship, you will not be at the
latter half. So, first of all be at ease with yourself, love yourself. If you love yourself, obviously
the other person will love you and this self-disclosure acceptability. Show others that you are
approachable.
If there is a person in your life whom you want to get into a relationship with, be open to that
person. No matter even if you fail because maybe that person is not meant for you. Listen, now
listening is a very important thing in all relationship. Any relationship, listen. Because we listen
carefully you know what to do, how to do, where to do exactly and in which degree to do. And
then these are the other repetitive things like trust, respect, affection, warmth, which we all
know. Now, what is not love? First of all I would like to say, what is not love?
You know when you fall in love we have this excitement which is like shown on screen like
falling of leaves, playing of violin and their music and the hair is flying, hair is fluttering and
your heart is beating and there is nice soft music at the background. But nothing like that
happens in the real life. Only one thing happens that is your heart beats and that is also just a
physiological manifestation of your body, nothing else. So when you feel that you are getting
attracted to a person, you are basically sexually motivated.
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Keep that in mind once before you do, because you cannot fall in love unless you know the
person by heart. If you go back to the normal creation that is just infatuation, okay? And, yes, the
honeymoon always ends. So keep that in mind when you go for a relationship. Dependency is
not love. Sometimes when we are in a relationship and when we have to get out of it and then
you think what will happen to the other person? That is just dependency. That is not love.
You may mistake it for love, you may think that you love that person and you being there in his
life or in her life is good for that person's life, that is not the way. Because that is dependency.
And what psychologist describe, that as parasitism. That is not love. And love is ways of choice,
not necessity. Now love is not a feeling. Repetitively movies have shown us and fed it into our
minds that love is a feeling. Okay. But love is not a feeling. Love is an action. If you take love
the way Asians do.
For Asians we have names for various kinds of loves. We have, if you go into any of the
vernacular language, your mother father love has been termed as vatsalya. If we have another
love for your lover, that is prem. Okay. So we have other words like if you go to Urdu,
mohabbat and various words, right? So there are various forms of love and that love is not a
feeling, it is an action. The action that your parents do to you, that transpires as love for your
parents. The action that your wife or your husband does for you, that is love on that basis. So
what exactly is love.
And myths of romantic love. Now there is a romantic love that has been popularized, heavily
popularized. That there are two people that destined to meet together and carry on forever. But
that, nothing like that. It is that it is just a hindsight bias. We feel that is a true love because we
feel good at that point of time. But it is nothing like that. If you get to know people correctly and
you know what exactly you want from your life and what the other person wants from his life
and you both are in sync together, that is the point you realize that you are in life and in love,
means, you have to act in love.
That is an action. And realistically speaking, there are many suitable partners. So that does not
give you an incentive to cheat her. But that is a fact. Now, love and being in love. Now love is, I
told you, it is a physio-psychological state. It is a state which you perceive. The fluttering of the
heart, going breathlesss, going week on your knees, that is love. But being in love, it is a psycho-
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neurological condition of mind. When you stay with the person, you continuously stay with the
person, you be aware of his likes and dislike.
That is the point of time you are in love. Because you know exactly what to say, when to say and
to which degree to say. So that it does not offend the other person. Now, loving someone is a
choice but being in love is not a choice. Because you cannot choose being in love. Because that
is a state, you have conditioned your mind as such and once your neural circuits have become
like that, you cannot like. It takes a lot of work to change a neuro circle. So that is thing. And
loving someone means wanting them to do well, putting them first.
Well, now, that is also a neurological conditioning of the mind and loving someone means
needing them around and being loved means needing them to be where they are happy. Now
when you have neurologically conditioned your mind, you are in sync with the other person and
you exactly know what the other person wants from his life. Now if you are aware of that, you
will act as per that and that will be for the betterment of the other person. So as the saying is to
go, ‘love is not selfish, it is selfless’. It has neurological bases to it.
Now, as talked earlier, loving someone is like a rush, being in love is like a steady stream of
emotions because you have conditioned your mind and it is about partnership, same theory,
conditioning your mind and it is effortless. Because once you have conditioned your mind you
will not have that effort. Initially, when you see someone and you think you love that person,
there is this thing going around, being proper with them, giving them gifts, talking to them nicely
so that they do not get offended at anything that you say.
Now see that takes a lot of effort right? Bt when you are in love you do not mind whether you
see that person in his knickers or a well dapper suit. So that is it. Now I was talking about the
matrix of love. Now when I talked about love and being in love. But that is not so simple.
Because, we are human beings, social animals, rationalizing once and with evolution comes
variety. And even in the world of love there is a variety of things that occur. There is monogamy,
that is practice by the society to create uniformity. But then we have celibacy.
People who do not indulge into sexual acts but then they still love people. Then you have poly-
fidelity, then you have MT love, common love, viscosity, soft drink. If you look into the matrix
right? You can position yourself. Like what exactly, which love fulfills you? Which love
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completes you? It is not that you need someone else to love. Like a dialogue in one of the recent
movies that we do not need permission from someone else to love that person. So, just like that.
And now this is a more evolved version of the matrix of love.
Now that has taken into aspects, the sexuality aspect as well. The previous slide did not highlight
the sexuality part. But this slide highlights the sexuality part as well because sexuality as such,
now does play an important role in love. Right? The love as we fathom it, as human race
fathoms it because of its value, because of its evolutionary value. So this is the matrix and well
as a liberal I would like to say that I do not find anything offensive. Well, you can position
yourself in any of the aspects over there. Thank you.
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Lecture 30
How to Lead a Meeting
Meetings, meetings, meetings. How many times you have rued the fact that you have to attend
yet another meeting. Unfortunately in the workplace, in our professional life, we are required to
attend or to participate in a number of meetings. Meetings of so many different kinds that cannot
be avoided. What we can do is to make best of it and look at a meeting in a positive way as a
place, where we can find our group identity and also make effective contributions, either as a
team leader or as a participant.
So in this module we will look at meetings. We will look at effective speaking in meetings and in
the first unit I will take you through how to lead a meeting. Most of you, those of you are, have
not started yet there careers or about to start on their career, would probably not be leading a
meeting. They would be participating in a meeting. But, at some stage or the other, you would be
required to lead a meeting. So, let us look at how does one, what does one need to do to lead a
meeting effectively.
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Now there are 3 aspects of leading a meeting. The first is planning; the second is facilitating and
third is follow-up. I am going to, in the next 30 minutes or so, we are going to take up each of
these aspects. Let us begin with planning. So first of all, do we need to meet at all? Now, as you
say, ‘Oh! Yet another meeting! Once again I have to spare time for the meeting.’ And people do
not show up for the meeting. People have so many engagements that it is difficult to get people
together for meeting.
So first of all, a leader needs to decide, do you need to meet at all? Is it necessary to have a
meeting? Is the work that you want to accomplish during the meeting, can it be done without
meeting? Can it be done through email? Can it be done through calling people individually? Is it
necessary for people to get together? So first of all, decide whether you need to meet or do not
meet at all.
That is the first job of a leader. Make sure you need a meeting. Now, this is Jeff Haden, in his
article, ‘9 hardcore steps to leading incredibly effective meetings’.
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I have drawn his article to share these tips with you. In which he talks about what we have,
different kinds of meetings. So we have regular meetings like monthly meetings, weekly
meetings, once in a year annual meetings or occasional meeting. So Jeff Haden suggests that
instead of meeting regularly, never set a schedule, because, according to him, consistency breeds
complacency.
So, after a while, the Monday meeting, we all have the Monday meeting blues and after a while
the Monday meeting becomes just another entry on a calendar and you say ‘Oh! Yet another
weekly meeting or yet another monthly meeting’. And attendees stop preparing and quit caring.
So, if it all possible, set a different date. Do not do all your meetings, tough meetings, on
Mondays. Maybe you can vary them and have it on Tuesdays or a different day.
A different date or different time and, if you meet weekly, alternate days of the week, mornings
and afternoon and even go so far as to set unusual times, like really early or really late in the day.
The more unusual you can make a meeting, the more likely your team is to see the meeting as
notable and worth preparing for. So never set a regular schedule. I said the first part of the
meeting or leading a meeting is, planning for the meeting. What is the pre work prior to the
meeting? You need to distribute and review this pre work. The first important…, what are the
priorities?
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What’s it that needs to be covered? What are the results you need to accomplish at the meeting?
That is the second thing. The third is, who needs to attend the meeting for a meeting to be
successful? What is the sequence in the order in which you would cover the topics? The timing,
how much time would you spend on each topic? Date and time, when will the meeting take place
and where will the meeting take place?
So these are the some of the issues that you need to consider, it’s part of planning of the meeting,
the homework that one needs to do before the meeting proper. These are the things you need to
keep in mind. Now the first thing in a meeting as in a presentation is, what is the objective of
having a meeting? Why have you call this meeting, first of all? Your objective needs to be very
clear.
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Stephen Covey says in the ‘Seven Habit of Highly Effective People’, “Begin with the end in
mind.” What do you want to accomplish with the meeting after calling the meeting? You need to
be very clear about that. A meeting must have a very specific and defined purpose. So standing
meetings with vague purposes, such as status updates, are rarely a good use of time. So, the first
thing is make your objectives clear. The second important part of planning of a meeting is that
you need to decide who needs to be present at the meeting?
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Consider who is invited. Ensure appropriate participation at the meeting. Now many of us attend
meetings where, just by being member of a certain group, of a department, of an institution, we
are called to meetings. But in meetings of this kind, one does not quite know what one is
expected to do, except that the person who is calling the meeting assumes that this is a
democratic way of arriving at decisions.
So, I know people who take every small decision to the entire group because they do not want to
sound undemocratic and sometimes it is a very clever ploy to make sure that they get support
from the maximum number of people and avoid responsibility. In my opinion that is a waste of
time because you do not need to call the entire group. You should call only the people who really
need to be there. So if you are announcing a change, invite the people who are affected by the
announcement.
If you are trying to resolve a problem, invite the people who will be good sources of information
for a solution. When people feel that what is being discussed is not relevant to them or that they
do not have the skills or expertise to be of assistance, they will view their attendance in the
meeting as a waste of time. So, the second important point to keep in mind is, who should be
invited? Think of appropriate participation in the meeting. Call only those people who you think
will contribute effectively or have a role to play in the meeting, unless your institution policy
demands that everyone should be present at the meeting.
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The next thing is to frame the agenda of your meeting. To set the agenda of the meeting. Now, in
preparing the agenda, again Hayden says that you must think of an agenda which only list action
items. Create an agenda that lays out everything you plan to cover with the meeting, along with a
timeline that allots a certain number of minutes to each item and email it or send hard copies to
people in advance. An agenda should never include information such as information, recap,
review or discussions.
It could be just be two sentences like, determine the product launch date or select software
developer for database redesign. The goal of a good meeting is to decide or to do something.
Now we do have meetings where the objective is to inform. Sometimes in an organization which
is not vertical, very often decisions have to be passed down the hierarchy by the head of an
institution to people.
And those who are not present at a particular meeting and then another meeting is called where
the person who was representing a larger group, shares that information with the rest of the
group. So there are meetings where one needs to inform. There are not all the meetings, are not
meetings, where one makes decisions. Now never use the meeting again, he says, to share
information. Information should be shared before the meeting.
Now if I need to make a decision during a meeting, should not I have the information I need to
make that decision? So whatever information you think is relevant, documents, reports, data, etc.
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You could send them to the participants in advance. Using meetings as a way to share
information is unproductive, a waste of time and well, lazy. That is what he says. If anyone in the
meeting says, “I am just thinking out loud”, then you have not done your job; their thoughts
should have already be together.
Use the pre work in the meeting. So whatever work you have done prior to setting the meeting, it
should be brought out in the meeting.
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So now let us think of the purpose. The purpose of meeting should not merely to inform, nor
should the purpose of the meeting merely be to promote team cohesion. We do have meeting of
this kind where people are invited so that they can get to interact with one another as a group and
the assumption is that when group gets together, they will get to know each other and it will
improve interpersonal relationships. But that is a different kind of meeting, those are
interpersonal; the relationship is interpersonal rather than productive.
So team members do need to work together but we do not have to hang out in order to become a
unit. Great business relationships are created when people can count on each other to do their
part, need commitments, get things done, in short, produce tangible outcomes. So we do not need
to have a meeting to promote team cohesion. Now that we have come to the second part of
leading a meeting, the second part of leading a meeting is to facilitate the meeting. How does one
facilitate a meeting?
So what are the things that one needs to keep in mind that what is the objective of the meeting. It
is not just to make decisions. Decisions, if the decisions are made and they are percolated or
communicated to the group, one does not always get a good feeling. The ultimatum of the
meeting in my understanding is a meeting where everyone comes out looking happy.
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Now this is not always the case and an ideal meeting and a real meeting are very different.
Because in a real meeting there are always people who come out looking unhappy. They are
unhappy with the decisions that are made in the meeting.
But one should try to see that make sure that maximum satisfaction for everyone and what are
the things that one can do to make sure that everyone comes out looking satisfied. First of all,
establish ground rules early which will create a framework for how your group functions. The
second is to ensure that the meeting stays on the topic. List all the tasks that are generated at the
meeting. Make a note of who is assigned to do what and by when.
At the close of the meeting, quickly summarize the next steps and inform everyone that you will
be sending out a meeting summary. So now let us examine how to facilitate a meeting in more
detail. First of all, start on time and end on time.
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If you have the responsibility for running a regular meeting and you have a reputation for being
someone who starts and ends promptly, you will be amazed, how many of your colleagues will
make every effort to attend your meeting. That does not always happen because we have meeting
where people do not start on time and the meeting drags on endlessly. We do not…, we hate
going to those meetings because one might have another task to follow up and one is never sure
how long the meeting will take.
So those who keep to the time and or state or perhaps give you an idea about how long the
meeting will take, you do not mind attending those meetings. People appreciate it when you
understand how valuable the time is. Do not schedule any meeting to last longer than an hour
because people do not have patience. 60 minutes is generally the longest time people can remain
truly engaged.
Sometimes, we have these marathon meetings, brain storming meetings, decision-making

meetings, emergency meetings where people are expected to be there for hours and they are
waiting, ‘okay, when am I going to, when is a meeting going to end and when I am going to get
home or get on to my work?’ So try not to have those meetings unless it is absolutely necessary.
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From there the next thing is to ban technology. How often have you got people sneaking at their
SMS, messages, their phones, there Blackberrys, their IPads, to check their mails, to check their
emails, to send messages and if people are doing that you can take it for granted that they are not
going to contribute in the meeting because they are not paying attention to what you are saying.
So instead they will be emailing, surfing the web or just playing around with their technology.
So, make sure that eyes are up there looking at you or whoever speaking. Stick to your schedule.
Once you are in a meeting, put the agenda up on a screen or a whiteboard for others to see. Does
not always have to be on a white board or a screen. If it is an informal meeting or it is a small
group meeting perhaps you can just state the agenda of the meeting. You say this is the agenda
and if you have circulated the agenda items in advance, you can just begin the meeting by saying
that we are meeting for this purpose and these are the items on the agenda.
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At the end of each agenda items quickly summarize what was said and ask people to confirm that
it is a fair summary. Very often we leave, we move onto a new point, without resolving the prior
point in the agenda and at the end of it, people have forgotten what you said or what each person
said or what the decision was. So, the best thing is to summarize what was said and get the
people’s consent in case they have not agreed so that they would say ‘no, I did not say this or this
is not the decision we took’. So it is a good way of revisiting each point instead of at the end of a
meeting. Now make notes regarding follow-up. Note items that one needs for discussions.
While you are at the meeting you must watch the body language and make adjustments
necessary. So if you find somebody is looking at their watch, make sure maybe you need a break
or maybe you need to stop someone from speaking too much and when you end the meeting,
close on a note of achievement. Now the second important part of leading a meeting is how to
deal with people. The first part was planning a meeting, facilitating a meeting. The second part
is how to deal with people. Remember not to take...
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Now, who's a, think of a meeting where you have not been very effective. I have often been in a
meeting, at a meeting where people are screaming at one another and the Chair, the person who
has called the meeting is not able to control the group because the rules are not stated clearly.
The person who is leading the meeting is not paying attention to people who are creating trouble
or perhaps does not use the right way of telling them what to do. So, very often we find that in a
meeting there are certain people who like to hog the discussion.
You would find that they like to make their presence felt, they are domineering by nature. Even
if they are not domineering by nature, they want to have a say at the meeting and they tend to
hog all the conversation. So, if you find that there are people of this kind, make sure to ask others
for ideas and because nothing derails a meeting faster than one person taking more than his fair
share. If you notice that one person is monopolizing the conversation, call him out say, ‘We
appreciate your contributions but now we need to get inputs from others before making a
decision.’
You can be public about it. Now what are the things you need to do to make sure that you can
involve each participant in actions.
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First of all, control the garrulous, those who tend to take too much time saying on what they want
to say, those who want to dominate the conversation or do not let anyone else speak. Try to
control them. The second part is to draw out the silent. There are people in the group either
because of the status difference or because they are reticent by the nature, there are people who
remain silent throughout the meeting even if they have something important to contribute and
you are losing out by not getting their inputs because they have not had a say.
They have not had a chance to have their say in the meeting. So, draw out the silent, protect the
weak. Very often when I have watched this happening in meetings that there are people, there is
a core group, there is a group which controls things, a coterie and if there is a person who is not
part of the group or who's not as strong as the rest of the group, that person is not allowed to
have a say either because that person is younger than everyone else, not senior enough.
Sometimes it can be very senior person who is being isolated.
So, as a group leader, you must make sure, you must not watch silently even if you are part of
the other group, you must make sure that you protect the weak. And encourage the clash of ideas
because a clash of ideas is productive. If everyone gives consent, if everyone agrees to agree, it is
not a great meeting because that means you have not generated interesting ideas. Instead agree to
disagree, have as many ideas as possible, have opposing ideas, let people express their dissent in
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a polite manner; but let them do it so that we get the best decision. Watch out for the suggestion
quashing reflex.
Now remember real meetings are about ego. Real meetings are about taking free credit. Real
meetings about showing your power. So whenever you find that you find people, when
somebody is coming out with a great idea, you will find that others would try to squash the
reflexes to squash the suggestion. Because you feel, ‘kay this person is making a very good
impression and is going to get away with all the credits.’ So you try to withdraw the idea, you try
to rubbish the idea by saying, ‘no, this is not a great idea.’
So you must try to look out for people who follow their reflex of squashing other people’s ideas.
And since it is always the junior people, it is always the younger people who do not, who are shy
to speak up in the meeting, who need to muster their courage in order to speak at the meeting.
You must try to first sound the senior junior colleagues first and then come to the senior ones
last. They would also have their say. But let those who might be intimidated by the senior
colleagues, have their say first.
Now what are the rules for digression? I am being contradictory because earlier I said that you
should stick to your schedule. I said that you must always stick.., come with the prepared
schedule and you must always follow a predetermined time for each agenda and make sure that
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nothing goes out of the way. Now this kind of controlling meeting can actually be counter-
productive. Because sometimes digressions can be productive. When one goes off the agenda or
one starts thinking freely, sometimes more creative ideas emerge.
So, tangents can be surprisingly useful, but you have to decide whether to let a discussion go or
cut it off. Now here is a simple guide. If a discussion involves ideas, solutions or suggestions, let
it run. If a discussion involves complaining or finger-pointing without very quickly shifting to
how a problem can be eliminated, cut it off and, trust me, most of the digressions I have
encountered are of this kind. Where two people get into complaints or finger pointing at who did
what wrong instead of trying to resolve a problem.
So, be professional but do not worry too much about hurting feelings. Good employees
appreciate a controlled, on point, productive meeting and poor employees quickly learn that
whining is not welcome. Now, we will come to the third part of a meeting which is follow-up.
What you could do to lead a meeting effectively? We come to the third part now which is to
follow-up a meeting. It is quite common for people to come away from the same meeting with
very different interpretations of what went on. Because everyone has a different way of
absorbing others’ ideas and everyone personalizes whatever is discussed and they remember the
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parts that concern them and they tend to forgot what does not concern them or maybe they were
not paying attention.
So how does one make sure that everyone remembers what was discussed at the meeting and
there is a record of that? So, to reduce this risk, email a memo highlighting what was
accomplished to all who attended within 24 hours after the meeting so that people who disagree
with what happened, they have a chance to correct you. Maybe you have understood something
right or the person who is taking notes has got some points of somebody’s statement, wrong.
So, this is your chance to make sure when you circulate the minutes… if it needs to be formal,
after meeting within 24 hours or it does not have to be formal minutes, it could be just a simple
email listing all the points that were discussed at the meeting. Document the responsibility given,
task delegated and any assigned deadlines. That way everyone will be on the same page.
So, it is also not enough just to state what happened at the meeting but also outline the plan of
action and according to the decision made at the meeting, document who's expected to do what.
So, there is clarity and there is a follow-up. There is an action on what was discussed at the
meeting.
Now clearly identify decisions, takeaways and action steps. Every meeting should result in
tangible outcomes. Make sure that everyone knows what was decided and what will be done
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otherwise, all you did was talk. So a discussion is never an outcome. So create accountability.
We must be very clear about who's responsible for which actions.
Make sure everyone knows. Never let ownership be fuzzy or unclear, an action item without a
clear owner is an instant orphan.
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So now publish, when you are publishing a meeting recap, whether it is a minute or an email,
how must you do it? Just remember the action items. Do not include all the irrelevant details of
the meeting. Only include the action items. State what was decided? What will be done? Who
will do it? And nothing else. Never include statements like, discussed possibility of realigning
department responsibilities.
If all you did was discussed realignment, shame on you why did not you make decisions and
including discussion in a recap implies that discussions without decisions are worthwhile. Do not
give general discussions credibility by including them in the recap, team members might start to
think that general discussions do have value.
Now conduct an initial follow-up offline. Establishing accountability places responsibility on

individuals, not necessarily the team as a whole. If you need up a follow-up meeting, fine, but do
so after progress has been made and reported offline. As a leader you should follow up
individually and team members should send progress emails to the team. Never meet when
additional decisions need to be made. Never meet just to share updates that could have been
shared offline. So, with this we move on to how to participate in a meeting?
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How to contribute effectively to a meeting? Because yes, you will soon come to this stage, but
most of you at this stage of your career, who are starting out, probably will just, may be,
contributing to a meeting and not leading a meeting. We will take that next.
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Lecture 31
How to Contribute Effectively to a Meeting
In this unit of module 7 we move onto how to contribute to meetings? In the last session, we
looked at how to lead meetings and we decided, we agreed, that at this stage probably you will
be participating in meetings rather than leading meetings. So let's look at how can one contribute
effectively to a meeting. The reason why we resent going to a meeting is that we feel ‘Oh what's
in it for me, how is it going to make a difference to me, or how I am going to make a difference’.
Also some of us do not like…, we feel that we have nothing to contribute, some of us feel that
once I’m asked to contribute, I will dry up, I do not know what to say. So let's look at how can
one make productive, important contributions to a meeting by participating in an effective
manner. There are four parts of, there are four ways in which you can contribute, four parts to it.
Let's look at these four parts.
One is introducing and presenting our ideas clearly and concisely. This is the first part and I am
going to show you in a separate module how would you present your ideas very clearly and
concisely? The second part is appreciating and building upon others perspective and ideas. This
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is the second part. In the third part the third aspect is being influential and dealing effectively
with conflict and, finally, maintaining and building our confidence in our ability and right to
contribute. So let's begin from the beginning.
Introducing and presenting our ideas clearly and concisely. How does one do this? You can do
this by using the PIR techniques. What is the PIR technique? The PIR technique refers to first of
all when you are asked, when you try, to talk to people you will find the most people are
preoccupied with something. They are either chatting with each other or looking at their phones
or thinking about something else. So, the first thing is to get them, stop them, from being
preoccupied.
The second is to use, so, one way of breaking people or getting their attention is to greet them.
Whether you are leading a meeting or you are contributing to the meeting ask them, address
them and say you are going to start the meeting or you have something important to say and then
follow it up with an icebreaker, an icebreaker which will help to break the ice with the others.
Suppose you have just started you can say something casual, something informal to establish a
relationship with people.
And the third is to introduce something, tell them something to show how what you are saying is
relevant to them. This is the PIR technique. The second is use the 3 T’s. What are the 3 T’s? Tell
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people what you are going to tell them, tell them, and tell them what you told them. Remember
people’s attention spans are very small. So, if you have told them something, it is likely that they
have forgotten what you said within a few minutes of what you said to them. So, there is no harm
in repeating what you said.
Tell them what you are going to say, and tell them what you have said. This is the 3T formula.
Use the association principal. What do we mean by the association principle? Whenever you are
explaining something to somebody or introducing an idea, unless people are able to relate to
what you are saying, they are not going to understand or they are not going to pay any attention
to them. So, suppose you are going to talk to them about increasing security in your, in your
organization.
So, suppose you were to refer to a personal example of someone who was robbed or who had his
room or office broken or his house broken in, if you relate it to them by using association, people
are more likely to pay attention to you. Pay attention to what you say last, make your endings. So
when you conclude make it something that people will remember, make it something memorable
so that they will remember what you said. So introducing and presenting your ideas clearly and
concisely. The second part is what is the inappropriate behavior?
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This is when you deliberately ignore some group members either because you do not like them
or because you are not interested in what these people have to say. The second is to belittling not
giving respect to other people’s contributions and blocking which is constantly raising objections
and bringing up the same issues after the group had considered or rejected it, thus delay in
progress towards the goal. So these are all parts of the second aspect of contributing that is
appreciating and building on other perspectives and ideas.
Remember what's the idea of the meeting; it is not just to express your ideas, it is just not to
share others’ ideas but also to know what the rest of the people have to say on something,
understand their mindset, understand their attitude, understand how they feel about it and so this
quality, appreciating and building on others’ perspective and ideas in order to be able to
contribute effectively yourself, is very important. So what are the ways you can do this by, one
is, one important way through which you can do this is using the laser technique. What is a laser
technique?
Listen to people carefully, appreciate, acknowledge what they have said, do not belittle, do not,
do not dismiss what they have to say, acknowledge what they have said, summarize what others
have said. In order to understand what they have said, if you summarize what they have said, you
will understand their mindset properly. You also need to explore and finally to review. Now you
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can use building phrases in order to understand others’ perspective or to build on. So, suppose
someone has made a very interesting or very cogent or very important point before you.
But, you have something to add to it or you have something to, you have to disagree with the
person. So, you could use phrases, building phrases, of this kind, ‘I agree’, ‘I like what you said
in addition to we could', ‘Building on your good start’, So this is how you can come in. ‘Building
on your good start we could’, ‘something that could compliment your interesting idea is’, ‘That
is a good point you make or you made’, ‘I think we could explore it by’; you could also say
‘your idea is very helpful, One specific aspect of which we could develop is’.
‘Your idea is very promising’, ‘something that could make it a reality’. This is one way people
think ‘Ok, they we are on the same plane’, they think ‘OK, you are acknowledging their
contribution’; they feel that you are not against them, they feel that they have made something,
they have also made a meaningful contribution. So, ‘That's a very imaginative idea of yours, I
think and a good way to implementing it could be’. So this is the way you can use building
phrases to appreciate and build on others’ perspective and ideas.
Another way of appreciating and building on others’ perspective and ideas is to identify the other
person’s mind set. Now when, if, we are listening to other people we need to understand where
they are coming from, what is their mindset in order to appreciate what they are saying; we also
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need to know what, where, they come from, what attitude do they bring to the meeting. So, we
have different kinds of people and you have to decide, what is the mindset of this person so that
you can appreciate and build on what they are saying.
So there are people who think of a very big picture, there are people who like detail, people who
personally identify issues, people who keep those, who keep things at an arm’s length, people
that look to future goal and challenges, those who look to avoiding mistake and crisis situations,
people that can act, that act on their own internal values, people that like to check out the worth
of things by gaining feedback from people, people that like to identify and play around with
options and ideas, people that like to narrow things down and think in terms of specific processes
and methods.
So there are also people that like to look for similarities. Then there is the last group of people
who like to look for difference. So, first you decide what is the person’s mindset, so that you can
build on that perspective and add to it. So, suppose, some, there is a person who has to think of a
big picture there are people who say what’s the overall message here or somebody who likes to
identify with issues, they say I have a problem.
I cannot see my way out of it, or there are others who try to keep warning you by saying we’d
like, we need to make sure this does not happen again or we need to get around these upcoming
obstacles or people who like to look at a specific process, ‘OK, they say, what steps are we going
to take to make this happen, what does a flow chart of this process look like, people who look for
similarities. So you need to identify the mindset of different kinds of people.
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Identify the other person’s mindset and do your best to listen empathetically. In order to
understand the other person's mindset, the best way of doing it, the best way of appreciating
other people's ideas, is empathetic listening. What is empathetic listening? Empathetic listening
comes from empathy. What is empathy? Empathy sounds like sympathy but it is not sympathy
because sympathy means feeling, you know, feeling concern for someone.
But empathy is different it means you put yourself in the place of the other person and try to
think by putting yourself in their shoes, by understanding their way of thinking. Only then you
are able to understand what their problem with something is. So, in addition to listening to
people, you must also say, immerse yourself in their words thoughts and imagery and stop
thinking about your own agenda and what you might want to say in response.
If you do this, your inner concentration on what is being said will shine through to your outer
behavior and those attending the meeting will see you as an excellent listener. This will
encourage people to talk to you. So, making it easier for you to identify the different views
around the table. Also when the time comes for you to make your own contributions, people will
be more than happy to listen to you because you listened to them.
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The other part of it is now the third part. We come to the third part of how one can contribute
effectively to a meeting. In the third part, we look at how can one be influential and deal
effectively with conflict. As I said earlier, real meetings are not ideal situations, real meetings are
places, which are shows of power, which are ego, which are, are demonstrations of domination
and control and authority and rivalry and jealousy and competition and so on. And also conflict.
Now conflict should not be regarded as something unhealthy because not recognizing conflict is
more unhealthy because it could be unnatural if there would be no conflict between a group of
people. A group of people are bound to have conflicts with one another and the way of dealing
with conflict is not to deny the presence of conflict and pretend that everything is ok. The way of
dealing with conflict is to, the way of recognizing conflict and dealing with conflict is to find a
way of getting people who are conflicting… or to resolve conflicts.
So, there are two kinds of conflict. One kind of conflict is a hot conflict. Now hot conflict is a
passionate and fiery conflict. It happens when people care deeply about the topic under
discussion and often you will find people screaming at one another; people do not come to
fisticuffs but they do scream at one another and they shout at each other, they say unpleasant
things to one another and the discussion of the meeting gets very unpleasant and very fiery.
But there is another kind of conflict which is cold conflict and cold conflict, and cold conflict, in
my mind is even more dangerous than hot conflict because cold conflict is detached and icy.
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People do not, even though they are in a position of conflict with one another, they do not state it
openly, they do not…, they remain very civil, they are very cold and icy. And it happens when
this is a more dangerous kind of a conflict because this is when people become cynical and icy.
So what are the things you can do to deal effectively with conflicts?
Let's look at those. Use the six stages of ‘Verbal Judo’ when managing conflict situations. Ask
for, first of all, ask for people’s co-operation. There is nothing more disarming than a person
asking, seeking, for people’s co-operation because, remember, people are meeting to resolve
differences. People are coming together as a group in order to co-operate with one another, not to
fight with one another. So, begin by seeking their co-operation. Explain why we need to get their
co-operation. Show them the objectives, tell them the background and the contexts of the
situation and tell them why they need to co-operate in order to come to a resolution.
Acknowledge people's reactions and summarize their position, as we discussed in the laser
technique, it can be used. Do not wish away or do not dismiss people's reactions. Remember, if
someone is feeling angry or someone is in conflict with one another, there is definitely a reason
for that. And if you say well these people are just disagreeing with one another and they are
unreasonable people, that does not help. Instead of that you must try to recognize why are they
feeling the way they are feeling? What are their reactions? So. listen to their reactions. Try to
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understand what is creating the conflict situation. Acknowledge their reactions and try to
summarize why they are saying what they are saying.
Outline the options for addressing the situation. So if there is a conflict situation, you can
describe the most favored options first, then the least favored and then finish by summarizing the
most favored options again. So, this way even if people have a conflict and if you tell them that
look one has to choose between one of the various options available to them, then people are
more likely to find a way of resolving their conflict.
Confirm the current situation. What agreement can be made about the way forward? What
disagreement? So, there are meetings that never end to everyone’s optimum satisfaction. They
are always some, there is always some disquiet left. So. if there are some disagreements or
problems, you must be aware of those problems. What agreements can be made? And, finally act
on agreements and address the problem areas. So, this was a way of being influential and dealing
effectively with conflicts.
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Now we come to the final part, which is maintaining and building our confidence in our ability to
contribute. Now you have to ask yourself, what kind of person are you? Are you the kind of
person who dominates a meeting? Are you the kind of person who does not speak at a meeting at
all, who remains silent? And I'll also introduce you to the various kind of roles that you can
adopt in any given meeting depending on your temperament, rather adopting the roles; these are
the roles we find ourselves taking in a meeting.
You need to find out what is the role that you take in a meeting? So this is more important to
people who do not have the confidence to speak out at a meeting because they feel that they have
nothing to contribute. And I often find this happening in meetings that I have attended that the
more junior colleagues in the meeting, even if they have something very meaningful to
contribute, they’re always thinking about the pros and cons of saying. They are very cautious in
using words because they are afraid of creating an unfavorable impression.
So, they choose the option of not saying anything at all and even when they are asked to
contribute they are very guarded. They say things very carefully and they usually sit on the
fence. They try to sense what the mood of the entire group is. Which way the wind is blowing?
And they try to align themselves with the more strong group because they are afraid. So, yes you
might by aligning yourself with a strong group, you might find favors with that group or you
might get into the good books of that group.
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But you are losing an opportunity of contributing or putting forward your real thoughts and
ideas. It is possible that you had something more interesting to contribute or more meaningful to
contribute than those who had their say, but were prevented, or refrained, from doing so because
of your reticence. So, the first thing that you need to find out and this is something you can do
even before you attend the meeting.
Because when you will look at the agenda items you know, what is the agenda? What is going to
be discussed? And what is the role you can play there? How can you contribute to a particular
item on the agenda or on all the items on the agenda? How do you do this?
So, first of all you must look at, if you are one of those people who feels that how can I say
anything at a meeting and remain tongue-tied at a meeting, You have to find your unique selling
point. Maybe you are the youngest, but maybe you have some special talents which no one in the
group has. Maybe you are the expert in that area.
So what is that one characteristic item of expertise or personal experience or resource that you
possess, that will encourage others to buy into your presence at the meeting and listen to your
contributions. So you may process status, access to find, specialist knowledge and expertise that
is of great value to those present the meeting. If you have a, so you must know what are your
strengths. If you have a clear idea about your strength, your worth to the meeting, that will help
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you to make more confident and encourage you to be become more forthright when making your
contributions.
The second thing that you need to know when you are maintaining and building your confidence
in your ability to contribute is, methodically and specifically disputing negative beliefs and
assumptions. So, this comes from a very poor self-image or thinking of the consequences. Many
of us are diffident because we do not want to take responsibilities. We are afraid of the
consequences of what we say and what we do. How would it be interpreted and….
So what you need to do is, what specific evidence can you find to dispute the negative beliefs
troubling you? Rather than blaming yourself what are the reasons, could there be, for situations
causing your negative beliefs? What are the real implications of the situation you are talking
about, thinking about negatively? What's the ultimate usefulness of negative beliefs you hold and
what positive things could you start thinking or doing in order to replace them? Say, you had an
experience at a meeting and you suggested something and your idea was rudely rejected.
So, it is possible that you think, ‘okay, I made this suggestions at the last meeting and no one
really heard me out’ whatever the reason might be. So, this time you are very cautious. You keep
your mouth shut because you feel that this time again no one would be willing to listen to you.
But it is possible that the last time when your idea was turned down, maybe the idea was not
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good enough, maybe the person who turned it down was a negative kind of person. It could also
be that the climate in which it was presented, the situation has changed.
So do not worry about negativite beliefs. The third thing you can do is to specify and reaffirm
your right to attend the meeting and make your contribution. So now many of us, I myself, I
might be doing it, we feel that why should I attend the meeting? I have nothing to contribute to
it. You know, the meeting is about issues or topics in which I have no say in the matter or I have
no expertise. So, what could I possibly do if I go to the meeting?
Now if you are clear, if you can think by reading the agenda carefully and you are clear, then
this, maybe I am not an expert in this area, but this is an area where I am an expert in and maybe
this is an area in which I can make a valuable contribution. So, if you are asked to come to a
meeting, if you have,,,; be clear in your mind about your right to attend your meeting. It may be
as a result of your unique selling point or it may be because you are representing your team,
colleagues or some other part of the organization.
You may find it useful to write down the rights you feel you have. Before attending each
meeting, remind yourself of your specific right to be there. What are the other ways in which you
can maintain and build your confidence and your ability to contribute?
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So, think positive. Most of us who are hesitant to make contributions, we are negative in our
outlook. And I include myself in that group. Very often I find myself getting into a negative
mode and thinking, ‘No, I do not really need to do this.’ And I find people who make valuable
contributions or who people like listening to are the ones who are always positive, who always
set themselves positive goals rather than negative goals. So, think about the positive things you
want to achieve during a meeting.
Then think about how you can achieve them. So instead of thinking negatively, say, ‘Okay I do
not want to be ignored or I must not get angry,’ you can start by thinking by what would I do and
what are the goals I achieved. Negative goals merely serve to draw your attention to the very
things you are trying to avoid. So instead concentrate on visualizing the positive things that you
want to achieve, make these more helpful things bright and clear in your mind.
And, finally, what you can do is, assume the positive intent of those attending the meeting. Now
this happens to people who are skeptics, who always feel, who have no trust in the people who
are attending the meeting. So, they always feel that people who are coming to the meeting, and,
mind you, this is not untrue all together. You find yourself attending meetings many a times
where people have a very specific agenda, they have hidden agendas.
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I’ve myself attended meetings where the meeting is just there to ratify your decision which has
already been taken. And you feel that people are just going through the motions and the decision
has already been made. So, it is not untrue, but going to every meeting thinking that those who
are attending the meeting do not have a positive intent is adopting a very negative attitude. So
make positive assumptions about the motives and the likely reactions of other people at the
meeting. If you do that, it will make you less defensive.
As a result, you will deliver your contributions with greater confidence and credibility.
Remember that even if there are some difficult, non-supportive people and the meeting there are
likely to be in a minority and be positively influenced by the rest of the people surrounding them.
And, finally, what you could do is that, I am sure there are meetings in which you made your
valuable contribution, where your ideas were appreciated and you could think of those meetings
where you made an impact and put yourself into the future and visualize yourself having
attended your next meeting.
You did very well, you came across confidently and made your points very effectively, you were
listened to, and you gained agreement. Now think of all the steps that you went through to make
this success happen. Start with the pre meeting preparation and think about your contributions to
the meeting. What specifically did you do at each stage to ensure this overall success? Now
create an action plan for your next meeting based on your thoughts.
This technique works because it encourages you to think about the positive things that could
happen in the future and the way you can make them happen rather than think about negative
things that hinder your effectiveness. So, in this unit we looked at four different aspects of
contributing to a meeting. One is introducing your ideas. The second is to…, let's come back and
revisit those four goals. One is introducing the PR, sorry, introducing and presenting your ideas
clearly and concisely.
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Appreciating and building upon others’ perspectives and ideas. The third was being influential
and dealing effectively with conflict and, finally, maintaining and building confidence in our
ability and right to contribute. So, with this, I conclude this unit and we will move onto how do
you present your ideas and make an impact in a meeting very clearly and concisely.
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Lecture 32
How to Speak Effectively in Meetings
Hello. In this unit of module 7 on meeting skills, we will move on to how to speak effectively in
meetings. Irrespective of whether you are leading a meeting or you are just contributing to a
meeting as a participant, you need to speak up. I am going to talk about three things in this
lecture. I am going to begin with addressing the problem of speaking at all. Some of first do not
speak up in meetings; that is the first issue.
In the second part, I would looked at how to make an executive presence in a meeting and in the
third part we will look at how to use your voice, delivery and certain kind of phrases, certain
kind of languages which is appropriate in a meeting. So, let us begin with finding out what kind
of meeting participants are you. Are you one of those people who never speak up in meetings?
Do not worry I am one of them because I rarely speak in meetings. Well you cannot speak in
meetings if you do not want to speak and a lot of introverted people do not speak up in meetings.
But you have to be prepared for the impression you create among others if you do not speak. So
we have somebody giving us three strategies for introverts for speaking up in meetings. Let us
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look at these three strategies. The first strategy is why don’t you speak up? What is the problem?
We need to find out that. What is the reason that some of us do not speak up?
The most common reason is that if you are in a not so senior position. If you are the new entrant
and if you have been called to meeting for the first time, you are probably not senior enough.
Now why do you think you should not contribute? Why do not you speak up? Because you feel,
I want to be respectful. And this is very true in Asian cultures where we think, we tend to be,
deferential towards our seniors. We leave them to do all the speaking and we keep quiet
ourselves.
So, if you do not speak up because you think you need to be respectful towards others, to be
respectful towards your seniors, you have to be prepared that your intention and the effect might
mismatch. If your intention, when you think like this is, that, your natural tendency is to defer to
someone who is more senior to you and to soak in the conversation.
Especially if you are naturally introverted, it may feel it is not my place to talk. Now this
differential inclination can be especially strong in organizations with strong hierarchies. Or in
cultures where we defer to our seniors. But what is the unintended impact of this? Your
deference causes you to become invisible in the meetings and, believe me, it happens to me very
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often because I am hesitant to speak up in meetings and I find that no one if has even noticed that
I am around.
So when no one knows you, they do not know what you can do. I was, and many of us have
very…; we are very capable, we are competent people, but it is all there on our cvs. So, we
assume that since it is on our cv, since people who know us know about our abilities are also
aware of what we are or we are not capable of doing.
But believe me it is not as simple. Because people go by what they observe, what they see and I
have been shocked to find, I have been quite pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised to find that
somebody who is not quite as competent as me has been given a certain responsibility or a job. It
might happen to you also because that person comes across as very knowledgeable even if that
person is not knowledgeable, that person…, I say this because people have told me later that so
and so comes across, has a very, comes across as a very knowledgeable person.
And I have been told again that until, ‘Oh! We did not know you had done all these things.’
Because you do not talk about it. So you need to talk about it, you do not need to tom-tom your
achievements but you need to say what you are capable of doing. And some people who have
mastered this art, you will find that even if they are introverted… I am giving real life examples
to you. I know people who are really introverted and who normally do not speak. But I find that
the same people when they know, they observe or when they think that a lot is at stake,I find that
the same people, whenever there is a person in authority who is going to take notice of them, the
same people muster their courage to speak up at such meetings. So we need to learn from such
people and to speak up. Because unless you speak up, how are people who are strangers come to
know what you are capable of?
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That means you are not likely to be considered when it comes, it’s time for a promotion. And if
you speak up in meetings, after you reach a certain level, the number of senior executives who
know you and have a good impression of you will directly co-relate with your career success.
Because they heard you and I have heard people say ‘Oh! I have heard so and so speak up at
meetings and so and so comes across as very knowledgeable.’ Now we move on to the second
reason why people do not speak up.
The second reason why people do not speak up, and you are not alone, is they do, ‘I do not want
to say the wrong thing.’ Because you are afraid, you feel like you might say something which is
wrong and it might have a negative impact on how people perceive you. You do not want to
appear incompetent. You open your mouth and you find that maybe you said the wrong thing or
you are afraid you said the wrong thing.
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You do not want to appear incompetent in front of other people. Particularly in front of people
who are going to judge you and have a say in your career.
If you are with a client, you might not want to jeopardize that deal or damage the relationship.
And you think, ‘Oh! Why don’t most senior people speak after all?’ and they are there in the first
place. But what happens? What is the unintended effect? Your client sees you as a scribe or an
assistant. And you never build a working relationship. You need to go to the next level. So,
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you’re always seen as someone who is just around to take notes. For internal meetings, your boss
thinks you do not have a mind of your own and sees you more of an order taker than an
influencer.
The third reason why people do not speak up is, they feel, ‘I have nothing to add. Everyone else
has said what they needed to say.’ Now everything that needs to be said has already been shared.
You hate it when others waste time repeating the same thing. So you do not want to be the same
kind of person.
So, if you are a good listener and usually let others speak first or if you are with the team with
dominant personalities, you will most likely fall into this category. Now what is the unintentional
effect of this? The unintentional effect is, imagine you try to see yourself and…; believe me I
tried doing this because you assume that everyone in the room or everyone in the meeting knows
you and you already have a reputation in your organization. People know you who you are. But
then I realized, ‘Oh! Most of the people are around me, they are newcomers, they have no idea
what I know or what I have done.’
So these newcomers are going to assume quiet reasonably that you do not have any idea so long
as you do not share them. Worse, you might be seen as someone who does not care. Neither one
of these misperceptions will help you in your career. And it is up to use to set them right. So,
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remember this is the impression you create if you do not speak up in the meetings. And what
must you do.
If you are afraid of speaking up at meetings, remember there is nothing like preparation.
Preparation is the key. If you know what is going to be covered, you can prepare what you need
to say or get the necessary information from the other participants. Will there be questions for
you? Can you deliver the answers? Is there any other business that you want to raise? It often
helps to make some notes for what you want to say in a meeting. So, if you are prepared you can
have a say.
When you know the points you want to raise or the comments you want to make from the
agenda, you can prepare in advance for what you are going to say, so that you say in it in the
clearest, most concise way possible. Then when the Chair asks for your comments, you will feel
more confident.
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What else can you do? Prepare what you need, practice a lot, observe your appearance and
posture. And we are going to show you some role plays. We are going to show you some short
videos on how to prepare for a meeting, how do you dress for a meeting, how do you observe
your appearance and posture. Arrive early at the meeting place.
Meet other people. Speak with other meeting attendees. Speak louder, clearly and make eye
contact. Make hand gestures.
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Now we come to the positioning. Remember meetings and also all about power. It begins with
where you sit? Who you sit with? Which is the most important position? Now it is important for
you to position yourself well. Particularly if you are not very fluent with English, make sure you
sit in a position where you can see and be seen by the Chair and other participants. When others
speak, look at them. Understanding is far harder if you cannot see the person while they speak.
And I notice this happening in the meetings and it goes together with arriving early.
People who understand the importance of positioning oneself, they always come early and
occupy the most advantageous, the best position, the best vantage point. It’s all got to do with
aligning yourself with people who are in authority or aligning yourself with your friends.
Depending on where you sit. If you sit closest to the person who is in authority, you will have his
ear or her ear and also they will be able to notice you. You might have your friend sitting next to
you.
If you want to make yourself invisible, many of us find ourselves taking a corner seat or sit in a
position where you will not be noticed. So we are putting ourselves at a disadvantage because no
one is going to notice us, that means we are not going to speak up and our presence is like an
absence. Now I move on to the next important point which is how to appear poised, how to make
an executive presence and this is an advice given by Ashley Cobert, who is a PR person in an
article called ‘the “IT” factor’.
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Making an executive presence in a meeting. So what is the advice? The first advice is, be
polished, poised and prepared. Have you ever come across people like who I have come across?
Such individuals even if they are harried, they are rushing from meetings to meetings, they never
let other people see them sweat.
So a person with an executive presence is not harried running from meeting to meeting, she is
not flustered when she speaks, she seems like the person who even in the wake of a crisis, in the
middle of the night, could still show up looking put together. So be polished, be poised. That is
the next part.
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How do you achieve this type of poise even if you are running from meeting the meeting? First
before entering the meeting, entering a room, always take a quick second to compose yourself.
Take a deep breath, smooth your hair and slow down.
How to be prepared? More importantly, as I said right at the beginning, that is more than being
poised and polished; it is more important to be prepared. If you spend some extra time
beforehand to prepare yourself for anything, think of the questions the boss might ask you. Think
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and prepare a well thought out response which will prevent you from having to scramble through
your notes or to blurt out, “I do not know”. Be calm, collected and the person with all the
answers and you will be seen as a leader.
Now the next thing in order to have an executive presence in a meeting is to mind your body
language. And we will show you how to do this later in a video. In your next meeting, look
around and note how everyone is sitting. You would find that typically shy or unconfident people
will close off and make themselves small by crossing their legs and arms. Imagine a hunched
over Steve Jobs avoiding looking at you. Would that seem impressive? Not so much.
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And people with executive presence demand more control over the room. So stand or sit tall,
look engaged by leaning slightly forward and take up space by putting your arms on the table,
not huddling them to your body.
Also make sure to make eye contact with everyone around you. Everyone in the room which is
not only personable, it portrays confidence. Though do not overdo it, you still need to blink. And
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do not be like me, do not blink all the time but, beg your pardon, I am blinking because I have a
problem with the light and I keep blinking.
The body now, Professor Dale DeLitus has spoken about the body triptych. When he talks about
body language of meetings and he addresses three parts of the body. One is the feet, the lower
body. And he talks about different positions people take up when they are at a meeting. Notice
your own position. Some people tend to put it on the legs of one’s chair. Another group of people
puts it in the air after crossing one’s legs. The third, resting on the tips of the toes while one
crosses one’s ankles or tucked under the torso on the chair. So which position do you take up?
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What about your torso? These are the various position people take up during the meeting.
Leaning back in one’s chair, hunched over with hands under the desk, hunched over scribbling
notes, slouching, crossing arms, shifting around. So each of these say something about you. If
you lean back in your chair, it shows I am very relaxed and not engaged. If you are hunched, I
am secretly text messaging. If you are hunched over scribbling notes, I am not paying attention
to what I am saying.
Slouching, I have nothing to contribute and I am wasting my time by being here. Crossed arms, I
hate this meeting and all of you making me attend. Shifting around, I am unable to sit and I had
too much caffeine today. So this is your second part of the triptych, your torso.
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And the third is your hands. Where do you place your hands? Hands should rest on the desk,
empty of any utensils. If one must take notes, pick up a writing implement and note the thought
quietly, then set the paper, pen or pencil down again. It is quiet usual for one to pick up a pen and
chew you on it after taking a brief note which creates a very bad impression or to hold the click
pen which I tend to do and I suddenly noticed myself doing it if it is a particularly or very boring
meeting. The urge to click the nib, in and out of the barrel can be irresistible to many. Do
everyone a favor and avoid these annoying traits.
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Now let us come to speaking proper. Speak up, you heard it before. To be taken seriously in a
meeting, speak clearly, loudly enough so that people can hear you. And avoid trailing off at the
end of a sentence or using fluffy language like “I hope to have this done” or “I think it will get
results”.
Speak up and also do not be afraid of silence. So many people will ramble just to fill silence,
which can lead to less than intelligent sounding statements. You want to leave others hanging
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onto every word, not trying to stay awake while they glance at the clock and wonder when you
will finish.
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The third aspect is to make other people feel special. As Maya Angelou, writer, said, “People
will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you
made them feel.” So one of the best ways to make an executive presence is to make everyone
feel special. Make everyone around you feel that he or she is the only person in the room. So do
not hog the conversation, respond to what you heard, ask questions to show that you are paying
attention. The more you listen to people the more they will listen to you.
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When it comes to executive presence, remember, action speaks louder. So take the time to think
through what you said and through practice you will master the skills and people will want to
listen to you.
The third aspect is now to address the entire group, be concise and summarizing use your space
wisely and be positive in order to make an executive presence. Now we come to the final part
which is how to speak the delivery part proper and the kind of language you use in a meeting.
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Now remember the rules that we shared with you about how to use your voice or how to use
delivery. In general, they apply to meetings as well. You find yourself whenever you attend a
meeting, and I have had this happened to me, that suddenly I find that someone speaks up in a
meeting….
It is not what they are saying but some of us have a very powerful voice or some of us have a
very good way of delivery, which makes people sit up and notice. And I have had people tell me
that, ‘So and so, this colleague of yours, whenever he speaks in a senate meeting, he makes an
impact because of the way he delivers.’ Now this colleague of mine was a person who was
taught speaking skills and who has himself had a very good way, very powerful way of
delivering not just the speech, but even in ordinary conversations.
The way he would choose his words, the way he would enunciate each and every phrase, it
would make an impact. But I would observe him do it, how in a meeting, how he would
modulate his voice, raise his voice appropriately. When he was angry, he would raise his voice
or his voice would reduce to a whisper if he was angry. So how he would play around with his
voice to add an impact to the message or to the statement he was making.
So you can do that, enunciate, speak slowly, expand your vocabulary, do not disqualify yourself
at the end of a sentence.
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Now, what are the things you can do to improve your vocabulary. Use some emergency phrases.
There are certain phrases one needs to, one uses in meetings. And if one is familiar with these
phrases, one can speak up, one can contradict others, one can wait for an opening, one can butt in
only if one is able to use an appropriate phrase for making an intervention. So let us look at some
of these phrases before we close.
If you do not understand someone or need clarification, you could ask, “Sorry, could you repeat
that point about please?”, “Sorry, but could you outline the main points again?” If you really
want to clarify what someone has said and you do not want to misunderstand what they are
saying, then you are asked to say, “I am not sure I understood”, “I follow your point about”,
“Just to make sure I understand. When you say you are talking about is that right?” So these are
emergency phrases you can use to speak in a meeting.
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Now use some of these phrases to make sure you aren’t interrupted halfway through. I am sure
this happened to you. It has happened to all of us where we are speaking and someone else who
cannot wait for us to finish, either they want to cut us off, either because they have a more
exciting idea or because they feel that you have an idea which everyone will listen to. They do
not allow you to have a say. So you can politely tell them, “Actually, if you could just let me
finish”, “Actually, I have nearly finished.” This is one way of making sure that you are not
interrupted.
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What are the phrases you can use for contributing? If you’ve got something to say, you can
introduce one of these phrases, “I would like to come in here, if I may.” So you can seek
permission, “If I may?”, “I would like to come in here, if I may say something.”, “There is
something I'd like to add to the discussion.”, “Can I raise a point here?”, “Actually, while we are
on the subject.” So these are some of the phrases you can use for contributing. And finally you
can ask for a summary.
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If the meeting gets involved in off topic matters or the participants spend a lot of time joking or
in very technical discussions, make sure the chair is managing the discussion by asking for a
summary. You can use a phrase like, “Can you summarize the main points for me please?” “So
what did you say are the main actionable points here?” So, with this we look at how you can
speak effectively in meetings.
Whatever the level in the hierarchy or in the corporate ladder or wherever you work, in the
organization you are, you can speak effectively irrespective of whether you are leading a meeting
or you are mainly one of the speakers at a meeting. To summarize what we have discussed today,
first we looked at, how to get over your fears and speak up in a meeting particularly if you are an
introvert. The second aspect that we looked at was how to make an executive presence in the
meeting so that people notice you and make a good impression.
And the third part, we looked that was, what kind of expressions, how do you use language,
voice and delivery to make an impact at a meeting. We will share some videos with you in which
you actually see people using their body language to make their presence felt and to have an
executive presence in a meeting.
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Prof. Anjali Gera Roy
Indian Institute of Technology-Kharagpur
Lecture - 33
Meetings, Behaviour & Roles
Hello. In this unit on meeting skills, we are going to examine different kinds of behavior
and meetings. I am going to look at three primary behaviors and meetings. One is task
oriented behavior. The second is relationship oriented behavior. And the third is self-
centered behavior. So let us look at what kind of behavior people demonstrate in a
meeting, and what kind of behavior you possibly demonstrate in the meeting.
What is the role you play in a meeting? Let us examine the different kinds of behaviors
in a meeting and the different roles that people assume in a meeting.
Whenever you go to a meeting you would find that, next time you go to a meeting
observe the dynamics of a room. You would observe that certain people seem to enjoy
more authority than others. There are certain people within the room - in the way they
are seated, the positions they occupy, irrespective of their designations, people seem to
be listening to them.
They seem to be paying more attention to them, and they seem to hold a lot of clout
within the group. Even though they are not the seniormost or they are not leading the
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meeting it is they who seem to have the most important say in making the decision. So
next time you go observe who owes the respect of the room who is trying too hard, who Commented [1]: please check word
is posing, who is apathetic.

Take good mental notes because the social dynamics of the room will tell you much
about who you ought to align yourself with, and who you should not. Whether you -
whether or not - you are in a position of leadership, your ability to earn respect and get
noticed is inextricably linked to your collaborations and interactions with other people.
You must therefore know who will help and who will hinder your propensity to
succeed. So there are four primary kinds of characters, the leaders, the lifters, the loafers
and the leeches. How you engage with these four types of people will influence how
effective you are in a meeting.
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Know your audience and their agendas, anticipate their behaviors, decisions and
attitudes. Have a plan of action that allows you to seamlessly navigate those dynamics
in a way that will show your leadership, patience, polish and poise, your executive
presence. Preparing for these dynamics on the front end will serve as the foundation to
increase the probability of your success on the back-end of a meeting.
Now let us examine three kinds of behavior. We will begin with task oriented behavior.
What is task oriented behavior? Task oriented behavior is behavior, which is directed
primarily at completing the task. You want to focus on completing a given task, and
people who demonstrate this kind of behavior are as follows.
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The first kind of task behavior, task oriented behavior, the first kind of individual is the
initiator. Who is an initiator? An initiator is a person who initiates new who initiates
ideas. So he or she is the person who always takes the lead and initiates the idea. The
problem with the initiators are that we need to pay attention to their ideas.
Because they have good ideas and someone who is a person who is leading the meeting,
you must pay attention to people who are initiators, but mind you that some of the
initiators get so carried away by the role they are playing that and the importance they
get that they might initiate ideas which are not quite relevant to what you are meeting
for. So watch out, but do not ignore the initiators.
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The second kind of role, the second kind of individuals who are task oriented are
information seekers. Now they have their foot solidly in the ground. These are people
who are very realistic, who might shoot down very idealistic ideas or highfalutin ideas
by bringing everyone to the ground by asking for information, by seeking relevant
information, requiring facts and figures and data to support ideas which are being
discussed.
And these individuals are very important to the group because they bring stability to
the group, so that the group is not carried away.
The third kind of individuals who are task oriented are information givers. Information
givers are very important for the group. They are an asset to the group because they
seem to know the answers to a lot of things. They seem to know a lot of things and the
group can gain by turning to them for information. But the problem with the information
givers is that they also seem to know all the answers and they seem to be the know-alls.
So sometimes the other members of the group get annoyed with information givers
because they feel that, well, this person has everything to contribute and I have nothing
to contribute. And they tend to get annoyed with the information givers because of the
attention they get and feel inhibited from contributing themselves. So the leader of a
meeting must turn to the information givers to get relevant attention and yet not get
carried away by letting them dominate the meeting.
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The next kind of task oriented behavior is an individual who is a clarifier. Now this
clarifier helps to give a good recall to whatever has been discussed. Frequently, in
meetings, discussions go haywire, they go off the tangent and the clarifier will interrupt
and provide paraphrasing techniques to provide properly defined issues. Now if this
kind of behavior is not immediately noticed within the group, the team leader should
adopt this behavior and clarify and bring the meeting back to the point.
The next kind of task oriented behavior is that of the summarizer. The summarizer is a
very..., displays a very important behavior to the team because the summarizer helps to
put together and summarize the thoughts which are flying high and dry, which are flying
across the meeting and tries to identify the key points that have emerged in the meeting,
the key ideas that have emerged in the meeting and puts them in a very simple manner.
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So we need summarizers at the meeting and if we do not have summarizers within the
group, then perhaps the leader should adopt this role of the summarizer and collects the
thoughts and formats in a manner which is easily understood. This is the ideal behavior
which the team secretary should have. Then finally we come to the co-determiner.
The co-determination tester is a person who looks at the readiness of the ideas. If an
idea is being proposed or if a suggestion is being proposed, how feasible is it? This
person tries to look at, visualize the future and see what will be the repercussions of
these ideas, how will they be used in the idea. So most of the people when they are Commented [2]: is it idea?
dealing with immediate terms, this person is usually an idea generator, but is also prone
to jumping to conclusions and focusing on solutions rather than causes.
So the team leader should use this individual as a method to probe a particular idea
being discussed. From here we will move on to relationship oriented behaviors.
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What are relationship oriented behaviors? Relationship oriented behaviors are very
important for maintaining communication, participation in the group and outside the
group when the time comes to seek help and gathering data or support for the
implementation of your super idea. So we have three kinds of people who are
relationship..., who demonstrate relationship oriented behavior.
The first kind is the harmonizer. The harmonizer is the peacekeeper within the group.
They use reconciliation approach are usually humorous, with a tendency to mediate in
times of disagreement.
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The second kind of relationship oriented behavior is that of the gatekeeper. The
gatekeeper tends to concern himself with the need for everyone to contribute and will
often redirect questions back to those most silent within the group to ensure that
everyone has an opportunity to contribute. This is a key function which the team leader
usually assumes and is a behavior trait that is very important for the progress of the
team.
This is the kind of gatekeeper who makes sure that those who are silent, do not keep
silent. This is the kind of person who makes sure that people are not disrupting the
meeting. This is also the person who puts together the ideas and gets everyone to
contribute in a meaningful manner. Let us look at the third kind of relationship oriented
behavior. The third kind of relationship oriented behavior is that of the encourager.
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This is the person who encourages other people, who supports other people. And
whenever you find that somebody comes up with an idea, the encourager will second
the idea, will ask that person to come out with the ideas and also is a cheerleader. It is
also important to maintain a positive of environment for the encourager to work with,
since there is a tendency in this kind of behavior to slip into the dark side, and the
individual with this character may become quite disruptive, if not properly nurtured.
Now we will turn to the third kind of behavior, which is the self-centered behavior. And
this is the kind of behavior, which you should watch out for. Now if you find yourself
indulging in self-centered behavior, probably you are not the right kind of person in the
group, because you are not contributing to the group’s aims and to the cohesion of the
group or enabling the group to accomplish its objectives as a team, because your
agendas are quite different.
You are more interested in how you can get out of this group, what you get out of this
group. It might be just importance, it might be getting your ideas to be accepted, or
whatever. So let us look at some of these negative self-oriented behaviors.
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Sorry, I missed out one more task oriented behavior, the task oriented behavior of the
compromiser. This individual displays a behavior, which helps people to come down
to a compromise. A kind of individual who recognizes that people will not always have
the same goals. They may not see and work at the same level. And this kind of person
will try to bring people who have different ideas or different goals to come to a
compromise.
Because this kind of person is more down to earth and less idealistic. So this kind of
person is very important because they promote modifications of ideas, concepts and
views when particular ideas are seen to be in conflict with others. Now we come to the
tester.
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The tester, the team worker with this behavior acts as a quality inspector who checks to
see whether the group is satisfied with the decisions being breached. Remember, what
was the objective of a meeting? Not only to get the job done, not only to accomplish its
objectives, but also make sure that everyone goes out looking happy. So this is the role
of the tester.
The individual behavior, this behavior seeks the assurance that everyone is in agreement
with the issues being discussed, and that the decision is valid for the team to continue
pursuing this topic. Now we come to the third kind of behavior, which is the self-
oriented behavior. So the behaviors we have seen so far, the first was task oriented
behavior. And the second was relationship oriented behavior.
Both these behaviors contributed to the meeting, to the cohesion of the group, and
enable the group to move closer towards its goals.
Now individual behaviors also tend to be negative. Now these are called self-oriented
behavior, and they tend to be counterproductive unless they are effectively dealt with.
Let us look at some of these behaviors. The first fear is that of a competitor.
Now this is the person who is trying to set himself as a parallel leader to the formulary
leader of the group, and always setting himself or herself in competition with the formal
leader by trying to attract attention to himself or herself, by trying to dominate the
conversation and requires the need to be the center of attention.
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Now such kind of people tend to work towards personal goals to come out looking great
at the end of the meeting, to get their point of view accepted, to have the final say in the
meeting rather than to work towards the creation of the group and to get the group to
work together. So they represent their own needs instead of focusing on the group’s
needs. Now how do you deal (with them)?
The team leader has a responsibility to deal with people like this. What can the team
leader do? In order to make this kind of informal leader the competitor feel important,
the team leader can deal with this kind of person by acknowledging the ideas or
paraphrasing the competitor’s input and redirecting it towards other members in the
group.
The other method is to simply acknowledge the competitor’s input and shift attention
elsewhere. From the competitor, we move on to the disrupter.
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Now we will find that in every meeting there is a disrupter whose intention is just to
disrupt the proceedings, and who is shooting spit balls sitting at the back of the room
and who is fooling around rejecting ideas. This person dislikes control and structure.
So the team leader should be very careful to establish the proper structure for the
meeting, but avoid being too rigid.
Too much fooling around will distract the team but also remember that meetings should
also be fun. So long as you can rein in the disrupter, let the disruptors be around, but
mind for the disruptor. The third kind of self-oriented behavior is that of the depender.
Now this kind of behavior is in a person who is timid, who is not assertive, who always
allies himself or herself with a powerful group, who has not learned to go off the apron
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strings, because they would always rely on an authority figure. And you would find that
such kind of people, the dependers, will sit close to an authority figure. Even if they are
not sitting close to an authority figure they will seat themselves closer to the people
who are powerful in the team.
And they would direct their remarks to either to the authority figure, or to other
members who hold authority rather than talking to the entire group. Now this, for this
kind of person. for this kind of behavior, it is important for this kind of behavior to find
acceptance from the authority figure. So most of the time this kind of depender is trying
to get the approval of the authority figure, to get into the good books of the authority
figure.
Now the team leader usually feels flattered by this kind of dependency and the yes
sayers who always say yes to whatever the team leader says. But in order to get them
out of their dependency syndrome, the team leader should refer the person to the group
to reinforce the unified effort of the group, rather than relying on a structure of
authority.
And then we come to the skeptic. Who is a skeptic? A skeptic is a person who is always
shooting down others ideas, who has no trust in the others who are present in the
meeting, and who is always doubtful of the intention of others. So whenever an idea
comes up, the skeptic tries to shoot down the idea or always responds with a but.
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This individual tends to lack trust and respect for other team members when specific
ideas or points of view are being made. So the team leaders should be very careful to
foster an environment of trust instead of rejecting the skeptics, because it is possible
that the skeptics have something important to contribute.
And perhaps their lack of enthusiasm in the ideas which are being proposed by another
can actually help to provide an alternative point of view or dissent -with dissent - or
provide healthy dissent to what the consensus in the group is. They can be made into
useful contributors to the meeting by dispelling that feeling of distrust.
Either the team leader can do this by asking for their opinion by winning their trust, by
seeking their opinion or informally talking to such skeptics by asking them how an
environment of trust can be created, so that they can contribute to the team. So this
means maintaining openness, fairness and objectivity while eliminating the negative
tones, which the skeptic tends to introduce.
And then finally we come to the abstractor. The abstractor is the team member with the
behavior...tends to be very quiet, is normally the least vocal of the group, even though
they might have something to contribute. Ideas are very difficult to extract from this
person. The abstractor tends to reserve comments, reserve comments, and will be seen
jotting down notes or whispering to the person next to them but will never come out
with his or her own ideas.
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The leader must not dismiss this person’s ideas yet do whatever is required to bring
those ideas out into the open. Now we are going to watch some real meetings. And we
will find how these group dynamics are at work in these meetings, in addition to how
you can speak in a meeting effectively, how you can contribute to a meeting, how you
can play the role of a leader or that of a participant.
Or you can choose among any of these roles or behaviors that I have outlined for you
in this lecture. (Video Starts: 23:18) Good evening friends. Thank you for making the
time to come down for this meeting. So I hope all of you are aware that we are holding
the cultural event for IIT Kharagpur this semester on the 15th of April, the tentative
date is that. So we are planning a grand show as usual, like the other years.
So we have our different committee members who would be representing different

cultural activities that we organized throughout the year in different campuses. And at
the same time this year, we will have some outstation participants also. So the kind of
participation, the kind of events that have been planned by my house students, we would
want all of you people, we have the sponsors from the different houses who will be
representing the publicity and the finance sector.
So they can probably also help you out in the kinds of logistics and resources that might
come in into the picture. So in all likelihood, we can have a fruitful discussion today,
which may take into account the kinds of funds and the kind of the other logistics which
might be very essential for this any time. So I would like all of you to introduce
yourselves and give a short plan, brief plan about how you propose to go through this
event.
Conversation starts Hello everyone I am Akanksha and I am looking at the events

from filmmaking and photography. So I would like to propose two events, one for each
filmmaking and photography. And this year, we are hoping if we can get judges from
outside. We are hoping some eminent personalities from Kolkata film sector. So that
would increase the credibility of a competition also. So for that we will be requiring
more funds this year.
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And we are hoping to release a problem statement for online submission a week before
that. So since the event is around 15th, April, we are hoping that we would get the
judges by - in - within three, four days. We have a list of probable people that we could
forward to you guys and we can talk about it.
And as far as photography is concerned, we were thinking of having the event for during
the Fest, so that would also help us in getting lot of attraction on social media. And also
we would have a common theme for the photographers to judge on. Okay, so if you
could share the list with us, we can probably start contacting the members, your choices
and we also have to look into the funds. Exactly.
So what is the, what kind of a fund allocation are you expecting from us? We were
looking for three judges since we would require multiple perspectives into the final
decision. So we were not aiming too high, but somewhere in between 20,000 for a
person. So we have a list in that category. So we can ask them and maybe we can
negotiate based on their interest as well. Right. We can come to that, again.
We could narrow down the theme and maybe you could start off with the promotional
campaigns, right? That would join the crowd right and that would draw in the
participants. Yes. Event is close by. I think we need to start within that. That is one of
the major benefits of having an online submission so that we can reach as far as possible
and people can submit their films even from, you know, different parts of the country.
And yeah, that is exactly the arrangement. Good evening everyone. I am Prakhar
Srivatsav. I am handling the dramatic events for the cultural meet. So as you know from
previous editions, dramatics is one of the most highly anticipated and participated
events known throughout the meet. So this year, we have three events in the pipeline.
One is the usual stage play event, which has a lot of enthusiasm from students all over
the country.
The second is a solo event. It is a single person mono acting event called I, me, myself.
And the third is a street play event. The way we want to plan our events right now is
we want to hold regional auditions in different major cities throughout the campus. We
will be starting that very soon. So in case you guys want to exploit that opportunity as
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a publicity measure, we would encourage you guys to use promotional material that we
can use in different cities.
That will, I believe, expand your reach to a large larger area apart from the campus
itself. So when are you expecting to reach? Which other places you are expecting to
reach? We expect to start the auditions next week. We will be starting with Delhi, which
is the Center for the northern region. Apart from that we hope to have auditions in
various other places like Kolkata, Pune, Bangalore, and other major cities.
So that, I believe, would be a major step towards increasing penetration to different

regions of the country and having a larger attendance in performance base. Do you have
any particular institutions in mind? We are trying not to let previous prejudices get into
our criteria. So we keep the auditions open for all colleges, and we expect to have at
least 10 to 12 institutions in every city participating in the prelims.
After that the best teams that we have for every center, we will be inviting them for the
finals in the institute itself. Okay. Prakhar have you - like - jotted down the genres
which you would consider? In previous editions we have tried to use this tactic. But
this year, we are planning to keep the event genre free. We want to attract participation
from as many different and varied fields as possible, different themes so that we can
have a wider range and, that will have variety. Yeah.
But I am afraid that auditions in all the metropolitan cities will incur us a lot of... Yeah,
so that is one will be - we will require major financial assistance. But I believe that the
returns for such investments would also be very good, because in the previous editions,
you have seen that the penetration among the regional areas it has almost saturated. So
if you want new participation, more interest in the event itself, we need to expand
beyond the eastern region of the country.
And then because the institute itself is so widely renowned and the fest is also very
popular among students, we should get a sizable amount of audience and participants
from various countries which should ultimately give you back the returns. Okay there
is one more thing if you should include social themes I think that will do good for our
brand image, something which we can, we could bring up social issues.
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I agree with you completely. And as I said, we have a street play event from the Nukkad
event and that commonly sees a lot of social themes being played upon. So if you want,
we can specifically theme it as such but I do not think that is explicitly necessary. Such
themes automatically tend to recur in the Nukkad section itself. So I hope that answers
your concerns.
If I may suggest, we can incorporate the social aspect into online as one of the topics of
online movie submissions, right. So we can have, we can have, a social topic and even
up to interpretation and some sort of this can be given as a possible topic for movie
submissions. I think we can fulfill your demands, right. That is right. Yeah.
Hello everyone I am Mayank and I am representing the dance society in the capital.
So the thing is dance in general brings in the largest contingent from like all the
participating institutions, because in any dance form like except the duet, like in a duet
only two people are there, but in anything else, like they need like at least 10, 15 people.
And then supporting cast and their material as well. So for each of these dancers like
they have like 20 to 30 people.
So in all like a contingent of 70 from just one institution, which is really huge. So this
year, the plan is pretty similar to everything that has happened before. And it is that we
hold three events. One will be a stage event, and along with that a duet event which will
be held right after that. And so these two could be marketed together because like a lot
of people who come to the fest are likely to sit through both of them and enjoy the
performances.
And the third event would be a street dance freestyle sort of event. So I was thinking of
holding it in the badminton court, which has like two levels of viewership allowed. So
basically, what we need is, in these events like this is a very subjective event. Every
institution has their own idea of dance form that they want to portray. So we need
judges.
And we need multiple judges from different genres, like classical or freestyle, or like
Bollywood masala or something like that. So all of these and we have prepared list for
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each of them in the price range that we are expecting to keep our prize money as well
as, like the solid price that we can pay and, like keep our profits like taking our profits
into account.
And this was till now the general idea that we will have three judges, three events and
like we could have a national like selection on this on very similar lines as dramatics
because it is equally competitive. And like this could be held along with the dramatics
event. Because both of these would generally need an auditorium and everything. So
that would ease your life in terms of like marketing and like promotion and branding,
as well as logistics in general.
And as far as the stage events are concerned, will you be requiring passes? I mean will
the participants require passes or? So what we were thinking is the stage events were
generally, like apart from the prelims, which will be happening in the different cities
like during the actual event this, there are two different entrances. So I do not think we
need anything else apart from like the general, like the money that they pay to get just
the ID for the entire fest.
So that should work well enough for the spectators and all the participants should have
their registrations ready beforehand by registering on the website and everything. And
like having paid their fees as taking part in the event. Something that you just mentioned
like 60, 70 people from each college. So once like people in such numbers come in, we
also have to take care about their food and accommodation and other logistics.
So the thing is, we do not generally take care of their food, we just provide them with
ample like places. So the campus already has enough such opportunities. So is that
being taken care of by you? So we are just more interested in the events as such. So if
the organizing team like as such you guys, so the finance team will have to like work
with the organizing team, which will be chairperson.
I think that would be what they are saying is a very crucial part because time and again,
we have found that sometimes there are huge rush from outstation candidates too. So
in terms of giving accommodation, we have ample spaces, but the kinds of logistics
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support that we need, that probably we would want the sponsors to, where we want the
sponsors to come in.
So ideally, I would request them to give a list of the kind of participants that they are
expecting for each event which might be possible in 10 days’ timeframe, or 15 days
time, 10 days timeframe. So accordingly, we can pass those informations to you. So the
logistics plan must be put in place along with the events. So can I add another point?
With the logistics point what we could also do is, like we could approach some sponsors
based on the type of events that we are working for.
So let us say something like dramatics, we could work with NSE, the National School
of Drama, and getting people from there and like give them some publicity, so they
would be willing to pay. Or like with dance, something like Shaimak Davar, which
generally happens like there is a free for all event on the lines of salsa. So which is
generally organized by them. So we could ask them for publicity or other dance schools.
And all of these could be done in conjunction with the prelims wherever they are
happening. So you could approach those regional like dance schools as well. And that
would draw in the right crowd as well. Because there is promotion as well as like the
right people are getting to know about it.
I think that is also a major logistics issue as well because the National School of Drama,
these partnerships in various places, would also provide us with the space for
conducting these prelims and all. I have one concern. As I said, for my event, we are
planning to conduct prelims from next week onwards.
So I think it would be feasible for everyone and suitable as well, if the appraisal and the
funding could be released as soon as possible, because that will allow us to adequately
provide support for the these prelims happening in different centers. That is a good
suggestion. We will look into that matter like where - like - we will have to soon plan
up immediate meeting with the sponsors regarding finance.
And if I may suggest something, if you all and we are happy to have your ideas and if
you could narrow down your ideas to and maybe give us a break about it right then we
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can, being a part of the marketing team, we can begin with the promotional strategies.
So we will be obviously providing you a detailed description of all the events and the
biggest logistics and financial support required. And I hope that will be sufficient to
answer all queries. Yes.
Thank you all for this. I hope all this is a productive meeting for all of us because it not
only enriches our understanding of what is being required, but it also gives them a
platform to finally present their event. So it is a grand opportunity that all of us look
forward to. And thanks for being so interested in the event.
So I hope in a timeframe of seven days, we can again come up for next level meeting
where we can draw out what are the possibilities where more funds can be reached and
all that. So thanks again, all of you for making the time. Thank you for having us here.
Let us meet again next week. Okay. Thank you. We will provide you soon.
Conversation ends (Video Ends: 37:49)
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Lecture - 34
Role Play: Meeting
Body language in meetings. (Video Starts: 00:25) While you enter the room you must
walk tall. We see what this gentleman does when he enters the room and the kind of
impression he leaves on the members in the boardroom. You must greet the members
there. Stand tall and take up space. Widen your stance. Must strike a power pose. It
shows the sense of authority you should project. Choose the seat appropriately.
Sit up straight. Your hands should be properly placed and weight should be even on
both the legs. Maintain eye contact with the members. Show gestures which denote
sense of interaction between the person chairing the session and the members in the
boardroom. It also shows that each and every member is receptive enough to take in
ideas and to give inputs.
What you must not do in a meeting is you must not intrude the personal space of the
member. You must have gap in between while you are speaking to the member in the
boardroom. You must not lean back in one’s chair. Your legs should not be crossed.
Hunching back with hands denote improper body language in a meeting. One must not
do that as it shows inappropriate body language.
You must not cross arms that shows that you are not open to take up ideas and you are
rigid. You must not shift around in the chair that you are sitting. When you have a
fidgeting body language, that actually shows that your interest is elsewhere and not in
the agenda of the meeting. (Video Ends: 03:19)
(Video Starts: 03:20) “Conversation Starts” Good evening, everyone. We are here
to discuss a very important agenda that has been brought forward to our notice after we
have evaluated certain media reports in campus. As per reports from Scholars Avenue
the on-campus English newspaper of IIT Kharagpur, we have seen that a number of
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discrepancies have come with regard to the election procedure that occurs within IIT
Kharagpur for the Gymkhana.
The four issues that were primarily pointed out were the system of voter identification,
the nature of candidate credentials and how they are vetted. The format of candidate
evaluation in general and the minimum cut offs imposed based on what credentials exist
for each candidate. So before we set the agenda and announce the positions from each
side of this house, let us just introduce ourselves.
My name is Ankit and I would to be chairing this meeting. On this side we have Partha
Kadambi and Chander Siddharth. They are representing the Institute Administration.
And on this side we have Manav Kar, Subhrajeet Choudhary and Rohit Roy who are
representing individual halls of residence who and therefore effectively the student
community of IIT Kharagpur. So let us begin.
We will start our discussion by talking about the nature of voter identification and how
that identification is evaluated or checked during the election system itself. So
considering that the Institute Administration wants to begin by informing changes into
the system, let us begin with you and let us see what your perspective is on this entire
issue.
Okay, so I think at each election, at each polling center I think it is very important to
like ensure that we have one person from the administration itself, like checking for the
identity of the person who is voting at all points of time. I think you can just have a
roster system and this has to be done across all polling centers. For like he is a general,
generally he is voting.
I think we should have probably like three or four centers and spread the responsibility
across like 3, 4 representatives from the institute. I think student representatives should
not be the ones ultimately checking for the identities. And if it is necessary we will, I
think we should put forward a biometric system as well to ensure. As I would like to
put forward another suggestion.
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I have seen in the past that we have had issues with people coming this the issues that Commented [1]: check
voter ID fraud has been happening, coming out in the media, coming out in article,
media body. We think it is very important for the measure of our institution that these
discrepancies do not happen. And it is very much within our vision for what we have
to ensure that the elections happen in a fair process.
So under this context the idea is basically that considering that elections currently
happen within the individual 20 halls of residence within campus you are advocating
for a more centralized system where within a specific smaller number of centers
everybody votes and that that voting system is evaluated by its, your, administration
officials.
Yeah, but in contrary I think Manav would have something to say on that. Yeah. I mean
we think it is a very valid concern that has come out in the last one or two years and as
the student body we are absolutely against any activities which are against the principles
of free and fair election. Before we put forward our side of the issue we think it is also
important to rein in campus media bodies like The Scholars Avenue.
Because of what sir said that in terms of the effect of the publicity, that, these campus
bodies have... we think elections are very intrinsic and very close to our campus and we
should not let these reports go out. But sir what we are worried about is understanding
why is it that these incidents happen because we do not know why it happens.
So unless somebody can highlight why vote of fraud was allowed to happen we cannot
solve this problem itself because as of now changing the place where people get to vote
seems to be a little too much effort because students typically vote because it is very
close to their rooms like right inside the mess or inside the common room. So they can
vote very easily.
We are worried about making it very tough for students to get a chance to vote. But you
are not against the principle of vote of fraud being a bad issue. If I could add on to that
I think our main concern is with this regard, yes, that we need to solve the issue, but
just going on the face of it and implementing rules without analyzing where the source,
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where the root of this problem is, is something that we think we need to realize and
definitely go ahead with.
So our primary objective in this regard is to analyze this further. But at the same time
not take the drastic step of just centralizing the election system because we think voter
turnouts in itself will reduce when people will now have to go like further distances to
departments which are sometimes a very long, far, distance away from the halls
specifically the ones which are farther away further away from the...
Also if the person who is being elected is for the post of a vice president or a general
secretary of sports we think that it is most important that he is represented or the voters'
voting is representative of as many people and as inclusive as possible. We think that
if the turnout is less it may cause the wrong candidate to be elected and something like
that.
So considering that all of you agree to the fact that voter fraud exists and is a problem
and since you have pointed out that not understanding the source of voter fraud is a
problem and therefore they are more short sighted in that regard. Can you evaluate what
you think are the reasons why voter fraud does exist in the first place? And therefore
from that was where they can also then re-engage and tell you how their model would
then fit within that problem in the first place.
Sir we think it is just a problem of slight complacency. We think just ensuring that
voting procedures are made as stringent as possible as sir said in terms of more
oversight in terms of more representatives from administration etc. We think that in
itself should solve this problem. We do not think it is as big a problem that needs the
election procedure to be shifted out of the residential part of the campus to like the
administrative or the academic etc.
What do you have to say on that? Right. So it is not so much of a question as to shifting
the voting or polling centers out of the halls themselves. It is a.., I think, most of the
halls are quite close together. So I do not think at any point of time it is going to really
hamper student’s ability to really come out and like go to a common area at the same
site or the centralized area where everyone can come out.
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And two it is not like (that) all the students of the hall are present in the hall all the time.
It is like probably 20 to 30% of the total capacity is present in the hall at any one point
of time. So I do not think it is I do not think it is a reasonable claim to assert that the
numbers are going to like reduce the voter turnout, numbers are going to reduce to a
point where it is going to drastically change the... and the outcome of the election even.
And the primary point is that when we have common areas of oversight, we ensure that
we have it is a clearer transparent picture of what the election process is going like. We
think the more number of polling centers we have the more chances there is for any sort
of oversight to happen. There is more transparency we think with linear and clear
boxes.
But then do you not think that with greater centralization and therefore more people
coming to a single polling center is actually more difficult to implement transparency?
Actually like, realistically like, elections happen in the month of April and mid-April
and it is excruciating weather outside. So even at times just having to move outside
from your hall and walk 20 meters and stand in the sun to cast a vote could often be too
much of a burden.
Also the fact that it is the voting happens just two weeks or one week before the end
semester examinations of the students are held and therefore a lot of students would be
desensitized to go and vote in a scenario where there is a huge line to just cast one vote.
Also I think adding to that when the representatives here were talking about how most
of these students might not be in the hall we think we specifically reserve a very, a
certain, day when we know that all other academic activities have been halted.
Hence that more students will be present in their hall solely to ensure that we can have
as many of our student body members as many of our students who vote in the elections
in and of itself. So I do think that some of the concerns that we have raised with regards
to how this is going to desensitize people to go and how more importantly this is going
to reduce the voter base and then effect the results of the election do still hold and is
something that we should take into account.
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So this is common ground the idea that is needed for more oversight. Why would it not
be a reasonable issue? What is the problem with the administration from increasing
oversight within the various halls of residence in the existing system, but just increasing
oversight within those various...? I think it is just a logistical problem.
We, the number of officials we need to set aside to like oversee polling and like let us
say 20 different polls is simply not... (()) (12:40) resources within our institute and think
the lesser number of people like really the more you centralize a certain process the
more oversight you have over it in general. But would you favor oversight over loss of
vote share in and out? Yes. Let, he may speak.
So we would think we would need to come to a consensus with the student body because
we would like to keep good relations with them in the longer run and we think that it is
not a question of oversight versus centralization. It is a question of what trade-off are
we willing to make and we would like to come to consensus on it.
Sure so now that we have come to a reasonable understanding of what the issue is in
general let us move on to the second aspect of the issue that has been put forward. Let
us talk about the SOP or the statement of purpose system and how those are evaluated
by the public in general. For a bit of context for those who do not know, the SOP system
in IIT Kharagpur involves all the candidates appearing on a public platform.
And where each individual candidate puts forward their own credentials for why they
believe they should be elected by the student body in general and more importantly are
evaluated and questioned on their credentials and their proposal for the student
community by a pre-selected panel of students. This panel of students includes one
individual student representing each hall of residence in campus.
And often those halls of residence representatives within those panels are the only
people who are able to ask any questions in this process at all. Therefore the questioning
process is very importantly not open to the general body in particular. So with that kind
of system a lot of issue is reported over the media with respect to how this is often a
system which allows cronyism to exist within the panels and how the candidates are
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often not actively tested on questions that the student body may actually have for those
candidates in first place.
So again, since you are from the administration and you wish to change that particular
status, why do you think that should be changed? Why should the current system be
changed in favor of something that you would have in mind? Right, so we are not
against the idea of having words, so we ... which is a largely decentralized towards this
rule body, but at the same time we want a few, at least a few, representatives to be at
present, to be present in the SOP itself and secondly have some degree of oversight into
who exactly the panel is composed of.
But on that idea I think so the importance of a vice president of the Technology Students
Gymkhana in an Institute like IIT Kharagpur is that, it is not just the face of the student
body, it is the face of the institution as well. So we think it is very important for us as
the administration to make sure that he is thoroughly vetted and he is thoroughly
examined and made sure that he is capable of discharging his duties as the vice president
and we think the current system that is in place is necessarily an impediment to us going
ahead and examining him towards...
So from that person you propose an alternative model. Let us look at alternative models
that do exist and say for the model that exists in IIT Madras, which is probably the most
closely associated in terms of having distinct halls of residence and having a system of
election for their own Gymkhana or the Students Activity Center in that particular
institute.
There unlike our own institute where we have a public panel based evaluation of
candidates we have individual candidates coming on stage having PPT presentation for
your proposals as well as their credentials as well. And more important the questioning
is open to the general public as well. Of course, as any system exists, it will have its
own advantages and disadvantages.
In comparison, we say suppose we are discussing these two alternative models,

between our current model and say IIT Madras model why would you think our current
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model is better off? Sir I think one of the problems that again originates from the source
of this discussion is elitism that exists within campus.
We think much like the media body that has like highlighted these problems or the kind
of like system that has ppts and a lot of like speechmaking etc., we just think elections
are about finding the best administrative talent and within that something like the
Gymkhana Constitution also enshrines.
We have agreed (on) that and that is the reason why we do not have a CGPA cut-off of
8.5 or we do not need them to have like a lot of experience in the past. We are looking
for people that, who, the student community believes are the best at representing their
interests in the administrative front.
So on that we think the moment we shift to a system that involves a lot of public, a lot
of like demonstration of that talent, we think, the kind of candidates that we will then
get, our candidates who are not necessarily the best representatives. And that is
something that we are very worried about. To add on to that a few things that we think
our current system of SOPs where we have a selected panel, we think there are a few
benefits that do come out, right?
So because there are conflicting candidates and their respective panelists which are
from CT halls that could not support these candidates, we think it sort of increases the
amount of pressure that the panel puts the kind of the difficulty of the questions that are
asked to these candidates which we think in a normal public forum for instance would
not come out to begin with. I think in and of itself that is a better model to have than
having say going with the model that was proposed in terms of what happens in IIT
Madras.
Because I think in terms of just sheer administrative capabilities candidates are like,
have to have to present their actual talents and have to defend their stances in a much
more pressurized environment, which is I think a benefit. Sure but in the case where
they do admit for the fact that directly students do have a right to represent themselves
and their voices directly to the candidates who will ultimately represent the institute as
well.
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It is not as if your concerns are unfounded with respect to the alternative that they are
opening, but is there also not a possibility of contributing to that model by say for
example, including the media in the entire process? I understand that you have
particular issues with the media existing within the campus in and of itself.
But from that perspective, would you think about addition of say the use of social media
within the use of the election itself or the inclusion of media more formally within the
process of electoral conduct? Sir may be we were wondering if a lot of these changes
could start off as non-mandatory.
So in terms of the administration and Gymkhana and us as people who represent halls
of residence, encouraging more candidates to subject themselves to media interviews
or AMAs or something of that sort while not making it mandatory and hoping that we
do it as a positive like as an incentive instead of having to force people to do it. Would
that be something that the administration would be reasonably happy with?
Yeah, I think apart from the general vetting the SOP's here, we would like the each of
the candidates to have a separate set of interviews with a institute administration, a few
prominent figures, separative interview process, or we could make this completely
transparent. You would be open to releasing these tapes, but they would definitely have
to go through this alternative process as well to ensure the institute has a say in like
what sort of candidates stand for the election.
And whether or not they are fit to represent the institute because after all they are not
only representing student concerns in the institute they are also representing our
institute as we have often seen the VP and senior posts in the institute or student posts
in the institute often get a lot of media coverage and get to interact with a lot of
prominent personalities. So we think it is really important to have...
Moreover, that idea we also think that the public speaking or presenting yourself in a
very impressive manner is something that is very important for VPs or vice presidents
in general because they are our representatives outside, in public forums. We send the
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vice presidents to interact on behalf of the institute, on behalf of the student community
of the institute.
We think public speaking just as good as administrative skills in that regard. If I could
add on to that it is not like the current candidates themselves are not good public
speakers. What when Manav was talking about how there will be a shift when you start
making presentations for instance is that currently we do not expect our VP candidates
to be outstanding or stellar public speakers or more importantly to be judged solely or
primarily on the basis of their public speaking.
So we think as long as, so, for instance, if these VP candidates were not good enough
public speakers we think they would be not very persuasive in the SOPs because at the
end of the day the SOPs where you have to speak out your opinion and you have to
defend your stance right in and of itself I just stare when the panelist questions. If I may
add also the groundwork in the election..
So today we are spending most of our time trying to find out what is the best proposal
and conducting interviews with administration or other students and trying, like our
focus is on coming up with a proposal that is most effective or that is most needed,
which will then change to ... like whatever our proposal, let us get done with the
proposal really quickly. And then let us make the best ppt or let us make the best like,
you know showmanship will then start taking the center stage if...
I think we all generally agree to the idea that there is a need to re-evaluate the procedures
and the while there exists that kind of consensus there is still perhaps a need to
understand that possibly forcing such consensus down the throat of the student
representatives is probably not the best option especially considering both sides do
recognize this is a decentralized process that ultimately does stand with ultimate power
to the institute.
Having evaluated this, let us go to the final and probably most contentious argument in
this agenda, which is the idea of minimum credentials existing for various criteria to
evaluate the students in the first place. This is something that is currently being very
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controversial because the administration specifically had tried to increase the CGPA
cutoff for nominatable candidates within the institute to 7, which was previously 6.75.
From the perspective of the administration what are your arguments to advocate that
there will be certain floor limits to ensure that below this floor certain students cannot
participate in the election process? Yes, so we think the administration that.., as we
said, for the vice president is not just a candidate who represents the student community
to within us within our campus, right?
We think this person when he goes ahead and does a bad job in his academics, which
is primarily academic institution, it is the Indian Institute of Technology after all, we
think when he goes ahead and does a bad job in his academics or comes off with a
backlog or something like that later we think it reflects very badly on the kind of
institution capabilities that we have when somebody as important as the vice president
goes ahead...
So we think that such a floor on the CGPA maintaining it at considerably higher level
ensures that these kind of problems do not occur and hence the public image of our
institution does not go down. We also try to be inclusive of the fact that administration,
the past administrative experience does take up a lot of your time and hence we do not
advocate or push for the students to be the best of the best among the students that we
have.
We think that that is why we want to have a considerable consensus to raise it to an

extent so that these problems do not occur but not impede on the functionality of these
people in improving their administrative.... In contention to that we think that the CGPA
is kind of an arbitrary metric in the sense that you cannot really demarcate the difference
between someone who has a 6.75 and a 7, especially when you want these people to be
a role model.
I think their extracurriculars or the fact that they might have done well, which is in some
field which is not exactly their academic accomplishment is also something which the
CGPA does not take into account. And in this regard it is a bit arbitrary to say that they
cannot make for good role models.
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To add on to that if I may, we think in general their concern is that there are, there might
be, poor students who would probably have like poor CGPAs and not be academically
good enough and that'd look bad on the institute. From, I think, from the student body
we agree that that is true, which is why we do not see a lot of candidates with very low
CGPAs.
Or like having a lot of backlogs get elected in the first place because not only will it
look bad on the institute if he gets elected, but when he is contesting for elections it will
look bad on him as well, right because these are things that are also discussed in your
SOP. We think there is a self-check mechanism that exists in our current election
procedure that automatically kicks out like candidates who are not at the very least at
the minimum level that we require.
We do have a problem when the administration is going to enforce this on people

because we think a lot of very good possible VP candidates will probably just not be
able to make it because we have drawn an arbitrary line somewhere. Additionally, with
what Rohit said, also the administration does have some role already in terms of faculty
advisors having to sign off on candidates.
So while we agree with the general idea that we do not think a vice president should
ever have a very bad academic record. But what Subhrajeet said was that you could be
a good student because of, let us say, other compensating factors. So we think it is fine
for faculty advisors to then decide that if somebody has a low GPA but he has done a
very good job as the department representative for somebody...
And if the student can manage let us say academics and the post together and therefore
the, like the advisor who is probably the most crucial interface between the student and
the like academic administrative body can then take maybe like a subjective call on a
student again, like whether they think the student is fit enough or not.
So let me say I think we all agree at this point that while academics is certainly
important perhaps the way that academics is being evaluated for the perspective of the
particular candidate who is contesting is might certainly understood some amount of
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contention still comes to a consensus that even if it is self-checking or whether it is
imposed by the administration as a new rule it is automatically inclined to go higher
and higher.
And therefore the academics automatically gets involved within the entire system itself.
This was a very fruitful discussion. I thank all the participants for participating and
contributing so significantly to a very important agenda of the institution. With that I
would like to close this discussion. Thank you. “Conversation Ends” (Video Ends:
27:13)
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Lecture - 35
Different Kind of Interviews
Hello, we come to the final week of speaking effectively to the topic that all of you are
waiting for. Yes, we are going to discuss interviewing skills. And we will focus largely
on how to appear in an interview, and how to make an impact in an interview,
particularly in a job interview. In this particular unit, I am going to look at three
outcomes you want from an interview and explain what an interview is.
What are the different outcomes you seek from an interview? So I will begin by looking
at what is an interview? Why do we need an interview in the first place? What is the
purpose of an interview? I recall a senior HR manager deviate from textbook definitions
of interviews to explain what he understood an interview to be and I agree with him.
Let me first list the textbook definition and then move on to what this leading Indian
HR person defined the interview as.
So first of all, why do recruiters why do employers need to hold an interview at all?
Because you already have sent them all the information they need in your CV.
Everything that you have done, all the qualifications, the skills that you have they are
all listed in a CV. So why on earth do interviewers, why on earth do employers call you
for an interview, which is an expensive process, time consuming and expensive process.
So why is it that they call candidates for a face to face interview and when that is not
possible these days it is possible to do a video interview or even a phone interview, why
do they do it? What is the purpose of the interview?
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Now the purpose is that just on the basis of a CV, employers gather an idea about your
skills and your qualifications, but they do not really know what kind of person you are,
what kind of abilities you have. Why do you want the job, can you do the job and
meeting you face to face or talking to you on the phone, or even conducting a
teleconference or video interview can give them an idea about whether the skills that
you put down in writing on your CV, they actually match...
And mind you interviewers are trained to find out whether you have simply listed the
skills you have listed or you actually possess them. So what are the three things that
interviewers or employers are looking for? And what is the purpose of an interview?
The first thing is can you do the job? Do you have the appropriate background,
including education, skills and experience?
Do you have the expertise needed to make you stand out? And are you able to learn and
adapt? The second purpose of an interview is, will you do the job?
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Now, a lot of times you have the ability to do the job, but you might just appear for an
interview for a lark. You might not come clean about why you are taking up a job; you
might be using the job only as a stopgap arrangement. Or maybe you have applied for
the job but your heart is not really in the job. So, do you want to work for this company?
Or do you simply see it as a stepping stone?
Are you aware of and honest about your future goals and plans? Are you motivated and
eager to learn?
The third purpose of an interview is - not -after finding out whether you can do the job,
we need to know will you fit in. So this is very important for certain organizations and
the people. Employers wanted to know, yes, you might be an excellent person, you
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might be the best person as far as your skills are concerned, your qualifications are
concerned, but would you be able to fit in, in the environment?
So this has as much to do with, do you well - do you work well - with others? How well
do you respond to supervision and criticism? Do you have the skills to balance where
the team is currently weak? Do they like you? And in some organizations, employers
involve the team members too in different ways to find out whether they like the person
and they do take the opinion of the team members, when they decide on hiring a person.
For instance, they might call all the members for when you make a presentation. So that
would be one way of involving the entire team. Or they might ask you to have lunch,
you know, informally interact with the team by eating with them or going out with
them. So these days interviewers and employers use very informal techniques to find
out what - how - you are as a person, what are your real capabilities?
Do you fit in with people? How do you behave? What are your social skills, including
all the informal aspects of your life they try to find out, and through both formal manner,
formal interviews and also informal interviews. Now let us move on to the first
outcome. What are the things you need to get out of an interview? What is the first
outcome?
The first is to prepare for the most common interview styles. What is the first thing you
want from an interview and how these lectures are going to prepare you? The first
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outcome would be how do you prepare for the most common interview styles. You need
to know first of all, what are the different kinds of interviews.
So interviews range between the structured interview, the screening interview, the
behavioral interview, campus interview, panel interview, team interview, telephone
interview, computer based interview, video based interview and the unstructured
interview. So you need to before you prepare yourself for an interview, you need to
know what kind of interview this is.
It is not always possible for you, for you, to know. But you must prepare for different
common interview styles. For instance, if you have prepared for a one to one interview,
you are used to dealing with an interviewer who interviews you alone. When you are
faced with a panel of interviewers, you have three people asking questions, or even five
members asking you questions.
You feel extremely nervous and intimidated when you have question after question
being fired at you. And so you need to know, and believe me, it is not always.., it
depends on what you are used to or what you are preparing, what you are prepared, for.
Whether it is a structured interview or whether it is an unstructured interview. Mind
you, sometimes you are totally at a loss when you are used to a particular kind of
interview and you are taken aback when you are put through an altogether different
kind of interview because you are not prepared for it. Believe me, it has happened to all
of us, and I can share an experience where one is... in the academic world, one is used
to interviews which are very structured, which are usually conducted by a panel of
interviewers and including the head of an institution, the subject expert, experts from
other disciplines.
So, you know, one is, an academic is, usually prepared to handling that kind of
interview; you know what kind of questions would be asked in what order. But
corporates these days, certain kinds of organizations, companies, they have done away
with these formal interviews and they feel that informal interviews are more productive
or more efficient in finding the right kind of person.
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So, I myself faced this and I was totally flustered because I was expecting to be
interviewed by a panel, and I was told that you can.., this was a for a corporate. And I
was told that you just walk in, I was told to go in where I was expecting to, you know,
face a board or a panel, and I find that it was the head of the organization who asked
me to sit.
He came out of his desk, walked out, walked behind and came and seated himself on a
sofa and asked me to sit on a chair on the other, on the right, side and asked me to just
have a chat with him. And by the end of the chat, when I assumed that this was just a
chat and there would be a interview that would follow later, I found that this was the
interview.
The chat itself, that informal chat where I thought we were just having an informal
conversation turned out to be the real interview and in that informal chat, this head of
the organization had found out whether I need to be hired or not. And yes I was hired,
but it was very different, it was different, very different from the kind of interviews I
was used to having.
Similarly, you have these days, people are trying out, team interviews, peer group
interviews, where you have the entire peer group comes and meets you informally first,
takes you out for a coffee, asks you out, joins you for lunch, and then you are asked to
make a presentation before the entire group. And it is not just the top person in the
organization, but the entire group decides, okay, are they happy with your presentation?
Are you the kind of person they need? So be prepared for whether you are going in for
a one to one interview, you are going for a panel interview or a team interview, and
whether it is a face to face interview, a telephone interview, or a video interview,
whether it is a structured interview or an unstructured interview. So now interviewing
styles also differ.
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Different employers have different ways of interviewing. The most traditional and the
most conventional way of interviewing candidates is the direct, directive, interview,
where the interviewer will ask, direct, the interview by asking you the questions he or
she asks you. And you are expected to do most of the talking. So traditional
organizations still persist with directive interviews where the interviewers are in a
superior in a more advantageous position.
They just shoot a question at you and you are expected to do all the talking and you feel
as if the questions are being fired at you constantly and, believe me, all the academic
interviews of this kind where you have a panel of five to eight interviewers each one
firing a question, and you are expected to do all the talking while they are munching on
their snacks or drinking coffee, and chatting with, you know, checking their phones
while you are doing all the talking.
So this is one kind of interview style. The second kind of interviewing style is non-
directive interview.
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Now in this interview, as it is more of an informal interview where the interviewer does
not provide direction for the interview does not tell you what, does not ask you any
questions. Instead, the interview asks you what you would like to discuss and leave it
to you to provide the direction of the interview. The third interviewing style is a stress
interview.
Now this is often done by organizations where..., particularly for positions which are
very stressful, which involve stressful situations. So, the, in these kind of interviews,
employers, interviewers are not looking for your skills and abilities, your qualifications,
but they are more interested in knowing how you act, or how you behave when you are
in, under, a situation of stress.
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It is more of a confrontational style and it is not always for a stressful situation, but it
is also to more to see your thought process. It can, this kind of style may be adopted
even for normal positions, ordinary positions in order to see that, you may not give the
right answer, but the thought process that you use and your ability to respond with a
challenging creative answer is what the interviewer is looking for.
And then we come to behavioral interview. The, in this kind of interview, the
interviewers are seeking specific examples and responses that will give them an insight
into both your personality traits and critical skills. They are looking for what kind of
person you are, what kind of traits you have, what are the skills you are going to bring
to the organization.
And these questions may focus on intellectual competence, leadership ability, team,
personal skills, adjustment, flexibility, motivation, communication skills,
administrative skills, and technical skills. So it is not just intellectual competence, but
they are also looking for your leadership ability, team-building skills, adjustment,
flexibility, and a whole lot of other things.
So, now, as I said, that these are the traditional interview styles and structures but what
is really an interview according to my HR friend. According to my HR friend, how
many times has this happened to you that you appear in an interview, and you come out
looking very disappointed if you do not get the job because you feel that you are not a
capable person?
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So, it does a lot of damage to your self-perception, your self-image and you say, I did
not get the job. So I may not be a very good person. I may not be a very capable person.
Or you may think that maybe I did not perform well in an interview. You might be
right. But very often, if we understand what interviews are, we will realize that
interviews are not as much.. of course, they assume that you have certain capabilities
and you have certain qualifications, because it is all there on your CV.
And the reason that you have been called for an interview is that the interviewers are
aware of these skills and capabilities that you already possess. The way, one way, of
looking at the interview, as my HR friend did, was to say that the interviewers have a
profile of a person that they have in mind, a profile of a person they need.
They have certain organizational goals, certain goals that they have set for themselves,
and they need a person, they have a profile of a person who would help them achieve
these organizational goals. Now the idea of an interview is, of a good interview, is that
your profile has to fit the profile that the organization is looking for.
Now you might be a very capable person, you might have the best qualifications, you
might excel at a lot of things, but probably the profile that you have does not quite fit
into the profile that the organization is looking for. So what is it that you need to do to
make sure that your profile is aligned with that of the profile that the organization is has
in mind?
And one way you can prevent yourself from being disappointed is to tailor your profile
to the profile that the organization is probably seeking. And in this you can direct the
interview, even if it is a directive interview or a non-directive interview. The non-
directive interview gives you that opening that you can steer the interview in any
direction you want. The non-directive interview(sorry), the directive interview does not
give you that option.
But your answers, the answers that you give will help you to steer the interview in the
direction you wanted to go. You can lead the interviewers to get a picture of yourself
that you want to present to them by selecting among your several capabilities and
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qualifications, the ones you want to highlight, the ones you think will fit into the
company's or organization’s profile.
So, now I am going to focus in the next part on a particular kind of interview which is
the behavioral interview because this is the most common style of interview which is
preferred by interviewers these days, particularly in companies. So what is a behavioral
interview, let us first of all find out. I have already explained to you.
So, it is a structured interviewing style, based on questions designed to probe past

behavior in specific situations. So, let us first of all understand what is a behavior-based
interview. It is a structured interviewing style based on questions designed to probe past
behavior in specific situations. Now through the, rather than listing your qualifications,
rather than saying, I am like this or I am using adjectives to describe yourself.
This is a style through which the interviewer elicits the qualities or the traits that you
possess through certain situations, through your behavior in specific situations in the
past and through that it focuses on experience, behavior, knowledge, skills and abilities
related to the position. And this is used to get an idea of how an individual will manage
duties based on their past behavior. So let me just return to the, what is the goal of this
interview?
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The goal of this interview is to assess the candidate’s ability to respond to the situations
that the job may present them with. The questions asked, therefore, will be based on the
job description, the performance indicators, the skills, personal qualities required and
interviewer’s knowledge of operating in the role. And questioning will be based on
historical examples from your current or previous experience.
Either way, what is the interviewer interested in knowing? One is the thought process
you use to when you describe a situation. And two, they want to know the values of the
candidate and the outcome of the situation. Behavioral interviewing techniques evaluate
a candidate’s experience and behavior to determine their potential for success and to
determine their suitability for a particular kind of job.
So, the typical questions will give you, questions will be posed to you, which will be
based on the job description, and what is expected of you are the performance
indicators, the kind of skills you are required... And this approach, as I said, is based on
the premise that your past performance is the best predictor of your future performance.
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So, how do you behave, how do you deal with a behavior based interview is what we
will come to next. One of the ways of doing it is using the star technique and I will
show you how this technique can be used. How do you prepare for a behavioral
interview? What are the kind of, how is it different from a traditional interview?
Behavioral interview is more probing and more specific than traditional interview and
the questions are, tell me about your, like tell me about your greatest achievement, what
did you do, when? Whereas (what) a traditional interview will have is more hypothetical
rather than focusing on past events. It will be 'tell me about yourself', 'What would you
do if?'
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So now the second outcome, which we want to get out of this lecture, or this whole
entire module, in particular, this unit is to prepare answers to typical interview
questions. How do you prepare answers to typical interview questions? What are the
kind of questions you may have? One is the general information questions, behavioral
questions, character questions, stress questions, and inappropriate questions.
Mind you, you can get any of these questions. Interviewers are not there to make you
happy. They are there to find out whether you are the right person for the job. So, it
varies from interviewer to interviewer what kind of questions they may use. Some
interviewers feel that if they use stress questions, people do not give out their best under
stress. And they use a very relaxed manner of interviewing you.
In fact, that is even more dangerous than stress interviews because you end up revealing
lot of things about yourself which you do not want to reveal. So, you have to think of
different kind of questions. Most of us focus on information questions. We think people
want to test our knowledge. And we prepare for our interviews, reading up books and
revising our knowledge, our concepts, so that if we are asked a specific question, we do
not make a fool of ourselves.
But remember that interviewers will ask you behavioral questions, stress questions and
several other questions, even inappropriate questions. I have, I am going on record to
say that.., I will not name the interview. But I have been through an interview where I
was asked questions which were very personal, in nature pertaining to questions which Commented [1]: please check bwird
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should not have been asked and had I been more trained, I would have found an
appropriate response to those questions.
But since I was very young and untrained to answer these kind of questions, I just took
them, in this..., in my stride. But today if I were to be asked a question like that, I would
know how to respond to a question of that kind.
So let me look, let us quickly look at some of the behavioral questions and because we
will go into these in great detail later. So suppose the job posting states that the company
is looking for a team player, possible interview questions could include tell me about a
time when you had to adjust to a co-worker’s working style in order to complete a
project successfully.
Or describe a situation when working with others produced better results than if you
had completed the project on your own? Can you share with me a time when you
demonstrated your ability to work as an effective team member?
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And now let me share some tips on how to prepare for behavioral interviews, which are
the most common kind of interviews these days. Prepare for responses using the STAR
technique or the situation, action, result model. You begin with the situation. What was
the situation? What you encountered? Two is how you responded to the action? And
the third was, what were the results you achieved?
So how do you prepare for a behavioral interview? Identify the skills, questions of the
position, think about your experiences which demonstrate, experiences which
demonstrate, a clear link between your behaviors and the competencies required for the
job. You can do this by recalling any successes or difficulties encountered in summer
if you are a student in summer and part-time jobs, steps you took to successfully
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complete school projects both independently and as a team member. It could be
anything.
But you must create a tool box of answers for each of the competencies, say teamwork,
or analytical skills or leadership skills. As you prepare for one job interview to the next,
you are actually filling a box of tools. You can easily pull from your toolbox when a
behavior based question is presented in the future. So suppose you are asked teamwork.
Both behavioral based and traditional type questions.
Develop and write out as many examples from your courses and work experiences.
Develop anecdotes or scenarios that demonstrate your strengths. Use the questions to
follow as a guide. So you must, not just in behavioral interviews or behavioral
questions, but you must prepare yourself for different kinds of interviews and different
kinds of questions by preparing a tool box of answers.
Now how do you use the STAR technique as opposed to the situation, action, results
technique?
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Define the situation or task. Define the action that you took. Present the results of your
actions. And the final thing is, be as specific as possible including names and dates.
When describing actions taken, be sure you include the actions that you took, not just
others.
And the third outcome of this unit is to plan the questions that you will ask. You yourself
have a right to ask questions, plan the questions that you will ask during the interviews.
Your questions, you can count good questions to ask and turn off questions to avoid.
We will turn to the questions, different kinds of questions, in another unit. So, with this
I conclude the unit on what an interview is.
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And I showed you three outcomes of this particular lecture. One is to show you the
different kind of interviews and different kind of interview styles. Two is how to
prepare yourself for different kinds of interviews and interview styles. And the third is
to.. the kind of questions you yourself can ask during interviews. With this we conclude
this particular unit.
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Lecture - 36
Preparing for an Interview
Hello again. We have now understood what the interview is all about. We have looked
at different kinds of interviews. And we have examined how to prepare for those
interviews. Now I am going to take you through how to prepare for an interview in
more detail. I am going to take you through a 7-step formula for preparing for an
interview.
So the 7-step interview prep plan. The first step is to research the organization. One
candidate stands out from another candidate, because of the homework, because of the
trouble this candidate has taken to find out what.. about the organization he or she has
applied to. Remember what we said? That interviews are all about matching your profile
with the profile of the, with the profile that the organization has in mind.
And how else could you find out what the profile the institution or the organization
requires but for finding out what the organization is, what is the mission and vision of
the organization? What are its objectives? What are its products? What does it plan?
What are its future plans? So you need to do this homework well before you go to the
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interview, not only to impress your prospective employers, but also to prepare yourself
for the kind of questions that would be put to you.
Mind you, there is nothing worse than somebody seeking a position, even if it is a
simple position of that of a intern, if you have not done your homework properly, what
a bad impression it creates on the person who is receiving or who is assessing you. I
have myself received a number of emails from very young students, I must say, who
probably have no idea... but one makes concessions for people being young and does
not expect them to be perfect.
But what one does expect is that if someone is sending a mail to you, they should at
least find out what your gender is or what your specialization is, before they drop an
email to you asking you if you can take them as an intern. So I have been receiving
mails after mails from young students in different institutions asking me if, if they can
come and intern in an economics project with me. I have nothing to do with economics.
And these are mails, which are probably form mails sent to everyone. So I am addressed
as Sir. And I am told that this person... it is so ridiculous because this usually says that
I have gone through your CV and I find that you are the best person I can do my
economics project under and I am like, oh, obviously this person has not seen my CV.
Otherwise, if this person had taken the trouble to look at the website and looked at my
qualifications, they would not have sent me a request of this nature.
So it is the same rule applies to organizations. So how do you find out information in
the present day and age? It is so easy to get information about organizations because
every organization has a website, where they place important information about
yourself, (sorry) about themselves. So, a website of an organization gives you an idea
about the breadth of what they do. Review the organization’s background and mission
statement.
That is where you begin. You want to know what they are, what do they want to achieve,
and the mission statement is the best way of finding out. Assess their products, services
and client base, because organizations often put up very tall, very idealistic or very
farfetched mission statements, so, vision statements. Whereas when you actually look
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at their client base, or their products or the service space, you find that it is nowhere
what they are professing to be.
So, in addition to..., remember a website is an organization trying to showcase itself

and an organization always tries to put its best foot forward by saying nice things about
itself, by saying, presenting a very positive image of itself to prospective employees or
clients. Now how do you make sure that what the organization is saying is fits in with
your goals? Is it an organization you really want to work in?
So today you have other sources like press releases, which give you, which may give
you, a different picture altogether or which might corroborate or confirm what the
organizations claim to be. Or what people outside think about them. So you can also
use tools like Vault, CareerSearch or The Riley Guide for an overview of the
organization and its industry profile.
What else can you do? You must get a perspective, review trade and business
publications, seek perspective. This is what I was saying that an organization is bound
to say nice things about itself. But if you look at trade or business publications, you get
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a clearer picture of where this organization stands vis-a-vis other organizations and
whether you want to be part of this organization.
Develop a question list. Prepare to ask about the organization or position based on your
research. Now this is the time you look at your skills and qualifications to the job
requirements. As I said, your skills and qualifications, your profile should match the
job requirements for you to make an impact or for you to land that job.
Now why is it that you need to research the organization? Because, as I said, every
organization likes employees or interviewees who have done their homework. And it is
also for your own good, because you can prepare what you want to say. Unless you
know what the organization does, what the company does, how else would you prepare
questions?
So, you will also guess the questions the interviewer is likely to ask if you know enough
about the organization. So, if you have not prepared for the interview, you are unlikely
to have coherent responses to why you are interested in working in xyz company.
Interviewers are looking for an answer how well you organize your response and how
you articulate or express yourself. Now you must practice these responses.
By practicing your responses to possible questions, you will be able to put your best
foot forward.
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Recruiters are always, invariably, impressed with candidates who demonstrate good
communication skills, not only good grades, but who also taken the trouble to research
on the company and ask pertinent questions. So that shows that they have done their
homework ...will impress an employer.
So, just technical skills are not enough, but they also need people skills. They also need
to know whether you know what you are going in for and whether you have prepared
yourself for that.
So you must know the position, company, industry before you come for an interview.
If you have research and ask knowledgeable questions about organizational structure,
activities, and your role in the company, your interviewer is bound to take notice. Your
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effort will display intelligence, resourcefulness, diligence and, most of all, interest.
Employers, remember, are not just looking for people with great skills.
They are also..., we said what is an interview; whether you will do the job? So they are
also interested in candidates that demonstrate interest in the job. Why? Because
interested employees work harder, show more initiative and enthusiasm and have lower
turnover rates. So, always come prepared to ask questions for the interviewer.
Now the second part of the second step is to analyze the job description. Having looked
at, researched the organization, now you need to know exactly where you fit in. What
is it that is required of you? So, the exact job description you are going to align, ally,
your abilities and skills to the profile of the organization only if you know what is the
job description and how your skills, your competencies, your qualifications are
equipped, equip you, for that particular job description.
So, outline the knowledge, skills and abilities required. Examine the hierarchy.
Determine where this position fits in within the organization. Look side-by-side.
Compare what the employer is seeking to your qualifications. Now remember that when
people do not come prepared, it is very irritating I must tell you to interview such
candidates who have not done their homework.
Because usually the advertisement of a company, the job advertisement, clearly lists
what are the requirements. Maybe not as much the job description, but the position itself
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should give you a clue of what are the job requirements. Now people have not done
their homework, who do not research the job description, they come looking blank and
you ask them, when the interviewers ask them a question, would you be able to do it?
They do not, they look clueless and say yes, I might be able to do it. But one is
impressed by a candidate, not a candidate who has excellent skills, but a candidate who
says that I have these skills which help, which equip, me for that particular job
description. I will be able to do this because I have these requisite skills. Or even if you
do not have requisite skills, you can say I am going to learn these skills in order to be
able to fit the job description.
So, this is how you can orient yourself. This is how you can orient your job profile to
your own personal profile to the profile that the organization is seeking by looking at
the job description carefully and positioning your own skills and skills and
characteristics that fit the job description. Now what are the skills and characteristics
that companies are looking at? A survey has listed these skills.
So, desired skills are analytical skills obviously. Everybody is looking for analytical
skills. Computer skills in this day and age are important. Oral communication skills,
written communication skills, but also leadership skills, interpersonal skills, teamwork
skills, work experience or internship or co-op experience.
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But, in addition to your skills, employers are also looking for desired personal
characteristics which include honesty, integrity, motivation, initiative, communication
skills again, self-confidence, flexibility, strong work ethic and enthusiasm in addition
to many others.
Now I am going to show you how you can use techniques to demonstrate skills or
personal qualities. Mind you that many of us are have a number of skills. We have a
number of qualifications, but it is not enough in order to land a job to say that... to send
your CV and to assume that since you have a great CV, you have a flawless, impeccable
CV or impressive CV, people are going to hire you. Remember, employers are busy
people, they might receive 200 applications for a particular job position.
And they are not going to look carefully through each of the things you have listed on
your CV. So, do not assume that the employer has read each and every line on your CV.
Most of the employers are just going to do the skim test, quickly run through your CV.
See that, satisfy after another team screens the applications to make sure that you have Commented [1]: please check word
the requisite qualifications.
The top level employers who are probably going to interview are just going to skim
through your CV carefully. Now it is up to you to orient those skills that you have put
on your CV, or those qualifications that you have put on your CV to make out, coming
as, make yourself look as a person, like the person they really need by showcasing these
skills. So, it is like if you are hiding your talents, it is not enough.
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You cannot just sit and assume that people will know how talented or how intelligent
or impressive you are, unless you show them. So interview is a situation even if you are
an introverted person, which many of us are, this is your space. This is your forum. This
is your avenue where you show what you are capable of. In order.. because if you sit
quietly or you just wait to be asked questions, people are not going to know what skills
you possess.
And sometimes when people in the non, in the directive interviews, people do not ask,
give you a room. They do not leave room for you to showcase anything extra than what
they have asked you. You can give answers which demonstrate the abilities you have
in addition to the ones the interviewers ask you. So let us look at some of these skills
and how you can show them.
What are the techniques you can use to showcase these skills. So let us begin with
interpersonal skills. If you want to demonstrate your interpersonal skills or qualities,
one way of doing it is providing examples of how well you handle coworker or student
relationships, both in individual and group situations. You do not always need to have
work experience, even as students...
We have situations where we have worked in teams, where even if it is a simple thing
like organizing a college fest, we have opportunities to collaborate with other members,
whether we are submitting a project, term project or an assignment. So you can provide,
you need to show how you handle these relationships, both in individual and group
situations. The other thing is related, which is teamwork.
Here also you need to show examples of how you. Now, in teamwork, examples are
very dangerous, because very often, we tend to talk about the work which was done or
which was accomplished by the team as a whole. And our effort is to make sure that we
come out looking best by highlighting that and sometimes we even..., mind you, there
are people like that who take credit for the entire work, which the entire, which the team
has accomplished as a group, not they individually.
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But there are egoistic people who want to take credit for all the work. Now remember,
employers and interviewers are trained to find out if you are taking this credit which
you do not deserve or your... So, you would have specific questions put to you. Okay,
this was the work, which you did. What exactly was the responsibility given to you and
how did you solve it? What was your contribution to this project?
Was it an individual project or a team project? And they have ways of checking if you
are fibbing. Because I have sat through interviews where students of an entire class who
talked about a particular project. Now each of them was talking about the project and it
would appear that this particular student has done all the work. Now when five people
came and tell you that they have done this, they have worked on the same project, you
need to know what exactly did you do?
So, through cross talking, cross checking with each and every student, who... five of
them who worked on this team, we were able to find out what each of them contributed.
We all know, interviewers know, that there is a lot of camaraderie among students and
you often put the names of your friends even though they have not had time to
contribute to the team because it is your loyalty to your friend.
But, mind you, interviewers are trained to read through this and if you have not really
contributed to it, you might get a question where you might be asked to explain
something which, if you are lying, you will be in deep trouble. So, do not do that. List
your specific task assigned to you or the work you.. the exact contribution you made.
Analytical skills. Now analytical skills, for this also you can provide examples of how
you were able to gather and analyze relevant facts.
Use those facts to identify alternative causes of action and determine the risk benefits
of the possible alternatives. These days I also find that interviewers pose a situation to
you, which requires you to use your analytical skills. So, if you do not provide examples
to them, they would give you a scenario and they will ask you to analyze to so as to be
able to assess your analytical abilities.
Then we come to communication skills and communication skills, you cannot provide
examples you have to just demonstrate strong verbal skills during the interview.
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Concise, articulate, you know, that itself can speak volumes about your own
communication skills. From here, let us move to the next set of skills.
Flexibility. For showing your flexibility also you need to provide examples of your
positive reactions to your changing environments such as responding to unexpected
work or school experiences. So you can talk about a situation where a group, team
member or you are asked to do something, you, you were asked to submit it by a certain
deadline and then there was an emergency and you were asked to do it earlier and how
you coped with that situation, or if the environment changed.
So, if a certain team member dropped and you were asked to step in for that team
member, so what kind of flexibility you have. Then we come to leadership skills.
Employers are always trying to look for leaders and for leadership skills. And obviously
all of us cannot be leaders, there are some followers. But in interviews, we all try to and
maybe we should try to project ourselves as possible leaders if not leaders who are born.
But we could demonstrate different kinds of leadership skills through providing

examples or contributions we have made to, even if we are students, to student
organizations, work projects, class projects, other.. Even extracurricular activities show
whether you possess leadership skills or not. Then we come to honesty and integrity.
This is, remember, employers are not just looking for machines or robots who can
accomplish the job.
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They are not looking only for competence. They are not looking only for skills and
knowledge. They are also looking for people, they want people. They also emphasize
people skills. So, even if you are a very intelligent person, very capable person, but if
you lack people skills or you are a dishonest person, employers would not want to hire
you.
So, I have found in the interviews I have conducted honesty, integrity, even personal
integrity, personal honesty in your relationships has counted a lot and can make or mar
a career or make or mar your chances of getting a job and, in this, you can show your
answers during the interview and reporting.
I mean, whatever honesty can be shown by admitting if you have done something do
not cheat. Whatever you have actually done even by reporting this, 'no, I was not the
top person. I was not the best person.' So that honesty is very disarming. Do you
remember that incident of in Three Idiots where you do not answer, where your honesty
itself can be disarming.
Remember when this Raju Rastogi character is called, and he is given a hypothetical
situation and he says, will you do this? And he says no, which is not the right answer.
But he says he will not do it because it is more important, the learnings that he has made
as a person. He is not going to compromise those learnings for the sake of an
organization and you saw how disarming it was.
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And all the interviewers were won over by his disarming honesty. Motivation and
initiative. Provide examples of how you have a strong drive to achieve and can be
optimistic, even in the face of failure. Now this motivation and initiative is often
demonstrated by the, by, things you have put on your CV. Because there are things
which you do, which are beyond the call of your duty which you have done, say
volunteering for something, taking the initiative to organize something.
It may be a very small thing, but situations where you have taken the initiative, even if
it is teaching yourself how to play the guitar. You know it is little things you can list
because they might be on your CV but you have to impress the interviewers that you
are a motivated person, you are the person who takes initiative because they might not
have the time to go through your CV carefully.
Self-confidence goes by, obviously by, how we look. You do not really have to give
examples, you just have to show it. Your eye contact with the interviewer, your body
language, your poised and professional demeanor, all this shows your self-confidence.
And your enthusiasm best showed through your voice, arm gestures again and body
language.
I have heard colleagues tell me how they were impressed by a person so and so because
he or she looks, you know, when she or he or she speaks as if every pore of her body or
every pore of his body is, is raring to go, is raring to take on the task. So, even if this
person does not ultimately do it, the impression these people get is that this is a very
enthusiastic person.
On the other hand, you have laidback people who do not want to, they sit quietly, even
if they are capable of doing something, even if they are going to deliver since they do
not show, their voices do not carry enthusiasm, they do not get that opportunity. You
cannot always wait for opportunity. I have had people who look very enthusiastic and
who have not delivered, and I have had people who did not look, who look very laid
back but who always deliver, who always do the job.
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But interview is a very short period for you, for people to make decisions about you
and the responsibility, the onus, is on you to tell the interviewer whether you are
interested or not, whether you are enthusiastic or not.
Now the third thing is to prepare your responses. Most interviews involve a
combination of resume based, behavioral and case questions. So you must try to
practice telling your story in the best possible way. Questions based on your resume,
questions based on behavioral questions and the case based questions. All three are
mixed.
Next we move on to what to wear or your dress and appearance. Because remember,
we have been harping on this point that the way you project yourself, the impressions
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you create by your visual appearance goes a long way in the image that you project to
others. So plan what to wear. Go neutral. We will have a separate session or at least a
few videos on what to how to dress for an interview.
But some quick tips, go neutral. Conservative business attire such as a neutral colored
suit and professional shoes is best. They say that you must always err formal. If
instructed to dress business casual, use good judgment. Plug in that iron. Make sure that
your clothes are neat and wrinkle free. Dress to impress. Be sure that your overall
appearance is neat and clean.
Remember, as we said in the session on body language, you can afford to break the
rules only after you have achieved something or if you are taking to, willing to, take a
gamble. Sometimes you dress in a very unexpected way, and that is what catches
people’s eyes, but you are taking a very big gamble, because it can either impress or it
can turn people off.
So, suppose everyone is dressing conservative and you try to wear something bold, you
might stand out in the crowd. And maybe somebody will say, oh this is, this person is
looking very bright, and I must hire this person on the basis of how they appear. But
then you might turn off another group of people who feel that you are not appropriately
dressed. So you must be very careful about sticking to the rules or breaking the rules.
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Plan what to bring. You should bring extra copies of your resume on quality paper in
case the employer.., sometimes you have more people on the panel than you had
bargained for. Or sometimes people do not have the resume on them. So bring extra
copies or updated copies on quality paper. Bring a note pad or professional binder and
pen. Bring a list of references in case employers seek them.
Information you might need to complete an application, sometimes you are offered a
job then and there or you are asked to make an application there, a portfolio or you have
to fill up a summary sheet. So bring all that information. And a portfolio with samples
of your work if relevant.
Now the sixth step is to pay attention to nonverbal communication. We have dealt with
this in great detail and we will do it again. Be mindful because nonverbal
communication speaks volumes. Start ahead. Remember what waiting room behaviors
may be reported. We will take you through this. Often, we tend to prepare ourselves to
meet the panel and we do not pay attention to how we are projecting ourselves when
we are sitting outside the interview room.
But mind you, some employers are very clever. And even if they do not do it
deliberately, it is possible that your waiting room behavior may be reported. Say your,
if you are sitting very..., you are very nervous in the waiting room or you are talking
too much, or you are sitting in a slouch position.
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So, all these things might project a different image to the employer, than you want to
project. It is possible that the employer or the interviewers just walk in their rooms
while you are sitting there and they formed an impression of...this of you as a person.
So start ahead. Project confidence, smile, establish eye contact and use a firm
handshake. Now remember, this is very important for relationships and for the also... it
is a form of respect.
I have sat through a couple of interviews where a particular interviewee who I know
has directed his or her smile at one member of the panel and not, you know, carefully
avoided looking at me, making eye contact with me or smiling at me or even greeting
me. So whatever you know, particularly with known persons, even if you do not share
a very cordial relationship, it is not a nice thing.
It is like a way of saying you do not count for me. And yes, if I am not, if I am a fair
person, I am not going to let this go against you. But at the same time, I am not going
to help you out because through your body language you have shown me I am not
important. So when my chance comes, I am not going to help you out because you have
already spoiled your relationship with me by ignoring me.
This does not happen always deliberately. It happens unconsciously also,

subconsciously when you try to pay, you know, a particular member of the panel. This
happens in panels, when a particular member of the panel is more friendly towards you
or you feel more comfortable with a particular member of the panel, you try to address
all your questions to the particular panel member and you ignore other panel members
altogether.
So, they do take stock of this and you must be very careful. So be attentive. Do not
stare, but maintain good eye contact while addressing all aspects of an interviewers
questions. Respect their space. Do not place anything on their desk. When you are
carrying.., this happens to us.
When we are carrying our portfolio, we are carrying a folder and it is a small table or a
very busy table, we tend to place all our stuff on the table, which does not leave any
room for others. So try not to do that. Manage reactions. Facial expressions provide
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clues to your feelings. Manage how you react and project a positive image. The sixth
step is to pay attention to nonverbal communication, as I said.
And we come to the final step, which is follow up. Many interviews end with 'do you
have any questions.' So bring a list. Now if you have prepared, you have done your own
homework, you might have a list. So, you say I took down some questions before I
came, please allow me to review my notes. This gives the impression that you have
done your homework.
So, use this as an opportunity to any questions that you might have, or any questions
that might have occurred later even those you can put. Be strategic. Cover information
not discussed or clarify a previous topic. Do not ask for information that can be found
on the organization’s website. So in your opinion, what makes this organization a great
place to work? What do you consider the most important criteria for success in this job?
Tell me about the organization’s culture. How will my performance be evaluated? What
are the opportunities for advancement? What are the next steps in the hiring process?
So, if you were to follow these seven steps before you go for an interview, you would
be well prepared for facing an interview. Thank you.
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Lecture - 37
How to Face an Interview
Hello, in this module on interviewing skills, we will look at how to face an interview.
You have already prepared for an interview. You have you know how to prepare for an
interview. You know what kind of materials to take with you. You know how to dress
up for an interview. Now let us come to the interview proper and look at how does one
face an interview. The interviews usually have a three part structure.
The first part is, the three stages of an interview, the first part is warm up stage. The
second part is question and answer stage. And the third part is close up. So let us look
at each of these stages one by one.
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And the first stage is the warm up stage and this is the stage in which you need to make
a positive impression. Now how do you make a positive impression? All the rules we
have discussed, we have shared with you on how to use your visual appearance, your
body language, to make yourself appear confident and capable. Use all those tricks to
make a positive impression.
Be alert from the time you arrive. Even small talk is part of the interviewing process.
Greet the interviewer by name with a smile and direct eye contact. Offer a firm not
crushing handshake if the interviewer extends a hand. Do not extend your unless the
interviewer offers the hand. Take a seat only after the interviewer invites you to sit, or
has taken his or her own seat.
Listen for clues about what the interviewer is trying to get you to reveal about yourself
and your qualifications. Exhibit positive body language, including standing up straight,
walking with purpose and sitting up straight.
Now we are going to show you a demo video on how you can do it from the time you
enter the room, from the time you prepare for an interview, the way you dress up for an
interview, you enter your room, you take a seat and how you expect body language, the
things you can do in order to make a positive impression in the warm up stage.
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Now in the next stage, we come to the question and answer stage. What do you do in
the question and answer stage? The question and answer stage is to show how you can
convey your value to an organization. That is the second part. This is the part in which
you are going to show your value to an organization.
They say again, like in presentations, they talk about a four-minute rule in interviews
that in the first four minutes, interviewers make up their minds about you and decide
whether they want to hire you or not. And how is that decided? It is the way you walk
into a room, it is the way you sit down, it is the way you greet them, it is the way you
look at them.
So again, on the... from the moment..., even before you open your mouth and, after you
greet them or you say the first few sentences, the interviewers form a certain impression
about you based on your body language and your nonverbal cues. So watch out for
these. Watch out for the first few minutes to make a very positive impression. Some of
us tend to warm up later. Some of us are initially very nervous.
But once we get into our groove we are asked questions related to our knowledge, at
that point we come out quite decently in the interview. But make sure that you make an
impression, make an impact the moment you enter a room and the moment you open
your mouth, open your mouth... now people, guess, people judge you even when they
ask you the very first question, ask you to introduce yourself, people have already
decided whether they want to hire you.
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They have already formed a first impression about you. So during the question and
answer stage is the time when people - after this initial impression you have created on
the interviewers - this is the stage in which the interviewers want to probe in more
depth. Whether you have the requisite knowledge, you have the requisite skills for the
job, and do not disappoint them.
Making a first impression is not enough. Because if you are not able to follow (on) that,
first follow up that first impression by answering the questions in an intelligent fashion,
it is not going to help you get a job. So what do you do in this stage? This is the stage
where you convey your value to the organization. In this stage, let the interviewer lead
the conversation.
Never ask a question before the interviewer finishes asking it. Never answer a question
before the interviewer finishes asking it. Listen carefully to the interviewer and watch
for nonverbal signals. Do not limit yourself to simple yes or no answers. Expand on the
answer to show your knowledge of the company but do not ramble on. If you encounter
a potentially discriminating question, decide how you want to respond before you say
anything.
When you have an opportunity, ask questions from the list you have prepared.
Remember that interviewers expect you to ask questions. And in the next stage... is the
last stage, which is closing on a strong note.
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How do you close on a strong note? Watch and listen for signs that the interview is
about to end. Quickly evaluate how well you have done and correct any misperceptions
the interviewer might have. If you receive an offer and are not ready to decide, it is
entirely appropriate to ask for time to think about it. Do not bring up salary, but be
prepared to discuss if the interviewer raises the subject.
End with a warm smile and a handshake, and thank everybody in the end. Now I am
going to - in the rest of this lecture - I am going to focus on the 10 important questions
which James Mintz considers the clinching questions, most commonly repeated
questions in an interview and how you can answer, how you can prepare your answers
and how you can answer these questions. Why are interviewers asking you these
questions?
And how best can you answer these questions so as to create the right impact. So let us
look at the top 10 interview questions listed by James Mintz.
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The first question is, 'tell me about yourself'. This is a very open ended question. When
people ask you 'tell me about yourself', you could not, this is an opening for you to ask,
to take the interview in the direction you want it to go. So why are the people asking
you this question? One is, of course, they want to know what... it is a very broad
question. They are trying to place you, depending on how you introduce yourself.
They are trying to place you, they are trying to bracket you, who you are. They want to
know you, where you stand. So this is... and they are hoping it is also an ice breaking
question. It is a warm-up question. Through using this question, they are trying to get
you to unwind because mostly people who come for interviews are nervous and this
question is often used by interviewers just to give you time to relax and unwind.
And also to get an idea about you as a person, about you, about what you have done. It
is often that interviewers have not read your CV. So they are also buying themselves
time by asking you to repeat what is there on your CV or what is not there on your CV.
But this does not mean that you start narrating your life history. So you must be very
careful when you are answering this question.
This is your cue to take the interview in the direction you want it to go. As I said, the
interview, an interview is matching your profile to the profile that the institute or an
organization has in mind. And though the interviewers have a certain set questions, you
can make them depart from these set of questions and lead them, guide them in the
direction you want them to go to, bring out the best in yourself by using these cues
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which are given, by using the space you are given, to lead the interview in the direction
you want it to go.
So your answer, you have to focus in this question on your major selling points that
feature on your CV.
You do not have to reel off all the questions. Do not start telling the whole life story.
You are not on a psychiatrist’s couch. Keep it professional. Do not make it too personal.
Besides talking about your carrier, include something about your hobbies and interests.
And to practice your answer for this well in advance, try to limit it to one minute.
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Now the second question is why have you applied for this vacancy? What is the
meaning behind this question? The interviewer is trying to probe whether you
understand what the job entails, how well you might match their requirements and what
appeals to you most about the job. So, this is what they are really trying to find out. And
how do you answer this question?
This is, again, a very open minded question. These are tips which James Mintz shares
with us and I am repeating them. Where you might be tempted to say so much because
it is an open-ended question. So, think through your answers to this question in advance.
You will be able to remain focused on the key points. Think what is it, what you have
to demonstrate to the interviewer (to show) how you match their requirements.
Because you have done your homework well and this way you say you are aware of
what your role entails and how you have to match your skills and qualifications to what
the role demands. And you gear all your answers, this answer, to make yourself appear
like the best person to discharge the responsibilities which are called for. Now if you
have done your research properly, then you will have a good idea of what the company
is looking for.
The next question is why have you applied for this vacancy? So, oh sorry, this is already
answered. 'Tell me about yourself'. I am sorry, we are going back for some reason. Let
us come to the next question. Now if you are not a fresher and if you are not a new
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recruit, but you have worked elsewhere, you are often asked this question, why do you
leave?
'Why do you wish to leave your current position'? Now if you have worked in an
organization for a certain period of time and you've applied for a new position, your
new employer obviously wants to know why you wish to leave your current position.
Now the interviewer is trying to find out your motivation for changing jobs. They
clearly want to know why you want to change jobs, but they also want to know how
serious you are about changing jobs.
Are you really committed to moving or are you just wasting your time? Now the reasons
for this can be both positive and negative.
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Your reasons for changing a job can be, positive reasons like wanting a greater
challenge, wanting to diversify, seeking greater opportunities, seeking further
advancement. Taking a step further up the ladder. It could be when one of these positive
reasons.
But if you are one of those unfortunate people who want to change jobs for negative
reasons, because of the problems you had with your boss, problems you have had with
a colleague, financially unstable organization or personal reasons, then it becomes more
tricky to answer this question. Because if the reason is positive, it will be easy enough
to construct..
You can explain to the interviewer what your motivations are, and how moving on to
your next job will help you to achieve your goals. You are making a positive move for
positive reasons.
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And if your reason is negative, then the answer is going to be very tricky.
The next question is, why do you want to work for this organization? The meaning
behind this question is... the interviewer is analyzing your motivations, and probing
your expectations of the organization. Why do you want to work for this particular
organization, why not any other? While this question does not directly ask you what
you know about the organization, in order to be able to answer it effectively, you are
clearly going to have to demonstrate that you have done your homework.
Why is this organization so special to you? Why do you want to work for this? And
another organization who offers the same kind of services or who produces the same
kind of goods? Why do you want to work for this particular organization?
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So your answer, if you have done your research properly, you will already be fairly
informed as to the organization you are applying to join. However, the key to answering
this question is how to communicate that knowledge to the interviewer while tying it in
with why you want to work for them. What are your strengths?
Now this is a very common question, which is a typical, stereotyped question, which is
asked in interviews where the interviewer asks you to list your strengths. And
sometimes it may be a related question, not directly 'what are your strengths'? It would
be like, 'how long do you plan to stay? Would you stay in this job? What are your long
term career'? No, sorry. This is the earlier question.
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'What are your strengths' is a question where you will answer by saying everyone has
their strengths. The key to answering this question is not to rattle off. You do not have
to make yourself to be some kind of genius who is so perfect that you have no flaws
and you have achieved everything possible under the earth, you have all the desirable
qualities which an interviewer needs.
So, instead, you should try to, you should be looking at highlighting a small number of
specific strengths, discussing each one briefly and, most importantly, identifying how
these strengths relate to the requirements of the job you are applying to undertake. You,
mind you, these can be very simple.
I recall last year, we had this director of the film Piku, who talked about how he wanted
to be..., he was sharing his personal story about his..., how he, how he came to start
working in films, and how he started working. He started out in theater and then he
moved on to films. And when he used to, he recalled, he recalled that when he wanted
to get a job in theater, he had no acting skills.
He had no direction skills, but he really wanted that job. So when the, when the, people
out there asked him, why did he..., what were his strengths? What could he do? And he
said he could not think of anything. And he could not think of anything, which was
relevant to the job concerned. But he said, I am very good at ironing clothes. Now who
would think that a skill like that, at ironing clothes, can be an asset?
But by proving himself to be useful to the actors who needed somebody to do that, he
found a foothold in the, on the, stage and we know where it took him; the rest is history.
So, you can even elaborate on one of your strengths by mentioning a specific relevant
achievement. Choose your strengths carefully. It can be hard to say anything very
interesting, for example, about the fact that you are a very meticulous (person) and pay
great attention to detail.
But there are jobs which require these kind of skills, attention to detail. So who knows
what kind of..., so be, what I would say, if I were in your position, was, I would not lie,
because I have been on both sides as an interviewee and as an interviewer, and I find
that when someone is trying to highlight their strengths and making up strengths, which
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do not exist or trying to create an ideal kind of CV, an ideal kind of persona for yourself,
it does not cut much ice with the interviewers.
Because you cannot substantiate it, or because you are fibbing, you are not honest. So
be honest. However, if the recruiter is looking for someone to lead a team, you can
mention team leadership as one of your strengths and cite an appropriate example or
achievement.
'What are your weaknesses?' This is a related question, related to 'what are your
strengths'? Now no human being is perfect. Even the top leaders in the world, the top
CEOs in the world, they all have their flaws. They all have some weaknesses. So, it
would be it, would be too utopian and idealistic to think that there would be a person or
an interviewee who is perfect in every respect and who has no weaknesses at all.
So, it is, what is the interviewer trying to find out? The interviewer is trying to find out
what your key selling points are, and establish whether or not these trends are relevant
to the role they are interviewing you for.
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So this is where you..., now do not be perturbed by the question or let it throw you off
balance. Your answer should not be right on the tip of your tongue because we work on
it right now. And can I..., you do not have, you do not only have, to discuss a
professional weakness unless the interviewer specifically requests otherwise.
Your first thought might be that you are tempted to say, I do not really have any
particular weaknesses, but this is definitely not the answer your interviewer is looking
for and is definitely not the answer you should be giving; the interviewer wants to know
that you are able to look at yourself objectively and to criticize yourself wherever
appropriate.
So, if you honestly do not think you have any weaknesses, then you risk coming across
as very arrogant and if you say so and nobody wants a perfect candidate anyway. So,
you could think of weaknesses, which are, which are not weaknesses. So I remember
asking a student of mine and what she said was that her mother felt that she always...,
the weakness in her was that she was always pushing herself too hard.
Now this is this, pushing herself too hard, which was a grouse her parent had against
her is not really a weakness, because it is the capability or this ability to push herself
hard, which got her in IIT and which got her further. So you could transform your
weaknesses into your strengths by saying you are very meticulous, you are a
perfectionist and things like that which actually say, provide a positive impression about
you instead of a negative impression.
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The next question is 'what has been your greatest achievement in your personal life as
well as in your career'? Now the meaning behind this is what are you good at doing,
what you find difficult to do and why and in what areas you need to improve. These
can be the alternative questions. And what is the meaning, what is the interviewer trying
to find out? He is trying to find out, identify, any weaknesses you might actually...,
which might actually be detrimental to your ability to undertake the role.
See how you react when you faced with a somewhat tricky question. Assess how aware
you are and how your, how you, define weaknesses. So, this is the, this is what we mean
by what your 'what are your weaknesses'. Now, in this question, 'what has been your
greatest achievement in your personal life as in your career'? What is the answer?
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You will want to make sure that you have thought through this question carefully before
the interview and have selected both a key professional achievement as well as a key
personal achievement. Cover both bases. Try not to go too far. Try to pick a recent
achievement. If you have achieved..., included an achievement section in your CV, then
this will be a good starting point. What is it that you have achieved?
Now when you say , I am sorry, I apologize. This heading was for the earlier question,
which is, 'what was your weaknesses'? And this is a..., this is what..., the slides have
got mis-pasted. The question which the interviewer is trying to find out is, what your
key selling points are, what your strengths are. So this is the meaning of the question,
what are your strengths, not of what are your weaknesses.
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And this is this is what the interviewer is trying to find out when he asks you 'what are
you weaknesses'? What are you good at doing? What do you find difficult to do? In
what areas you think you need to improve? And the interviewer is trying to identify any
weaknesses you might have. So and also see how you face a tricky question. So, I am
really sorry about the mistake in pasting the slide.
And in this question in achievement, this is your chance to put your best foot forward
and demonstrate your qualities, your significant achievements through a concrete
example. So you have to be very clear. It can be a very small thing. Now if you are a
very young person, maybe you have not won too many laurels.
But it could be a very small achievement like getting your class 12 or your group to
work on a project and get them ... or organize a fest in your college days. It could be
something very simple as that. But you must think of what is it that you achieved,
maybe a very small thing.
What the background and circumstances were and what impact it had on your career,
life, what was the benefit? Try to phrase this in such a way for it to be self-evident that
this would also be a benefit to any prospective employee. So why are the interviewers
asking you to list your achievements? They want to find out that you are claiming to
have some strengths, you are claiming to have some qualities.
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Can you demonstrate these through concrete evidence by showing what achievements
you have through that they are going to place you. They are going to say 'okay, this
person is capable of doing this'. This is what he achieved and they also want to see how
good you are at assessing your own strengths, what you consider to be your
achievements and are you able to gauge your own, use what you have done in the past
and your future roles? How do you, where do you see yourself in five years’ time?
This is again.., alternative and related questions are what are your biggest
achievements? What are you most proud of? What was the biggest achievement?
What.., sorry. So, if you get this question the interviewer is trying to ask you where do
you see yourself in five years’ time, the interviewer is trying to ask you what..., do not
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be afraid to answer this question. It wants..., it is a bold question and warrants a bold
answer. The interviewer is really putting you on the spot to sell yourself. But do so
carefully to avoid coming across as arrogant, okay.
And you, your answer should not be..., yes, lots of people will think they are displaying
a great sense of humor by saying 'doing my job'. I would not recommend it. Because
this makes you come across as very arrogant and aggressive. Avoid being very specific.
When you ask this question, I have heard people say, 'five years down the line, I see
myself heading this group. 10 years down the line, I see myself as the CEO of the
company'.
Now what happens, suppose you do not become the CEO, or you do not become the
vice president? How would you, do you not think you are predicting something which
is unpredictable? I have heard people say even in academics, in the..., 'I am going to
publish six papers in the next one year'. And mind you in the last 20 years, this person
has been has not been able to publish six papers. So, it is sounds like a boast.
And you have to be very careful. Do not be specific. Because if you are not able to
achieve those targets, it will be very difficult. It is very difficult for people to know
exactly what job they will be doing in five years’ time. And, so, it is very unrealistic to
quote a specific job title you are aiming for. Try to present your answer more in terms
of what level you hope you will have reached, what level of responsibility of
autonomy... that would be more realistic.
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You could say, yes, in the first year, I will be in the learner mode. So you can be more
general, more, less specific. It is also a good idea..., if you can phrase your answer to
communicate that you hope you will still be with the same organization in five years’
time.
Now the final question is.., people ask you, 'can you tell us a little more'. Now this is
again a very tricky question, because many of us list a lot of things on our CVs. The
other questions like 'what makes you think you are the best candidate for this job'? What
is the meaning behind this question? The interviewer is trying to ask you what is your
unique selling point?
So you have put this under your interests and activities. Can you tell me a little more
about it? Now what should you do? First of all, be honest. What..., they want to know
what activities do you enjoy outside work? What are you interested in outside of work.
They want to know you as a person. They are trying to get an insight into your character
and personality.
They are trying to test how truthful you have been on your CV. They've run out of
questions and killing they are killing time. So besides knowing whether you are actually
capable of doing a job, most employers are keen to know what sort of person you are.
And you would like to be like to work alongside.
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So, employers are generally keen to have a diversity of characters within their team and
always looking for someone who can add a new dimension to the team. When nobody
has conducted, while nobody has conducted, a survey specifically to research this, there
is plenty of anecdotal evidence of recruiters to call someone in for an interview purely
as a result of what they have included in their CV and interests and activities.
Now what you should mind and watch out for. In order to create us..., as very interesting
people, or in order to create a very attractive persona for ourselves we often give
ourselves activities and interests, which we do not really have. And, again, I have
anecdotal evidence, not realistic evidence; just to impress the employers or
interviewees, we put down a whole lot of activities which might not be possible.
So I recall one of, long ago of course the.., the one of our..., one of the young women
in our hostel, where I was saying in my college, won the Miss India title, and the
interviewers, all the magazines made a beeline to interview her. Now when she was
asked to... the typical questions would be 'what do you do'?
'What are your hobbies' because they are trying to create a profile for her and all her
friends told her to... they made a list of hobbies for her to share with the Femina
journalist and included things like bungee jumping, diving, snorkeling, which they
might have come across somewhere else for other beauty queens. But in this case, we
know that, in India, these facilities did not exist at that time.
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So, do not add activities which are not possible or do not be dishonest. Very often when
I am interviewing people I find people have listed in activities and I find that the
candidate very interesting because I say, 'oh wow, this person does this'. But when the
moment I question the candidate, I find that the candidate gets cold feet, because they
have just put it on their CV to sound interesting.
They do not really..., like someone says, I love reading or I .. name, you ask them to
name a book, and they do not know. They cannot mention more than one book. Or they
talk about their interests which sound very exotic and very glamorous, but probe them
a little deeper and they are not able to answer those questions.
So always try to answer these questions to be honest, even if you have a very boring
hobby, but it is something you actually do. So help the interviewer create you as a...,
create a profile of you not only as a set of skills and competencies, but as a person, as a
human being, as a, you know, real human being who has hobbies, who has interests, so
that they can place you. So, with this, it is a very simple question, and you can give a
very simple answer.
If you have a hobby that makes for an interest, then it will reflect positively on you as
an individual. If you mention chess to give..., if you mention chess to give your CV
some intellectual clout, but have not actually played it, then do not ever do it, as I said.
So, you can also if your passion is for example, football and you are also the captain of
the local team, then say it.
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Besides the obvious selling point of football being a team activity, you have
immediately communicated your leadership qualities, your ability to take responsibility
for others, your ability to commit yourself to a project. So, with this we conclude how
to face an interview, the three parts of an interview, the warm-up stage, the question
and answer stage. And we come to the close-up stage, which is again, asking questions.
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Lecture - 38
Speaking in an Interview
Hello, we have found out how to prepare for an interview. We have also looked at what
kind of questions to prepare. We have looked at the importance of preparing for an
interview. But the ultimate question is, how do you put across all this preparation, all
the things that you want to tell your interviewer through the way you speak, because
interviewing is as much about behavior as about using the right words and the right
language to get your message across.
In this course and in these lectures, I have been focusing more on how to speak rather
than on the behavioral aspects, even though we cannot really separate the behavioral
from the linguistic, when, whether, we are looking at interviews, or presentations or
meetings. So we have tried to do them together.
Now let us move on to... we have been looking at the languages, language of meetings,
language of presentations, and now it is high time we moved on to how do you, what
kind of language do you use? How do you speak up in an interview?
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Please remember that companies want job candidates who are well spoken and
articulate. And recruiters would not represent a job candidate if they do not match the
client’s profile. And the best people who are highly sought after are those who are
succinct in the explanation of their work experience. So what are the things that create
a problem in interviews?
So, Diane DiResta, who is the author of Knockout Presentations: How to Deliver your
Message with Power Punch and Pizazz, and the President of DiResta Communications,
a New York City speech coaching and training firm, lists six things you should not do
in an interview when you are speaking in an interview. The first one is using non-words.
Many of us... we talked about non-words. By now you know what are non-words and
you all know your favorite non-words by now.
The non-words we..., whenever we are nervous, remember, we tend to use non-words
more often. So, you must find out your non-words and stop using non-words. The
second thing she lists is up-talk. What is up-talk? When you are trying to project
yourself as something very extraordinary, you are overconfident. That is the other
extreme to which you can go.
Now the most common problem when we are normally.. when we look...when one
trains people for interviewing skills, one does not look at these issues. However, when
one is speaking to learners, whose language, whose first language is not English, one
has to spend the same amount of time looking at one’s language. And I have myself
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found out that all the confidence in, if I may say so, cockiness that I see in, interviewees
these days , it goes for a six when...the moment they start speaking.
Because many of them have memorized their answers to the questions, but they do not
have the basic language skills. They make very stupid, very basic errors, grammatical
errors. Nobody is going to give you marks for grammar, but it creates a certain profile
of you. Like, if a company is looking for an articulate person and your language is full
of grammatical mistakes, that is the, that is not the, correct person you are looking for
unless you are going for a completely technical job.
Related to that is sloppy speech. You might be very fluent, you might speak correct
English, but you are careless in the way you speak, use language that sloppily. You are
not careful about how you use words, not careful about the way you use language. That
is another turn off. The fifth turn off, according to her, is speed talking. What is speed
talking?
Now in interviews in particular, when we are under stress and we know that so much is
at stake, we tend to, instead of condensing information, we try to pack in a lot of
information, we have a lot to say. And we know that interviewers are not going to give
us all the time in the world. So we try to condense all the information in the minimum
time as little time as possible. The result is that you talk very fast, you are doing speed
talking.
Now yes, you sound very fluent and very articulate. And you have got, you have said
what you want to, wanted to say, but the interviewer has not really understood what
you were trying to say. So they are trying to follow the details. They are trying to see
what you are saying. So please do not indulge in speed talking. The last point is
according to her, weak speaking. What is weak speaking?
When you do not use the appropriate words. You do not have, either you do not have
the vocabulary, the right vocabulary, or you do not find the right words because you are
nervous. So you tend to use terms, verbs, adjectives which are very weak and which
are, which take longer to say the same thing. So that is called weak speaking.
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Now we look at how you can get rid of these habits. First of all, become aware of your
habits, whether it is the use of non-words, Jayne Latz is talking about non words,
whether it applies to all your linguistic skills, whether it is non-words or grammar or
weak words, or whatever. You must first..., the first stage is to become aware and you
can do that by recording your speech.
Not memorize speeches, not rehearse speeches, but the way you normally speak.
Because you are not going to rehearse the exact answers, you are going to respond to
the questions you are asked. So you need to, you need to do this as a habit. Good
language skills, error free language should become second nature to you. Because when
you are under pressure, you will make more mistakes.
So, you must first become aware of your own speech habits, the mistakes you make by
recording yourself. The second thing is to recognize the patterns. What kind of non-
words do you use? What kind of grammatical mistakes do you make? What
pronunciation problems you have? So, once you become aware of them, and once you
recognize your patterns, maybe you cannot overnight improve everything, but at least
you can watch out for that.
So, whenever you think you anticipate that you are bound to use a filler word, you are
about to make a, you know, pronunciation mistake, you can pause. It is all right to
pause. We think, as I said earlier, we think that pausing is.., creates an unfavorable
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impression in the listener's mind. Not really. The listener knows that you are thinking.
So, you may pause as you are waiting for the right word to come to you.
Now we are going to look at three things. First, the reason why many of us who are
good speakers, who are extremely articulate in our day-to-day conversations, we speak
very confidently, we speak very fluently, we speak without errors. Such people also
tend to make mistakes when they are at interviews. They probably are not able to give
their best. They trip over words, they stammer and stutter, they cannot..., they repeat.
They are not able to find a strong word to say what they are saying. And the root of the
problem is nervousness. We have talked about nervousness in different situations, in
meetings, in presentations. But this is one situation where nervousness can be the
absolutely clinching factor. And this is a situation where you are bound to be more
nervous than in any other situation.
Because unlike in presentations, unless the presentation is part of the interview itself,
you say, 'okay I did not make a good presentation'. But, in this case, it is a question of
whether you get the job or you do not get the job. So, you are much more nervous before
an interview than you are before any other speaking situation. So, what are the things
that you can do to stop feeling nervous?
These are tips which experts have shared with us. You can find these lists anywhere,
but they have been given by people who are coaches, professional coaches, trainers,
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people who work in the area of communication. And I have compiled that list to see
what are the things you can do, because each of us does different things and we have to
find out what works for us. Somebody recommends positive self-talk.
'But I can do this, I am capable, I am going to get this job'. So that kind of positive self-
talk in several cases, 'I am the best. I know I can do it. I have been called for this
interview, because I went through the screening test and obviously the recruiters have
found some good qualities in me'. So think positive. Do positive self-talking. 'I can do
it. I can make it to the interview'.
The second thing, which we have been harping on time and again is right breathing.
And once again the expert tells us, breathe slowly. Breathe slowly 10 times just before
you face the interview and see if it makes any difference to you. The right kind of
breathing and breathing slowly. Does it relax you? Does it make you feel less tense?
Along with breathing, as we did in presentation, release your muscle tension.
Remember when we are tense, we tend to tense up our shoulder muscles, our neck
muscles or facial muscles, and any tensing of the muscles irrespective of where hands,
limbs, feet... So, the moment we tense our muscles, the first impact is that the body
language that we use is not very open. The second impact is that our voice itself is not
very clear. It seems constricted.
Our voice does not sound right, if our muscles are tense. So, relax your muscles as we
did before the presentations. Do some neck rolls, do some shoulder rolls, clench your
fists, open your fists. Take all the tension out of your fist, your feet, your face. Relax
your facial muscles and, more important, visualize success. So, fighting your nerves, as
in the case of presentations was, half of it was your psychological part.
How can you get over your fears through some positive thinking and the second part is
physiological which is how to deal with the problems you have. So, more important is
the talking to yourself, your thinking. So, the moment you start visualizing your success
that I am going to get this job, I am made for this job, I am going to get this, start
visualizing it...
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Mind you, many times you might not get the job, but it is important that you come out
looking, I gave my best. And the interview, leave the interviewers also, irrespective of
whether they are in a, you know...whether you are, you are the person they found the
best for the job or not, you left a very favorable impression on them. So, visualize
success. It happens that for a number of reasons, interviewers are not able to offer you
the job but they say, 'well so and so was very impressive'.
And, maybe in the next round, or if there is a vacancy turning up or if the same
interviewer shows up in another interview, he is bound to remember you. Release by
writing. That is another thing you can do. Releasing by writing is not just...means two
things, one is write down what you are feeling and deal with your fears. The other is
prepare your responses. I often do it myself when I am facing an interview or a situation
where something is very important.
I try to compose my thoughts and put down my thoughts in writing. That this is, if I
am asked this question I am going to put this in writing. I am going to say this or how
does this sound, even better, some... is even better if you can record yourself. I often do
it before an important presentation. I record myself and listen to myself to see how do
I sound? What is the impression I give when I speak? Is it acceptable?
And even later, many times we do a review of how we appeared. I if I, if I, repeat that
behavior in the interview, I have a very objective kind of record of what I said, what I
said wrong and how I could have improved on it. So, maybe not in that particular time,
but the next time I can work on it. There is nothing like physical activity to release your
tension. So, do whatever works for you. Take a leisurely walk.
You cannot obviously do pull-ups and pushups. But you could take a ..., you could walk
around. You could do anything, physical movement, physical activity, which takes
away your tension. Do not have a heavy meal before your interview. Eat light because
who knows what you eat might interfere with your metabolism, your stomach or it
might even interfere with your..., you might feel sleepy.
So, eat light and hydrate. Drink lots of water. Because when we are nervous we tend
to..., our mouth goes dry. And if we feel thirsty, we dry up. We are not able to speak.
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Our voice sounds very hoarse. Avoid coffee. We tend to drink coffee before we go in
for anything important. But they say that coffee is the worst thing because it really
makes you jittery. It does not soothe your nerves. So, do not drink coffee before you
go.
But you could chew gum. Yes, do not chew gum in the interview room but before you
go for an interview. Again, studies have shown that chewing gum can release tension.
And, finally, smile. There is nothing like a smile to make you feel better.
Robin Kermode, who is the author of Speak So Your Audience will Listen – 7 Steps
to Confident and Successful Public Speaking, came out with a very crazy idea about
how to get over your nerves in an article in The Guardian. What does he say? He says
that you can do anything from stopping yourself shaking. So, doing crazy things like
tensing and relaxing your leg muscles, your hip muscles, do anything.
Stop your voice from shaking. What do you do to stop your voice from shaking? What
does he suggest? He suggests that you try to recite a stupid poem or a nursery rhyme
like 'Humpty Dumpty' slowly to yourself so that, that will help your voice from shaking.
Stand up while you wait. Normally when we are called for interview, we are asked to
take a seat.
But what he suggests is avoid taking a seat because you will have to rise to your feet.
Instead of that he says that if you stand you will be at level with the interviewers. So,
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when you are asked to sit inside, find your best sitting position in the interview room.
Do not lean too much against the seat. We will show you the right sitting positions in
the video that follows. How do you sit in an interview for the best effect, how to not
only to appear confident so that you find your best voice.
Show your hands. Now our tension manifests not only in our face, in our neck, in our
shoulders, but mostly in our hands. So people who are tense tend to clench their fists.
They find something to do with their hands. They hold on to their hands, and that is a
big giveaway for the interviewer that this person is nervous.
So, and also your body language does not appear open. So, always show your hands
and it also allows you to gesture when you are speaking to people. Remember to make
the other person feel special. Usually we have the tendency because we are told that we
have to get the best impression, give the best impression about ourselves, we tend to
highlight our own achievements.
So we tend to, some of us tend to tom-tom about our achievements and make ourselves
seem very important. But instead you make the other person feel special by a single
word or by the way you address them, make them feel by using the 'you' tone, you make
them feel that they are more important not you. But the most important thing is to listen.
You have to listen.
Body language of the interviewer is important, as important as the body language of the
interviewee. And if you are clever, if you are smart, you know how to read the body
language of the interviewers. Now interviewers are very clever people. They try not to
betray any sign of whether they like you or not through their facial expression or by
telling you.
But if you are sensitive and you are attentive to their body language, or when you are
nervous, one of the things you can do is you can listen to them, observe them and that
will help you get over your own nervousness. I have this image of an interview I
appeared in then, and yes, I did not get the job, but that body language remains with me
to this date. There was a lady who was the subject expert, who had a frown.
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The moment I entered the room she had a frown on her face, and the second person had
a big smile. And much later I came to know that this lady did not, I mean, she was not
in favor of giving me the job. So that I could read from her expression the moment I
entered the room from the annoyed face or the body, you know, frown on her face, I
could make out that she is not favorably inclined towards me. So, use your own voice.
Do not try to make a..., use a fake voice when you are in an interview. Lot of people do
that. They tend to adopt an interview voice. I recall interviewing a number of IIM
students way back and I was amused that lot of the students who came, they came with
such packed speeches.
You ask them a question and there they were with their speeches in a perfect flawless
delivery, almost like, you know..., the feeling I got was like those Miss India contestants
when they win the crown, or when they are being interviewed, they make up these
speeches about how they all want to be Mother Teresas. So, that was the kind of
speeches they came up with.
And I was not sure, that is, I got the feeling that it was a very artificial way of speaking.
But I said, okay, wow this IIM student speaks very well. But then I had an opportunity
to interact with the students outside the class and they spoke in a very different way. So
that feeling that there was something not quite right about the way they were speaking,
it was because they had faked an accent. Be yourself.
Do not try to be anyone else. Remember, all these things we are sharing in these lectures
with you, just remember, the ultimate thing is be yourself. Always the people who stand
out are always those who take the gamble and who always break the rules. So you need
to know all the rules, only then you will be able to break the rules if you wish to. So,
you know if you are writing, what is the writer supposed to do?
Today, all the writers want to start writing without reading. But all the old classic
writers that we know they read up everything possible under the sun. They read up all
the writers from the beginning of the history of the literature, before they started writing
their own novels or their own poetry or their own plays. But so, now how does the
writer stand out from another writer?
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Because if you..., they begin by imitating other writers, by trying to write like
somebody else. But as they find their own voice, they stop imitating. Then they do
something different. And they can do this something different only because they know
the rules. So, only if you know the rules, can you break the rules.
Now I come to the second part of speaking in an interview, a very ignored part. We
tend to, when we are preparing for interviews, we tend to focus on important questions.
And these days you have these quick guides on how to answer standard questions, the
10 important questions or the 20 important questions in an interview and we all rehearse
them. So, when I listen to these answers, I get a very strange feeling because I feel that
they are rehearsed and indeed they are rehearsed.
But what happens if an interviewer asks you a question, which is out of the box, which
is not one of the standard questions. That is where your real fluency, your real
communication skills show up. That is where your people come to know whether you're
really articulate or you, or you, have just memorized these questions as students tend to
do these days. So the first thing, which is, which connects with the point I made earlier,
that remember interviewers are also human beings.
Their idea is not to make you scared and to make you feel nervous. Their whole idea is
to help you. It is like a..., it is helping you to answer the questions in the best possible
way by helping you to get over your nervousness. So what do the interviewers do? What
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do they do in order to make you feel less nervous? They indulge in what is called small
talk. And I myself do it.
Whenever I notice a young person in particular is very nervous, I try to make some
small talk with them so that they can get over their nervousness. So researchers led by
Bryan Swider at Schellers College of Business at the Georgia Institute of Technology
have examined mock interviews with 163 undergrads and they published the result in
British Psychological Society Research Digest.
They, in this, they suggest that the impression you make during those first minutes of
seemingly idle chitchat, what researchers call rapport building has a big influence on
your interviewers' overall perception of you. And this is corroborated, I can second this.
This is.. I myself have observed this. It is small talk in which one forms an impression
about the candidate. So what are the steps to small talk?
The first step to making small talk is stick to safe small topics, the weather, sports, or
how bad the traffic is. Step two is do not over-praise. So, usually people, interviewers
would ask you a question like, suppose you have traveled a long way, and they ask you,
how was your journey? Did you have a problem finding the place? So they would ask
you a very simple question. And what do you do?
What are you supposed to do in that small talk? Now do not, it is not a cue, it is not a
cue for you to remember. The interviewer is just trying to find out, help you relax, and
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just trying to find out something, little bit, about you. So, maybe where do you live or
how far do you live. Now that is not the time to tell you...how you got to ...tell the
interviewer... how you got caught in the traffic jam and how it took you two hours to
get there.
There is no need to do that. So there are some topics which interviewers usually use,
safe topics like the weather, sports, traffic and so on. Whenever you are asked a question
like that, understand that the interviewer is trying to make you feel relaxed and use
these to relax. In fact, use it to relax. I recall being asked in an interview, being.. - I
have put German on my CV as one of the languages I speak or I have cleared some, I
have got some certificates in German language.
Now the first question, the small talk question, which was put to me by the person who
was chairing the panel was 'setzen sie sich bitte' (28:42) -now what did it tell me - with
a smile. Now I understood that he is trying to make me feel comfortable by asking me
this simple question. But I also understood that he is trying to test whether I remember
my German or I have forgotten it.
So I am not supposed to start a conversation in German, but just respond in German.

That is enough for the person to be convinced that you do recall your German. You do
remember your German and also it gives me time to, it makes me relax. Because it is
the chairperson himself who is asking me. Step two is do not overpraise. This does not
happen in panel interviews but in one-to-one interviews very often.
We can make small talk by asking, by making a comment as an icebreaker by saying,

'oh your room is lovely or that is a nice picture on the wall'. So we can make, we can
use questions like, we can use starters like this. Step three, jump on any comment made
by the same party. So, the moment you say, ' oh I am from such and such college'. The
interviewer sees it on your CV and says he went to the same college that you did.
Or if he mentions that you have some common interests. Now you can take it into a
very short conversation but does not mean that you carry on a parallel conversation with
this particular interviewer because he has been in the same college with you. He is, he
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or she is doing it just to make you feel comfortable. Make sure you look interested even
if the topics discussed are not interesting.
Five, step five is avoid bringing up anything related to the job itself. This is the time it
is like every business meeting, every business conversation must ideally, whether it is
a meeting, whether it is a presentation, it must devote a little part of the first few minutes
to social conversation, to what is called small talk. And the idea is to break the ice, to
strike a rapport. But and this is obviously not the time to start talking business.
Do not bring up any issue related to the job itself. So again, in small talk, listen for key
words, stay positive, show some interest in the interviewer.
Look for conversational cues. Be very observant as to your surroundings in an interview

situation, because the interviewer, interview setting, will likely offer some ideas for
light, easy conversation. Bring the small talk and before you before you end the small
talk the interviewer is wrapping up and you are both saying goodbye, circle back to the
very beginning of the interview and riff off the initial light banter between you too like
somebody says, 'oh, I go to the same sports club as you'.
So, you could say, well, let us meet in the club or, you know, let us... I am looking
forward to the next match or whatever. So, you can also bring the small talk full circle.
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Now I am quickly going to go through what kind of phrases you can use in business
English, in small talk. I would not have time to go into all of them, but let us look at
some sample ones. So suppose you are talking about the weather. You could say it is a
bit cold for this time of the year, is it not? It is a bit warm for this time of the year. How
about this weather? Beautiful day, is it not?
How was the weather in the city when you left? So you ask questions of this kind. It
looks like it is going to snow, lovely weather is it not?
Now when you are looking at how to speak effectively in an interview, you do not need
to memorize grammar drills. You do not have to practice grammar just before the
interview. That is something which should become natural to you. And that is a long
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term plan. If you have poor grammar, you must do it well before. You must peg up your
grammar skills in general. Do not study grammar too much.
Learn and study phrases instead. And reading and listening is not enough. How do you
build a vocabulary? Now I find students building a vocabulary by looking at a list,
memorizing the list and looking up the answers. Those lists are helpful in helping you
answer the verbal questions in the exam. Or many of us read a lot. We listen to others,
but we are shy when it comes to using our..., using words.
So, many of us have a very extensive passive vocabulary. That is, because we have
been reading we have been listening to others, but when we are asked to speak, our
vocabulary is very limited because we have not put it to use. So, whenever you come
across a new word, whenever you read something, whenever you hear something, try
to use those words. Use a very simple trick which one of my students followed and had
a wonderful vocabulary, active vocabulary by the end of the course.
Come across, if you come across, five new words in writing, make a list. Make a list of
five new words in writing, and five new words in listening or speaking. Now try to find
out the meanings of these words. And more important, use these words. Use these words
like children do. Whenever children learn any new word they are so fascinated by the
word that you will find them using that word throughout the day.
And this is the way they never forget the word. So use the words. Submerge yourself.
How do you submerge yourself? Most of us think that improving our communication
skills or appearing confident in formal situations is something we pull on and pull off
and that is why we do not relate it to our everyday life. So when we said you must come
across as yourself, as you, what do you need to do?
That you is not different from the you which you are normally. It is a you which is the
same throughout. And to be that you who is confident, who is articulate who is... who
has a good vocabulary, you need to submerge yourself. You must hang out with people
who have a good vocabulary, who have very good speaking skills and, mind you, you
will find your own vocabulary, your own language, improving miraculously if you just
listen to them and repeat, use their language.
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Listen carefully, and actively repeat, use the same kind of language in your own
conversation. Mind you this happens to me the moment I am with a group which is
articulate, my own speech habits change. Because unconsciously, I am listening to
them, I am also mirroring them. So do that. Study correct material. You must also in
order to build your language and your vocabulary, you must read a lot.
You must read the best writers. You can read serious literature, you can read classics,
or you can even read nonfiction or you can read motivational books. But do make
reading a part of your everyday life.
Now I am going to run through some of these phrases quickly for the typical questions
you get, but I would not have time to go into all the questions. So what are the phases?
Think of some of the phrases you can use for describing yourself. I was born and raised
in. I attended the University. I have just graduated from. I have worked for. I have
worked for. I enjoy playing.
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So tell me about yourself, the first question. What are the phrases you can use? I
attended MIT. I grew up in Korea. I am an easygoing person. I am a hard worker. I have
always liked being balanced.
And how do you talk about your strengths? I have always been a great team player. I
believe my strongest trait is. I realized my strength is. I play close attention to. I am an
excellent. I am a troubleshooter. I am good at. I am good at. I am self-motivated. I have
very good.
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And what are your strengths? My, I believe, my strongest trait is my attention to detail.
I have always been a great team player.
Okay, so this is the way you can answer. Use phrases, the kind of phrases to be able to
answer questions. Expressions for talking about your weaknesses. I feel my English
ability is my weakest trait. I always try to solve my own problems. I am overzealous. I
become nervous. I tend to spend too much time. Sometimes I have trouble delegating
duties.
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So, this might be bad. But in college I found I procrastinated a lot. I feel my weaknesses
is not being detail oriented enough. I feel my English ability is my weakest trait, the
weakest trait I struggle with. So you can use these phrases to talk about your
weaknesses.
What about what kind of position are you looking for? I am looking for a position in
which I can. I am interested in. I am more interested in. I am more interested in.
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I want to take on more responsibility. I am convinced that the name of the firm. I want
to further my career. I am impressed.
Where do you see yourself five years from now?

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Five years from now I would like to see myself in a management position. Five years
from now I want to be a senior sales manager.
So what extracurricular activities do you are you involved in? I was involved in. I was
very active in. Besides studying I played. I was involved with a group.
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So you must pay attention to these details.
Like when you ask, why should the company hire you? You should say you should hire
me, because I am confident. There are two reasons I should be hired. I am a perfect fit
for this job. I should be hired. I think I am a great match for this position. So we have
looked at three things, when talking, focusing on speaking, specifically focusing on
speaking in this lecture, we looked at three aspects.
One was... the first part of speaking is get over your fears. The second part is how to
use small talk to relax because the small talk also gives away a lot about you to
interviewers. And the third part is how to use phrases in... to ask particular kinds of
questions. In the role plays we have for you, you will watch all these things at work.
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And we will ask you to analyze how the people who played those roles to what extent
they were successful in using these phrases or maintaining the right body language or
using small talk if there was any. Thank you.
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Lecture - 39
Role Play
(Video Starts: 00:17) Dress and appearance for women in an interview. Your footwear
should have decent heel(s). Avoid casual footwear, as it does not give a good impression
of yourself in front of the panel. As I earlier said, it is expected of a lady to carry
everything with poise. Clothes should fit well, but it (they) should not be tight. The
length should be decent. You could pick up the colors that work for you. Muted colors
can be chosen.
One like blue and black. Generally longer sleeves are recommended to maintain a more
businesslike appearance. Avoid jewelry, makeup should be simple. The amount of
jewelry should be minimized. Apply moisturizer and thin liner with light color lipstick
only. Avoid opening your hair as it is not considered to be formal in an interview. Avoid
a complicated hairstyle.
You can preferably go ahead with a ponytail or a bun or probably an up do. Jeans is an
outfit which is generally not considered to be worn in an interview. But you can
definitely combine it with a white shirt and it can be worn as it gives a formal look in
the interview. Towards the end you can any day pick up the ethnic Indian wear, a salwar
kameez or a saree to be worn in an interview. (Video Ends: 02:18)
(Video Start: 02:19) Dress and appearance for men in interview. Prefer black or brown
shoes. If possible, wear a suit to the interview or a nice trouser or shirt. For presentation
in an interview, clothes that are checkered, brightly colored, or that the virtual flash will
not reflect on well with your image. Depending upon the level of formality, you may
wish to button the jacket or unbutton it or probably you can take off the coat altogether.
Your shirt should fit well. And color should not be too bright. Tie can be used to
complement the color of the shirt and also your eye and the face color. Avoid wearing
informal clothes for interview. Hair frames the face and therefore it should be properly
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combed. Your facial hair should be properly trimmed. Avoid ties with elaborate
patterns or too many colors. A wedding ring or watch is generally the only jewelry that
should be worn. Hair should be well groomed, and shoes must be properly polished.
(Video Ends: 03:57)
(Video Start: 03:58) We all have come across the time when we have faced the (an)
interview, but there is another important aspect to it. The time before the interview.
When we are waiting outside for our turn to come it is very important for us to maintain
the demeanor right from the time when we are waiting outside for our turn. You must
sit straight and look confident while you are waiting. You should not have a fidgety
body language.
Instead of getting yourself distracted, focus on the questions that you might be asked
inside. Your body language should not project that you are not interested to be there,
interested in the meeting. To avoid distraction, you can focus on the CV and think of
the questions that might be asked inside. Open the door gently while you enter the room.
After you get the response from the panel, let yourself in. (Video Ends: 05:32)
(Video Start: 05:33) Body language in interviews. Walk in confidently. Greet the
interviewer. Make eye contact. You could seek their permission and then sit. Smile. Sit
up straight and avoid slouching. Your body language should be proper while you are
sitting in front of the panel. Legs should be even on the floor. Hands should be properly
placed on the lap. Once you are in the process of communication, you must start
interacting with the panel.
Once you get the question, take your time to answer back. Make eye contact. Show
gestures. And while you are at the mid of the interview, you can lean forward a bit as it
shows that you are interested. Be receptive enough to take the inputs from the panel and
give your best. While you are done with the interview, stand up, say thank you and walk
out confidently. Put the chair back and leave the room in a proper manner. You must
not rush inside the room without even asking for their permission to enter. (Video
Ends: 07:24)
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(Video Start: 07:26) Inappropriate body language in interview. You must not directly
enter the room and take your seat without even seeking permission from the panel. You
have not even greeted them and that leaves a very bad impression about you on the
panel. You must not have a body language in which you are leaning forward and
fidgeting. Your legs should not be placed on each other. You must have eye contact.
Your body must not project an informal behavior. You must focus on the questions
asked by the panel. And your response should involve eye contact, making gestures.
You must not directly leave without even saying thank you to them. (Video Ends:
09:03)
(Video Start: 09:04) “Conversation Starts” Hello, good day to everybody. What we
are going to display here is an unmoderated group discussion. The topic for the group
discussion is going to be heavy taxation on automation. The format we shall follow is
about a minute of preparation, after which we shall all make opening remarks. Post
opening remarks we shall open the floor to discussion amongst all four candidates.
After discussion is over, we shall end this with some closing remarks from each of the
candidates. So we have about a minute to think. I would just like to repeat the motion
again. It is about heavy taxation on automation. Now I would like to invite all of the
candidates to make opening remarks. Hello, my name is Partha. I will be taking the
position of in favoring heavy taxation of automation, as I believe that the wealth
inequality (it) generates is highly problematic in the society.
Hello, my name is Ankit. My position on this group discussion is going to be in

opposition to the motion of heavily taxing automation, primarily because I believe that
the benefits that automation has to society are going to be significantly greater than any
potential harms. And the ability to overcome those harms is something that we can
discuss forward during the discussion.
Hi, my name is Manav. I also believe that it is a good idea to tax automation. I believe
just the pace at which automation is currently displacing manual labor and how industry
specific this displacement is a major concern that pushes me towards the pro side of
this. Hi, my name is Rohan, and I
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am against heavy taxation on robots because I feel that the kind of jobs that automation
is mainly taking up are jobs that need to be replaced, and a job that cannot be performed
by humans anymore.
I think we can now open this floor up for discussion. So on the basis of understanding
why or like taxation of automation is good or bad, we have to first understand why
automation is good or bad because it is a very closely interlinked debate, right. So I
agree to a large extent with what Rohan also said.
A I think that automation removes a lot of jobs that are dangerous, often create a lot of
accidents in workplaces, and are also problematic with like safety standards, health
standards, and things like that. I (()) (12:42) automation existing by virtue of the fact Commented [1]: what is the missing word?
that robots do not have health and safety standards because they are not animate objects.
The ability for these robots to save lives is a very important aspect. But I think more
than just saving lives, I think automation in terms of general ability to a reduce prices
of commodities by virtue of the efficiency that they have, simply because by virtue of
automation being so efficient as computerized systems, the ability to reduce wastage of
resources and the ability to efficiently allocate resources is much better in automation.
Simply means that the benefits that percolate from automation are going to be better,
especially as automation progress. I just think a lot of this is moved...At the point at
which this debate is about heavy taxation on automation, and not what banning
automation altogether. We think companies that see like value in saving resources or
like not spending on life insurance, or an additional like safety mechanisms of laborers
which they have to by safety regulations in the mining industry, for example.
They are going to install these automation robots anyway. The question is this that when
the jobs are being lost at a pace as quick as like 10,000 a day 20,000 a day as the state
or as the like the people who are supposed to take care of these laborers. How do you
take care of them? My reason is that there is an overburdened state that cannot take care
of everyone who is currently unemployed.
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So I think there are problems that I see with your argument, right. The first idea is that
automation will occur irrespective of whether it is or it is taxed or not, right. First, I
think the idea that it is heavy taxation means that the intention is precisely to stall the
like the uptake of automation within industries. Second, I think the idea that jobs are
being lost is important. I think the jobs being lost is a consideration when automation
does exist.
But a) these jobs are inherently not particularly good jobs. They are either repetitive or
dangerous. But b) the fact that societies need to evolve from investing in like repetitive
manufacturing jobs and instead invest in education so that like higher quality jobs can
be created in significantly greater numbers or jobs that specifically require human
interaction such as a caregiving for like medical patients.
Or like simple entrepreneurship and usage of a human intellect, will simply increase.
And more importantly, the fact that society today focuses so much on a stable job, as
opposed to like allowing you to do what you really want is that is a problem today,
which I think automation will solve in the future.
Therefore, I think those points while certainly valid in a limited context, do not really
stand up to scrutiny, especially with respect to the alternatives that automation can form
with respect to our society can evolve. I disagree with that position. Firstly, as far as
automation is concerned, I do not think a heavy taxation necessarily entails like the
complete the stopping of automation or the replacement of labor with robots in the first
place.
I think we can maintain an equilibrium where there is a there is some amount of profit,
profitability, for the industries to go ahead and automate their processes while ensuring
that the benefits they accrue from this automation are distributed to the public, right?
Because ultimately, the real loser is the person who is losing his job.
And while it may be possible that this person could have an alternative job, it is not by
principle, we could well envision a scenario where robots could replace most of the
working populations, like occupations, right? So in that scenario, I think that it is a little
idealistic to assume that a job will be created for every time we replace a particular job
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with a robot. And seeing as the profits are going to rise anyway, with automation, I am
in favor of heavy taxation.
Do you have anything to add to this? Yeah, again, the argument that automation would
like completely take over jobs across all industries is a little farfetched like we already
discussed it, right. We believe that there are still a lot of jobs that require human intellect
and human cognitive abilities that cannot be replaced by a robot, right.
And having said that, we believe that the primary industries that will be affected are
like we already discussed not very safe for humans to be working in anyways, right. So
that is why a) on that front we believe automation is useful since the..it is doing jobs
for you that are dangerous for humans to perform.
And also it is also a leap towards like allowing companies to invest in technologies and
invest and you know sort of grow and develop and make more profit. I just think it is a
lie. I think it is not true that the only jobs automation is currently taking up are jobs that
are unsafe for humans Simple jobs like those of delivery of packets. Something like the
Amazon idea of having drones deliver your... like delivering packages to your house,
etc.
Or simple assembly lines, where all you have to do is cork, like the cover or the cap of
a bottle onto a bottle itself are jobs that are taken up by people who are largely unskilled.
These are people with little to no education. And these are people with no alternatives.
To meaningfully engage in this debate, I request my like my peers to tell me who is
going to take care of these people?
Because these are people who will not get another job like them, like or getting them
education is something that is very, very expensive. It is a very long process. So it will
take you 10 years to like educate them, for example, right. How did they get, like, jobs
in that case? So I think there are three points that have come up that I think need to be
tackled importantly, right.
First, with the idea of like some amount of profitability I think Partha talked about... of
it. I think it is a problem that government start defining exactly what extent to which
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companies of operations can be profitable, which is effectively wanted okay. Second,
and this is very important to this discussion. I think the idea of, like, profits being
trickled down, for example, to like benefits for the lower classes of people who are
economically worse.
He is under the assumption that heavy taxation of robots is the only way by which to
do this right? When you have alternative systems such as the universal basic income,
which happens with a complete elimination of existing social welfare schemes which
happen to be very inefficient and also poorly targeted.
And instead, simply using that as a direct like lump sum payment of two individuals
monthly means that to a large extent, there is there are significant alternative
possibilities to ensure that such economic problems do not occur in the first place, right.
Lastly, yes, we agree that to a large extent even things like clerical jobs or like design
jobs are also offered, right. But that is, again, one aspect of it.
And so when you look at multiple aspects of this debate, we think that unsafe jobs are
going to be affected, that is a fine thing. But more importantly, when you talk about
unskilled jobs, then the problem is the fact that governments today have not chosen to
invest in general education of those people who happen to remain unskilled despite
access to education for other sections of society.
We think by virtue of government simply being able to a) allow automation without

heavy taxation, thereby allowing resources to be efficiently allocated, but b) allowing
governments are not singularly focused on skilling those people and educating them in
a way that they can more meaningfully contribute to the economy is significantly better
as an option.
Yeah, I have a few points to add here on that. Just before that can we agree that things
like universal basic income, etc., are things that are not present. So unless my friend
here would like to debate in the 2050s or 2060s we should just disregard this idea
because it is unnecessary for like this debate. There is no universal basic income that
exists in the world. After that, sir, what you were saying.
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Right, so my point is the same thing. And even if we were theoretically going to have
a discussion on universal basic income, like it has to be funded ultimately the taxpayer,
and if you are going to ask the person who is apparently working in a very unsafe job,
whether he wants to work, continue working in his unsafe job or lose his job, I am sure
he would pick the alternative of, like, to continue working in his unsafe job.
And from that perspective, I think a lot of points, which Ankit brought up are too are
either too farfetched or that assuming a scenario where we have the government has
enough funding to really carry out all the schemes such as universal basic income and
other social safety. So I would like to respond to both Manav and Partha. I think a) the
fact that UBI does not exist today is certainly true, except there are experimental
models.
But sure, let us assume that they do not exist at all. Within that, the idea of when he
himself put the characterization that we are losing 10,000, 20,000 jobs a day is itself
also futuristic, right. To a large extent, that kind of extent of automation by virtue of the
cost of automation itself does not exist in status. Just to a largest extent this debate is
going to be at least certainly to a certain point of time in the future. Second, how to
fund?
We agree that funding even alternate to the UBI do require certain funds. We have
already talked about redirecting inefficient welfare spending, to much more efficient
UBI. But more importantly, and this comes back to the point that I brought forth before,
right. By virtue of people no longer have to be forced into debt end jobs that no longer
contribute to them willingly.
By virtue of that intellect being freed up for say, entrepreneurial activities or abilities
to do what you really want. Those businesses being further taxed. Can you please debate
this in reality? These are not people who are choosing to work in a mine, because they
really like it. These are people who work in a mine because they have no , like, collateral
to give to a bank for a loan.
These are people and these are not governments that do not want people to be educated.
These are governments that are trying to educate people and from literacy rates like
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India had of like 25, 30% in 1947 have gone to 65%. You cannot just blame the
government for not educating people therefore they are working in mines and therefore
they are dying. Like people work in mines because they have no alternatives.
And in your model, they will be fired and then they will depend either on the State DOL
or will die. Like that is literally what will happen to these people, they will die. Yeah,
but that is the argument, right? If you are making the argument that these people are
working in these jobs forcibly, and because of their poor financial condition. And then
on the other hand, when you go and talk about when these people lose their job, maybe
it is good for them that they go then.. automation.
But everyone works, almost everyone works their job by force. Like, I mean, if the sofa
culture was allowed to exist, like nobody, nobody here would want to not everybody Commented [2]: what is the word sofa? check
would want to sit at home and take a universal basic income. Like the fact that you are
forced to work a job is sort of the way society works. Right.
And also another point is the people whom you are going to replace now in automation
right now that does not necessarily have to tie back to the idea of, like, the government
losing incentive to educate the public currently, right? Because after all the people who
hold jobs right now were educated like 30 or 40, 50 years back maybe and where
obviously education was at a much lower rate than it is right now.
So we cannot comment. We have to look at the time gap here when we look at the
policies. I think it has been a fruitful discussion. We can take about a minute to gather
our thoughts and you could start closing remarks with Rohan this time. Right? So I
think we all agree that the idea of automation reaching to such a large extent where it
leads to a, leads to mass unemployment is sort of futuristic and in the future.
And I think we have agreed that if the people whose jobs are going to be lost as the
stakeholders can be taken care of maybe through universal basic income or any other
welfare scheme, then we see, I personally see no reason as to why we should not go
ahead and favor automation. Okay, I think this discussion is more about the transition
towards a fully automated society even UBI, etc.
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In that paradigm, I think the change that this discussion has brought about in my initial
stance is where I see two kinds of jobs. One which are very dangerous, cause deaths of
humans all the time, and ones that are not. I think my stance on the latter stays the same
that heavy taxation is a good idea. On the former, however, I do recognize some benefits
of robots taking over even if that means firing of people.
And maybe that kind of a stance is what I have right now. So considering that to a large
extent we have all agreed to the fact that automation is to an extent inevitable and that
to this discussion is simply seeing the pace at which that automation is going to be
adopted in society.
I think that even though there are several unknown variables in future that we just
cannot predict right now the fact still remains that by virtue of automation existing in a
less taxed environment simply ensures that the positives that come to the stakeholders
of the discussion which is related to governments, businesses, and the employed people
in general is simply greater overall than the negatives that are associated to each
individual stakeholder on the basis of health, education and innovation in the economy
in general.
On all of these base, I still believe that automation in general, of course, has certain
harms associated with it, but when compared to the benefits that come to society will
simply be a better option for society in future. My position is largely unchanged in this
discussion. I feel like the sort of impact this policy has on unskilled and uneducated
people is not really being taken into account.
And the fact that these people have no alternative that they cannot really go and take up
another job really indicates that these people need support from the government. And I
see all the schemes are put forward by the by Ankit and Killany such as universal basic
income can only be ultimately funded by heavier taxation on industries that are going
to be increasingly profitable as we all agreed on as automation moves on forward. I
would like to thank all. “Conversation Ends” (Video Ends: 28:07)
(Video Starts: 28:08) “Conservation Starts” Manav: Hi Partha. My name is Manav.

I am going to interview you for this post. How has your day been? Partha:
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Oh, it has been a good day so far. I yeah, I was waiting outside for a long time. Finally,
I am here. Manav: Our apologies
for that. So you are good to go? Yeah, right. So I have your CV. But can you just like,
tell me a little bit about yourself first? Partha: Yeah, I am from Bangalore. I am
currently a final year student in IIT Kharagpur. I study economics. Apart from that, I
have a few hobbies as well. But my main focus, and my most of my time has been
dedicated in my internship, which I have been doing the last summer.
Manav: Right, okay, that is quite interesting. I just want to know so what motivated you
to apply for a job? So why do you want to be an analyst at our firm?
Partha: Yeah, so I was looking through the website of your firm. And I just had a look
at the description. It was quite interesting to me. It was also quite relevant to like what
I have been doing in my internship. And hence I thought it would be quite useful if,
quite helpful if I really apply for a job at your firm. Manav: Right. It is clearly like a lot
of your, like, motivation as well as your learning seems to be out of this internship. I
see that you have worked with a wealth management firm in the summer, right? Can
you tell me what has been your single biggest learning experience out of this internship?
Partha: ln the internship, I got to interact with a lot of people. And I learnt a lot about
how a firm works. And it is quite interesting to hear or learn different perspectives on
how like algorithmic trading works, which was my particular field of expertise there.
And yes, so that the entire experience of like working at a firm and like learning about
algorithmic trading was like, my single biggest takeaway from this internship.
Manav: Right. So I hope you have a little bit of an idea about what we do here at the
firm, right? So a lot of work in the firm involves certain amount of, like, calculus,
certain amount of, like, mathematics, etc., right? So we just want to check if potential
recruitments, recruitees, are like are comfortable with, like calculus and math, right? So
I am just going to ask you to solve a small problem for me, if you may. So I want you
to find the point of extreme maxima or minima of the following quadratic function. So
could you write the function down? 2 x square - 3 x + 5.
Partha: The answer is x is equal to 3 by 4. Manav:
Can you just walk me through the solution? Can you also specify whether there is a
point maxima or minima? Partha: This is a point of
maxima. It was very simple. I just differentiated the equation once and you will just
straightaway get x equal to 3 by 4. Manav: Partha, how do you then come to the
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conclusion that this is the point of maxima or minima? Yeah, so you take the double
differential, and in this case it is x equal to it is 4. Right? And then so after that, how do
you then decide whether it is a point of global maxima or minima? Partha:
Yeah, so it is like positive that means it is a maxima. Manav: All right.
Ah, be that is. Okay, fine. I think there is a there is a slight, like issue here, which is
something that you might want to check on later on. But let us move on to the next
question. I think you might also know that a lot of our work involves on ground field
research, right? So we go to the field and we work with different business partners and
we help them create businesses right. So one of our business partners plans to launch a
pen at IIT Kharagpur. Now he wants to create a market research survey, right. Do you
know what like a survey is? Yes. So he wants your help in deciding what product
attributes he should be testing in that survey, right. Do you get my question?
Can you help him, give him like a bucket list probably of like attributes of a pen that he
can put on that survey. Yeah. So firstly, the color of the pen is also quite important. So
in deciding like, so that would be on the questionnaire. And next, like generally how,
what if it is gel, or like ballpoint. And also maybe just like the ergonomics like for grip
of the pen like what will be most preferable.
So I think this these are important attributes of a pen that they must test for. And maybe
even color actually. So let us assume you have created the questionnaire. After you
have created a successful questionnaire and you know that your audience is IIT
Kharagpur, how would you go around sampling your population? What would be your
like idea about that?
Partha: Like, I would just give it give the bunch of forms to like, some guys and I would
tell them to, like, you know just go around campus and distribute them. Manav: Right.
So you mean like in person? Yeah, like just hand them out. Right, perfect.
That sounds fine. I think I have all I need to know. Any questions on your mind? Any
confusion, any doubts, etc.? Yeah, not really. I am just really excited to work with you
firm. It has been a nice time. Thank you. Partha: Thank you very much. “Conversation
Ends” (Video Ends: 33:55)
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(Video Starts: 33:56) “Conservation Starts” Manav:
Hi Vineeth. My name is Manav. Vineeth:Hi Manav.
Manav: Iam going to interview you today. How has the day been? Vineeth:
It is been pretty hectic, but I am really excited to be here. Manav: Right. Shall
we go ahead? Yeah. So, I can see you have your CV here. Yeah. I have had a look at
it before. Yeah. Can you just tell me a little bit about yourself? Awesome.
Vineeth: So I am Vineeth Hasey. I am a final year undergraduate students at IIT
Kharagpur.
I am working towards my master’s degree in economics. And I divide my experiences

into three broad categories. The first category is my internships in the financial sector
in different financial firms. Where I have worked at firms which involve venture
capitalists funding. I have worked at firms which involve financial data analytics. I
worked at firms which involve asset management.
And all these experiences put together demonstrate a very stark interest in the financial
sector. My second bucket of my, you know, college experiences lies in journalism,
where I have been an editor of my campus newspaper. And I have worked from, you
know being a reporter in second year to being an editor showing scaling and assuming
leadership responsibility.
And my third area is basically extracurricular activities, where you know I have done a
lot of stand-up comedy and you know I have a training to become a pastry chef, which
I think is pretty interesting to a lot of people. Yeah, that is quite a bucket of experiences.
Manav: Yeah. Who is your favorite stand-up comedian? Vineeth:
So my favorite stand-up comedian is and always would be in all this would be Louis C.
K. I just love his blunt humor. That is quite good. Manav:
So as good as these achievements are I just wanted to know what has motivated you to
apply for this firm? Why are you here interviewing for this firm?
Vineeth: So my motivation stems from the pre-placement talk that you guys had
conducted, where I saw a lot of my, you know alumni talking to me about how their
experiences on college translated into their work life, and there are two specific things
that I really like about this role.
806
The first is mathematical rigor, right? We are all engineers. We are all, you know people
who come from mathematical background. And I think that this is something I do not
want to leave after college. I love doing my math. I love analytical, I love critical
thinking. And this is something I want to work with. My second thing that, you know,
my alumni had mentioned was that he had to work with people and clients on a daily
basis.
And this is something which I really like, I love pooling in ideas. I love working in a
team. I love collaborating on different projects. So this would be my motivation for this.
Manav: Right. Clearly our alumni is quite on point in terms of what this job inputs.
Yeah. I also think, as you mentioned, there is a lot of work that you have done in the
financial sector during these three or four years. Right. So I the probably the most
interesting internship that I find here is your work with a venture capitalist firm. Yeah.
I sort of know what has been your biggest learning experience by that internship?
Vineeth: So you know for a young person like me, talking to people at very high posts
has always been something which I have been afraid to do. Because, you know you are
always regarded as someone with a lack of experience. So my biggest takeaway from
this internship was talking to people who had achieved a lot in their life, and talking to
people and getting them to accept me as an equal and you know getting them to accept
my viewpoint in terms of how I wanted, you know how is evaluating a startup, for
example, in the venture capitalist firm, and you know and how well I was able to
articulate my ideas.
Manav:: So that would be the biggest takeaway from this. So how has that impacted
you? Vineeth: So I
begin to see myself as a little bit a lot more confident in terms of what, you know what
my line of questioning is, in general to people. My ideas are a little bit better, much
better articulated because I constantly feel a need for me to be very clear with my
thought process and I think that is definitely happening. That sounds quite nice.
Manav: Okay. So as you were mentioning a while back, a lot of the work at our firm
involves some amount of mathematical rigor or like application. Yeah. So I have just
like a small question for you. Yeah. I am sure you have heard of like the concept of
global maxima and minima. Yeah. So I am going to give you a function. I would like
807
you to give me the extrema and specify which of the two extrema it is.
Vineeth: Yeah, sure.
Manav: So your function is 2 x square - 3 x + 5. Vineeth:

Okay. And I have to find the global extrema for this. Yeah. Okay. Can you give me a
couple of minutes to work this out? Manav: Sure. Vineeth: So
I think I have the answer. Manav: Sure. Right.
. Vineeth: So let me give you the answer first, and then I am going to walk you through
how I did it right. Perfect. So I see that this function has a minima at and a global
minima at x is equal to 3 by 4.
Let me walk you through the steps, right? So we know that in from calculus, a function
attains its extrema value when its first derivative equals zero, right. Differentiating this,
the first derivative of this function that you have given me is 4 x – 3. When we equate
that to 0, we get x is equal to 3 by 4. Sure. Right. Now we do not know we know that
this x is equal to 3 by 4 is a extrema, which means it can be an inflection point, it can
be a minima or it can be a maxima, right?
So to, you know, verify our doubts about this, we need to take the second derivative,
which comes out to be 4, right? And if the second derivative is positive, we know that
the derivative that we calculated, it would be a minima. So I would say that x is equal
to 3 by 4 is a global minima because this function does not change. That sounds good.
That sounds good.
Manav: So another major aspect of life as an analyst at a firm involves a fair bit of
ground research. Yeah, right. Yeah. A lot of our clients are doing a lot of basic research
about products. Yeah. So let us assume that one of our clients has come to you for help.
Yeah. And they want you to help them. Yeah. They have products. So they made a new
pen. Yeah. The normal like average pen. And they want to like capture the IIT
Kharagpur market. Yeah.
So the first question is like in designing that questionnaire, or the survey questionnaire,
they want to know what product attributes they must keep in mind. Yeah. How do you
have them on that? Vineeth: Okay. Can I take a couple
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of minutes to just, you know brainstorm. Yeah. Okay, so I have an answer ready for
you, and I am going to draw upon a lot of my previous experiences to come to this
answer, right?
So let me put this, you know let me just start by giving you a laundry list of what I look
at when I you know want to buy a pen. And I think that as a student, I am I would be
probably representative of the student population, right? So the first thing I would look
at is the color of the ink right?. A lot of people have preferences of black over blue or
red, right? The second thing I will look at is the longevity of the refill, right?
You know a lot of people do not like to change pens often and they would like the refill
to last for a week or something, right? That would be a really important question. The
second would be the durability of the tip, right? A lot of pens have weak tips, which
you know which lead to ink spilling and stuff like that, right? The fourth would be you
know clustering of brand value attached, right ? Okay.
People tend to buy, you know pens out of the, out of you know an assumption that this
brand produces the characteristics that I had talked about before, right. And you might
have, you know some sort of brand ambassador like Reynolds and Sachin Tendulkar,
right. You have a lot of brand value attached to it. So this is... these are the areas I would
look at. That is quite interesting, actually. Yeah.
Manav: So our client really likes your idea. They have come with a questionnaire like,
yeah, it is all ready. Yeah. Now they want to sample it in again, the same yeah, the same
area. Yeah. My question is, how do you help them design like a plan for the sampling
to happen? Okay, can I take another 30 seconds to do this? Yeah. Okay, I have a plan
ready. Vineeth: So the first thing I think they
should do is that they should host this survey on a Google form, okay, right?
Because when this form is online, obviously tabulation results is much easier. Sure.
Right? Another very important thing to note is that a lot of IIT Kharagpur students are
online. So social media is definitely the way of outreach. Right? A lot of people you
know each department has a lot of Facebook groups, where you can post a survey on
809
and students in every department would post their, would, you know, give their
preferences for their pens.
You can also very interestingly from the survey, analyze whether, you know, pen, pen
preferences vary across departments, vary across maybe genders. All of these are
questions you can ask. But yes, obviously approaching these students would be through
social media because that is where a lot of these students are most active. Sure. That
sounds nice. I think I am pretty much done with my... Yeah.
Manav: At this point in time, we still have some time left. So you have any questions
for me, your confusions? Vineeth: Yeah. So
and going back to the pre-placement talk, I noticed that alumni had said that there are a
lot of opportunities in working in offices around the world. So can you tell me, what is
the probability of someone like me, an undergraduate like me, maybe in a year or so
going to work in office like London?
Manav: Yes. So there are two kinds of programs that we have. One of them is when
you stay stationed at your current office, but collaborate constantly with people from
like the London office or the Boston office, a lot of our work currently is happening
with like, not as much with the London office, but a lot of it happens with the American
office. Yeah. Simply because the industry is quite like heavily integrated.
So that would not involve you like completely moving to Boston, but it would involve
like a lot of traveling to Boston, etc. and working with employees from Boston etc., and
vice versa. Okay. Secondly, beyond a couple of years as and when suitable openings
open up in other offices across the world, we do have a fairly fluid transfer policies
within the firm.
And I mean, I know a lot of like friends of mine who took up those opportunities and
decided to move out as well. So that is something that I do not think you being an
undergraduate will ever be a barrier to that. Yeah, of course, it has to match. It has to
be about a suitable profile opening up in another office.
Vineeth: Yeah. Okay. That is awesome to know. That is all from my side. Yeah. It is
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been, it is been a good time. Thank you so much. Bye bye. “Conversation Ends”
(Video Ends: 45:45)
(Video Starts: 45:47)Manav: Right. What I am going to do now is I am going to like

sort of contrast with two kind of interviews that we just saw. What I thought and what
I was primarily looking for from the point like the mindset of an interviewer were two
things. A) I want an employee who does not just talk who talks after thinking something
through in his head, and therefore having some amount or some sense of structure in
the way, his or her thoughts argument out.
I thought on that metric, it was quite clear to me as an interviewer that Vineeth seemed
a more suitable candidate. I thought at multiple points of time, right from the top, his
answers sort of derived out of his personal experiences, or out of some or the other form
of genuine research. I thought in particular, his answer about his own life’s experiences,
derived largely from experiences that were in his CV, by giving me a very good and a
very quick summary of who he was.
Secondly, his motivation to apply was largely explaining to me as to why he was a very
good recruit, and why he would like working at the firm. Again, all of these things seem
to derive out of ppts, out of talks with alumni etc., and seemed fairly well thought out.
In comparison, I thought Partha’s answers were more on the go. I was not very sure if
he had done any previous research before he walked into this interview.
I was not sure if he really wanted to work at our firm. I was just saying it at that point
of time. So as an interviewer, I am way more likely to believe that Vineeth as a
candidate is more prepared, and has been working for this interview for a large amount
of time. I thought on the question about the biggest learning experience, I thought again,
here, I think Partha demonstrated a general lack of understanding of the question itself.
Where I thought his answer to that question was largely about what he did at his
internship. While Vineeth’s answer to an extent was about how that experience changed
him, right or the value of what he learnt out of it, and how it changed him as a person.
As far as the technical half of the interview is concerned. Beyond this, just error, the
811
mathematical error that Partha made I think what was more important for me than the
final answer was to see the methodology.
I think in both technical questions, what I was looking for was not just right answers,
but just the guarantee that you will always get these questions right. Or the chance of
you coming to the right questionnaire or the right sampling plan, etc., is high as
possible. From that mindset I thought Vineeth’s strategy of walking me through his
solution every point of time telling me what mindset he is taking, even at the expense
of taking a few seconds extra was in my eyes a judicial move.
Finally, I think the fact that you have questions ready for the interviewer, again
demonstrate that you really want to work at the firm or at least that you have prepared
a lot. That you have spoken to alumni and found out what is the kind of life that people
have at that firm etc.
Or necessarily what that does is that it makes you a low risk investment, and firms
typically like people who are guaranteed to join, who are guaranteed to work and who
already know what life in that firm is going to look like as compared to somebody who
has not really found out about life in that company thus far. That was my comparative
between the two candidates. Thank you. (Video Ends: 49:14)
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INDEX

S. No Topic Page No.

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In unit 2 of module 2, we go to the importance of non-verbal communication in speaking; in

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In week 4, as it since it is a tiered course we move on to a more - very - advanced activity,

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Or we say he was in my batch, which is instead of saying so-and-so was my contemporary in

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Student 1: That’s yeah.

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Student 1: Ha to sahi sahi bol na [Tell me the truth].

Student 3: You had side, okay.

Student 3: I think you have misunderstood.

Student 4: You should have asked me first, right?

Student 4: Yes, of course.

Student 3: Do you understand, do you see the difference?

Student 4: But that is not my problem, right?

Student 3: We are on the same boat, we are on the same boat.

To communicate is to send information - to communicate is to send not just information,

So let us arrive at a working definition of communication, to communicate is to exchange - to

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So it is a form of feedback, it is a response but the response is not equal to a feedback

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So communication, let us conclude by saying that communication, in other words, is the

So what do we do in the inferential model of communication? Just decoding the meaning is

How do we communicate meaning in general? When you want to communicate meaning,

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So language is a game, it works by rules understood by its players, cannot be understood -

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So we are actually pushing things into either or categories, black-and-white categories,

So it is we when we use buffers of this kind by saying, in my opinion or up to this date,

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Did you follow anything at all? I did not.

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