Students must learn essential knowledge and skills to deliver an impressive English speech or presentation for academic purposes, job hunting, and business occasions. Global perspectives and inter-cultural communication skills are taught here to facilitate most Chinese English learners. 学习在学术交流、求职、海外留学与商务场景下进行英文演讲与演示所必备的知识与技能，强化中国学生的全球化视角与跨文化沟通技巧。
4.8 演讲中的路标词汇 Signposts in Your Speech
Loading...
From the course by Peking University
Essentials for English Speeches and Presentations 英语演讲与演示
101 ratings
From the lesson
Week4. 演讲中的语言技能与非语言技Verbal and non-verbal skills
一篇成功的演讲不仅要求演讲者具备良好的语言技能，同时对非语言技能的要求也很高。肢体语言、TONE、身体移动与站姿、手势甚至视觉接触都会影响演讲最终的呈现效果。好的演讲者不仅要熟练掌握演讲如何开始如何起承转合如何结尾等语言技能，也应注重培养自己的非语言技能。The lecturer discusses how verbal and non-verbal communication skills function when we conduct English speeches & presentations. Cases mentioned are from home and abroad.
Meet the Instructors
Hongyan 宏岩 ZHANG 张Dr.
School of Software& Microelectronics北京大学软件与微电子学院
How you develop you speech.
I mean when you are delivering a speech for your audience,
they do not know exactly what you’re going to tell in the next minute.
And I mean in China, you know,
I believe that most Chinese audience,
they have very good ability in reasoning,
and they do not need too much hint so that they can catch up
with your talking very easily.
But this may be not if you’re delivering a speech to Westerners
or to the English world.
The most of them they got this good habit that,
this is the principle that they operate their speeches normally.
Basically what we say is that, in the beginning,
they will say what they will be talking about,
and then they talk about it.
And in the end, they said what they have talked about.
So basically, this is their logic.
Most Westerners they are not accustomed to the way you talked
that make them totally lost at any period of time.
So they want to know where they are logically.
This is simply like that, take my case as an example,
I was writing in the suburbs of Paris.
I mean it’s totally a strange place.
I like those villages,
but you know it’s so hard for me to figure out the way.
I mean to have a good sense of direction,
that’s not work in many countries.
In many countries,
it is no use for you to have only the sense of direction.
We Chinese were used, especially in Beijing,
we are good at telling direction.
Like the grandma can say to grandpa，
“Move the barrel 10cm to the north,
and then 5cm to the west.”
This sounds crazy to many foreigners.
They do not have this sense of direction.
This kind of sense of direction owned by Chinese,
especially a native in Beijing,
is very strong in face.
We often hear that an old man said to an old woman,
the old woman said to the old man:
You go to move this urn
10 centimetre to the north,
and 5 centimetre to the west.
It happens frequently in China,
but many people from other cities are not used to this,
especially those cities
which are not arranged in south or north.
Cities are not established by the direction of this.
Especially for cities with rivers,
most of buildings will be built along the rivers.
So you do not have a sense of which is north, which is south.
In Paris, in most cities of Europe,
I observed that you know, the only thing you can rely on is those signposts.
And whenever you meet a signpost,
you need to stop and have a good look at it.
This is also a very good of act for Chinese travelers
Anytime when we meet with a road sign,
we will stop most of the time
or drive it very slowly.
Or
in fact you cannot find it.
Because sometime
we are not going out with our GPS
and we prefer the feel of exploring a way.
Especially in downtown Paris,
you will find out that those signposts are not pointing to north,
south or any direction.
Most timely you’re in a certain plaza,
which may lead to six different directions.
I mean six directions, it’s not four.
So you got to be very careful about reading those signposts.
And this is what you learn.
And you will practice this in your speech.
I mean coming up next you’re going to have a lot of TED Talk speeches,
I believe that this will give you a sense
that how you navigate the ship along the river
To start, in the very beginning,
what would they say to start something?
Let’s say: “I’d like to start by introducing you to someone…”
“I’d like to start by introducing you to someone or something”.
So this is quite natural one.
You’d like to repeat after me in your heart,
“I’d like to start by introducing you to …”
Then you may would like to try this one,
“so now let me introduce you to …”
“So now let me introduce you to …”
sometimes you say this
So how about this one,
“so the first question is …”
Or “the next question people always ask me is …”
See, you can simply build up your speech by this
“so the first question is …”
Or “the next question people always ask me is …”
And you’re driven by a series of questions.
This may work.
And when you start to talk frequently you need to give examples,
like we mentioned before that exemplification is very important.
Means that they want to support their topic or
they want to give a good reasoning,
they will set a lot of examples and details.
So here are the words and expressions they may be using,
like this one
“let me just give you one example.”
The simple and direct
“let me just give you one example”
“Now let me show you these heat maps of Paris” or whatever.
“Now let me show you something.”
“Take my brother as an example”,
“Take somebody as an example”,
“Take me as an example” or whatever.
“A good case in point is …”
my suggestion is that you have a careful examination of
all these examples
and get a better sense that how you be using these words
or expressions.
OK. Let’s move on.
To continue with your speech, you know,
sometime you simply do not have some big words
but you want to make a transition.
This is what they normally do.
most of time, it's hard for us to find
some greater words.
No need to make a very important transition logically,
just progressive modal and so on.
At this time , the modal particle is necessary here
to make some extensions.
For example, many westerners prefer to use "now"
Now, Now the task being posted are things that whatever,
Now the way TaskRabbit work is,
Now, when you think about it, it’s amazing.
So the word "now"
is very popular among them.
So when you are describing
some examples,
making some explanation,
you cannot find a proper
a very accurate word to express the continuity in logical.
“Now”is a good choice actually.
"And" is used frequently
due to the fact that "and " can stand for not only
coordinating but also progressive,
and even a natural extention.
Since "and" has so many functions,
so many times
there is a high passiblity for the to use the word "and"
like
And she urges the international community not
to forget its promise about whatever
And then the next year
And I remember thinking in that moment.
You may think it is not very useful
but if we have a try,
you will find that,
if we now try to get rid of these "and" from the sentence.
You will find the sentence you say
will not be so smooth.
For example,
I remember thinking…
here people will think about
the logic in your sentence.
It means to find the relationship with the former one
without "and",
actually will be a little bit wired.
Er, let’s say “So”,
it’s another frequently uesed expression to do this, so.
Even you know when many people
start talking something,
they can go straight to say that.
So, today we are going to talk about whatever.
You know, the "so",
could be a kind of modal particle.
So you can say it at the beginning of your talk without any reason.
You can know that
during their writing course,
it is normal to add a "so"
in the talk
which has been already started.
So, today for me, being fearless means being honest.
So, he doesn't emphasize the "so" very much sometime,
cause we know it means "therefore"
and that is a cause-and-effect relationship,etc.
There is no strong relationship at all most of the time,
sometimes, just a modal particle.
Well，it’s another an expression.
I even think about
if you forbid the westerners to say "well",
they couldn't speak anymore.
Especially many people
who are not good at arranging his logic
before speaking.
No "well",no "so",no "and",then no "speaking".
What we can learn from here,
like
Well, for the past few centuries.
Well, at some point, all children become aware of death.
Like another one like this, you see,
you see, in every country where you hear about
armed jihad is targeting civilians.
You see, they’re much more likely, you see.
Actually, it is also a great way to
continue a passage and its logic branches.
Maybe many Chinese get used to it,
often saying "you know"
you know,of course you can say like this.
But in fact,
we find that they prefer to say "you see" rather than "you know".
What we are talking about now is based on 100
lecures in TED Talk
given by some people who are experts in speech.
Then we conclude some
common expressions here.
Here comes another one "and then"
it means going further
both in time
and in logic.
like this one.
It was one light at first.
And then four lights.
It's like this ,one
then next
another,
a long continuity,
So, and then, and then,
in fact,，
you can see that
many are used wrong sometimes.
Most of time, at the beginning
of a speech, people are not clear about
how many points they are going to say.
Here is a common joke,
like this,
I am going to tell everyone three things,
A,B and don't know what is C,
and I forgot it.
so it turns out to be
forgetting about the third point.
So, to avoid the embarrassing situation,
the best way is that
you don't say how many points you are going to say.
I just finish the first one, then "and then"
start another one, finally blah blah…
and then. Ok?
It seems to be a rascal way
but they often do like this.
Let’s see this one: not only, but also.
If you want to use this way,
you will find that
I have studied it carefully,
who can use the expression "not only, but also，"
correctly
are very thoughtful and cautious speakers.
What's more, actually,
they usually leave out the "also".
So, here we see
many cases
are like this.
So people really do learn a language.
And not only do they learn it as well,
but actually it’s way more interesting.
We are not only risking the extinction of the entire coral species,
the warm water corals,
we’re not only risking a fourth of all fish species
which are in the oceans,
but we are risking the very lives
and livelihoods of more than 500 million people who whatever.
Obviously,
speaker has thought very carefully before speech.
not only, but also
not only, but also
so, I suggest that
as for those very cautious speakers,
cautious speaker，
or people who pay much attention to logics and reasonings,
they may want to use this one. “not only, but ...”
Quoting,
when we talk about quoting,
our Chinese students like using the expression
sb said sth. That is very simple.
In fact, we could use some better expressions instead of it,
such as Why does she continue?
She says with a smile that that is the question that
everyone asks---as she puts it,
Why you risk not living
-as she puts it
the way how to use "put"
just like in our oral English,
I put it another way.
I put it another way，as she puts it，
as she puts it，
as she puts it,
our students will speak like this,
she says,
here we can use "put" to take place of "say"
then our speech will be more native.
Another way is，
when we are quoting someone's words seriously,
this way, this word,
is also frequently used by me.
If I may quote Steve Jobs,
If I may quote Steve Jobs,
I remember when he talked about
the rise of desktop computers and
how when people said to him that
desktop computers wouldn’t take off
because people refused to learn how to type,
he said “death would eventually take care of this.”
here
we focus on the structure.
it is a kind of way
for him to say if I may quote Steve Jobs,
then, it is very clear,
when quoting Steve Jobs,
what is the occasion he met with,
what is the situation.
At that time, Steve Jobs
has met someone,
saying that he want to ask some questions about Jobs,
so he shows us the background
of this quoting.
then, he said it like this,
Death would eventually take care of this.
Death would eventually take care of this.
Don't worry.
We sometimes need to accentuate on something,
we want to put more focus on that.
So let’s see here are the expressions we may want to use.
Would anyone come? In fact.
Thousands of people came out the next day whatever.
In fact,
blah blah......
In fact and Actually，
they are the most popular expressions they used,
most popular
though here I just give you these two examples,
just because of the lack of space.，
Actually, they use it very frequently，actually
Actually, for 10 years.
And I feel like there’s an uncomfortable tension whatever actually.
You can try it sometime,
like emphasizing a truth,
like，luckily,
blah blah，unfortunately,
blah blah......
so by using these words
to show the points you want to focus on,
turning point，
turning point，
showing up in almost all speeches.
the most common way is to use "but"
but does have his kind of function.
Cause But can be used in
no matter a big turning or a small turning,
all kinds of turning points.
We suggest
using "but" to show the turning points,
when it is small in logic.
Like here.
You don’t have to tell me now,
but I’ll find out later on Twitter.
Actually, the turning point here
is not very strong.
He said you don't need tell me now,
I can find it later on Twitter.
so he use "but", too.
It 's not a very strong relationship.
Like this one,
At the time, these words were earmarked
and targeted against the British,
but over the last 200 years.
The turning point here is not strong, too.
so what we said very strong
turning point
if you have use "on the one hand" before,
then you may use "but on the other hand",
or you have mentioned one aspect at first,
then you say on the other hand,
this is the strong comparison and turning,
but you must make sure
you have foreshadowing before, then we can use this word.
When foreshadowing is unnecessary,
and the turning point is very obvious.
We will use this one，However
However, to many who live in the emerging markets,
this is an illusion.
like, we can clearly see this sentence,
we think about that,
as for those who are living
in the emerging market.
It is not realistic,
so,obviously,
they have talked something about this before,
which are not suitable for the emerging market now.
So this kind of turning point
In fact, the whole style of his writing
or speech, in terms of his whole logic,
is a huge transition in total.
At this time, if you simply use "but",
it is far from enough.
So we use the other word "however"
Of course they would.
However, I am saying that on balance,
they worry more about where their living
standard improvements are going to come from.
However,
you should pay some attention to
the order of words,
it means where to put the "however"
however，it could be used in the very beginning.
Also, putting it right after
one sentence is OK.
Of course they would. However...
Both of the two way are common.
Explore our Catalog
Join for free and get personalized recommendations, updates and offers.
Coursera provides universal access to the world’s best education,
partnering with top universities and organizations to offer courses online.
© 2019 Coursera Inc. All rights reserved.
