Dictating is a faster option when you have to multi-task.
In fact, I dictate blog posts, articles, and other online content at a rate of 20,000 words per day or more.
How do I pull this off?
It is important to be relaxed and to think about what you are about to say to make your message as accurately as possible. Speaking fast when dictating saves yourself time, but the clarity of your diction is equally important to make yourself understood.
Here are some tips on how to produce good quality dictation recordings:
Train yourself to think faster
The human brain is an amazing thing. It is considered the supercomputer in charge of commanding and controlling the human body, from the simplest movement of lifting a finger to the most complex task of solving mind-boggling puzzles.
1. Exercise your thinking
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Brain cells not only need physical movement; it also needs mental stimulation. People who think fast always find ways to utilize their brainpower.
You can do this by experiencing new tastes and smells, travel to new places, create art, learn a new skill, research a new topic or develop new habits. This activates various parts of your brain to make it receive and transmit information more efficiently.
It is similar to the way bodybuilders try new weightlifting exercises to help build and develop underutilized muscles.
This way, your brain will get to improve the function of the usually inactive parts of the brain.
2. Be curious about things around you
Our brains are designed to be naturally curious. Unfortunately, as we grow older, most of us begin to suppress or deny this natural curiosity.
We tend to stick to a normal routine or form assumptions or generalizations that cause us to think less about the “whys” of things and simply accept them without further thought.
The best way to exercise curiosity is to ask “Why?” Make it a point to ask yourself a minimum of 10 “why’s” everyday.
This will get your brain thinking about things and you will be surprised to find that there are so many opportunities and solutions in your life and work.
3. The Mozart Effect
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More than a decade ago, psychologists at the University of Wisconsin noticed that listening to Mozart can improve people’s mathematical and spatial reasoning skills.
In their experiment, they let a mouse walk through a maze while listening to Mozart’s music. They noticed that they went through the maze faster and more precise than when they were listening to white noise.
Although there have been studies that not everyone benefited from Mozart’s music, they have found that music does boost brain power simply because it makes listeners feel better and more relaxed.
4. The benefits of writing
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Writing is a way of capturing thoughts and ideas then putting them down to words. It is a way to keep your brain is active and organized.
The biggest benefit of writing is that it can expand your brain capacity.
Try to find ways to write, such as writing something for your friends, writing your childhood story, starting your own blog or simply write diary entries about how you spent your day.
No matter the topic, the act of putting your thoughts to paper is a great way to train your brain to think.
How to speak faster
Millions of thoughts zoom through our heads every single day. When it comes to dictation, thinking fast must be coupled with clarity of thought. When your thoughts are clear and organized, it will be easier to find the right words to express your ideas.
1. Loosen your tongue
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Most often than not, we are too lazy to move our lips and tongue when speaking.
To practice, try looking at yourself in the mirror and talk. Keep your back straight and speak in a clear and steady tone. Open your mouth and form the tones of the words clearly and with confidence.
2. Keep your sentences short and simple
Do not attempt to form complex sentences at the start.
The longer and more complicated your sentences are, the more effort and time you will spend analyzing your sentence structure and organizing your train of thought.
Express yourself using simple sentences that are easy to understand.
3. Enunciate to improve your quick speech pronunciation
When starting a dictation, learn to relax. You can try practicing some hard-to-pronounce words in advance to make you feel confident about using these words in your piece.
4. Learn from your mistakes
It is normal to mispronounce a few words or stammer as you find the right word at the start.
Once you identify these mistakes, work on getting rid of those. Research on the right way to use that new word or sentence structure and practice saying them out loud.
In no time, you will improve your English considerably.
5. Try practicing on some English tongue twisters
Tongue twisters are not just silly rhymes and exercises in phonics. They can actually reveal certain weaknesses in your speaking and pronunciation skills.
Try saying some English tongue twisters out loud to practice sounds and tones.
This way, you can both improve the clarity of your voice and at the same time practice speaking faster.
6. Read aloud to yourself
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This will improve your confidence and help you enhance your flow when speaking.
Try it in your favorite book or any short article. As you read out loud, train yourself to speak faster with each repetition.
7. Thinking in Fast English
When you surround yourself with sped up English (ex: watching Youtube videos in 1.25x speed setting), you will get used to speaking in sped up English.
Soon, you will notice a considerable improvement in your speech clarity and speed.
8. Pick a role model
Try to find a favorite English public speaker, radio or television personality.
Observe the way he or she talks and expresses ideas. This will surely help you learn English quicker and faster.
With these tips in mind, you can greatly improve your ability in both thinking and speaking quickly.
This will help you improve on your dictation skills, making you more confident in expressing yourself, speaking faster and getting your message clearly to your listeners.
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