Hi there, welcome once again to a brand new lesson on Let’s Talk and I'm Alisha and
I'm here today to discuss with you a very natural expression that all of us have. So
what’s natural? Yes, I'm going to talk about English fillers, fillers that all of us use
whilst we communicate and why is it natural? Yes, it is indeed natural for all of us to
use fillers and it's perfectly okay to use them. However, we must make attempts to eliminate
them, to minimize the usage of fillers and why should you and I minimize the usage of
fillers? We must minimize them because a filler is usually a meaningless word. The word has
no meaning and it expresses a pause. It indicates that the speaker wants to pause. So for example,
if I want to describe the heat outside, I may say it's very umm...you know, umm... you
know. I'm trying to present my thoughts and I want to articulate them but I'm not able
to because I'm hunting for words. So I want to indicate something to you but I'm not able
to because I'm buying time with the help of this filler whilst I look for the right word
to express myself. Hence fillers, as we know, are meaningless. They have no meaning. So
even if you eliminate fillers from a sentence, the meaning of the sentence will not change.
So let's look at some fillers that we very commonly use.
The one is okay. I'm sure all of us use that. The other one is right. We also say like,
I'm very fond of, like, umm... you know, I like, you know, umm... you know, like these
are all fillers. We also err... um... can you, you know, we use all of this very often.
Now how do you eliminate them? Can you completely eliminate them from your communication? You
perhaps can't but you definitely can minimize their usage. So how do you do so? So the first
step that you have which is going to help you to minimize them is identify how often
do you use fillers? Do you use fillers very, very often? Do you use fillers after every
sentence? Do you use fillers because you're very, very unconfident or do you use fillers
when you're nervous? So, first of all, identify the problem. The first step towards a solution
is the identification of the problem. So go ahead, watch yourself, check yourself to figure
out how often do you use fillers. So when I do listen to myself, I see that sometimes
I tend to use you know very often. So that's my identification.
The second one is, know the filler that you use. All of us have an inclination to use
one specific filler. So I have a friend who uses, you know very often. I have a lot of
people like to use like. You know like, you know the movie was like, a you know, can you
like do this for me like, quickly like because I have to present it. So people tend to have
the inclination to use one specific filler. So what I need you to do is, I need you to
know the filler that you specifically use very, very often and then, of course, slow
down.
We don't have to rush. Now, what happens when you slow down? Now we all know that usages
of fillers happen when we are trying to process our thoughts in our brain and we are hunting
for words and buying some time to articulate our thoughts in our communication. Now if
you do it very quickly if you want to talk about it very quickly, you know my name is
Alisha and I'm a trainer and I train in X Y Z. If I speak very fast, then I will end
up using a filler because my thoughts are not processing at that speed. It's going to
take some time for my brain to understand what's the next thing that I want to say and
then I will be able to articulate that with the right choice of words. So if you slow
down, it's going to aid your communication. It's going to help you to understand what
is it that you want to say, pick up the right word that you want to use to express yourself
and there you go you will not need to use fillers very often.
All right, practice, now why is practice important? Well we all know that practice will make you
more comfortable, will familiarize yourself with the content and with thorough and repeated
practice, you will end up memorizing a lot of content that you want to speak. So in the
end what happens is you know exactly what you want to say and hence you will not need
fillers because you will not need the time, you will not need the ability or you will
not have a need to buy time. So if you practice, so say, for example, I have to present something
in front of a crowd or I have to take a class with you. If I practice my lesson thoroughly
then I know what is it that I exactly want to say after a particular idea and if I practice
that very well, I will not have to buy time and hence if I'm not buying time, I will eliminate
naturally the use of fillers.
Okay, chunking, what is this concept? Chunking is a concept which is used very often by public
speakers. Chunking meaning a sudden outburst of words and then take a pause and then say
the next idea. So if I want to talk to you about say, clothing, oh I like various kind
of clothing and I think how you want to dress up is a very personal idea. So what did I
do? I gave you sudden outburst of an idea, I took a pause and then I went to the next
idea. So chunking is nothing but simply giving a sudden outburst of ideas or words taking
a pause and then presenting the next idea.
Focus, friends do not get distracted when you are presenting yourself, be it in your
office, be it in your college or in a debate or in a test that you have to give. Concentrate
on what you want to say because the moment you get distracted you are likely to forget
and there is going to be a breakage in your thoughts and you will begin to use fillers
because you will not be able to articulate what you want to think because your mind is
already distracted towards another direction and gesticulate. What do you mean by that?
This is what gesticulate means. Making gestures, when you gesticulate, it helps you to speak
what you want to speak and it also helps you to completely concentrate on the idea that
you want to express.
And last but not the least, relax. Relax because when you relax, it's a sense of peaceful.
It's a sense of being, it's a sense of well-being. You're at peace with yourself. You know what
you're going to say, is going to sound right. You know what you're going to say is going
to make a lot of sense and hence you need to relax. So if you relax, you are thinking
clearly, you're looking for the right words to express yourselves and whilst doing so,
you're most likely to not use fillers.
So I'm going to give you a quick recap. First of all, what I want you to do is identify
how often do you use those fillers. What is that one filler that you believe you use too
much and you want to get rid of it? Slow down when you speak, slow down, work on your rate
of speech. I'm working on mine. Practice, I always keep telling you, continue to practice
because that's gonna bring in two things into you, confidence and you will automatically
smile and know what you’re going to talk about. Chunking, say what you want to say,
take a pause and move to the next idea. Focus, focus on what you want to speak. Do not get
distracted by anyone standing up or anyone saying something, just concentrate on what
you want to say and present. Gesticulate, make gestures use the best use of your hands
they're going to help you present yourself in a better manner and of course relax because
I know you're gonna do very well and you should know you're gonna do very well. So there is
no need for you to be anxious. All right practice all of this and I'm sure
you will be able to eliminate the usage of fillers till the next lesson keep the practice
on goodbye.