Speech and writing - related?

<p>Are the best writers at your school also the most articulate speakers? By speech, I mean what comes out every time they open their mouths and not the prepared, formal ones.</p>

<p>As someone with a mild articulation disorder that has definitely dumbed down my everyday talk, the biggest aid to my writing was consciously divorcing written language from spoken language.</p>

<p>I'm really curious to find out if anyone else has felt this way, that the simplicity of speech has gotten in the way of stringing together complex ideas, that the directness of speech has gotten in the way of variety, that speech's unique protocol has gotten in the way of writing prose that might never be appropriate for speaking by a modern teenager?</p>

<p>Hmm... yeah, many of the excellent writers in my school do speak eloquently naturally, most notably my friend who is ranked #1 in our class and third in the state for debate. </p>

<p>I, for one, definitely come across better in writing than aloud. I think part of this stems from my fear of sounding pretentious and thus my natural dumbing-down of my speech.</p>

<p>cool no one else is interestd</p>

<p>Well, I am by no mean a Pulitzer prize-worthy writer but I love writing and I love talking in front of an audience. However, I know that some of the good writers in my school have difficulties to debate or talk in front of a class and aren't really comfortable in front of a crowd.</p>

<p>I am better at describing complex ideas or use "big" words when I write than when I talk though. And I admit fearing to sound pretentious when I do use complex words in front of others. But I guess a good speaker is someone with charisma, who sounds approachable and captivate crowds... We don't really have debate competitions here, so I can't properly assess if there's a correlation but in my opinion, he/she would have at least one of the above qualities.</p>

<p>I try to adjust my speech depending on my audience: I won't talk to my friends and peers as I would to a teacher or a principal!</p>

<p>Oh no. The best writer in my English class is the worst speaker in our class. He fumbles for the right words and half the time no one can understand him because there's huge gaps of silence randomly scattered in his sentences.</p>

<p>The most effective and articulate writers are also the best debaters at my school.</p>

<p>It does go hand-in-hand. Being able to express oneself eloquently, clearly, and powerfully in one field usually carries over to the next.</p>

<p>what a big contrast in posts #5 and #6 :)</p>

<p>oh and also it's necessary to distinguish between eloquent speakers and charismatic speakers, the latter of which I believe has more to do with social skills, voice quality, and other non-mental attributes</p>

<p>I think they are sometimes related, but they definitely don't have to be. Obviously, if somebody's not a really quick thinker and/or gets nervous speaking in front of other people, they won't look like an intellectual. However, that same person could be very content typing up a paper with nobody watching and with no time constraint. They'd then, obviously, seem like a different person even, if only judged by their speaking/writing skills.</p>

<p>Hmm though now, I went back and read through the original post again, and see that it was talk specifically about just everyday talking... so I'm not as sure.</p>

<p>It seems like a really really good writer would still be able to be quite the eloquent speaker, but I still don't think they necessarily depend on each other.</p>

<p>inveniamviam, the person you described sounds like he has social anxiety. Of course if you take into account extraneous circumstances then there will be exceptions to the rule. To me, an excellent writer who speaks poorly because people are "watching" would be an excellent speaker if he didn't have social anxiety.</p>

<p>Yeah I agree with you ee33ee. But I think they could also just have trouble speaking aloud if they were a little slower than normal when thinking of stuff to say. Simply taking too long to come up with an answer or just to say anything could get them dubbed as a "bad speaker," but obviously when you're writing stuff you don't have to crank out one sentence IMMEDIATELY after the other.</p>

<p>no no no no</p>

<p>Oh my goodness yet. She speaks very eloquently, just how she writes. ;)</p>

<p>Lols, I meant to say oh my goodness yes. Sorry for the typo. :)</p>

<p>Umm no. The most well-written in my school, at least in my classes, are actually those that are more soft spoken.</p>

<p>I write better than I speak. But of course, there are those who can write and speak well. I knew one guy who would have pretty much nothing-no preparation, barely any research and just one idea, yet had like the best speech. Some people are just really good at improvising.</p>

<p>I'm quite a commanding speaker. But, I suck at writing.</p>

<p>It's all about the charisma and the WAY you say it. Not the content.</p>

<p>Well, for a writer to be good at debate/speaking, he/she needs to be a strong speaker as well. I'm pretty sure not all writers are strong speakers.</p>