雙語達人:說話聲音比說的內容還重要

It is hard to hear the sound of your own voice. But that sound may affect other people's impressions of you even more than what you say.

要聽到自己說話的聲音是非常難的。但說話聲音給他人對你的印象造成的影響，可能比你所說的內容還要大。

A strong, smooth voice can enhance your chances of rising to CEO. And a nasal whine, a raspy tone or strident volume can drive colleagues to distraction. 'People may be tempted to say, 'Would you shut up?' But they dance around the issue because they don't want to hurt somebody's feelings,' says Phyllis Hartman, an Ingomar, Pa., human-resources consultant.

一個人的說話聲音強烈地影響着他或她留給別人的印象，其重要性甚至超過說話內容。但不少人說話時有不良發聲習慣，本圖以名人爲例進行了說明。

New research shows the sound of a person's voice strongly influences how he or she is seen. The sound of a speaker's voice matters twice as much as the content of the message, according to a study last year of 120 executives' speeches by Quantified Impressions, an Austin, Texas, communications analytics company. Researchers used computer software to analyze speakers' voices, then collected feedback from a panel of 10 experts and 1,000 listeners. The speakers' voice quality accounted for 23% of listeners' evaluations; the content of the message accounted for 11%. Other factors were the speakers' passion, knowledge and presence.

洪亮而流暢的說話聲可以增加你當上CEO的機會。而帶鼻音的咕噥、刺耳的音調或尖厲的嗓門可能會讓同事無法集中注意力。賓夕法尼亞州英戈馬市(Ingomar)的人力資源諮詢師菲莉絲•哈特曼(Phyllis Hartman)說：“人們可能很想說‘你閉上嘴巴行不行啊？’但他們不想傷人，所以不談這個問題。”

People who hear recordings of rough, weak, strained or breathy voices tend to label the speakers as negative, weak, passive or tense. People with normal voices are seen as successful, sexy, sociable and smart, according to a study of 74 adults published recently in the Journal of Voice. 'We are hard-wired to judge people. You hear somebody speak, and the first thing you do is to form an opinion about them,' says Lynda Stucky, president of ClearlySpeaking, a Pittsburgh coaching company.

新的研究表明，一個人的說話聲音強烈地影響着他或她留給別人的印象。得克薩斯州奧斯汀市(Austin)的溝通分析顧問公司Quantified Impressions去年研究了120名管理者的講話，發現說話聲音的重要性是所傳達內容的兩倍。研究人員採用計算機軟件來分析說話人的聲音，然後從一個10人專家組和1,000名聽者那裏蒐集反饋信息。在聽者評價聲音時考慮的因素中，說話聲音的質量佔了23%的權重，所傳達內容佔11%。其他因素是說話人的激情、學識和儀態。

Other common vocal irritants include 'uptalk' -- pronouncing statements as if they were questions -- and 'vocal fry' -- ending words in a raspy growl. Such quirks 'make the listener think the person who is speaking is either uncomfortable or in pain,' says Brian Petty, a speech pathologist at the Emory Voice Center in Atlanta.

如果聲音沙啞、微弱、不自然，或者是帶有氣息聲，聽錄音的人往往會給說話人貼上消極、虛弱、消沉或緊張的標籤。根據《聲音雜誌》(Journal of Voice)前不久發表的一篇論文，對74名成人的調查顯示，說話聲音正常者會給人留下成功、性感、友好、聰慧的印象。匹茲堡輔導公司ClearlySpeaking總裁琳達•斯塔基(Lynda Stucky)說：“評價人是我們的本能。你聽別人說話，第一件事就是對他們形成看法。”

Annoyed listeners often assume nothing can be done to change an irritating voice, and the speakers are often unaware of the problem. But in most cases, people's voices can be strengthened or improved through therapy, coaching or feedback.

其他常見的、讓人不爽的說話聲音還包括“升調”（uptalk，像說疑問句一樣說陳述句）和“煎噪子”（vocal fry，詞尾帶上刺耳的低吼聲）。亞特蘭大埃默裏大學(Emory University)埃默里語音中心(Emory Voice Center)的言語治療師布萊恩•佩蒂(Brian Petty)說，這些毛病“讓聽者覺得說話的人要麼是不自在，要麼是很痛苦。”

Some voice problems have a medical cause, such as nodules on the vocal folds, or cords. A hearing impairment can cause people to talk too loudly, says Edie Hapner, director of speech-language pathology at the Emory Voice Center at Emory University. Also, advanced age can cause a person's voice to lose volume, she says.

心煩的聽者常常覺得說話者那惱人的說話聲音是根本無法改變的，而說話的人常常又認識不到問題的存在。但在大多數情況下，人們的說話聲音可以通過治療、訓練或參考別人的反饋得到加強或改善。

But many voice problems can be eased through therapy, including exercises to support the voice through improved breathing, or to strengthen laryngeal muscles or change the way they work.

有些聲音問題有醫學上的原因，比如聲襞或聲帶上有小瘤子。埃默里語音中心言語病理學主任埃迪•哈浦納(Edie Hapner)說，聽覺障礙可能會導致說話聲音太大。她還說，年老可能會導致說話音量太小。

Speech pathologist Jayne Latz says she often receives requests for voice coaching after performance reviews in which a boss raises the issue as a problem for co-workers or customers. She uses sound-level equipment and audio recordings to make clients more aware of how they sound. She also teaches vocal exercises and helps clients replace filler words such as 'you know' with a pause for emphasis, says Ms. Latz, president of Corporate Speech Solutions, New York City.

差不多人人都遇到過說話聲音讓人抓狂的人。本音頻集示範了一些令人不悅的說話發聲方式。但很多聲音問題都可以通過治療得到緩減，如通過練習改善呼吸來讓聲音變得有力，或者是強化喉部肌肉或改變喉部肌肉的工作方式。

New York financial executive Gerard Vignuli consulted Ms. Latz because he knew he spoke too fast, clipped the ends of words and often used filler words such as 'like' to give himself time to think, he says. 'When I was speaking, people didn't know what the hell I was saying,' he says. With coaching, 'I learned to step back and pause rather than saying, 'Uh, uh.' '

紐約市Corporate Speech Solutions公司總裁、言語治療師傑恩•拉茨(Jayne Latz)說，經常有上司在業績評估會上提出下屬的聲音問題，認爲它給同事和客戶造成不便，然後人們便請她提供語音輔導。她使用聲級設備和錄音設備，讓客戶更加留意自己的發音。拉茨說，她也教發聲練習，幫助客戶用停頓或重音取代“你知道”(you know)之類的停頓詞。

His friends noticed the difference: 'People didn't tell me until I started taking lessons, then they said they saw a difference. They said, 'Oh, we used to hate it when you said 'X,' ' he says. 'I said, 'Great! Why did you wait until now to tell me?'' Now, he asks friends to help him practice, telling them, 'Call me out' when they hear him lapse into old speech patterns.

紐約金融業高管傑拉德•維格努利(Gerard Vignuli)說，他之所以向拉茨求教，是因爲他知道自己說話太快、吞掉了詞尾，並且常常使用“比如說”(like)之類的停頓詞來給自己思考的時間。他說，“以前當我說話的時候，人們根本就不知道我在說什麼”，而接受輔導之後，“我學會了暫停，而不是說‘哦、啊’”。

People don't hear their own voices as others hear them. The voice must travel through the bones of the head before reaching the speaker's ears, changing the way it sounds, says Dr. Hapner.

朋友們注意到了這種變化。他說：“在我上課之前沒人指出過我這個問題，現在他們說看到了變化。他們說，‘過去你說到什麼什麼的時候我們是很討厭的’。我說，‘很好！那你爲什麼現在才告訴我？’”現在維格努利請朋友們幫他練習，讓他們在聽到他按以前習慣說話時提醒他。

Raising the issue can be touchy, Ms. Hartman says. Some people become defensive about their voices, saying, 'That's just the way I talk, and people shouldn't judge me,' she says. Also, sensitive factors such as gender, ethnicity, age and cultural background play a role in how people talk, and so managers should take care not to discriminate against an employee based on those characteristics, she says.

人們自己聽到的說話聲和別人聽到的說話聲是不一樣的。哈浦納博士說，聲音必須通過頭骨才能進入說話人的耳朵，這就改變了聲音聽起來的感覺。哈特曼說，指出別人的聲音問題是件很難辦的事情。她說，有些人會爲自己的聲音辯護，表示“我說話就是這樣，別人不應對我品頭論足”。她還說，性別、民族、年齡和文化背景等敏感因素也在人們的說話方式中發揮著作用，所以管理者應當注意不要因爲這些因素導致的結果而歧視員工。

It helps to raise the topic on a positive note, such as, 'I admire the way you talk to clients. I've learned a lot by listening to you,' Ms. Hartman says. She suggests using an 'I-when you-because' formula when raising the problem, saying, 'I'm unable to think when you talk loudly because it's distracting to me.'

哈特曼說，以一種肯定的方式提出這個問題會比較好，比如“我讚賞你跟客戶說話的方式，聽你說話我學到了很多”。她建議在提出這個問題時採用一種“你……的時候我……，因爲……”的公式，如“你大聲講話的時候我沒法思考，因爲那樣我會分心”。

Work teams can sometimes help raise an employee's awareness, says Gillian Florentine, a human-resource consultant with Howland Peterson Consulting in Pittsburgh. A publishing-company sales team she worked with two years ago was disrupted by a rep whose voice boomed so loudly that co-workers couldn't hear clients on the phone, Ms. Florentine says. Co-workers in team meetings shared recordings of their calls, so the rep could hear himself in the background. He toned it down a bit, and agreed to a plan to rearrange their desks and place soundproof panels near his desk, she says. The problem was solved and the team has since been able to work smoothly together.

匹茲堡Howland Peterson Consulting公司的人力資源諮詢師吉蓮•佛羅倫汀(Gillian Florentine)說，工作團隊有時候可以幫助員工提高這方面的意識。佛羅倫汀說，她在兩年前爲一家出版公司的銷售團隊提供諮詢服務，這個團隊的一位銷售代表說話聲音太大，導致同事沒法聽清客戶的電話，整個團隊無法正常工作。同事們在團隊會議上播出了他們的電話錄音，如此一來那位銷售代表便可以在背景聲中聽到自己的聲音。佛羅倫汀說，他稍稍降低了自己的音量，並同意重新安排座位、在他桌子旁邊裝上隔音板。問題解決了，從那以後整個團隊得以順利合作。

Ms. Florentine advises employers to screen job seekers based partly on their voices. Hiring managers typically focus on other factors, such as skills and experience, only to realize later than a new hire's speech patterns are annoying to co-workers or customers, she says.

佛羅倫汀建議用人單位將說話聲音當作篩選求職者的依據之一。她說，招聘人員通常專注於技能和經驗等其他方面因素，後來才發現某個新員工的說話習慣讓同事或客戶覺得很煩。

When Jim Roddy interviewed Jon Dudenhoeffer five years ago for a recruiting job, he liked everything about him but his voice, says Mr. Roddy, president of Jameson Publishing, an Erie, Pa., publisher of trade magazines and websites.

賓夕法尼亞州伊利市(Erie)貿易雜誌及網站出版公司Jameson Publishing的總裁吉姆•羅迪(Jim Roddy)說，五年前喬恩•杜登赫費爾(Jon Dudenhoeffer)前來參加一個招聘崗位的面試，他對杜登赫費爾哪方面都喜歡，就是不喜歡他說話的聲音。

'After the first half-hour, I had to put down my pen and say to him, 'We have a lot of high-energy, engaging people here, and I don't think they're going to like working with you because I can hardly hear you,' ' says Mr. Roddy, author of 'Hire Like You Just Beat Cancer.' He added, 'How about loosening up? People are going to think you have no pulse.'

羅迪說：“面試了半個小時之後，我不得不把筆放下，對他講，‘我們這裏有很多精力充沛、做事積極的人，我覺得他們不會喜歡跟你在一起工作，因爲我幾乎聽不到你說的話。放鬆點如何？人們會覺得你脈搏都沒有了’。”羅迪是《像剛剛戰勝癌症一樣招人》(Hire Like You Just Beat Cancer)一書的作者。

Mr. Dudenhoeffer says he learned to speak in a low-key, deliberate tone during his 20-year stint as an investigator and trainer in the Air Force. He is also naturally reserved and has a calm, controlled manner. He was surprised that Mr. Roddy made an issue of his voice, but promised, 'Sure, I'll give it a try.'

杜登赫費爾說，他在空軍做了20年的偵察員和教練員，期間學會了一種聲調很低的謹慎的說話方式。同時他也是天性內斂，有一種冷靜、剋制的行事風格。羅迪指出他的說話聲音有問題讓他很是吃驚，不過他還是許諾：“好的，我會盡力一試。”

He had to make an effort at first to put more energy into his voice, but 'after I got more comfortable, my personality just came out,' he says. He has since been promoted to senior director of sales.

他說，起初他不得不努力在自己的聲音中注入更多力量，但“在我變得更加自在之後，我的個性便顯現出來了”。之後，他被提拔爲高級銷售總監。