How to Stop Mumbling and Be Heard

culled from:quickanddirtytips.com

Mumbling happens when your conversation partner has a hard time understanding your words—when you have indistinct enunciation. How do you know if you frequently mumble?  People will often ask you to repeat yourself!  

Mumbling usually happens because your mouth isn’t open enough.  When you’ve got partially closed teeth and lips, the syllables can't escape properly and all the sounds run together. Mumbling can also be caused by looking down, and speaking too quietly or too quickly.

Today I’ll cover 8 exercises you can do to get your mouth open and your lips moving and, most importantly, to have you speaking more clearly:
Exercise #1: Enunciate. Articulate. Exaggerate.

One way to avoid mumbling is to simply remind yourself to stop mumbling with this little phrase: enunciate, articulate, exaggerate. But say it this way…

E-nun-ci-ate. Ar-tic-u-late. Ex-agg-er-ate.

Whenever you speak, it is important to enunciate or pronounce words or parts of words clearly. To do that, open your mouth very wide and pronounce each syllable separately. Try repeating these words several times this way. If you are someone who regularly mumbles, it might help you to imagine that you are outside in the wind talking on your cell phone using the speaker phone, then say the words…

E-nun-ci-ate. Ar-tic-u-late. Ex-agg-er-ate.

Or pretend like you’re really mad at someone because they're ignoring you and you are repeating the words for the third time:

E-NUN-CI-ATE, AR-TIC-U-LATE, EX-AGG-ER-ATE.
Exercise #2: "The Lips, the Teeth, the Tip of the Tongue"

Keep in mind, your mouth is an instrument, and like all instruments, the more space you allow for the sound of your voice, the more resonant and clear it will be. Think of opera singers and pop stars when they need to hit the big note—their mouth is wide open.

My kids went to drama camp this summer. Enunciating their words was a big part of their training. They started each morning with a vocal exercise. You can try it now. Simply repeat these words quickly:

“The lips, the teeth, the tip of the tongue.”

If you don’t open your mouth widely for this exercise, what happens? You’ll fumble the words. You simply can’t repeat these words quickly without opening your mouth.

Think back to the tongue twisters you may have learned in childhood. These are all good exercises to help get your mouth wide open. Repeat each of these several times quickly:

    Rubber baby buggy bumpers.
    Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers.
    How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

Now, let's try the "pencil in the mouth" trick!

Exercise #3: The “Pencil in the Mouth” Trick

There’s another vocal exercise that goes like this.

"Mommy made me mash my M&Ms…I cried!"

First, try singing this line several times. Each time you repeat, start one note higher. You should find yourself pronouncing each syllable more clearly and opening your mouth wider with each repetition.

Now, repeat the same phrase, but with a twist – put a pencil in your mouth horizontally. You don’t have to sing this time, but if you want to, feel free!
Exercise #4: Read Out Loud

For the next exercise, pick up something to read. It can be a novel, a children’s picture book, a magazine, or newspaper. Now read it out loud. Enunciate each syllable, focusing on keeping your mouth open and your lips moving. Exaggerate the words a bit to really open up. If you have kids, you can practice reading out loud to them. Add some dramatic flair. Get into it!

Exaggerate the words a bit to really open up. If you have kids, you can practice reading out loud to them.
Exercise #5: Record Yourself

Next, record yourself speaking on your camera phone or tablet. Listen for letters, syllables, or words you don't pronounce clearly. Look at how wide open your mouth is. Try the exercises again while recording yourself. Then review the video to see if you have at least one finger width of space.

If recording yourself isn’t an option, ask a friend to help you out. Just be careful who you pick! I made the mistake of telling my children to call attention to my enunciation problems—they caught me dropping the "g" sound in many words. (I'm from the Philadelphia area where this is very common.)

“Mommy, you just said, 'gonna go.' It’s “going to go.”  “Mrs. Public Speaker, you just said, 'hootin' and hollerin', but that should be 'hooting and hollering.'” Seriously though, it’s fun for them, and I’ve become much more aware of my enunciation. 
3 More Tips to Help You Stop Mumbling

Here are 3 more quick tips to help you stop mumbling:

    Sing in the shower. Sing in the car. Sing with your kids. Emphasize your words. Singing helps to exercise your voice and mouth.
    Breathe with your diaphragm. Put your hand on your tummy and take a breath. If you’re using your diaphragm you’ll feel your tummy expand with air.
    Make eye contact and stand up straight. It’s harder to mumble when you’re looking someone in the eye.

In this mini-seried we started by talking about Why You Mumble (and Why you Need to Stop!). Today, I’ve given you some time-tested exercises to help you stop mumbling. If you frequently mumble, then do at least one each exercise each day for several weeks until speaking clearly becomes a habit. The bottom line is this: When your mouth is naturally more open, you'll have more breath support. You’ll have more precise sounds. You'll have a more relaxed pace. Everyone will understand you and your credibility will increase.

At first, speaking with a more open mouth is going to feel strange and unnatural. Mumblers are not used to having this feeling. But by regularly doing the exercises, speaking clearly will feel more natural.