Have you ever met someone who loves to listen to himself speak and rarely gives others a chance to talk? Or do you know someone who always interrupts someone else's conversation?
While such people may have amazing speech skills, they are unfortunately not appreciated as experts in the conversation. A person who is skilled with words has perfect listening skills, and this allows him to do his best in communicating, whether it’s interpersonal or in a group.
In interpersonal communication, a person with good listening abilities can communicate concisely, and appropriately respond to the words of others, as it enables him to formulate effective responses.
There are a number of helpful tips that are useful for developing listening skills both in children and adults:
- Improve Patience
Be patient when someone speaks. Many people tend to start talking before someone finishes their sentence. Patience is an effective key to listening. Let people finish the conversation first before you start responding.
- Give Feedback
Providing feedback while listening to the other person is also important to reinforce the fact that you are listening and interested.
- Focus on the Conversation
Sometimes when people are talking we let our minds wander unconsciously. We must focus our minds on the person so as to improve our ability to listen.
- Provide Suggestions for the Right Time
Many people tend to jump in and advise without having listened to the entire conversation. Understand what others are saying and then react by giving overall suggestions in a timely manner.
Verbal intelligence can be an effective tool in one's social and personal life. Here I give examples of cases of people with high verbal intelligence who have used their abilities for the common and spiritual well-being: David loves to talk. He utilizes his skills voluntarily for Community Hospice. He can get along with a bunch of wasted people. He can talk to anyone. David received a call from the hospital and was given information about a patient. David then arranged the time to meet with the patients family. He has been trained on how to handle the bereaved family and how the patient should be treated. David has helped many patients and families by using his verbal skills.
Pragmatics
While being skilled with words refers to an individual with very well developed verbal skills, there are actually a number of components of this capability such as syntax, phonology, semantics, and pragmatics. Pragmatics is the ability to use language to achieve practical goals and is actually a very important aspect of linguistic intelligence. Pragmatics determine a person's ability to communicate his intentions through linguistic tools. This is the type of intelligence in leaders such as Winston Churchill, Martin Luther King, and Ernest Hemingway. At a glance, a low pragmatic level means that the speaker or writer may not be able to achieve their purpose through oral or written communications.
An example of a true case involving the ability of Pragmatics: Noah is a student at State University who suffers from dyslexia. But his verbal skills are well above average. When he delivers a speech, he makes the listener excited. His choice of words is amazing. He knows exactly when to use anecdotes to keep people interested. Explaining complicated facts orally to him is as easy as taking a walk on a Sunday.
John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, is a figure gifted with extraordinary linguistic-verbal skills. JFK attended Harvard University and followed this with military service in the Navy during World War II, where he became a ship commander in the Solomon Islands and won the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. His language skills helped him write Profiles in Courage, which won the Pulitzer Prize. He became a member of the US Congress and Senate before being nominated by the Democratic Party for the presidency of the United States in 1960.
JFK's ability to listen and debate helped him conquer his Republican rival, Richard Nixon. The feelings he generated to the people during his reign, and his legacy as a strong speaker and leader, are still remembered to this day in the United States.
There are people in every culture with strong word skills. For example, Pablo Neruda of Chile was one of the greatest and most productive poets of the 20th century. His writings live with the views, sounds, tastes, and smells of a life that was experienced happily, deeply, and with an emotional intensity. Due to his remarkable verbal skills, he served as ambassador to Paris from Chile. His verbal ability can bring to life all the feelings that make life colorful and amazing.
Source:
- Frames of Mind-Theory of Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner
- How to Multiply Your Child's Intelligence by May Lwin
