Speech Academy

Filler words Filler words: what they actually do, and when they start to cost you «Um» and «uh» are not litter. Researchers describe them as signals with a job. Here is what that job is, when it stops paying, and why simply… September 7, 2026Read Requests How to ask: the difference between a request and a demand Two sentences can carry the same words and land completely differently. What makes an ask an ask, and why a request that cannot be refused is not a… September 7, 2026Read Refusal Saying no: how to refuse without breaking the relationship Most people refuse badly not because they are rude but because they are trying to soften it. What a clear no is made of, and why the vague version… September 7, 2026Read Feedback How to give criticism so it lands The difference between a complaint and criticism is one word, and it decides whether the other person fixes the problem or defends themselves for a… September 7, 2026Read Criticism How to take criticism: the first thirty seconds Nothing about feedback is decided by the feedback. It is decided by what you do in the half-minute after it arrives, before you have had time to… September 7, 2026Read Conflict Four things that wreck a conversation Contempt, criticism, defensiveness and shutting down. Gottman named them studying couples, but they behave the same in a team meeting and at a family… September 7, 2026Read Tone Tone and volume: how disagreement sounds The famous claim that words are only seven per cent of communication is a misquote. What is true about tone is narrower, better established, and more… September 7, 2026Read Interrupting Interrupting: when it is participation and when it is a takeover Not every overlap is an interruption. Deborah Tannen showed that some cultures and families talk on top of each other as a sign of engagement — and… September 7, 2026Read Politeness Face: why a blunt sentence stings more than its content Brown and Levinson described two things every person defends in conversation: the wish to be liked and the wish to be left free. Most offence is… September 7, 2026Read Meaning Why we hear more than was said: Grice's four maxims «Some of the team liked it» sounds like «not all of them», though nobody said so. Paul Grice explained why: listeners assume you are cooperating, and… September 7, 2026Read Messages Writing to each other: why messages sound colder than we mean Kruger and colleagues found that people are far more confident their email tone will land than it actually does. In speech the voice carries the… September 7, 2026Read Swearing Swearing: what it actually does, and where it costs you Richard Stephens found that swearing raised how long people could keep a hand in ice water. The same word that helps you bear pain can also end a… September 7, 2026Read Children Talking in front of children: what they take from a room they are not in E. Mark Cummings and Patrick Davies spent decades on how children respond to adult conflict. The finding that matters most is not «don't argue» — it… September 7, 2026Read Small talk Small talk: what the useless part of a conversation is for Bronisław Malinowski named it phatic communion: speech whose job is connection, not information. Small talk feels empty because you are measuring it… September 7, 2026Read Work Three different things people call feedback Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen separated feedback into appreciation, coaching and evaluation. Most bad feedback conversations are two people wanting… September 7, 2026Read Difficult talk The conversation you keep putting off Stone, Patton and Heen showed that every hard conversation is really three at once: what happened, what we feel, and what it says about us. Most of… September 7, 2026Read