Here’s how to speak up

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Have you ever been in a conversation with a person who talks a lot? How do you speak up? You want to say something, but they just won’t stop talking. Plus, they don’t even seem interested in anything that YOU have to say!

Well, this is normal. If given the opportunity, most people LOVE talking and it’s very common for people to not even think to ask about the other person.

I know, it’s sad. But it’s true.

So what do you do? You want to connect, share your opinions and express yourself too, don’t you? So how do you do that when the other person doesn’t seem interested?

Here’s a tip on how to speak up. Don’t wait for the person to ask you a question.

When you get an opportunity to share something, you have to take the initiative to interrupt with your own comment.

Pick a point in the conversation that relates to something that happened in your life and just share it.

Here are some examples of how to interrupt:

“That’s great! That happened to me too. The other day….”
“Oh, I went to that restaurant as well. This was my experience…”
“I don’t agree with that. If that happened to me, I would’ve…”
“Yeah, which reminds me. I had a similar experience myself. Last week…”

Now, it’s not that I’m encouraging you to interrupt people all the time, but sometimes, yes, we do need to interrupt if the person is talking too much (and it’s boring you).

One-sided conversations are never fun if you’re just the listener.

The best conversations are when both parties are having a dialogue and getting to know one another on a deeper level.

So there you have it. I hope today’s tip will help you to speak up more–especially among people who just love talking and won’t stop. Make it a habit. It may seem awkward at first, but it’ll get easier over time.

Do you want to speak English with confidence?

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Hi there!

We’re Azimah, Amnah and Aisya from Malaysia. We created My English Matters as a digital platform to help Malaysians and second language learners with their English proficiency.

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