双语：声音比说话内容更重要

　　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.

　　要听到自己说话的声音是非常难的。但说话声音给他人对你的印象造成的影响，可能比你所说的内容还要大。

　　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.

　　一个人的说话声音强烈地影响着他或她留给别人的印象，其重要性甚至超过说话内容。但不少人说话时有不良发声习惯，本图以名人为例进行了说明。

　　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.

　　洪亮而流畅的说话声可以增加你当上CEO的机会。而带鼻音的咕哝、刺耳的音调或尖厉的嗓门可能会让同事无法集中注意力。宾夕法尼亚州英戈马市(Ingomar)的人力资源咨询师菲莉丝·哈特曼(Phyllis Hartman)说：“人们可能很想说‘你闭上嘴巴行不行啊？’但他们不想伤人，所以不谈这个问题。”

　　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，一个人的说话声音强烈地影响着他或她留给别人的印象。得克萨斯州奥斯汀市(Austin)的沟通分析顾问公司Quantified Impressions去年研究了120名管理者的讲话，发现说话声音的重要性是所传达内容的两倍。研究人员采用计算机软件来分析说话人的声音，然后从一个10人专家组和1,000名听者那里搜集反馈信息。在听者评价声音时考虑的因素中，说话声音的质量占了23%的权重，所传达内容占11%。其他因素是说话人的激情、学识和仪态。

　　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.

　　如果声音沙哑、微弱、不自然，或者是带有气息声，听录音的人往往会给说话人贴上消极、虚弱、消沉或紧张的标签。根据《声音杂志》(Journal of Voice)前不久发表的一篇论文，对74名成人的调查显示，说话声音正常者会给人留下成功、性感、友好、聪慧的印象。匹兹堡辅导公司ClearlySpeaking总裁琳达·斯塔基(Lynda Stucky)说：“评价人是我们的本能。你听别人说话，第一件事就是对他们形成看法。”

　　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.

　　其他常见的、让人不爽的说话声音还包括“升调”（uptalk，像说疑问句一样说陈述句）和“煎噪子”（vocal fry，词尾带上刺耳的低吼声）。亚特兰大埃默里大学(Emory University)埃默里语音中心(Emory Voice Center)的言语治疗师布莱恩·佩蒂(Brian Petty)说，这些毛病“让听者觉得说话的人要么是不自在，要么是很痛苦。”

　　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.

　　心烦的听者常常觉得说话者那恼人的说话声音是根本无法改变的，而说话的人常常又认识不到问题的存在。但在大多数情况下，人们的说话声音可以通过治疗、训练或参考别人的反馈得到加强或改善。

　　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.

　　有些声音问题有医学上的原因，比如声襞或声带上有小瘤子。埃默里语音中心言语病理学主任埃迪·哈浦纳(Edie Hapner)说，听觉障碍可能会导致说话声音太大。她还说，年老可能会导致说话音量太小。

　　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.

　　差不多人人都遇到过说话声音让人抓狂的人。本音频集示范了一些令人不悦的说话发声方式。但很多声音问题都可以通过治疗得到缓减，如通过练习改善呼吸来让声音变得有力，或者是强化喉部肌肉或改变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.' '

　　纽约市Corporate Speech Solutions公司总裁、言语治疗师杰恩·拉茨(Jayne Latz)说，经常有上司在业绩评估会上提出下属的声音问题，认为它给同事和客户造成不便，然后人们便请她提供语音辅导。她使用声级设备和录音设备，让客户更加留意自己的发音。拉茨说，她也教发声练习，帮助客户用停顿或重音取代“你知道”(you know)之类的停顿词。

　　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.

　　纽约金融业高管杰拉德·维格努利(Gerard Vignuli)说，他之所以向拉茨求教，是因为他知道自己说话太快、吞掉了词尾，并且常常使用“比如说”(like)之类的停顿词来给自己思考的时间。他说，“以前当我说话的时候，人们根本就不知道我在说什么”，而接受辅导之后，“我学会了暂停，而不是说‘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.

　　朋友们注意到了这种变化。他说：“在我上课之前没人指出过我这个问题，现在他们说看到了变化。他们说，‘过去你说到什么什么的时候我们是很讨厌的’。我说，‘很好！那你为什么现在才告诉我？’”现在维格努利请朋友们帮他练习，让他们在听到他按以前习惯说话时提醒他。

　　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.

　　人们自己听到的说话声和别人听到的说话声是不一样的。哈浦纳博士说，声音必须通过头骨才能进入说话人的耳朵，这就改变了声音听起来的感觉。哈特曼说，指出别人的声音问题是件很难办的事情。她说，有些人会为自己的声音辩护，表示“我说话就是这样，别人不应对我品头论足”。她还说，性别、民族、年龄和文化背景等敏感因素也在人们的说话方式中发挥著作用，所以管理者应当注意不要因为这些因素导致的结果而歧视员工。

　　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.'

　　哈特曼说，以一种肯定的方式提出这个问题会比较好，比如“我赞赏你跟客户说话的方式，听你说话我学到了很多”。她建议在提出这个问题时采用一种“你……的时候我……，因为……”的公式，如“你大声讲话的时候我没法思考，因为那样我会分心”。

　　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.

　　匹兹堡Howland Peterson Consulting公司的人力资源咨询师吉莲·佛罗伦汀(Gillian Florentine)说，工作团队有时候可以帮助员工提高这方面的意识。佛罗伦汀说，她在两年前为一家出版公司的销售团队提供咨询服务，这个团队的一位销售代表说话声音太大，导致同事没法听清客户的电话，整个团队无法正常工作。同事们在团队会议上播出了他们的电话录音，如此一来那位销售代表便可以在背景声中听到自己的声音。佛罗伦汀说，他稍稍降低了自己的音量，并同意重新安排座位、在他桌子旁边装上隔音板。问题解决了，从那以后整个团队得以顺利合作。

　　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.

　　佛罗伦汀建议用人单位将说话声音当作筛选求职者的依据之一。她说，招聘人员通常专注于技能和经验等其他方面因素，后来才发现某个新员工的说话习惯让同事或客户觉得很烦。

　　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.

　　宾夕法尼亚州伊利市(Erie)贸易杂志及网站出版公司Jameson Publishing的总裁吉姆·罗迪(Jim Roddy)说，五年前乔恩·杜登赫费尔(Jon Dudenhoeffer)前来参加一个招聘岗位的面试，他对杜登赫费尔哪方面都喜欢，就是不喜欢他说话的声音。

　　'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.'

　　罗迪说：“面试了半个小时之后，我不得不把笔放下，对他讲，‘我们这里有很多精力充沛、做事积极的人，我觉得他们不会喜欢跟你在一起工作，因为我几乎听不到你说的话。放松点如何？人们会觉得你脉搏都没有了’。”罗迪是《像刚刚战胜癌症一样招人》(Hire Like You Just Beat Cancer)一书的作者。

　　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.'

　　杜登赫费尔说，他在空军做了20年的侦察员和教练员，期间学会了一种声调很低的谨慎的说话方式。同时他也是天性内敛，有一种冷静、克制的行事风格。罗迪指出他的说话声音有问题让他很是吃惊，不过他还是许诺：“好的，我会尽力一试。”

　　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.

　　他说，起初他不得不努力在自己的声音中注入更多力量，但“在我变得更加自在之后，我的个性便显现出来了”。之后，他被提拔为高级销售总监。