Don't overexplain when you speak

9 Jul 2023 · 1 min

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0:51

A short advice segment by Hadar Shemesh (YouTube) about the tendency of English-as-a-second-language speakers to over-explain when they fear they were unclear. Shemesh recommends speaking as concisely as possible, trusting listeners to ask for clarification, and using a brief confirmation question (e.g., “Do you know what I mean?”) instead of repeating the same point multiple times.

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Another thing that is relevant, especially for speakers of English as a second language, is the need to over explain the fear that you're not clear enough. Oh, I'm not sure if I made sense or if I'm clear enough. And then you say it again in a different way and you explain it again and over and over again. Or you elaborate to get to the point. Sometimes it's necessary, but sometimes it's not. So if you feel like you're anyway tending to over explain yourself, try to just say what you want to say in the least amount of words as possible, and trust that if it's not clear, the other person is going to ask you what you mean or ask you to repeat yourself. What? What? Come again? Huh? I'm sorry. You can also say something in a concise way and then just ask the other person, do you know what I mean? Do you know what I mean? You know what I mean? You know what I mean? To be certain that your message was delivered, instead of saying it again and again and again.