I recently stumbled upon a fantastic podcast by accident—"The Speaking Coach" with Jefferson Fisher, hosted by Steven Bartlett. Jefferson is a trial lawyer, and his approach to communication is full of useful insights.
He talks about things like word order, words to avoid (not in daily conversation but in certain situations), and how to say more with fewer words—because the more you talk, the easier it is for people to miss the point.
As someone who speaks English as a second language, I know my vocabulary is still limited. But even back in Japan, I always kept one thing in mind: "Keep it simple." If people don’t understand what I’m saying, it’s not because they’re lacking understanding—it’s because I didn’t explain it well.
One common mistake is feeling like using fewer words sounds rude. So, we add unnecessary words and make sentences too long. As an English learner, learning many adverbs can bring you closer to sounding like a native speaker, but that’s different from speaking clearly and confidently.
This episode also covered how to make small talk smoothly, which many people struggle with. I’m not an extrovert, so at social gatherings (which rarely happen for me!), I hesitate to start conversations with new people. But I am a good listener, so I let others talk—which, it turns out, is a great way to connect. (At my pop-ups, though, it’s a different story—maybe I’ll write about that another time!)
If you want to improve how you communicate, I highly recommend this podcast. It's practical, insightful, and might change the way you think about speaking.
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