Question:
I am a 16 year old male. Whenever I talk to anyone, they always ask me to repeat myself. I don’t know if I am soft-spoken, or if I have poor articulation, or what. I have tried to record myself, but I sound fine to me. However, everyone usually asks me to repeat myself. I am now really embarrassed to talk to anyone.
Answer:
We all have things to improve on, and this is true for our entire lives, so I hope you will not remain embarrassed or stop expressing yourself. If I were you, I would ask parents, teachers or others you can trust to be kind and helpful, “What makes it difficult to hear me?” Explain to them that you want to remedy this but you aren’t sure what the issue is. Hopefully they can tell you if you are too quiet or if you need to enunciate more clearly. Then you will know what to work on. Meanwhile, I suggest you work on your posture and on breathing deeply and fully. Think of always having as much energy as you would have if you were playing a sport. The more full of life and strength you feel, the more likely you are to be heard. Also read other posts and pages here that talk about creating volume or sounding too soft or quiet as there are other suggestions there.