Evening star., 1938-03-18
Try Speaking
Slowly and
Clearly
Experience Alone
Will Give Words
Any Meaning. .
BY ANGELO PATRI.

WE ALL deal largely in words
They are the medium OF asso-
citation between people The quickest
way of establishing human relations
is by word OF mouth from one to the
other. Our first speech was in our
hands. We pointed. then We waved
and then We nodded the air to ex-
press our meaning The first words
were sounds that initiated other
sounds Little by little we clothed
these sounds with meaning as expert
ence gave them meaning.
Little children start pretty much
at the original place They make
gestures and they make sounds. BY
and by they initiate the word sounds
they hear and We say they have begun
to talk. So they have. But We are
likely to give their talk. and our talk
to them, deeper and fuller meaning
than they have. Little children are
using sounds for talk and those sounds
do not have the full meaning of words
as we know them. This is what makes
relations between parents and chill
dren bit out Of balance at times.
He knew what I wanted him to
do. Why I told him about three
times and he repeated it before he
started. Then he has the face to
tell me he didn't understand what
I meant. Goodness II he is as dumb
as all that-of course he isn't. Didn't
he repeat my very words? And then
70 off and do the exact opposite"
When he said he did not under
stand he was telling the truth. Then
why didn't he say so before he started
on to do the erralld? Because he
didn't know that he did not under
stand until he was faced with the situ-
alton. Then he found himself con-
fused; did what he hoped would be all
right and learned that it wasn't when
his mother said it wasn't. He had not
had enough experience with the Ian
guage his mother used to put meaning
into the sounds.
Maybe his mother talked too fast,
II you are learning a foreign tongue
one of the first things you ask is that
the teacher talk slowly for you so that
you have time to hear. Hearing
language is not matter of ears only.
Ears are the first stage of hearing.
The mental hearing comes after that.
The mind must take the sounds and
interpret them; put meaning into
them. This cannot be done unless
the listener has practice and expert
ence with the words that are being
used. You hear only what you KNOW.
This Is true even Of some older
children. They are slow to get the
meaning of a flow Of words. They
catch some of them and take them
for what they mean to them without
knowing their relation to other words
In the now. This accounts for er-
rands half done, for items left out
Of an order or Of days work, for
misunderstanding Of many kinds.
Give children time. Speak clearly
and slowly. Make orders and direc-
tions as brief as possible. Ask the
child to tell you what he has heard
and listen to the tones Of his voice
rather than to the words he says.
What his mind says is putting the
tone in his words. If his mind is
not clear. If it is uncertain, the tone
will tell. Then you patiently do it
over. Words are powerful when they
are full-size, but that takes a. lot OF
experience. Telling a child may not
mean very much Of what you intended
1t to mean.
Mr.. Patri will give personal atten-
ton to inquiries from parents and
school teachers on the care and de-
velopment Of children. Write him in
care Of this paper, inclosing q Scent
stamped. self-addressed envelope for
reply.
(copyrtght. 1o3e.)