Speaking Versus Writing

SPEAKING VERSUS WRITING http://www2.wmin.ac.uk/eic/learning­skills/literacy/sp_vs_writ_dif.shtml

SPEECH

WRITING My helpful friend, perhaps not realizing The worst part about it was I had a that I was serious, began laughing. Sue friend Sitting up here and she’s saying roared all the harder as my situation “ha ha”… And I was saying “Go get the became more difficult. She claimed I police… go Get someone”…I later looked funny, clinging there screaming. learned that there are Some people I realized that she was laughing who do that in the face of disaster…I Because she was incapable of acting: mean they just start cracking up as the situation must have been greatly opposed to crying. disturbing to her, and so she treated it as if it were another situation.

DIFFERENCES There are many differences between the processes of speaking and writing. Writing is not simply speech written down on paper. Learning to write is not a natural extension of learning to speak.

Unlike speech, writing requires systematic instruction and practice. Here are some of the differences between speaking and writing that may clarify things for you and help you in your efforts as a writer and speaker.

SPEECH WRITING Universal, everybody acquires it Not everyone learns to read and write Written language is more restricted and generally follows Spoken language has dialect a standardised form of grammar, structure, organization, variations that represent a region and vocabulary Speakers use their voices (pitch, Writers rely on the words on the page to express rhythm, stress) and their bodies to meaning and their ideas communicate their message Speakers use pauses and intonation Writers use punctuation Speakers pronounce Writers spell Speaking is often spontaneous and Most writing is planned and can be changed through unplanned. editing and revision before an audience reads it Writers have a delayed response from audiences or none Speakers have immediate audiences at all and have only one opportunity to convey their who nod, interrupt, question and message, be interesting, informative, accurate and hold comment their reader’s attention Writing on the other hand is more formal and compact. It Speech is usually informal and progresses more logically With fewer explanations and repetitive digressions.

Speakers use simpler sentences Writers use more complex sentences With connecting connected by lots of ands and buts. words like however, Who, although, and in addition.

Speakers draw on their listeners reactions to know how or whether to Writers are often solitary in their process continue Speakers can gauge the attitudes, Writers must consider what and how much their audience beliefs, and feelings of their audience needs to know about a given topic by their verbal and non­verbal

reactions Consider the fact that................

Virtually nobody speaks Standard Written English. This is the dialect of English that is appropriate for professional, business, and academic writing. For example, no one always speaks in complete sentences or pronounces the final letter of every word. However, many people learn to translate their spoken dialect into Standard Written English when they write.

Both spoken and written dialects are linked to the social background, age, race, and gender of the writer, speaker and audience. Depending upon whom we are addressing, and what we are discussing, we can switch between formal and informal ways of communicating.