Monday, March 9, 2015

Am I Reasonably Clear?




I probably need to slow down more.  This is not the final form of my Duke University presentation.

4 comments:

  1. I only did spot checks, so I didn't here the whole thing.
    You are slurring some, but are pretty much understandable.

    You do need to slow down, as you say. When you carefully enunciated each word, you sounded very good, somewhat deliberate, perhaps, but not unnaturally so. After that test sentence, you started well, but then sped up towards the end, and your clarity suffered, although you never became unintelligible.

    (And by the way, you do not sound drunk. It's clearly an impediment, if you will, not an impairment.)

    But you are clear enough, and the topic interesting enough, that I would want to hear you speak.

    Speaking of the topic, your opening resonated strongly with me. I have a copy of Noel Perrin's Giving Up the Gun, which, it sounds like, may have been one of your references.

    Perrin was trying to make the case that it was indeed possible to give up the gun, but instead he showed that this prevents the "common working man" from being able to resist the excesses of the ruling class. Something of an astonishing blind spot.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've read Perrin's book, and I thought he wasarguing that gun bans just require everyone agree. Many others books that I have read about Shogunate Japan show the folly of doing so (unless you are a samurai).

    ReplyDelete
  3. I would like to second DJ's comment. As you slowed down, I could understand you very easily. As I listen, it seems you became much more comfortable with a more moderate cadence.

    Presumably, you're preparing for your talk at Duke. I wish I could attend! Good luck with your talk at Duke and continued recovery!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have a very hard time understanding anybody with an accent or a lisp but I could understand most of what you were saying. I couldn't understand most of the names though.

    ReplyDelete