How Conversation Works: 6 Lessons for Better Communication

By: Anne Curzan, The Great Courses

Narrated by: Anne Curzan

Length: 3 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Regardless of age or occupation, conversation can be tricky. But like it or not, it's one of the most important things you do on a daily basis. Successful conversations help you advance professionally and make, maintain, and deepen relationships. Moreover, research shows that talking, when done on a substantive level, is correlated with a feeling of happiness and general well-being.

In just six lectures, Professor Curzan teaches you key strategies that can dramatically improve your ability to converse with anyone, from strangers to supervisors. This highly practical course focuses on the fundamental principles you need to become more conversationally aware and savvy at home, in the workplace, and beyond. You'll learn graceful ways of pointing out a mistake, asking someone to do something he or she doesn't want to do, preparing a person for "no," asking for a big favor, and providing information the recipient doesn't want to hear. You'll also learn devices for skillfully opening and closing exchanges, taking turns "negotiating the conversational floor," sending people subtle signals, and sharing the conversational burden to make discussions feel more mutual and enjoyable.

Whether you want to build rapport with colleagues, promote yourself in an interview, give a winning presentation, ingratiate yourself with your boss, or even create a connection on a first date, knowing what to say and how to say it allows for more productive, smoother interactions.Professor Curzan helps you get ahead by outlining simple techniques for accomplishing all of these goals and more.

Disclaimer: Please note that this recording may include references to supplemental texts or print references that are not essential to the program and not supplied with your purchase.

©2012 The Teaching Company, LLC (P)2012 The Great Courses

Somewhat rambling but overall great

I wish the speaker would have proceeded more in depth in each topic rather then moving from one thing to another. Also I believe it could have been longer. Overall it was great and very educational.

Glad I listened to yet another course on this topic!

As a manager and sales professional, teacher and homemaker, I regular take courses to improve my speaking, listening and presentation skills. This course was valuable for anybody, professional or novice conversationalist, because it had timely pertinent info to immediate improve social, professional and familial relationship skills.

interesting lectures on conversational strategies

Overall this was great:
-professor is enjoyable to listen to and keeps the audience engaged
-I learned some names for conversational strategies and issues; got me excited to learn more about linguistics
-moved quickly through interesting topics.

Critiques:
-perhaps in an attempt to appeal to a broad range of listeners, it was too basic at times
-related to that, at times seemed a "how to" for someone lacking social skills

Despite these criticisms. I very much enjoyed these lectures and look forward to hearing this professor on future topics.

very basic introduction

I had to listen at increased speed. very basic but insightful introduction to communication skills

Interesting

I liked the authors approach to conversation. A good quick read. Worth the time to read.

Conscious speaking!

Loved it! Really made me think about the conversations I’d been having and how to improve them.

Common Sense - backed with scientific data

Where does How Conversation Works: 6 Lessons for Better Communication rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I think the headline says it all. While some books may just be common sense/manners or others really cold hard facts ("The Like Switch" for ex) this book was a nice inbetween.

What about Professor Anne Curzan’s performance did you like?

Very upbeat and engaged, she's obviously very interested in and excited about the topic. Was like a very long TED Talk. I liked it alot.

filled with fun facts about conversation

a great piece that breaks down the different pieces of a conversation from a linguist's perspective. it's informative entertaining easy to listen to and funny often enough they keep the listener engaged.

I picked up the book to improve well to see if it would help me improve my smalltalk abilities. and the professor speaks to this at the beginning of the lectures saying that this is one of the reason she found her students take this course but somehow I got to the end and found like many college courses it was a lot of information given with not a lot of detail about how to apply this information to real life situations

overall great listen and as the professor predicted I do find myself noticing different parts of a conversation

A long time to get to something you don't know.

It takes some thing fun like a conversation an makes it scientific; not fun. It just takes so long to explain and at a point you have to be determined to really finish it. But it gets more interesting towards the end.

Great review of social norms

Also picked up some new tips from this lecture. It's up to date with electronic communications