Why is Speech Important?

The art of speaking aloud is a important ability and tool to have in our society. It allows to you be able to communicate fluently and articulately to masses of people and get your point across in a way that they can understand.
Formal speech and informal speech serve many different functions in our society. Formal speech is used to impress or to convey a point to many people in a fluid way that is rehearsed. The people who have the poise and skill to deliver a well-planed speech in front of an audience often impress. It shows that they are eloquent speakers. Informal speech is used between friends to convey different kinds of points. It is blunter, harsher than formal speech. There is no time to plan what you are going to say. You can filter some things, but not all.
The advantage of writing is that once something is written down, it can be saved. It no longer relies on being passed by word of mouth, but is something tangible. However, you cannot see, hear, or feel the true emotion of something when it is ink on paper. Spoken word shows the emotion through movements, tones, pauses and pacing. While people can guess what the author was feeling when they wrote the story, they can never really be sure without hearing it straight from the author.
If I were in an oral culture, I think I would pay attention more to what people say and how they say it. It’s not that I don’t pay attention to what they are saying, but when to can have something written down in front of you to read later, it is almost as if the speech doesn’t mean as much. People in oral cultures cherish the stories that are passed down through the generations. I think our culture can learn from those types of cultures and learn to appreciate what good speakers are saying.
Speech is important because most people don’t learn how to speak publicly or eloquently. By teaching us the ways to speak and when to use proper and casual speech, we can be better orators and speech givers.