My question is mainly concerned with the standard of eloquence (or what is considered as "eloquent") among Japanese people. I'm currently working hard on my Japanese speech production skills, and giving focus to a lot of the usual stuff (pronunciation, prosody, fluency, etc), which is why I'm concerned with this.
Some background: When I speak English, I try my best to avoid the "umms" and "uhhs"; if I must think, then I silence myself, and proceed with speaking only once I've considered what I should continue saying next. The effect of this is that I sound more deliberate when I speak, as if I were weighing my thoughts before saying them; and this only because I pause a lot more and don't do all of the sounds that demarcate the actual contents of speech. (I like to think that pausing makes you sound eloquent, though I may be mistaken -- for instance, Barack Obama, who I'd rate as eloquent, doesn't do "umms" or "uhhhs", and as a result he sounds great (or rather, best) even when his speech is simple and uses even simpler words.)
Now, I'd like to do the same with my Japanese; i.e. I'd really like to be able to speak clearly and eloquently, without all of the usual "あの”(s) and "えええっと"(s) that marks Japanese speech. But in most of the live videos I've seen (e.g. news, Diet speeches, etc), a lot of them still go through the same あの and えっと routines; is this a common feature even among eloquent Japanese speakers? Perhaps my exposure isn't enough, so do you know of any Japanese speakers whom you'd rate as eloquent, and could you point me in the direction of his video? I plan to understand what an eloquent Japanese is like, and base my style of speech off that.
Some background: When I speak English, I try my best to avoid the "umms" and "uhhs"; if I must think, then I silence myself, and proceed with speaking only once I've considered what I should continue saying next. The effect of this is that I sound more deliberate when I speak, as if I were weighing my thoughts before saying them; and this only because I pause a lot more and don't do all of the sounds that demarcate the actual contents of speech. (I like to think that pausing makes you sound eloquent, though I may be mistaken -- for instance, Barack Obama, who I'd rate as eloquent, doesn't do "umms" or "uhhhs", and as a result he sounds great (or rather, best) even when his speech is simple and uses even simpler words.)
Now, I'd like to do the same with my Japanese; i.e. I'd really like to be able to speak clearly and eloquently, without all of the usual "あの”(s) and "えええっと"(s) that marks Japanese speech. But in most of the live videos I've seen (e.g. news, Diet speeches, etc), a lot of them still go through the same あの and えっと routines; is this a common feature even among eloquent Japanese speakers? Perhaps my exposure isn't enough, so do you know of any Japanese speakers whom you'd rate as eloquent, and could you point me in the direction of his video? I plan to understand what an eloquent Japanese is like, and base my style of speech off that.
