Paraphrase

When paraphrasing (Greek. Para = to next and fraseïn talk =, say) is in communication theory a received the factual repeat message understood by his own words.

Delimitations

In the case of a paraphrase, the statement is essentially retained. Compared to the less directive form of active listening , however, it is not reduced to an emotional message. The paraphrasing filters out emotional parts and then reduces the statement to the factual part, i.e. the cognitive message. The aim is to direct communication to a factual level.

There are delimitations to linguistic paraphrase , musical paraphrase and artistic paraphrase .

history

The communication technique of paraphrasing goes back to rhetoric training in ancient Greece . It was one of the first basic skills to be learned at the language college.

In the strictly regulated dispute, it was punishable for students to answer an argument , a hypothesis or a premise without first giving the meaning and intention of the other person's point of view in their own words.

The requirement to start every reply with a paraphrase lays the foundation for dialectical language training, which should allow later speakers in court, as prosecutor or as defense attorney, to deliver a pleading correctly . The complete concept of paraphrasing followed by a counter-speech and conclusive conclusion is known as dialectic . Here one side of any message is paraphrased (hypothesis), an opposition is formulated ( antithesis ) and connected to a new, mostly compromise-like solution ( synthesis ). This was the aim of training in ancient Greece; a speaker was to be brought up who was able to present the high court with a seemingly well-balanced proposal for a judgment. This form has remained in law to this day .

example

A: "Tell me, how often should I call you? This is the fourth time I have contacted you about this update and no one can give me any reasonable information. Every time I hear from one of your people that I should look this up and fax that over. And whenever I call again, something is missing again so that the connection to the new X-ray machine works. I still need this activation TODAY! "B:" Well, as far as I have understood correctly, you are concerned with the immediate activation of the new update in connection with the new OPG. Is that correct?"

advantages

The advantages of paraphrasing are cited:

Time gain (the addressee can sort out his other arguments in the back of his mind)
Occupation (while the other person listens to what he has said himself, he cannot think further)
Building trust (serious consideration of the key message of the other person creates credibility)
Slowing down (heated conversations were quieter)
Gaining dominance (paraphrasing is a communicative leadership technique)
Accuracy (in the case of complicated issues, misunderstandings would be avoided).

implementation

Not all emotional parts of a message are always unimportant for the facts of a matter. Problems can arise when the speaker feels personally attacked by an allegation, a statement or a hypothesis.

Often, emotional and actual conditions cannot be completely separated from each other, so that the speaker sometimes has to do active listening in order to later fall back on the paraphrasing when the factual mental message crystallizes out.

Other important points in the concept of paraphrasing are

the choice of words using synonymous terms (i.e. not simply repeating what has been said, so as not to give the interlocutor the feeling of being mocked)
the formulation without falsifying the content (the paraphrase must match what the interlocutor actually wanted to express).

A large, active vocabulary and a high level of emotional intelligence ( EQ ) are essential for effective paraphrasing . From the practice of rhetorical training it is known that the progress under stress is rather low at the beginning of the rhetorical training. The high demands on emotional intelligence (EQ) when paraphrasing even experienced speakers make it difficult to implement, especially if they are emotionally affected.