The normal rate of speech is about 200 words a minute. The rate of speech can generally be divided into fast, medium-speed, slow three: fast to express excitement, joy and tension, excited mood, more than 200 words per minute; medium-speed used for the feelings of not much change in the place, used for the usual scene description, about 200 words per minute; slow narrative calm, solemn scene used to express the sadness, frustrated mood, about 100 words per minute.

In general, the formal speech, the speaker is required to be able to skillfully grasp the speech rate, according to the actual situation, the content of the speech and other factors moderate selection of the appropriate speed of speech. The rate is too fast audience is difficult to understand, listen to the speaker can not keep up with the ideas, but also easy to make people suspicious, mistakenly think that the speaker stage fright; speech can not be too slow, too slow will seem to pull the accent drag tone, will give other people distracted space, give a person stupid, slow, lack of education feeling.

Speaking speed is relative, the normal use of the Chinese language to express meaning and dissemination of information, the speed of speech is about 240 syllables per minute, radio and television news broadcasting speed of speech is in about 300 words per minute.

Fran Capo, a 54-year-old woman from New York, USA, is the fastest woman in the Guinness Book of World Records, having broken the Guinness "fast-talking" record twice, and she can say more than 600 words in a minute, with an average of about 11 words per second.

Canadian Sean Shannon, who memorized the soliloquy "Life or Death" from Hamlet in 1995 in 23.8 seconds, was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

Chinese comedian Fang Qingping, who was featured in BTV's Spring Festival Gala "Speaking in Speedy Words" program, delivered a supersonic rendition of "Mulan" in 2015, speaking 183 words in 20.5 seconds, and was also the first woman to break the Guinness Book of World Records record for speed. A supersonic rendition of Mulan Rhetoric made it into the Guinness Book of World Records, refreshing the previous record set by Sean Shannon and others.