If Vulcans are telepathic, why don't they use it more for communication?

Question

Vulcans are said to be natural telepaths. But they continue to communicate with each other through speech, even when telepathy would give them a tactical advantage in many situations. It is also said that telepathy is a skill that a Vulcan needs to train for, but even Spock, who is half human, was able to use it to an extent. Tuvok too, who had difficulties controlling his mind as a child, used it with ease to communicate with an alien species in the Delta Quadrant.

So why are they always seen communicating with each other the same way humans do?

Answer 1

I believe Vulcans were natural telepaths, but had no real range; most of them were touch-telepaths. You may notice that every time you see Spock, Sarek, etc., use the 'Mind-Meld', they first touch the target in certain ways. (A few notable exceptions, like Spock influencing someone through a wall, required intense effort and concentration.)

An exception, of course, was Spock's brother from The Final Frontier, but he was just that; an exception. There were other exceptions, but it wasn't the norm, so it wasn't a common communication method.

From Memory Alpha,

The most famous aspect of the Vulcan brain was the inherent telepathic abilities, such as the Vulcan mind meld. Vulcans were natural touch-telepaths. Though considerable training was required to utilize this ability to the fullest (this would be performing the fal-tor-pan), simpler contacts did not require any concentration, training or even conscious knowledge of the act. (VOY: "Blood Fever")

...

Stronger minds were capable of non-contact telepathic projection and scanning, usually over short distances, (TOS: "The Devil in the Dark", "The Omega Glory"; VOY: "Random Thoughts", "Prey") but sometimes even over interstellar distances. (TOS: "The Immunity Syndrome"; Star Trek: The Motion Picture)

In general, though, touch-telepathy wouldn't be a very safe thing to use on an unknown being, and the touch aspect of it makes it impractical for general communication.

Answer 2

As I understand it, Vulcans were---and are---a telepathic species. Some,of course, were/are more adept than others---they even have a rating system!---and the more training one gets in the use of that ability, the more useful it can be to them. Spock was one of those advanced telepaths who had several other abilities up his sleeve and would not hesitate to employ them should the need arise. Having seen him in action in the original series, I have acquired a whole new appreciation of what the Vulcans call "wuh tepul t'wuh kashek"---the power of the mind and what it could be capable of.

Answer 3

Vulcans are in fact fully telepathic just like any other telepathic being, the real reason that they seem somewhat weak in this area is down to their emotional suppression which inhibits their telepathic ability. When a Vulcan initiates a meld they have to lower their emotional suppression so that they can feel the others emotions, therefore feeling emotion themselves, which is an intimate experience.

In Star Trek: Discovery, Sarek was able to communicate with Michael Burnham from Vulcan over a great distance to another part of the galaxy, admittedly this took great effort on his part, but it was achievable.

Answer 4

VOY: Random Thoughts is what drove me here. It bothered me that Tuvok tells the woman that he has grown accustomed to verbal communication because Starfleet has few telepaths, when this is quite inaccurate. There is no supporting example of Vulcans communicating telepathically outside of a mind meld. The true response should have been, Our telepathy doesn’t work the way yours does. Ours requires in depth training and usually requires touch. Even then it’s a whole process where entire minds are shared as opposed to a specific thought. A highly trained Vulcan may be capable occasionally of extracting specific information from a target mind but, even then it’s more of a violation. So, yeah that’s why I don’t do that. Maybe he was trying to show off to her but that seems highly uncharacteristic of Tuvok.