English Small Talk: Start Conversations Easily

how do you start a conversation in english well if you want to learn some natural english small talk so that you can start conversations easily you're in the right place [Music] hello this is keith from the youtube channel english speaking success and i also run the website the keith speaking academy and i'm here why am i here oh yes i'm here well not only to help you study english but also i really want to help you speak better english and become a better communicator in english yes that's what i would like to help you with today and the day is coming and i think that's why small talk is important right because when we meet people we often talk about unimportant things what we call trivial things like the weather right and this is just a way to break the ice um or it's a conversation starter it's a way to get to know the person better sometimes sometimes it's just a way of saying hello right sometimes it's just one sentence and then bye bye other times you want to get that get to know the person better and find some common ground that you can talk about and discuss so i wonder what do people in your country talk about when you meet somebody or you meet a new person for the first time let me know leave me a comment down below so in this video we're going to be talking about three typical situations where you might use small talk um the common topics that you might talk about and i'll show you some natural easy to use phrases that you can be using and put into action well right away also i have a bonus at the very end of the video because you know i think around the world by and large people talk about the same things in small talk however it does depend sometimes on the culture and the country there are certain topics that are more popular and there are certain topics which are taboo taboo just means you shouldn't talk about them so the bonus is at the end of this video i'm going to tell you some of the taboo topics that for british people right the things that you shouldn't say to british people when you're engaged in small talk and just before we move on i'd like to say a big big thank you to cambly who are sponsoring this video if you don't know cambly it's an online platform where you can learn english with qualified native english speaking teachers very practical very easy to use fantastic way to practice your english and become a better communicator i'm going to tell you more about that later in the video right now let's get into that first situation where we may be using small talk okay so the first um scenario if you like is parties and social events so maybe it's a birthday party or an office party christmas party social events you know it could be a wedding could be a conference a networking event that kind of situation where you're meeting people and you want to start conversations to get to know them better now there may be different things you can talk about and i think you can talk about location about food about people um about travel and hobbies to name a few probably others but let's have a look at each of these in turn so first of all the first one when you're kind of wanting to break the ice location can be a good thing to talk about location can be either where you are now or where you're from so for example i mean if you're at a conference for example have you been here before it's a classic sentence right a classic question and also what brings you here today which is nicer than why did you come here today which sounds a bit why did you come here today sounds a bit strong what brings you here today it's much softer and polite and of course you can ask about where people are from so where are you from where are you from and just be careful with this one because sometimes people say you know i come from well for example i come from china and the other person says oh right i met a woman once from china and mrs a mrs wang maybe you know her it's like come on seriously and i think what happens is people are so eager to find this common ground and keep the conversation going they say rather silly things right um it's much better sometimes just to say well if you've never been there right well oh i've never been to china what's it like absolutely and that's great because then you give them the opportunity to talk about where they're from people love talking about where they're from and their hometown okay location next food if you're an event where they have put on some food or they've given you some food or a dinner or a buffet or a finger buffet um of course you can say how's the food here how's the food here great or even it's a nice spread isn't it it's a nice spread isn't it a spread is a meal because you spread the food on the table that's a meal typically like a buffet um it's a nice spread isn't it isn't it is a very high level of english this we call it a question tag um it is a nice spread isn't it is is quite difficult to use and many learners of english find it very challenging to use naturally if you can great you'll show you've got a high level if not you can just say right it's a nice spread right next people so you can talk about the other person or you can talk about yourself or about other people at the event okay the first thing i always do when i introduce myself at parties is i keep it super simple hello i'm keith and i say my no my gnome i say my name really slowly um and that's it because people are not going to remember i mean you'll be lucky if they remember your name but some people go hello my name's keith i'm an english teacher i'm from manchester and at the moment i'm living in spain and all the other person hears is bubba and that's it that's all they get so keep it super simple hello i'm right um now if if it's for example matthew's party or matthew's wedding you could say so how do you know matthew nice question and then if you're digging deeper to get them to get to know the person better and what do you do even deeper how did you get into that how did you get into that meaning how did you start that work or that job or that activity people love to tell their life story about how they started a business or how they started working in a certain field it's a great question how did you get into that and if things are going well and you're digging even deeper right you could say and what are you working on at the moment what are you working on at the moment notice the stress what are you working on at the moment try yeah that's great and again people love to tell you about the projects they're doing or what's keeping them busy at the moment it's a really nice way to dig deeper into the conversation now you've talked that's going quite deep you may at times want to switch and make things lighter a bit more light-hearted right so you could talk about travel for example and you could say been anywhere nice recently been anywhere nice recently great good so bin is been it should be have you been anywhere nice recently or lately but actually in natural spoken english we drop the have you and just say been been anywhere nice lately been anywhere nice lately you'll see this more as we go through this video or maybe you could talk about hobbies right and a nice question for this is what do you get up to when you're not working what do you get up to when you're not working to get up to is to do something in a relaxed way if you like right great question not what is your hobby which sounds a bit bookish and formal what do you get up to when you're not working try that's it lovely so all of these topics can be great things to talk about when you're at a party or social event right the next situation is not quite as serious as the first one this is actually much more the kind of conversation where it's uh hello goodbye right very very brief small really small talk so this may be when you bump into your neighbor bump into means to meet by chance or by accident uh when you're maybe cueing in line or or queueing in line waiting in line or queuing maybe at a shop in the supermarket at the bus stop we love queuing at the bus stops in england honestly maybe it's with a taxi driver or a shop assistant just something very brief to be friendly basically so the classic here is to talk about weather right so you could say nice day isn't it nice day isn't it remember the isn't it you could just say right right nice day right and notice instead of saying it's a nice day we drop that and just say nice day nice day right nice day right lovely day right very simple right or if you're in england looks like it's going to rain [Music] it looks like it's going to rain or drop the it looks like it's going to rain very simple weather classic you can't go wrong with weather more generally and a very easy question to to ask but can open up simple conversations how's everything how's everything how's everything which is better than how are you because how are you people just say fine and that's it how's everything maybe you're asking about the business if they're a shop assistant or if it's a neighbor about things in their life and maybe they want help with something how's everything it's just gonna open up a little bit more the conversation if you want to so that's it that's brief encounters for really really small talk let's move on i would just like to take a moment to tell you more about cambly who are sponsoring this video cambly is a fantastic online platform where you can find native english speaking teachers who can help you learn encourage you correct you give you feedback and really help you become a better communicator in english it's great because you can choose your own teacher you have the one-on-one classes you get to choose when you want to do the class and how often you can choose the content or the teacher can help you with that and you can also go back and watch the recording of the class so you can review what you've done which is so important to your learning cambly offers lots of different plans you can choose the one that's flexible for you and also because you're following me cambly has some special discounts for you first of all if you want to check it out as a first-time user you can get a 15-minute free lesson to find out if it's right for you and what you really want then if you go for a 12-month plan and that's really where you can start to become an effective and better communicator in english you can get a 40 discount off any of the 12 month plans 40 think about it it's a really good investment great opportunity if it's what you're looking for you can go and check out the link below click on there find out more about it use the code there new keith n-e-w-k-e-i-t-h and you can go and see what it's like if it's right for you go and check it out you will absolutely love it i'm sure right now let's get back into some small talk and how to start conversations easily now the final situation is actually for people that you already know so this could be friends colleagues classmates and i call this at the water cooler because traditionally that's the kind of the it's where you go for water it's where you gather round chat have a chit chat bit of small talk um killing time maybe but it could be down the pub or at the coffee bar and sometimes you're not sure how to start a conversation um or you're not sure what to talk about and well these phrases tried and tested guaranteed to work they're very easy easy to use try them out so first one is this one seen any good films lately notice instead of have you you can just say seen any good films lately notice the intonation seen any good films lately try great and that is is great because most people watch films and would love to tell you about a film that was great and they recommend or a film that was terrible and they don't want you to watch similarly you could say read any good books lately or been to any good gigs lately been to any good gigs lately a gig is just a concert right have you been have you been to any good concerts lately been to any good gigs lately so you can see that formula you can use it for magazines books concerts tv series all of that kind of stuff okay next talking about the weekends classic dead easy to do what did you get up to at the weekend what did you get up to at the weekend remember get up to is when you do something in a relaxed way normally so that's a nice way to ask about what they did at the weekend you could also ask about the future got any plans for the weekend got any plans for the weekend notice i'm dropping have you got any plans for the weekend great the weekends are really easy to talk about for most people now you could again you could focus the conversation on on work or study and again you could say very simply what are you working on at the moment or what are you studying at the moment easy conversations people can well people often like to tell you about the projects that they hate but they have to do or the exciting project they're doing and they really want to you know tell you about and spread their passion about what they're doing it's a nice question to ask the final or third part of these questions is all about i was going to say gossip it's not exactly gossip let's call it news news gossip and this is where because people love to talk about gossip right people love to talk about what other people are doing um new places new things and there are lots of questions you can ask here um for example have you been to that new spanish bar right or even you can drop the have you been to that new spanish bar yet been to that new spanish bar yet have you met the new sales manager yet have you seen the new product we're launching so all of these questions about have you been have you seen have you met have you heard have you read the new policy about all of these are great questions because they're talking about recent news recent events finding out or exchanging your opinions about it and it's kind of touching on gossip almost i don't really like gossip but it's a very very easy conversation starter right let's call it news slash gossip so lots of things you can ask about great let's move on right and as promised here's that bonus all about those taboo topics the things you shouldn't say to british people now to be clear right this is when you don't know the people at all i think these are the kind of topics and phrases you wouldn't ask or say when you're meeting complete strangers right it's just not safe of course as you get to know people and you know them better you could start asking these questions but let's assume this is for people you don't know the first kind of taboo topic or delicate topic is family interestingly right because you may think that's you can ask about family about you know do you are you married do you have any children what does your wife do and probably 30 30 years ago these would be innocent questions but i think in today's climate in britain they can be delicate with strangers right so for example are you married but what if that person has just got divorced or they've had an engagement that has failed and you may be touching on a delicate topic um likewise well what does your wife do but maybe they've just lost their job they've been laid off they're unemployed and again that's a really delicate topic you probably don't want to to touch and again what does your wife do asking me but maybe a man is married to a man and they have a husband and they could feel a bit uncomfortable if you assume that they're they're automatically married to a a woman um so these are things that are can be delicate i think with complete strangers i would steer away from move away from this topic until you get to know them better i think otherwise it can be a minefield another topic is age right generally we don't talk about age women more so but men also possibly so the question how old are you probably probably not appropriate right and another one around work and salary we in britain we tend not to talk about money too much and we're not very comfortable talking about money so you certainly certainly would not ask how much do you earn which is an interesting question i've been asked that question in a few occasions when i've traveled around the world and it's always shocked me and i feel really uncomfortable talking about it so be aware that in the uk you may make people uncomfortable if you ask them how much do you earn exactly okay another couple of topics that i would stay away from are politics and religion right politics sometimes you're tempted to say oh i can't believe what your president did the other day and maybe you are shocked by what the president of that country did but you don't know if the other person maybe is a big advocate of their president and they love their president and by you could easily offend their culture their country their sense of nationalism if you attack their president and likewise in religion again i've had several occasions on my travels where people have said hello my name's tom do you believe in god well um you know that for me is a very personal question and one that i'm happy to discuss with people i know very well but with somebody i don't know i would find that inappropriate so these are some taboo topics and questions especially in great britain that's it fantastic you've done a great job today with your practice so we've been looking at small talk looking at parties and social events then we talked about neighbors and queuing and taxi drivers and also small talk at the water cooler with your friends colleagues or classmates and finally of course we were looking at taboos kind of questions that you shouldn't ask if you're in the uk i hope all of this has been useful i hope it's helping you not only to learn english but to become an english speaker i'd love for you to change your mindset from being a student to becoming an english speaker and becoming a much more effective communicator in english and i think understanding areas of small talk is a small but important step in that direction do remember subscribe and turn on notifications to find out about upcoming videos from me do remember to go and check out cambly if you really want to become an effective communicator in english go and find a teacher on cambly qualified native english speaking teachers who can really help you there are lots of different plans but you can check out a 15-minute lesson for free or if you go for any of the 12-month plans you'll get 40 discount amazing go and check it out it's well worth trying go down below and click on the links to find out more in the meantime keep practicing stay safe and i will see you just around the corner in the next video thank you for spending this time with me my friend see you very soon bye [Music] you

Channel: English Speaking Success

Views: 24,075

Keywords: ielts speaking, ielts speaking success, ielts keith, keith speaking academy, english conversation, how to start a conversation, small talk in english, how to make small talk in english, how to speak english, small talk, start a conversation, better small talk, better at small talk, everyday conversation, how to start a conversation with anyone, ielts introduction speaking, ielts introduce yourself, ielts introduction

Id: H1em6OaGEYQ

Length: 25min 51sec (1551 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 18 2021