| Front |
Small Talk
Listen to the Entire Lesson
Many people believe small talk is very boring and
not personable. Although that is true, there are many places where small talk
is very important. In the western culture, strangers talk to other strangers
frequently. On the other hand, small talk is not so common in the eastern
culture. Because strangers are friendly to one another in the western culture,
small talk is very important to master in regards to learning English. One
other place small talk is important is in an interview. That is why this
session will be important to learn.
The best way to learn small talk is to provide many examples. So this lesson
will be taught using an example format.
Small talk involves many different topics. We will have several sessions on
small talk once we have covered other subjects such as sports, jobs, school,
etc. But for now, we will go through the basics of small talk conversation. To
initiate small talk, we can use what we have learned from our previous several
sessions:
One: Hi
Bill, how are you doing?"
Two: I'm
doing great. How are you doing?"
One: I'm
doing well myself."
Wasn't that simple? If you studied the material in prior sessions, this should
be real easy for you. Now that we have initiated the small talk, it's your
responsibility to keep the conversation going. In order to do so, you can talk
about anything that is not too personal. Let's first ask what the other person
has been doing lately.
One: What
have you been up to lately?"
Two: Well,
I just started to work at the bank so I'm pretty busy learning everything."
You can elaborate on what you have learned to keep the conversation alive. In
this example, you are going to ask more questions about school and work.
One: Does
that mean you already finished school? I thought you had 1 more semester left."
Two: I
took summer courses, so I finished one semester early."
One: It's
great that you got a job. I'm really happy for you."
Two: Thanks."
As you can now tell, the conversation is getting old. You have a choice of
ending the conversation, or changing the topic. Let's practice ending the
conversation.
One: We
should get together for lunch sometime."
Two: Yeah,
that would be great."
One: I'll
call you sometime."
Two: Ok.
I'll see you later."
One: Alright.
See ya."
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Small Talk - Two Example Dialogs
In
this conversation, we initiated the conversation and talked about the other
person. However, sometimes you will not have anything to talk about. In order
to keep the conversation alive, you should think about topics such as the
weather.
One: Hi Mary."
Two: Oh, hi."
One: How are you
doing?"
Two: I'm doing
alright. How about you?"
One: Not too bad.
The weather is great isn't it?"
Two: Yes. It's
absolutely beautiful today."
One: I wish it was
like this more frequently."
Two: Me too."
One: So where are
you going now?"
Two: I'm going to
meet a friend of mine at the department store."
One: Going to do a
little shopping?"
Two: Yeah, I have
to buy some presents for my parents."
One: What's the
occasion?"
Two: It's their
anniversary."
One: That's great.
Well, you better get going. You don't want to be late."
Two: I'll see you
next time."
One: Sure. Bye."
This example is when you run into someone. This is an easy type of small talk
because when you run out of things to say, you can always say bye. There are
times when you don't have that option. Let's practice a situation where you
cannot leave, such as an interview. I go into depth about interview
communication in a different section. For now, I am going to emphasize the
small talk portion of an interview. There are times when you will not have an
opportunity for small talk, but in other cases, you might have to talk about
general things.
Them: Hi. My name is
Josh. It's a pleasure to meet you."
You: Hi Josh. I'm
glad to be here."
Them: Did you have
any problems finding this place."
You: I didn't have
any problems. I found directions on the internet so it was pretty easy to
find. However, the traffic was not that great."
Them: Traffic is
never good around here."
You: I agree. It
would be great if there was a train or a subway line that went through here."
Them: That would be
so great. I would definitely take the train if they had it."
You: Trains are
great because you can read a book or get a little rest instead of having to
fight the traffic."
Them: Very true.
Well, let me begin by telling you about our company..."
This is a good example of small talk. It shows that you are easy to speak
with, and most importantly, you found a small connection even though it was
about a small topic such as the traffic problem. In this type of situation,
don't feel that you have to constantly talk. If it is not relevant to the
topic, it might be better not to say anything. But if you can add on to the
topic, it's a good thing. The person who is giving the interview has the
control, and that person will direct the small talk to the interview when the
time is right. In my example above, I made a small transition from the
traffic and started the interview process. If you are interested about
interview, please go to the Interview Section. You may now move on to the
practice session.
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Small Talk - Interactive Practice
Click on Listen
All and follow along. After becoming comfortable with the entire conversation,
become Person A by clicking on the Person A button. You will hear only Person B
through the audio file. There will be a silence for you to repeat the sentences
of Person A. Do the same for Person B. The speed of the conversation is native
speed. Use the pause button if the pause between each sentence is too fast for
you. After practicing several times, you will be able to speak as fast as a
native.
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1
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Listen All |
Person A |
Person B
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A: "Hey
Paul. What are you doing here?"
B: "How's it going? I'm meeting up with a friend here."
A: "How have you been man?"
B: "Not too bad. I'm still in school and having a little fun."
A: "How are you enjoying Mr. Lee's history class?"
B: "It's so boring."
A: "Tell me about it. If it wasn't a requirement, I wouldn't have taken it."
B: "How about you? What have you been up to?"
A: "I finished school last spring. I'm searching for a job now, but I'm
slacking off."
B: "I heard the job market is not that hot right now."
A: "I could always take a low end job, but I'm not that desperate
yet."
B: "Well, good luck to you."
A: "Thanks. It was good seeing you again."
B: "Yeah. I'll catch you later."
A: "Have a good night."
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2
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Listen All |
Person A |
Person B
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A:
"You're John right?"
B: "Yes. Oh, you're in my English class right?"
A: "Yeah. I'm Martha."
B: "Well it's good to finally meet you."
A: "How are you enjoying the class?"
B: "I'm not sure. Some days it seems ok, but other days I am totally
bored in class."
A: "I know what you mean. Do you know what is wrong with the weather these
days? I haven't seen the sun in 2 weeks."
B: "The weather has been pretty terrible recently."
A: "I'm really hoping the weather gets better."
B: "Do you have something coming up?"
A: "To tell you the truth, it's just depressing seeing so much
rain."
B: "I don't blame you. It has been pretty gloomy for sometime now."
A: "This is my stop. I'll see you later."
B: "I'll see you in class. Bye." | |