Pratica di Shadowing: Get Good at English Small Talk (it's easy) - Impara a parlare inglese con i video

Scegli una modalità di pratica

Ogni modalità apre una sala di pratica a schermo intero.

149 frasi
Se le frasi sono troppo corte o troppo lunghe, clicca su Edit per modificarle.
1
If you're learning English and you suck at small talk, you're not alone.
2
Today, I want to help you improve your English small talk, so you can talk to strangers without feeling nervous or awkward.
3
Firstly, we're going to learn what is the point of small talk.
4
After that, how to start a conversation and keep it going.
5
Then, some common small talk mistakes.
6
And finally, how to leave without seeming rude.
7
First and foremost, most small talk conversations begin with, Hey, how's it going?
8
Or, how are you doing?
9
And the answer is usually, I'm good, how are you?
10
Not bad.
11
Even if you're feeling shh, we don't mention our problems at this stage, especially with someone that we have just met.
12
After my last Smalltalk video, a lot of people asked me, is Smalltalk fake?
13
I want to tell you a little story.
14
So I used to work at an Asian company and my colleagues hardly ever made Smalltalk with me.
15
They were much more direct and they got straight to work.
16
But after working together with them for a while, I got to know them better.
17
And that made me realise it's just a cultural difference.
18
You see, in England and in other English-speaking countries, we like to get to know each other a little bit before getting down to business.
19
And once you understand that, then small talk won't feel fake anymore.
20
Small talk isn't about sharing important information or your deepest feelings,
21
but it is a necessary step to open up communication between humans.
22
You're helping the other person feel comfortable enough to continue the conversation.
23
So the goal is comfort, not perfect English.
24
People aren't judging your English as much as you think they are.
25
They're mainly asking themselves, do I feel comfortable enough talking to this person?
26
A small grammar mistake is much less important than showing warmth, curiosity and attention.
27
But Jay, what if I don't know how to start a conversation?
28
So after saying, hi, how are you?
29
Or how's it going? Where do you go?
30
Well, you can use what is already around you.
31
So for example, if you're at a cafe, you can say, do you come here often?
32
What's your favorite thing on the menu?
33
What would you recommend?
34
Ah, nice.
35
I'm gonna try that.
36
Or if you're at a social event, you can say things like, so how do you know the host?
37
Do you know many people here?
38
I love your outfit, by the way.
39
Where did you buy that?
40
OK, so now we know how to start a conversation.
41
What to say after that?
42
It's useful to think of small talk like a game of tennis.
43
In tennis, you hit the ball back and forth to keep the rally going.
44
In small talk, we don't have a ball.
45
But we do ask questions and then answer those questions.
46
And this keeps the conversation flowing.
47
Right, you've asked a question and someone is answering.
48
How do you respond?
49
The best small talkers do that by listening attentively, looking at the speaker, keeping eye contact,
50
and having open, relaxed body language.
51
It's also easy to feel awkward with our hands.
52
Where do we put them?
53
You can have your hands in front of you, behind you, on your hips, or in your pockets.
54
Try not to cross your arms.
55
This is closed body language.
56
A really useful tip is to grab a drink.
57
Have a bottle of water with you.
58
This will help your hands feel less awkward and it will help you feel less rushed to respond.
59
You can pause and take a sip before you speak.
60
Beyond our body language is our facial expressions.
61
You smile and nod to encourage them to keep speaking.
62
You can say things like, oh nice, cool, ah me too,
63
and then you take your turn to speak.
64
Let's look at a few examples.
65
Hey, how's it going?
66
Hey, it's going well, thanks.
67
How are you doing?
68
I'm good, thank you.
69
By the way, I'm Jay.
70
Nice to meet you, Jay.
71
I'm Tim.
72
Nice to meet you, Tim.
73
I'm curious, how do you know the host?
74
Oh, we know each other from work.
75
I started working with her a year ago.
76
How about you?
77
I met her at our tennis club.
78
We play doubles together.
79
Are you into any sports?
80
Just like anything, we learn by Dewey.
81
So the best way to get better at small talk is to practice having conversations daily.
82
You will naturally get better at it.
83
If you don't have anyone to practice with, you can chat with J.I on Sprouts on any roleplay situation.
84
He will ask you questions, keep the conversation going so you can get your daily English practice.
85
But J, what's a common small talk mistake?
86
A lot of English learners don't know what to say.
87
And because of that, you might give very short answers.
88
Let's look at an example.
89
So, Lucy, what genre books do you like reading?
90
I like fiction.
91
Nice.
92
Me too.
93
I usually read non-fiction, but recently I have been reading some fiction books.
94
I've been reading a book called Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
95
Have you read it?
96
No, I haven't.
97
Did you notice the problem with Lucy's answers there?
98
They were too short.
99
The problem with short answers is
100
that it gives less detail for the other person to ask you questions and to keep the conversation going.
101
The solution to that is to share more.
102
Give more detail in your answers.
103
Share your personality.
104
And remember to ask questions back.
105
When you share more, you can use what you said to spark your next question.
106
Let's look at another example.
107
So, Lucy, what genre of books do you like reading?
108
I like fiction.
109
I'm really into mystery and crime novels, and I love to read them when I go on holiday.
110
Are you into crime novels?
111
I don't tend to read crime fiction.
112
I usually read non-fiction books.
113
But I'm curious, have you got any recommendations for crime fiction books?
114
Yeah.
115
I just finished the book Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman.
116
I would highly recommend it.
117
Nice.
118
I think I'll check it out.
119
What's it about?
120
What a game of tennis that was.
121
Why did that conversation between Lucy and I flow so smoothly?
122
Simple.
123
We asked questions and then we gave details in our answers.
124
In small talk, if you want to be interesting, be interested.
125
But Jay, how do we leave without being rude?
126
If the conversation is going well and you share things in common, then you can go from small talk to deep talk.
127
And I'll share more about that in a future video.
128
What if the conversation is a little dry?
129
Or what if it's come to its natural end?
130
How do you leave without seeming rude?
131
Well, the solution is some simple exit lines.
132
It was really nice chatting with you, Lucy.
133
I'm going to grab another drink now, but I'll see you around.
134
I'm just going to say hi to a few more people before I leave, but it was nice to chat.
135
I'm gonna get back to my friends now, but it was nice chatting.
136
Now let's recap what we learned in this video to help it stick in here.
137
Firstly, we learned that small talk isn't fake.
138
It's just a part of our culture.
139
It helps us create social ease and build positive relationships with each other.
140
Secondly, we learned that to start a conversation, we can simply use the environment and the context around us.
141
Thirdly, we learned that small talk is like a game of tennis.
142
We ask questions and then we respond.
143
We also learned the importance of open body language, smiling and positive facial expressions.
144
We learned that giving very short answers doesn't give enough information for the other person to ask us questions
145
and keep the conversation going.
146
And finally, we learned how to end a conversation using simple exit lines.
147
So guys, it was lovely chatting with you.
148
I'm just going to grab a drink, so I'll catch you in a bit.
149
Yeah.

Scarica l'app

Tutto ciò che serve per parlare fluentemente

Pronuncia con IAVoto per ogni frase
Pratica IPAPadroneggia ogni suono
VocabolarioCostruisci il tuo lessico
Gioco di vocabolarioImpara giocando

Stesso Canale

FOR YOU

Video consigliato

Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione

Questo video contiene 149 frasi e 1369 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 10:41. Chi parla mantiene un ritmo costante di circa 128 parole al minuto, comodo per lo shadowing. Il 87% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese, quindi il lessico è facile da seguire.

Vocaboli chiave di questo video

15 parole del video che vale la pena imparare, con pronuncia e significato:

ParolaPronunciaSignificato
fiction sostantivo/ˈfɪkʃən/finzione
tennis sostantivo/ˈtɛnɪs/tennis
awkward aggettivo/ˈɔk.wɚd/maldestro, impacciato
rude aggettivo/ɹuːd/rude, maleducato
curious aggettivo/ˈkjʊɹ.i.əs/curioso, interessato
exit sostantivo/ˈɛɡzət/uscita
genre sostantivo/ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/genere
facial aggettivo/ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/facciale
firstly avverbio/ˈfɜɹstli/dapprima, prima
naturally avverbio/ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/naturalmente
pocket sostantivo/ˈpɑ.kɪt/tasca
rush verbo/ɹʌʃ/affrettarsi, correre
hip sostantivo/hɪp/anca
encourage verbo/ɪnˈkʌɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/incoraggiare, raccomandare
mystery sostantivo/ˈmɪs.t(ə.)ɹi/mistero, arcano

I phrasal verb che sentirai

ParolaSignificato
open up verboaprire

La grammatica di questo video

Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:

StrutturaNel video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — un’azione iniziata prima e ancora in corsohave been reading · I've been reading
Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adessohave just met · you've asked · Have you read
Superlativi the -est / the most … — il massimo o il minimo di un gruppoyour deepest · The best
Verbo + -ing enjoy, keep, stop… + -ing — i verbi seguiti dalla forma in -ingkeep speaking · started working · practice having

Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione

Chi parla usa 40 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come I'm, don't, you're. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.

  • I suoni “th”: warmth /wɔɹmθ/, smoothly /ˈsmuːðli/, thirdly /ˈθɚdli/
  • I suoni “sh” e “zh”: fiction /ˈfɪkʃən/, genre /ˈ(d)ʒɑnɹə/, facial /ˈfeɪ.ʃəl/, rush /ɹʌʃ/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/
  • Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, recommendation /ˌɹɛkəmɛnˈdeɪʃən/, curiosity /ˌkjʊɹ.iˈɑ.sə.ti/

Come esercitarsi con questo video

  1. Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
  2. Fai shadowing frase per frase a velocità normale, ripetendo ognuna finché il tuo ritmo coincide con quello di chi parla.
  3. Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come fiction, tennis, awkward.

Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?

Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.

Tecnica dello shadowing: leggi la guida completa passo dopo passo →