Shadowing Practice: English Small Talk: Start Conversations Easily - Learn English Speaking with Video
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How do you start a conversation in English?
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Well, if you want to learn some natural English small talk so that you can start conversations easily,
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you're in the right place.
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Hello, this is Keith from the YouTube channel English Speaking Success, and I also run the website, The Keith Speaking Academy.
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And I'm here.
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Why am I here?
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Oh yes, I'm here, well, not only to help you study English,
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but also I really want to help you speak better English and become a better communicator in English.
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Yes, that's what I would like to help you with today and the days coming.
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And I think that's why small talk is important, right?
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Because when we meet people, we often talk about unimportant things, what we call trivial things,
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like the weather, And this is just a way to break the ice, or it's a conversation starter.
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It's a way to get to know the person better sometimes.
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Sometimes it's just a way of saying hello.
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Sometimes it's just one sentence and then bye -bye.
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Other times you want to get to know the person better
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and find some common ground that you can talk about and discuss.
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So I wonder, what do people in your country talk about
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when you meet somebody or you meet a new person for the first time?
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Let me know.
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Leave me a comment down below.
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So in this video, we're gonna be talking about three typical situations where you might use small talk,
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the common topics that you might talk about, and I'll show you some natural,
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easy to use phrases that you can be using and put into action well, right away.
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Also, I have a bonus at the very end of the video because, you know, I think around the world,
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by and large, people talk about the same things in small talk.
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However, it does depend sometimes on the culture and the country.
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There are certain topics that are more popular and there are certain topics which are taboo.
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Taboo just means you shouldn't talk about them.
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So the bonus is at the end of this video, I'm going to tell you some of the taboo topics for British people, right?
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The things that you shouldn't say to British people when you're engaged in small talk.
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And just before we move on, I'd like to say a big, big thank you to Cambly who are sponsoring this video.
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If you don't know Cambly, it's an online platform where you can learn English with qualified native English speaking teachers.
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Very practical, very easy to use, fantastic way to practice your English and become a better communicator.
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I'm gonna tell you more about that later in the video.
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Right now, let's get into that first situation where we may be using small talk.
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Okay, so the first scenario, if you like, is parties and social events.
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So maybe it's a birthday party or an office party, Christmas party, social events, you know, could be a wedding, could be a conference,
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a networking event, that kind of situation where you're meeting people and you want to start conversations to get to know them better.
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Now, there may be different things you can talk about.
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And I think you can talk about location, about food, about people, about travel and hobbies,
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to name a few, probably others.
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But let's have a look at each of these in turn.
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So first of all, the first one, when you're kind of wanting to break the ice,
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the location can be a good thing to talk about location can be either where you are now or where you're from.
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So for example, I mean, if you're at a conference, for example, have you been here before?
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It's a classic sentence, right?
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A classic question.
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And also, what brings you here today?
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Which is nicer than why did you come here today?
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Which sounds a bit, why did you come here today?
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Sounds a bit strong.
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What brings you here today?
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It's much softer and politer.
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And of course you can ask about where people are from.
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So where are you from?
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Where are you from?
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And just be careful with this one because sometimes people say, you know, I come from, well, for example, I come from China.
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And the other person says, oh, right.
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I met a woman once from China, a Mrs. Wang.
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Maybe you know her?
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It's like, come on, seriously?
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And I think what happens is people are so eager to find this common ground and keep the conversation going.
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They say rather silly things, right?
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It's much better sometimes just to say, well, if you've never been there, right?
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Well, oh, I've never been to China.
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What's it like?
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Absolutely.
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And that's great because then you give them the opportunity to talk about where they're from.
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People love talking about where they're from and their hometown.
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Okay, location.
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Next, food.
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If you're at an event where they have put on some food
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or they've given you some food or a dinner or a buffet or a finger buffet, of course you can say, how's the food here?
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How's the food here?
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Great.
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Or even, it's a nice spread, isn't it?
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It's a nice spread, isn't it?
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A spread is a meal because you spread the food on the table.
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That's a meal, typically like a buffet.
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It's a nice spread, isn't it?
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Isn't it is a very high level of English.
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This, we call it a question tag.
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It is a nice spread, isn't it?
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is quite difficult to use.
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And many learners of English find it very challenging to use naturally.
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If you can, great, you'll show you've got a high level.
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If not, you can just say, right.
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It's a nice spread, right?
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Next, people.
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So you can talk about the other person or you can talk about yourself or about other people at the event, okay?
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The first thing I always do when I introduce myself at parties is I keep it super simple.
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Hello, I'm Keith.
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And I say my name really slowly.
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And that's it, because people are not going to remember.
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I mean, you'll be lucky if they remember your name.
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But some people go, hello, my name's Keith.
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I'm an English teacher.
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I'm from Manchester.
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And at I'm living in Spain, and all the other person hears is and that's it,
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that's all they get.
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So keep it super simple.
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Hello, I'm, right?
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Now, if it's for example, Matthew's party or Matthew's wedding, you could say, so how do you know Matthew?
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Nice question.
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And then if you're digging deeper to get to know the person better, and what do you do?
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Even deeper?
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How did you get into that?
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How did you get into that?
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Meaning, how did you start that work or that job or that activity?
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People love to tell their life story about how they started a business or how they started working in a certain field.
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It's a great question.
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How did you get into that?
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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?
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What are you working on at the moment?
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Notice the stress.
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What are you working on at the moment?
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Try.
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Yeah, that's great.
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And again, people love to tell you about the projects they're doing or what's keeping them busy at the moment.
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It's a really nice way to dig deeper into the conversation.
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Now, that's going quite deep.
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You may at times want to switch and make things lighter, a bit more lighthearted, right?
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So you You could talk about travel,
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for example, and you could say, been anywhere nice recently? Been anywhere nice recently?
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Great, good.
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So been is been, it should be, have you been anywhere nice recently or lately?
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But actually in natural spoken English, we drop the have you and just say been, been anywhere nice lately?
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Been anywhere nice lately?
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You'll see this more as we go through this video.
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Or maybe you could talk about hobbies.
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right?
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And a nice question for this is, what do you get up to when you're not working?
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What do you get up to when you're not working?
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To get up to is to do something in a relaxed way, if you like, right?
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Great question.
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Not what is your hobby, which sounds a bit bookish and formal.
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What do you get up to when you're not working?
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Try it.
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That's it.
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Lovely.
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So all of these topics can be great things to talk about when you're at a party or social event.
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Right, the next situation is not quite as serious as the first one.
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This is actually much more the kind of conversation where it's a hello, goodbye, right?
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Very, very brief, small, really small talk.
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So this may be when you bump into your neighbour.
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Bump into means to meet by chance or by accident.
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When you're maybe queuing in line or queuing in line, waiting in line or queuing, maybe at a shop, in the supermarket, at the bus stop.
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We love queuing at the bus stops in England, honestly.
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Maybe it's with a taxi driver or a shop assistant, just something very brief to be friendly, basically.
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So the classic here is to talk about weather, right?
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So you could say, nice day, isn't it?
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Nice day, isn't it?
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Remember the isn't it, you could just say, right, right?
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Nice day, right?
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And notice instead of saying, it's a nice day, we drop that and just say, nice day.
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Nice day, right?
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Nice day, right?
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Lovely day, right?
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Very simple, right?
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Or if you're in England, looks like it's going to rain.
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It looks like it's going to rain or drop the it, looks like it's going to rain.
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Very simple.
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Weather, classic, you can't go wrong with weather.
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More generally, and a very easy question to ask, but can open up simple conversations.
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How's everything?
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How's everything?
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How's everything?
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Which is better than how are you?
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Because how are you?
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People just say, fine.
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And that's it.
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How's everything?
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Maybe you're asking about the business, if they're a shop assistant, or if it's a neighbour, about things in their life,
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and maybe they want help with something.
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How's everything?
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It's just going to open up a little bit more of the conversation, if you want to. So that's it.
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That's Brief Encounters for really, really small talk.
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Let's move on.
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I would just like to take a moment to tell you more about Cambly, who are sponsoring this video.
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Cambly is a fantastic online platform where you can find native English speaking teachers who can help you learn,
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encourage you, correct you, give you feedback and really help you become a better communicator in English.
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It's great because you can choose your own teacher.
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You have the one -on -one classes.
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You get to choose when you want to do the class and how often.
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You can choose the content or the teacher can help you with that.
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And you can also go back and watch the recording of the class so you can review what you've done,
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which is so important to your learning.
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Cambly offers lots of different plans.
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You can choose the one that's flexible for you.
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And also because you're following me, Cambly have some special discounts for you.
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First of all, if you want to check it out as a first -time user,
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you can get a 15 -minute free lesson to find out if it's right for you and what you really want.
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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,
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you can get a 40 % discount off any of the 12 -month plans.
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40 % think about it.
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It's a really good investment, great opportunity.
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If it's what you're looking for, you can go and check out the link below.
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So click on there, find out more about it.
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Use the code there, newkeith, N -E -W -K -E -I -T -H.
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And you can go and see what it's like.
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If it's right for you, go and check it out.
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You will absolutely love it, I'm sure.
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Right now, let's get back into some small talk and how to start conversations easily.
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Now, the final situation is actually for people that you already know.
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So this could be friends, colleagues, classmates, and I call this at the water cooler because traditionally that's the kind of the,
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it's where you go for water.
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It's where you gather around, chat, have a chit chat, bit of small talk, killing time maybe,
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but it could be down the pub or at the coffee bar.
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And sometimes you're not sure how to start a conversation or you're not sure what to talk about.
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And well, these phrases, tried and tested, guaranteed to work.
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They're very easy, easy to use.
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Try them out.
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So first one is this one.
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seen any good films lately?
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Notice instead of have you, you can just say seen any good films lately?
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Notice the intonation.
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Seen any good films lately?
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Try.
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Great.
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And that is great because most people watch films
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and would love to tell you about a film that was great
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and they recommend or a film that was terrible and they don't want you to watch.
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Similarly, you could say, read any good books lately?
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Or been to any good gigs lately?
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Been to any good gigs lately?
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A gig is just a concert, right?
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Have you been to any good concerts lately?
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Been to any good gigs lately?
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So you can see that formula.
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You can use it for magazines, books, concerts, TV series, all of that kind of stuff, okay?
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Next, talking about the weekends, classic, dead easy to do.
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What did you get up to at the weekend?
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What did you get up to at the weekend?
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Remember, get up to is when you do something in a relaxed way normally.
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So that's a nice way to ask about what they did at the weekend
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You could also ask about the future
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Got any plans for the weekend?
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Got any plans for the weekend?
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Notice I'm dropping have you got any plans for the weekend?
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Great, the weekends are really easy to talk about for most people
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Now, you could, again, you could focus the conversation on work or study.
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And again, you could say very simply, what are you working on at the moment?
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Or what are you studying at the moment?
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Easy conversations.
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People often like to tell you about the projects that they hate, but they have to do,
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or the exciting project they're doing and they really want to tell you about and spread their passion about what they're doing.
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It's a nice question to ask.
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The final or third part of these questions is all about, I was going to say gossip.
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It's not exactly gossip.
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Let's call it news, news slash gossip.
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And this is where, because people love to talk about gossip, right?
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People love to talk about what other people are doing, new places, new things.
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And there are lots of questions you can ask here.
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For example, have you been to that new Spanish bar, right?
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Or even, you can drop the have you, been to that new Spanish bar yet?
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Been to that new Spanish bar yet?
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Have you met the new sales manager yet?
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Have you seen the new product we're launching?
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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,
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all of these are great questions because they're talking about recent news, recent events, finding out or exchanging your opinions about it.
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And it's kind of touching on gossip almost.
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I don't really like gossip, but it's a very, very easy conversation starter, right?
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Let's call it news slash gossip.
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So lots of things you can ask about.
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Great, let's move on.
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Right, and as promised, here's that bonus, all about those taboo topics, the things you shouldn't say to British people.
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Now...
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To be clear, right, this is when you don't know the people at all.
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I think these are the kind of topics and phrases you wouldn't ask or say when you're meeting complete strangers, right?
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It's just not safe.
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Of course, as you get to know people and you know them better, you could start asking these questions.
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But let's assume this is for people you don't know.
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The first kind of taboo topic or delicate topic is family, interestingly, right?
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Because you may think that's, you can ask about family, about, you know, are you married?
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Do you have any children?
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What does your wife do?
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And probably 30 years ago, these would be innocent questions.
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But I think in today's climate, in Britain, they can be delicate with strangers, right?
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So for example, are you married?
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but what if that person has just got divorced or they've had an engagement that has failed?
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And you may be touching on a delicate topic.
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Likewise, well, what does your wife do?
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But maybe they've just lost their job.
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They've been laid off.
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They're unemployed.
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And again, that's a really delicate topic you probably don't want to touch.
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And again, what does your wife do? asking me, but maybe a man is married to a man
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and they have a husband and they could feel a bit uncomfortable if you assume that they're automatically married to a woman.
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So these are things that can be delicate, I think, with complete strangers.
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I would steer away from, move away from this topic until you get to know them better.
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I think otherwise it can be a minefield
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Another topic is age, right?
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Generally, we don't talk about age.
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Women more so, but men also possibly.
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So the question, how old are you?
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Probably not appropriate, right?
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And another one around work and salary.
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In Britain, we tend not to talk about money too much.
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We're not very comfortable talking about money.
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So you certainly would not ask, how much do you earn?
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Which is an interesting question.
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I've been asked that question in a few occasions when I've traveled around the world and it's always shocked me.
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And I feel really uncomfortable talking about it.
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So be aware that in the UK, you may make people uncomfortable if you ask them, how much do you earn exactly?
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Okay.
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Another couple of topics that I would stay away from are politics and religion, right? politics.
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Sometimes you're tempted to say, oh, I can't believe what your president did the other day.
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And maybe you are shocked by what the president of that country did.
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But you don't know if the other person maybe is a big advocate of their president and they love their president.
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And by you could easily offend their culture, their country, their sense of nationalism, if you attack their president.
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And likewise in religion.
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Again, I've had several occasions on my travels where people have said, hello, my name's Tom.
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Do you believe in God?
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Well, that for me is a very personal question and one that I'm happy to discuss with people I know very well.
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But with somebody I don't know, I would find that inappropriate.
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So these are some taboo topics and questions, especially in Great Britain.
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That's it.
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Fantastic.
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You've done a great job today with your practice.
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So we've been looking at small talk, looking at parties and social events.
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Then we talked about neighbours and queuing and taxi drivers and also small talk at the water cooler with your friends, colleagues or classmates.
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And finally, of course, we were looking at taboos, kind of questions that you shouldn't ask if you're in the UK.
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I hope all of this has been useful.
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I hope it's helping you not only to learn English, but to become an English speaker.
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I'd love for you to change your mindset from being a student to becoming an English speaker
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and becoming a much more effective communicator in English.
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And I think understanding areas of small talk is a small but important step in that direction.
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Do remember, subscribe and turn on notifications to find out about upcoming videos from me.
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Do remember to go and check out Cambly if you really want to become.
331
an effective communicator in English, go and find a teacher on Cambly, qualified native English speaking teachers who can really help you.
332
There are lots of different plans, but you can check out a 15 minute lesson for free.
333
Or if you go for any of the 12 month plans, you'll get 40 % discount.
334
Amazing.
335
Go and check it out.
336
It's well worth trying.
337
Go down below and click on the links to find out more.
338
In the meantime, keep practicing, stay safe, and I will see you just around the corner in the next video.
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Thank you for spending this time with me, my friend.
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See you very soon.
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Bye -bye.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze spreekles is gebaseerd op de video “English Small Talk: Start Conversations Easily”. Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: English, topic, conversation. Deze video bevat 341 zinnen en 3552 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 25:36. De spreker praat in een gelijkmatig tempo van ongeveer 139 woorden per minuut, prettig om te shadowen. 89% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is goed te volgen. 106 van de 341 zinnen zijn vragen, dus het is goede oefening voor vraagintonatie en korte antwoorden.
Belangrijke woorden in deze video
15 woorden uit de video die het leren waard zijn, met uitspraak en betekenis:
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| topic zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | onderwerp, thema |
| gossip zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈɡɑsɪp/ | kletspraatje, roddel |
| delicate bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈdɛl.ɪ.kət/ | breekbaar, fragiel |
| queue zelfstandig naamwoord | /kju/ | rij |
| bonus zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈbəʊ.nəs/ | bonus, extraatje |
| discount zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈdɪskaʊnt/ | korting |
| phrase zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | uitspraak |
| stranger zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈstɹeɪnd͡ʒɚ/ | vreemde, vreemdeling |
| uncomfortable bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | ongemakkelijk |
| gig zelfstandig naamwoord | /ɡɪɡ/ | concert, optreden |
| hobby zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈhɑ.bi/ | hobby, vrijetijdsbesteding |
| neighbour zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈneɪbɚ/ | buur, buurman |
| earn werkwoord | /ɝn/ | verdienen |
| meal zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈmiːl/ | maaltijd |
| lesson zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | les |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Betekenis |
|---|---|
| find out werkwoord | ontdekken, onderzoeken |
| check out werkwoord | onderzoeken |
| go back werkwoord | teruggaan |
| go down werkwoord | afdalen |
| lay off werkwoord | ontslaan, de zak geven |
Zinnen om te herhalen
Korte, volledige zinnen uit de video die je in alledaagse gesprekken kunt gebruiken:
- What brings you here today?
- How did you get into that?
- What are you working on at the moment?
- What do you get up to when you're not working?
- Have you seen the new product we're launching?
Grammatica in deze video
De structuren die de spreker het meest gebruikt, met de exacte woorden uit de video:
| Structuur | In de video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + voltooid deelwoord — iets uit het verleden dat nu nog telt | you've never been · I've never been · have put |
| Lijdende vorm be + voltooid deelwoord — het gaat om wat er gebeurt, niet om wie het doet | They've been laid · I've been asked · are shocked |
| Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding | topics which are · teachers who can |
| Mogelijkheid met “might / may” might/may + werkwoord — iets is mogelijk maar niet zeker | might use · might talk · may be |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 94 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals you're, I'm, they're. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- De klanken “sh” en “zh”: shock /ʃɔk/, occasion /əˈkeɪ̯ʒən/, passion /ˈpæʃən/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, similarly /ˈsɪm.ə.lə.li/, traditionally /tɹəˈdɪʃ.ə.nə.li/, inappropriate /ˌɪnəˈpɹoʊpɹi.ət/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/, gig /ɡɪɡ/, dig /dɪɡ/, likewise /ˈlaɪkˌwaɪz/, colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/
- /æ/ — opener dan de Nederlandse “e”: relax /ɹɪˈlæks/, taxi /ˈtæksi/, naturally /ˈnæt͡ʃ.(ə.)ɹə.li/, practical /ˈpɹæk.tɪ.kəl/, guarantee /ˌɡæɹ.ənˈtiː/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: gossip /ˈɡɑsɪp/, gig /ɡɪɡ/, dig /dɪɡ/, colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/, finger /ˈfɪŋɡɚ/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Spreek zin voor zin na op normale snelheid en herhaal elke zin tot je ritme gelijk is aan dat van de spreker.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als topic, gossip, delicate.
Wat is de Shadowing-techniek?
Shadowing is een wetenschappelijk onderbouwde taalleermethode die oorspronkelijk is ontwikkeld voor professionele tolkentraining en gepopulariseerd door polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. De methode is eenvoudig maar krachtig: je luistert naar native Engelse audio en herhaalt het onmiddellijk hardop — als een schaduw die de spreker volgt met slechts 1–2 seconden vertraging. In tegenstelling tot passief luisteren of grammaticadrills, dwingt shadowing je hersenen en mondspieren om echte spraakpatronen tegelijkertijd te verwerken en te reproduceren. Onderzoek toont aan dat het de uitspraaknauwkeurigheid, intonatie, ritme, verbonden spraak, luisterbegrip en spreekvaardigheid aanzienlijk verbetert — waardoor het een van de meest effectieve methoden is voor IELTS Speaking-voorbereiding en echte Engelse communicatie.