Shadowing Practice: Small Talk | Useful Phrases & Questions for Everyday Conversation - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Well hey there, I'm Emma from mmmEnglish.
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If you want to improve your English conversation skills, this lesson is definitely for you.
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It's actually part two in a series that I've made about small talk
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so I'm sharing all of the essential phrases and expressions
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that you need to know to be successful with your small talk conversations in English.
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In part one, I shared some really useful everyday questions and phrases to talk about work, the weather,
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hobbies and your free time and I'm definitely going to link to
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that video at the end but in this one I'm going to dive a little deeper
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and I'm going to share some useful questions
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or ideas to help you spark some small talk conversations about news and current affairs.
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I'm also going to be talking about how to start a conversation at a social event
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or a networking event when you don't really know anyone there.
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Awkward.
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And most importantly, I'm going to talk about how to end
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that conversation in a relaxed and friendly way so
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that you've got the opportunity to do it all again sometime in the future.
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So let's dive in!
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Discussing news or current affairs can be a really great icebreaker.
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You just need to make sure you keep it light, okay?
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So avoiding topics that might cause offence or prompt an argument or a disagreement of some kind.
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Politics, religion, any sort of strong opinion about something it's best to avoid.
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Small talk is not the place for that.
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Start with something simple and the question
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did you hear about is a really useful one in this situation
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because you can pick anything relevant that you read in the paper that morning or you heard on the radio, something that is on the news at that moment.
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Did you hear about the train strike in Melbourne last week?
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You can also introduce the topic by saying, I read, I read that Point Cook is the most multicultural suburb in Australia,
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I had no idea or I heard, I heard on the radio that the Queen's visiting next month.
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In order to really get your conversation flowing though, you need to make sure that you follow up with a question
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or something that invites their opinion or their thought on whatever you shared.
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Conversation is two ways, right?
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So you could always follow up with a question like so what do you think about that?
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What are your thoughts?
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How do you feel about that?
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Hey ladies, do you want to practice English in real conversations with really lovely speaking partners?
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I've put the link down in the description below so that you can start your free trial today.
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Okay so now I'm going to share a couple of really useful phrases to help you at social or networking events.
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Sometimes these can be really awkward or uncomfortable places
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when you're standing with someone that you don't really know and you don't have anything really to talk about.
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Well if you have a friend or a colleague in common
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that you both know you can start with that
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so how do you know Ed otherwise you can try
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and work out how you might know them
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or how you're connected have we met before you look familiar you can always try giving a compliment
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that works really well I love
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that dress can I ask where you got it from now
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sometimes you actually meet people who you know quite well over
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the phone you maybe deal with them a lot via email
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but you've never actually met in person so a good thing to say at
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that point is Ah it's great to finally put a face to the name
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and when you get introduced to someone that you've heard about
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but you've never met before you can say I've heard so much about you.
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The best response to this is all good I hope
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and this just means I hope that everything you've heard about me was good
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and not bad which sounds a bit funny but it's really common
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and it definitely helps to relax the conversation with a little bit of humour which is always nice.
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I hope that everything you've heard about me is good.
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Now of course a lesson about small talk would not be complete without some phrases to help you end the conversation.
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This is...
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Crucial, sometimes it can be the most difficult part.
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Once you've started and you're thinking yeah okay, this is good, I'm asking you some questions and then okay, I'm running out of things to say now.
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Abort!
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Get out!
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So how do you politely end your conversation and just get back to doing what you were doing?
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I mean you can't just say okay, bye.
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That is really awkward and uncomfortable for everyone isn't it?
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Oh okay bye.
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If you're at work you can say something like well I'd better get back to work or
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I'd better get back to it, I'll see you around.
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At a social event you could say I'd better keep moving it was nice chatting
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or you can kind of make up an excuse that you need to leave and say something like I'm looking for Jennifer, you haven't seen her around anywhere, have you?
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I was just looking for the bathroom, do you know where it is?
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Well I'm gonna go grab a drink, I'll see you in a bit.
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These last three are a little less direct.
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I'm not saying okay, I'm done with this conversation now, I don't want to talk with you anymore.
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I'm just politely moving away to do something else, right?
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So it doesn't cause offence to the other person that you're talking to, you're just moving along and then you end the conversation comfortably
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and it makes it easy to come back and start a new conversation with that person at some other time.
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Well done!
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A huge high five to you if you got all the way through part one
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and part two of this series about small talk.
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If you did, you've learned over 50 phrases and questions
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and potential answers that will help you to make small talk in English.
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So all you need to do now is to make sure that you put it into practice.
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Make sure you do that.
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Just studying them and learning them and trying to remember them is not going to help.
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You need to try this out.
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Do that wherever you speak English, alright?
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every week so you definitely want to be here when I bring out the next one.
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For now, let's check out this one together.
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Woordenschat en spreektips bij deze les
Deze woorden komen het vaakst terug: conversation, heard, English, phrases, lesson. Deze video bevat 71 zinnen en 1215 woorden om na te spreken. Het gesproken deel duurt 7:24. De spreker praat in een natuurlijk tempo van ongeveer 164 woorden per minuut, dicht bij een alledaags gesprek. 88% van de woorden hoort bij de 3.000 meest gebruikte Engelse woorden, dus de woordenschat is goed te volgen. 17 van de 71 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 |
|---|---|---|
| lesson zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈlɛs.ən/ | les |
| phrase zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/ | uitspraak |
| awkward bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈɔk.wɚd/ | onhandig |
| topic zelfstandig naamwoord | /ˈtɑpɪk/ | onderwerp, thema |
| introduce werkwoord | /ˌɪntɹəˈdus/ | introduceren, voorstellen |
| relax werkwoord | /ɹɪˈlæks/ | losmaken |
| uncomfortable bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/ | ongemakkelijk |
| dive werkwoord | /daɪv/ | duiken, onderwaterzwemmen |
| everyday bijvoeglijk naamwoord | /ˈɛvɹiˌdeɪ/ | alledaags |
| membership zelfstandig naamwoord | lidmaatschap | |
| skill zelfstandig naamwoord | /skɪl/ | bekwaamheid, vaardigheid |
| connect werkwoord | /kəˈnɛkt/ | verbinden |
| invite werkwoord | /ɪnˈvaɪt/ | uitnodigen, nodigen |
| wherever | /(h)wɛɹˈɛvɚ/ | waar, waar ook |
| sometime bijwoord | /ˈsʌmˌtaɪm/ | ooit |
Phrasal verbs die je zult horen
| Woord | Uitspraak | Betekenis |
|---|---|---|
| check out werkwoord | onderzoeken | |
| come back werkwoord | terugkomen | |
| work out werkwoord | /ˌwɝk ˈaʊt/ | uitrekenen |
Zinnen om te herhalen
Korte, volledige zinnen uit de video die je in alledaagse gesprekken kunt gebruiken:
- What are your thoughts?
- How do you feel about that?
- Can I ask where you got it from?
- You haven't seen her around anywhere, have you?
- Do you know where it is?
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 | I've made · I've put · you've never actually met |
| Betrekkelijke bijzinnen who / which + zin — extra informatie over een persoon of ding | people who you · humour which is |
| Overtreffende trap the -est / the most … — het hoogste of laagste van een groep | the most multicultural · The best · the most difficult |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — iets dat op een moment in het verleden bezig was | were doing · was just looking |
Uitspraak om op te letten
De spreker gebruikt 51 samentrekkingen en verkorte vormen, zoals I'm, you've, you're. Spreek ze kort uit, zoals je ze hoort.
- Lange woorden — let op de klemtoon: uncomfortable /ʌnˈkʌm.fɚ.tə.bl̩/, importantly /ɪmˈpɔɹ.tənt.li/, disagreement /dɪsəˈɡɹiːmənt/, multicultural /ˌmʌltiˈkʌlt͡ʃəɹəl/
Klanken die Nederlandstaligen lastig vinden:
- Stemhebbende eindmedeklinker — /b/, /d/, /g/, /z/, /v/ niet verscherpen: phrase /ˈfɹeɪ̯z/, awkward /ˈɔk.wɚd/, dive /daɪv/, subscribe /səbˈskɹaɪb/, colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/
- /g/ — een harde plofklank, geen Nederlandse “g”: colleague /ˈkɒliːɡ/, disagreement /dɪsəˈɡɹiːmənt/
- /w/ — met ronde lippen: awkward /ˈɔk.wɚd/, wherever /(h)wɛɹˈɛvɚ/
Zo oefen je met deze video
- Luister de hele video één keer zonder te spreken en noteer de woorden die je niet kent.
- Begin op 0,75× snelheid, spreek zin voor zin na en ga terug naar normale snelheid zodra het makkelijk gaat.
- Neem jezelf op en vergelijk met het origineel; let daarbij op woorden als lesson, phrase, awkward.
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.