Small Talk

Small Talk
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."
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.
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.
1
Listen All | Person A | Person B
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."
2
Listen All | Person A | Person B
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."

Small Talk

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Small Talk

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Small Talk

One: "Hi Bill, how are you doing?"

One: "What have you been up to lately?"

One: "We should get together for lunch sometime."

One: "Hi Mary."

Them: "Hi. My name is Josh. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Small Talk - Interactive Practice

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