Small talk is a great way to improve your speaking skills, here's how...
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We use small talk when we want to start a conversation with someone we don’t know, someone who we only know a little bit, or someone we should be respectful to like a manager or a senior. In other words not your friends and not your family.
Small talk topics are usually the type of topics you can speak to anyone about, so it is a great way to start a conversation in English with anyone. And you should try to speak to as many people in English as you can. For example; a salesperson in a coffee shop, a tourist, someone at your work who you know is from another country, or even if you know a person is from your country, but you don’t know that person at all. Why not try to speak to them in English. If you feel shy, using one of these common topics as your starter will help you to feel more confident and it will make it easier for you to say something.
Topics like the weather, a little bit of personal information, certain sports events and other general interest topics are great for small talk.
The key to good small talk is to keep the topic as general as possible, never give too much personal information, such as your health issues or anything else that should only be shared with close family and friends. Don’t mention political views and other serious news topics for example; Trump, war, Brexit. Some serious conversations could make people a bit uncomfortable and they won’t want to talk to you then.
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