5 small talk technician to communicate with foreign colleagues

Every English learner has probably heard textbook jokes about weather conversations. In our culture, empty talk, which, in fact, is small talk, is not very accepted. Here, small talk is another matter. But before it comes to a full-fledged conversation, you still need to start a conversation. And if you are going to travel abroad, then you need to be mentally prepared for the fact that there won't even be a trip to the store without small talk. If you find it difficult to talk about anything and on abstract topics, then this article is for you.



The dialogue is about nothing, non-binding conversation, spontaneous conversation on abstract topics: all these definitions of small talk are to some extent truthful. But sometimes the mentality does not allow us to suddenly, for no reason at all, greet a stranger and note that the weather is terrible today. What is really there: we have a polite smile when communicating with strangers is considered something suspicious. This does not mean that we are all sullen and unsociable, we just do not like insincere smiles and empty conversations. But if we are going to travel abroad or have a close communication with foreigners at work, then we will still have to learn how to talk about anything.

By the way, the ability to show interest and direct the interlocutor in the right direction can save you from having to talk a lot yourself, and if you are still very shy about your English, small talk will help you say a few phrases (quite a bit!) And plenty to hear (always useful).
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Technique One: Echo Questions

Everything is very simple here. You listen to what you are told, and then ask a question only with the help of the auxiliary / modal verb or the verb to be . Consider this technique with examples:

- My family and I have just come back from our vacation in Cambodia.
- Have you?

In this case, the auxiliary verb is heard in the first phrase, so there will be no difficulty. Just repeat it with the pronoun you , and you’ll get a question akin to Russian: “Really?”, “Really?”.

- They went to a business trip last week.
- Did they?

Here we have no explicit auxiliary verb, but we know: if we have a sentence in Present Simple or Past Simple, then our auxiliary verb is do . You only need to put it in the desired shape.

- She speak two languages.
- Can she?

Do not forget that the modal verbs do not require any auxiliary, they themselves are auxiliary.

Also remember about intonation. All echo questions require a rising intonation, which indicates to the other person that you would like to hear the details.

Technique two: echo words

Once you have learned to show interest in the interlocutor's words with the help of echo questions, you can begin to master the second technique - echo words. This technique has the same goal, but is a point. If the echo-question was asked to the whole sentence, here you need to listen to the keywords and select those moments about which the interlocutor can tell in more detail.

The echo word can be repeated both in the format of a question with ascending intonation, and in the format of an exclamation with a descending one. In the first case, you will receive additional information, and in the second case, show interest or sympathy, share surprise or delight.

- I traveled around Latin America for a year .
- For a year?

or

- I traveled around Latin America for a year.
- Latin America?

In this example, we can choose both the place and the period. After hearing the proposal, repeat the keyword with ascending intonation, and the interlocutor will surely tell you which countries he traveled to or why he traveled for so long.

- It took me two hours to get here.
- Two hours!

And in this example, the interlocutor can only sympathize, so the repetition of the time interval will help you to show understanding.

The third technique: interjections and expressions for the expression of interest

No language can do without interjections, and each language has its own analogue of expressions that are designed to support the conversation. True, it all depends on the format of the conversation.

The classic Russian “yup” in English is not used very often, and the word “really?” Can express anything from curiosity to threat. There is only one advice: listen more. TV shows, movies, podcasts and YouTube shows will help you get used to the intonations and understand when it is appropriate to use this or that expression. But what the dialogue might look like:

- So I was watching that yesterday, about the ambulance.
- Right.
- They had three really interesting cases and one hoax call.
- Oh yeah?
- Yeah, the cases were all different. There is a little girl with a fever.
- How terrible!
- It can be interesting.
- Really?
- Yes, you still know how to controllers between crews.
- Well, that does sound curious.

By the way, pay attention to the last phrase in this dialogue. Usually we are taught that the auxiliary verb does appear only in denials and questions, but this is not quite so. Does not appear in the affirmative sentence to enhance the meaning of the verb. In Russian, in this case, it is translated as "really", "indeed." Just remember that in such cases the ending –s of the semantic verb will disappear.

Fourth technique: special questions

Asking the right questions is an excellent trick to keep the conversation going. At this stage, you can already interfere with all the techniques studied above, adding questions to them so that your conversation sounds more lively. Just in case, remember what special questions are and how to ask them.

Special questions are often called Wh-questions , because the lion’s share of these questions begins with the words what, when, where, why, whom . All questions with the word how: how often, how many, how much, how far , etc. fall into this category. These questions are asked to supplements and circumstances. The scheme of special questions of the same type:

Wh-word / How -> auxiliary verb -> subject -> semantic verb -> remaining terms of the sentence

For example:

Where are you meeting him tonight? Will you be able to help me out?

Separately, you can make a question to the subject with the question word who . It would seem the same wh-word , but remember the grammar: in the Present Simple and Past Simple in the questions to the subject there is no auxiliary verb.

Examples:

Who went there with you? Who is appointed instead of him?

To see how special questions can help us in small talk, we can go back to the first examples and slightly change them by mixing several techniques at once.

- She speak two languages.
- Really? What languages ​​does she speak?

- I traveled around Latin America for a year.
- For a year? Why so long?

Technique fifth: additional questions

In English, additional questions are called follow-up questions . Such questions you ask, not based on the words of the interlocutor, so this technique is the most difficult for those who began to learn English recently. As a rule, additional questions are still related to the topic of the conversation, but you ask them based on your interests. Expand one of the previous examples and see how such issues work in action.

- My family and I have just come back from our vacation in Cambodia.
- Have you? Did you like it?
- Yes! We visited some popular sights.
- I read that they are always crowded, is it true?
- Partially, yes. But they are definitely worth visiting!
- How long did you stay?
- For two weeks.
- Was it enough?
- Yes, we didn’t want to relax as well.

So from the repetition of a couple of words, you can walk to a full conversation. The main thing is to find a topic that will be interesting and permissible for discussion (in case the situation is very formal). Small talk never lasts a long time, but it can significantly elevate your mood to both you and your interlocutors.

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