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Small talk

This lesson focuses on making small talk, defining it as polite conversation often initiated with someone unfamiliar. It emphasizes safe topics for discussion, such as family, weather, and food, while advising against taboo subjects like politics and salary. The lesson also suggests preparing questions in advance to ease the pressure of conversation, especially for those who are introverted.

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Ala Amdouni
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18 views

Small talk

This lesson focuses on making small talk, defining it as polite conversation often initiated with someone unfamiliar. It emphasizes safe topics for discussion, such as family, weather, and food, while advising against taboo subjects like politics and salary. The lesson also suggests preparing questions in advance to ease the pressure of conversation, especially for those who are introverted.

Uploaded by

Ala Amdouni
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Transcript: Lesson 2: Making Small Talk

Hello. In this video, we're going to discuss making small talk. We'll define what small talk is, give some examples of
it and explain how making small talk is relevant to networking and ultimately finding a job. So, to begin, let's define
what small talk is.

What is small talk?

“Untitled Image” by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash under Unsplash license.

Small talk is when you make polite conversation with someone. Often the conversation is with someone you don't
know very well, so you may have to speak with this person for the very first time. A conversation may begin as
small talk and then continue into speaking about something more important. But usually, small talk is the first
stage before you can get to that more important place.

For example, let's say you are in a business meeting with your co-workers. You might begin the conversation with
one of your colleagues by asking her about her family. You might say, “Hey, Maria, how are you? How's your family
doing? Did your youngest start school yet?” In this situation, the speaker asks a question about his co-worker's
family. Questions are a good way to get a conversation started.

What are safe topics for small talk?


Usually, small talk sticks to topics that we consider safe. In the United States, chatting about someone's family is
generally a safe topic. Chatting about the weather is a safe topic. Chatting about food, or travel, or movies, are safe
topics.

Safe topics are ones where you can be pretty sure that you will not upset, or offend the person, by talking about
these topics. In the US, we usually stay clear of certain topics, topics that we consider taboo or controversial, topics
that could upset someone. Some examples of taboos in the US are religion, politics, and salary. It's best to avoid
discussing these topics in a conversation, especially with someone you're trying to make a good impression with.
So, you would never say to a colleague in a conversation, “how much money do you make in your job?”

How can you prepare to make small talk?


Perhaps, to help you make small talk, you should have a number of questions already prepared. That way, you're
not tongue-tied or unable to speak when you meet someone. This brings up an important point regarding small
talk or conversation in general-- a lot of people are introverted or shy by nature. They feel uncomfortable talking
about themselves especially to strangers. This is a perfectly normal thing. However, if you have such a personality,

© 2021 by FHI 360. “Transcript: Lesson 2: Making Small Talk” for the Online Professional English Network
(OPEN), sponsored by the U.S. Department of State with funding provided by the U.S. government and
administered by FHI 360. This work is an adaptation of “Video: Making Small Talk”, by The University of 1
Pennsylvania licensed under the Creative Commons Share-Alike License. To view a copy of the license, visit
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
you don't want this to stop you from having a conversation with someone who might possibly open a door to a
future job. You will need to try and find a way to overcome this personality obstacle.

In social situations, like meeting someone for the first time and feeling pressure to speak, asking questions is a
good way to take the focus off you. If you have a number of questions already prepared, this will also help take
some of the stress away in these uncomfortable situations. Beforehand, write down a number of the questions
that you can use in these situations. Choose topics from the safe list we talked about earlier.

Here are a couple of examples:


1. How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun or interesting?
2. The weather forecast looks very nice for this coming weekend. Do you have any plans?
3. What restaurants would you recommend for lunch?

These are just a few examples. Try these out of few times on a friend or a family member to see if they work
and whether you need more practice. Select the ones you think work well and throw out the ones that don't.

Summary
In this video, we've looked at the topic of small talk. We've examined some examples of it and discussed how it is
relevant to networking.

What’s Next?
Next, we'll take a quiz to practice appropriate phrases from a conversation.

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