You're learning with 925 English - business English for the workplace.
hi Tim here with another 925 English lesson. In today's lesson we're going to
learn all about how to start a conversation.
Sometimes we call starting a conversation breaking the ice. You can
think of the ice as that initial silence between people. It could be between
strangers on a plane or co-workers in a lunchroom and when we break the ice we
say something friendly to start a conversation. So how do you do that?
What do you say and what topics our best? Well in our first lesson we had an example of
a greeting between work colleagues who didn't know each other.
Can you remember how they got their conversation started after the greeting?
What did they say? Let's have another listen to that short dialogue and you
can listen for the conversation starter.
A pleasure Shelly quite the setup here isn't it?
Yes, they have really gone to town. I should get them to come decorate my
So did you hear what the first person said? She said
quite the setup here isn't it and that shows us that asking the question is a
great way to start a conversation especially if you've just been
introduced. You can use simple and direct questions or you can use a comment with
the tag question. Just a quick note on vocabulary here. The 'setup' of the room is
the way it is organized and decorated
And 'quiet the' means impressive so amber thinks the decoration of the room is very
impressive and Shelly agrees saying they've really 'gone to town'. If we go to
town with something it means we make a big effort.
all right let's try a little practice with some simple questions for starting
a conversation. Listen carefully to each example then repeat the example yourself.
ready let's get started can you believe how much snow we're getting so where are
you visiting family for the holiday or just getting away
ok so those are examples of direct questions about things like the weather
and travel these are pretty safe topics for starting a conversation which is why
you might hear people use them so often and you will also hear yes no questions
like can you believe and WH questions like where are you going today killed
those are direct questions now how about those tag questions I talked about first
well to make a tag question you make a comment then had a little question at
the end for example you might say the airport is quite busy isn't it or you
could say you work in sales don't you let's do a little practice with this
kind of question remember repeat each example after you hear it
funded program do you think you were in the afternoon workshop where you
are couple of tricks to tag questions first
the question tag needs to match the comment
so with a beautiful day you need isn't it because the day is the it that with
you were in the morning workshop you don't say isn't it instead we say we
weren't you the subject has to match and the verb tits has to match and here's
the second thing about tag questions a positive statement is followed by a
negative tag question like a nice day isn't it
while a negative statement is followed by a positive tag question like there
isn't much snow is there does that make sense
ok so remember that little dialogue between colleagues that we heard at the
start of the lesser let's use that for a bit of practice will repeat the dialogue
but this time will be put out a couple of lines so you can add your own
responses you need to start with the tag question about the set up to get the
conversation started and you'll have to respond to the other person's comet
yes they've really gone to town I should get them to come decorate my house
showed that covers using questions to break the ice we've practiced tag
questions and some simple direct questions but sometimes the question
fields to direct doesn't it it might even seem rude with someone we've never
met before so there's another way we can start a conversation and that's with the
simple comment this is useful for talking with strangers or someone you
haven't been introduced to what do I mean by making a simple comment
all you do is say something about the situation or place your in and the other
person can respond however they like let's give it a try
will give you some good examples of icebreaker comments you can listen and
repeat ready looks like they've got quite the evening planned for us
you sure are a lot of people here tonight looks like it's going to be a
seems simple enough doesn't it and maybe you noticed the expression looks like
which is very useful for introducing a comment and the words sure which is
useful for friendly emphasis it means certainly like it certainly is a nice
but how does this kind of conversation starter work in real life remember a
invites a response from the other person once they respond you can continue on
the same topic let's listen to a short dialogue to see how this can work you'll
hear two travelers in an airport one of them starts with the simple comet just
like we practiced then the other person responds and the first person continues
with some explanation of the situation looks like it's really starting to fill
up yeah pretty busy I think everything's kind of backed up something about a snow
so did you hear how that weren't you just comment on something around you let
the other person respond and keep talking then the conversation flows from
there now you can try this yourself will repeat the same dialogue but will be put
out the first and last lines it's your job to break the ice with the comment
then continue talking after the other person responds ready to give it a go
okay now we've looked at starting the conversation with strangers but how
about talking with your co-workers
well it's not too different from talking with people you don't know you can use a
question or a comment and it's best to pick an easy or general topic like
sports or the weather or news let's try a little practice listen to each example
ok let's begin can you believe this rain we've been having did you see that race
the latest earthquake in Japan
the Euro sure seems to be in a bit of trouble
this new guy who's running finance
ask these kinds of questions after we've already said hello to the other person
but what if you haven't said hi or hello
well that's when you can use a word like so or pay before your question just as a
way of introducing it well that pretty much wraps it up for today we've
practiced starting a conversation with questions after a greeting breaking the
ice with comments and starting conversations with coworkers don't
forget to go back and practice these techniques again and try using your own
ideas in the examples will be back soon with another 925 English lesson until