Don't be Shy! 10 Ways to Start a Conversation with Anyone | Go Natural English

Hello, welcome to go natural English, how are you?

I just burnt my tongue on a cup of hot coffee, but that's okay

we will continue and in this English fluency lesson, you are going to learn how to

Start a conversation with a stranger even if you're shy how to make friends and how to improve your English speaking skills

So if that sounds awesome, then let's do it

By the way, I am Gabi, that is my name and it's also an adjective for someone who talks a lot

They are Gabi but I am Gabi and I am here to help you with your English

I am an American English teacher and the founder of go natural English

So we are going to talk about

Making friends through giving compliments. So where I'm from in North America specifically, Minneapolis

Minnesota a

really common way to make friends and a great way to be a

Positive person with good vibes is to give compliments

Give compliments to your friends family colleagues and even strangers now

I want to know what about you and your country is it?

normal for people to give compliments to strangers

so if you're not sure keep watching for some examples of what I mean by

Compliments and then tell me in the comments because I think that compliments are a great way to start a conversation with anyone

They're also a great way to make friends because how do you make friends? Well, you have to start conversations with them

So you may not make friends with

everyone you start a conversation with but if you can start a conversation with someone then you have a greater likelihood of

Becoming friends with them, right?

If you don't start a conversation, you're probably not gonna become friends with them and this topic is really on my mind

You know how to make friends when you move to a new country

Because I am currently living in Brazil

So making new friends when you go to a new country is really hard

Yes, even for me it takes work. So that's why I'm helping you today because I

believe that many of you have

Recently, or maybe not so recently, but you have moved to the United States from another country

So tell me in the comments if that's you if you are

In the United States or thinking about moving to the United States from another country

and making friends

this is

This is something is not always easy. So we're gonna learn how to make friends through giving compliments in a

Really?

How can I say like a nice way not a creepy way because sometimes compliments can be creepy. Like are those your real eyes?

That would be an example of a compliment that I would think is a little bit weird. So

Let's talk about compliments that are

Not so weird. Okay. Number one, by the way, I'm gonna share ten

compliments so you have some different ones to work with you can

memorize all of these or just one of them and use them as you see fit so

number one is I

Really love the way you for example. I really love the way you

teach us English on YouTube

Yes

Thank you. I mean, you're welcome. Um

For example with someone else you might say this at a cafe. Like I really love the way you

pour that coffee

Barista lady or I really love

The way you are dressed so this could be used for an action. Like I really love the way you pour that coffee or

some

Way that they're dressed. Like I really love the way you're dressed

So some kind of description like or I really love the way you wear your hair or your hairstyle

I live I really love the way that you are wearing that scarf or

jacket or whatever so you could give the purse a compliment on their look their style their fashion or

Some action that they're doing

So another example, I really love the way that you are so friendly to everyone

so maybe you've observed someone being really friendly maybe it's a person that works at a cafe or a store and

They're like hi. Can I help you? And you might give them this compliment? Wow, I really love how friendly you are

Another way to say this and I'm not even gonna count this as number two. This is number one point five it is I'm

so impressed

by the way

that you wear your hair or wear that

Outfit or that scarf? I'm so impressed by the way, you're so positive and so friendly with everyone. So these are two different ways

I love or I'm so impressed by it's a little more advanced the way you do something. Excellent

so next another option and by the way, I encourage you to shadow me as I

Say these phrases so that you can practice your pronunciation

When you repeat these English phrases after me your English speaking

Will improve and it will help you to remember these phrases for using them later

another good tip is to write them down maybe on your smartphone or if you like paper and

Pencil to write them in a notebook

So this will really improve your memorization of these English phrases when you can reference them again

Or maybe bookmark this video to review it tomorrow or the next day, okay

So number two is kind of similar to number one and 1.5. It's I've noticed or I just

Noticed how good you are or how talented you are add something for example

I just noticed how quickly you

Pour coffee. This is my example for everything because you know, I'm really obsessed with coffee, but just to give you an example

um, I just noticed how

weird your outfit is

Basically, all my examples are gonna be about coffee or fashion because I really like those two things

I've noticed how

Well-traveled you are maybe this is someone who you're getting to know

I mean you wouldn't really know if someone is well-traveled if you just saw them for the first time and they're a stranger

Unless they're wearing one of those backpacks that has flags all over it. Then you could probably use this line

Okay, so so far we have I love the way you blah blah blah

I am so impressed by the way you blah blah blah, I've

Just noticed or I've noticed blah blah blah

Next number three is a pretty simple one

If you remember any of these remember this one, that's a great and then fill in the blank with a piece of clothing

Not a body parts, please that's on the creepy side of things in my opinion

You can tell me what you think in the comments. Would you like it? If someone said that's a great?

body part

I wouldn't personally so

That's a great shirt. Oh why thank you. I I like this shirt myself. Thank you. I picked it out all by myself. Um,

That's a great

Bag that's a great jacket. That's a great pair of shoes

Really anything someone is wearing or a bag. They're carrying you could fill in the blank with that. So

If you wanted to comment about their smile, for example

You would say you have a great smile. Okay, so actually that's number four

You have a great smile or you have a great voice? Oh my goodness. You should be a podcaster or a

radio announcer person

You should work in film. You have a great personality. You have a great vibe

Yes, you do number five so you can ask someone

Where did you get your and then fill it in with an item of clothing or something that they're using or just?

Style, where did you get your style? It's great. Where did you get your

T-shirts, it's so cool. I really like it. I would love to know and you know, this is not necessarily

Something where someone asked you this. Where did you get your t-shirt?

They might be curious. They might want to buy it, but it's also just a good way to start a conversation

Where did you get your I mean I do this sometimes when I see people walking in the airports

Carrying a cup of coffee. I often ask strangers

Where did you get your coffee? Is there a cafe close by you guys are gonna think I'm always drinking coffee. I am

Okay number six is I

Love your style. This is another simple one and it's very useful

I mean really you can say this to anyone

the man woman

Someone who has some interesting style

You know, I guess they do have to have some style for you to say this or else they might think that you're being sarcastic

so

You know, you could say this to someone who has an interesting outfit or some cool hairdo or you know

Nice jewelry or something. Yeah. I really love your style

Yeah, you look great

okay, so

Those are some compliments. Let's keep going number six. Okay, so these are all

Compliments that I would consider appropriate for anyone. It doesn't mean that you are

Trying to hit on someone when you use these

But depending on the person and depending on the way you say them

you know people might think that so I think if you just keep your tone really light and friendly and you know,

You're not like doing this

What are you saying like checking about will you say these then, you know, they're just friendly

Okay, the next one number six is more heartfelt

so

Someone might feel like Wow really like oh

They might even get a little bit flush when you say this number six is you really light up?

the room so

If you find someone especially impressive you could say you really light up the wrong but keep in mind this is something

That is kind of a strong

compliment so I would reserve this compliment for people that you

Really want to impress? It's not so light. It's kind of a heavy compliment

It feels a bit heavier to me

Like I mean, it's nice but it feels a little bit like oh, wow, that's you know

someone who has really been observing me is gonna tell me you really light up their own and I love

It when people tell me this you can tell me this if you already know that

I love it when people tell me you light up the room and basically it means that you have good energy

So it's not a bad thing. It's just kind of an intense compliment in my opinion

And this is just my opinion. You can tell me what you think. Especially I know native speakers watch this as well

So, you know

If you want to comment on how you feel about these compliments also non-native speakers everybody just comment on how you feel about these compliments

also if you

Can you hear people?

Complimenting each other out in the street all the cars honking if you have any compliments to add

To this list, please do okay. We have three more has anyone ever told you that you look like

Someone I get this all the time, who do you think that I look like

Brazilians tell me all the time that I look like this one actress. What's her name? What's her name? What's her name?

El Elyon hosh, yeah, I don't really see it people used to tell me that I look like Julia Stiles

I don't know. Who do you look like?

So this could be a compliment just make sure that you tell the person that they look like someone who is good-looking

Who don't l don't like wow, you would just like

I don't know. What was someone like you you look just like Yoda, you know from Star Wars like

That's not a compliment

Please don't tell me that I look like Yoda

next

Again, a comment on something someone is using or wearing. So let's go with bag your bag

Is really unique and you would combine this with like, where did you get that your t-shirt is really unique

where did you get that so your

Hairstyle is really

unique and

Again tone is everything

So if you have a downward

Intonation like your hair is really unique. That doesn't sound like a compliment

But if it's an upwards intonation your hair is really unique and maybe add another positive word. Like wow. It's beautiful

Then that is a compliment and finally

This is a compliment that my mother uses all the time actually side notes

my mother is so good at starting conversations with strangers and she is the queen of

Compliments so a lot of these tips I am getting from her and passing them on to you

So this is one that she uses all the time. That color is beautiful

on you this is kind of a unique and thoughtful compliment and I think it needs to be used with a

Unique color, so I'm wearing a black t-shirt. I mean black is not necessarily a very special color

I guess you could tell me that

The color black looks great on me. Um, in fact, you definitely could people told me that before this

Oh the color white looks great on you, but this works really well if someone is wearing a kind of unique color

Wow, that color is really unique. It looks great on you

So there you have it. We have ten different ways to compliment

Strangers or people, you know, but these all work for strangers. I feel that these are all friendly and

Appropriate for use with anyone. They don't come across as like creepy or

And as long as you intend them with a good heart

I think people will appreciate your compliments and it's a great way to just start talking with a stranger

So one of many ways that you can start a conversation in English practice your speaking skills make new

Friends in the United States or wherever you may be using English

I hope you enjoyed this if you did

Or if you didn't leave a comment and let me know what you think if you'd like to add any possible

Compliments for people to try out or if you had a favorite from these ten, let me know as always

Thank you so much for being part of our go natural English family

family

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You might want to watch the video that I did before this one about ten

Phrases that you can use over and over and over and how to pronounce them like a native English speaker

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