Start a Conversation in English with Anyone—Speak Confident English

Hi, I'm Anne Marie with Speak Confident English and welcome to your Confident

English Wednesday lesson. To get us started this week, I want to ask you a

question: when you meet someone new in English - when you meet a new business

client, a new partner, someone who just moved to where you live - how do you start

a conversation with them in English? What questions do you use to start that

conversation, to make small talk? If you often feel nervous about asking

questions in English, starting conversations... if you're not sure about

what questions are polite to ask, then today's lesson is perfect for you.

Today I'm going to share my favorite questions for starting conversations in

English. These are questions I use when I meet someone new or if I haven't seen

someone in a long time. We'll also talk about why they are great questions, what

I love about them, and how you can use them. What situations are perfect for

these questions. So the next time that you're getting to know a new client or

partner at work; the next time that you're at an international conference

talking to people in your profession, getting to know them, building your

network; or the next time you have some new neighbors to meet or people at a

birthday party, you can start that conversation and you've got questions

that are perfect for that situation. Now let's pause just for a moment because in

this video we're going to talk about questions to start a conversation with

anyone in English but you might be thinking, "HOW do I start a conversation

in English? I always feel nervous, I feel stressed, I

forget the words that I want to use. I have questions that I want to ask but I

don't know how." If that sounds like you, I actually have a much more in-depth

training video just for you. You can download it for free in the online

lesson. And in that video I go much more in-depth and we get some strategies for

how to be confident, how to be prepared, and ready to start a conversation. So

when you have the right questions you can go to that international conference,

you can go meet your neighbors, go to the dinner party and not feel nervous, not

feel afraid to start that conversation in English. So again if you want that

training just go to the online lesson and click download to get that

advanced training. Okay so let's get started with my favorite questions. In

this video I'm going to highlight four questions that I almost always ask and

then in today's lesson I have a list of 10 questions. So whatever your situation

is, wherever you are going, whoever you are talking, to I have a question that

you can use, to ask them, to start that conversation, keep the conversation going

and enjoy your discussion in English. My first question for today and honestly

it's my most favorite - I ask my friends this question, I ask people I've met

for the first time, I ask people I haven't seen for a long time, I even

ask my husband this question sometimes - is what's the most interesting thing

you've done lately? Or what's the most interesting thing you've read lately?

What's the most interesting thing you've heard lately? I love this question

because you can use it everywhere. If you're at a business meeting and you're

just chatting with people before the business meeting starts, ask someone what

the most interesting thing they've done lately is. Or if you just met someone at

a party and you want to keep the conversation going, this is a super

simple question to ask. It always starts a conversation and most people are

really happy to talk about something interesting that they've done. They like

talking about things that are enjoyable. I also like it because I always learn

something new and if I'm talking about something that you've read or you've

heard, I learn a new fact or I learn about a new book, a new film that I

should watch. So if you're searching for a polite, easy, conversational question in

English, for making small talk, getting to know someone,

I highly recommend this question. My second favorite question is perfect

for a situation when you're meeting someone for the very first time. I love

to ask where are you from originally and I ask this to both native and non-native

speakers because honestly even if you come from the same city as I do or you

come from the same area, your experience in life growing up, being a child, going

to school, studying, is different from mine. So even if we come from the same place, I

will learn something new. But of course if you come from somewhere completely

different - another part of the country, another region, or a different country

- then I'll definitely learn something new. I might learn about a new culture, a new

cuisine and all of that information is very easy for follow-up questions. So

when you want to continue the conversation, if you find out that

someone is from another country then you could definitely ask about their culture,

their cuisine, what is something unique about where they're from, what do they

recommend if you visit that place. As I mentioned, this is great anytime you meet

someone new. So again, if you're traveling for work or you're at a business meeting

and you're just getting to know some people before or after the meeting, this

is a great, simple conversation question. If you've just moved to a new city, an

English-speaking country, and you're starting to get to know your neighbors,

maybe you're getting to know the other parents at your kids school, this is a

great question to start those first conversations. Now this third question is

perfect for professional situations. Maybe you're chatting with some

colleagues, maybe it's a colleague that you

haven't seen in a long time or maybe you're getting to know a new business

partner, a potential client. It's very similar to my favorite question, the

first question, but it's changed just a little bit to really focus on work. So a

question I often ask is, "have you been working on any interesting projects

lately?" Or have you been working on anything interesting lately? Again most

people really like answering questions or talking about things that they enjoy,

things they find interesting, so this is a really easy question to get a

conversation going, get someone talking a little bit, get to

know them. And as you learn about a project that they're working on or

something they've been doing that's interesting,

again you'll learn a lot and you can ask follow-up questions to keep that

conversation going. And the final question for today's video is on the

topic of travel. I love talking about travel. I love hearing about other

people's experiences, their recommendations, what their favorite

thing was on vacation. I love it. So one of my most common questions if

I'm meeting someone new, if I haven't seen a colleague or a friend for a long

time, I might ask, "Where's the coolest place you've ever been?" This is a great

question for telling stories and sharing memories, even getting recommendations

for a great place to visit, something to do, or a place to eat. So there are my

four favorite questions for starting a conversation in English. Again these are

questions that I use, other native speakers use, all the time and they're

perfectly polite for various business situations and daily life in English.

You can visit today's online lesson to get my full list of

ten questions to start a conversation with anyone. Review the questions and

then share with me in the comments. I want to hear from you and help you get

some practice using English, give you some feedback. So review the list of

questions and then tell me your favorite question. What do you think is the best

question on the list? And then share your answer to that question. I look forward

to hearing from you in the comments and I'll see you next week for your

Confident English Wednesday lesson.