10 Fantastic Conversation Starters in English [Start a Conversation with Anyone]

How can you have fantastic,

meaningful conversations that flow naturally in English?

The key to that is effective,

easy to use conversation starters that allow you to have

conversations with anyone. I'm Annemarie with Speak Confident English.

This is exactly where you want to be every week to get the confidence you want

for your life and work in English. In today's Confident English lesson.

I want to share my 10 favorite conversation starters with you so that you have

several questions that you can use anytime you want to have a conversation

with anyone,

whether you're chatting with colleagues online before a meeting or meeting

someone face-to-face. With each question today,

I'll tell you exactly why it's an effective conversation starter.

And I'll tell you exactly how you can use it. Plus at the end,

I'm going to share two bonus questions with you.

One of which my students think is so strange when English

speakers ask this question,

but it really is a great way to get the conversation going.

The first few conversation starters on today's list are perfect for getting to

know someone for the first time or chatting with someone you haven't seen for a

long time. And the first one might sound familiar to you.

If you've ever done a job interview in English, the first one is,

tell me about yourself. I love this conversation starter for several reasons.

Number one, it's an easy one to remember number two, again,

you can use it with someone you're meeting for the very first time or someone

you haven't seen for awhile. And number three,

it allows the person you're speaking to to decide what he or she wants to

share. Whether it's talking about their job in a project happening at work,

maybe their personal and family life or what they enjoy doing on the weekends.

You are giving them control over what to share. Now, as I mentioned,

this might sound familiar because tell me about yourself is also a common job

interview opener,

but the way that we answer those in a personal conversation versus a job

interview are not quite the same.

If you want to learn more about how to answer that question for job interviews,

I have a whole other lesson for you, and I'll leave a link to that below.

So how can you use this one as a conversation starter if you've just met

someone for the first time and you've finished your introductions immediately

after finding out who a person is, you might say, so I'm curious,

tell me about you or tell me about yourself. Similarly,

if you haven't seen a friend, a coworker or an acquaintance for a long time,

you could also say it's so good to see you! Tell me about you!

In other words, you're wanting to get an update,

but you're giving them the opportunity to decide what to share with you.

Question number two is quite similar,

but it's really only used in casual conversations when you've just met

someone for the first time. And this one is,

so what's your story just like using, tell me about yourself.

This one is a hundred percent open-ended and again,

you're giving the other person control over what to share.

The key to making this question work is listening carefully to the answer and be

ready to ask effective follow-up questions.

I've got a great example that you can use coming up in this list in just a

moment. Now, before I move on to question three, just as a reminder,

this particular question.

So what's your story is perfect at the end of an introduction in casual

conversations conversation starter,

number three is have you been working on anything interesting or exciting

lately? If you've studied with me in any of my courses, you know,

that a common smalltalk question that English speakers use particularly

Americans is what do you do people want to know about your profession?

But that question is used so often that it has become a little

boring. So this is a great alternative.

Are you working on anything exciting or interesting instead of just asking about

someone's profession,

you get to focus on something positive happening in their professional life

conversation. Number four is what are your plans for the weekend?

This one might seem obvious, but that's one of the reasons I love it.

It's an easy question to ask and get a conversation going. It's perfect,

no matter who you're speaking to.

And because it focuses on the weekend that time when we're usually not working,

you'll get to know someone's interests,

their hobbies and how they spend their free time. Of course, with that question,

what are your plans for the weekend?

I'm asking about the future or next weekend,

if it's Monday and I want to ask about the weekend that just finished,

how would I change that question?

How could I alter it to make it past focused? We have two options.

How was your weekend, or what did you do this past weekend?

Conversation starters,

five and six on the list today are questions I love to ask coworkers,

acquaintances and friends,

particularly when I want to talk about something other than work.

And I want to find out what they're doing in their free time.

And I want to go beyond what they do on the weekend.

The first one is what was the highlight of your day, week or weekend?

The reason it's so effective is it immediately puts the focus on something

positive, interesting,

or even unusual that may have happened that particular day,

week or weekend.

And the truth is you never know how someone is going to answer that question.

There's no common answer. So it's always a surprise and interesting.

It's definitely a great one to use when you're having lunch with coworkers or

just getting coffee with a friend. Number six is quite similar.

What's the most interesting thing you've done recently.

Just like with our previous question, the answers to this are endless.

Now that might seem scary because you don't know what's coming.

You don't know what someone might share with you,

but the good news is all you need to do is sit,

listen carefully and be ready to ask a great follow-up question.

My favorite way to do that is question number seven.

Tell me more about that's really interesting. Tell me more about your trip.

That sounds really cool. Tell me more about the classes you're taking.

That sounds like an amazing adventure. Tell me more about it.

Those four simple words. Tell me more about,

are a fantastic way to keep conversations going and flowing. Naturally,

question number eight is where you from originally.

This is a question I ask almost everyone.

I meet even people in the city where I live, because truthfully,

most of the people here are from somewhere else.

I love finding out where people are from,

because then I can find out more about that particular city,

that part of the country or that part of the world.

This is a question that easily leads into a conversation about their city,

their local culture, or traditions or customs, their cuisine, and much more,

not only is it a great conversation starter when you're getting to know a new

colleague or meeting someone at a conference or networking function,

but it's also great when you're traveling as well. If you love traveling,

like I do another great question to get a conversation going on that topic is

what is the most interesting place you've ever been to,

or what's the coolest place you've been to.

Nearly everyone loves to talk about travel,

going on vacation and sharing recommendations of things that they enjoyed.

This is a great conversation starter to share stories and memories and get some

fantastic recommendations.

I particularly love this conversation starter when I'm traveling and getting to

know others in that location.

And now question number 10 on our list for fantastic conversation starters that

you can use with anyone is how did you get into, for example,

how did you get into your profession? Or how did you get into that industry?

If someone works for a company where everyone wants to work,

how did you get into that company?

Or if you know that someone has a fascinating or interesting hobby,

you could ask them how they got into it. How did you get into sculpting?

How did you get into snowboarding? This question is perfect.

When you're getting to know someone after an initial introduction,

once you've learned a little bit about their profession or that particular hobby

they're interested in, and with that,

you have 10 fantastic conversation starters that you can use with anyone.

And as I promised, I also have two bonus questions. You,

one is a question that my students actually think is a bit unusual when English

speakers ask it.

And the second one is my all-time favorite conversation starter.

When I'm chatting with friends or acquaintances,

let's start with the first one that my students think is a bit strange.

Have you ever heard an English speaker say that's a great sweater.

Where'd you get it? I love your shoes. Where'd you buy them?

Cool glasses. Where'd you get them over the years?

I've had many students tell me how strange it is that someone wants to find out

where to buy the same sweater or pair of shoes, but truthfully,

most of the time, that isn't really why they're asking the question. Instead,

what they're doing is complimenting something that you're wearing and trying to

start a conversation about it.

I certainly can't speak for English speakers all over the world,

but I can tell you, this is a very common thing that Americans do.

We love to compliment something that we see,

and we want to start a conversation about it.

And now bonus question number two, my all time.

Favorite conversation starter. Now, truthfully, this question is more personal,

so it's probably not appropriate when you're just getting to know someone for

the very first time,

but it is a great question when you're chatting with friends or a coworker that

you know really well. And the question is,

what do you wish you had more of in your life as I'm sure you can

immediately notice what that question. It definitely leads to a meaningful,

thoughtful conversation.

Now that you have a total of 12 conversation starters that you can use with

anyone. I have two questions for you.

What are your favorites from today's list?

Are there two or three questions that you've never thought about asking in

English before? What are they and why do you like them?

You can share your favorites with me in the comments below.

And question number two.

Do you have a different question that I didn't share today that you love to ask

when you're having conversations in English?

If you do definitely share it below.

It's a great way to share with others in our community,

and you might have a conversation starter that will be perfect for someone else

to ask with that. Thank you so much for joining me.

If you found today's lesson helpful to you, I would love to know as always,

you can tell me by giving this a thumbs up on YouTube,

sharing your answers to my questions in the comments below and sharing this

lesson with friends or coworkers on Facebook or LinkedIn, have a wonderful week.

And I look forward to seeing you next time for your Confident English lesson.