How To Start a Conversation in Australia & Practise Speaking English!

Hey there I'm Emma from mmmEglish.

If you're new here you may not know that I'm from Australia

so I thought it would be really fun to share a few tips with you

about how to start a conversation in Australia with Australians.

Now I'm going to share a little more about Australian culture

like what is this

and I'm going to help you with some English conversation tips

in some different settings like in a pub

where Australians love to go,

in a taxi or an Uber, at the supermarket

and also some advice to help you strike up a conversation

when you're travelling.

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Are you ready? Let's play!

Even though I mentioned this video is about starting

a conversation in Australia,

you'll see that most of these conversation tips can work in any

English-speaking country. If you're talking to a Brit,

an American, Canadian,

South African, New Zealander,

all of these tips will help you to strike up a conversation

with native English speakers.

To be honest, these tips are really not about having

long in-depth conversations.

They're suggestions to help you start conversations

and the more you practise starting conversations

and having these little interactions with other people

the easier it will become so it's okay to start small.

As long as you're friendly, then a brief interaction is all you need

to start building experience

and confidence to talk with people more in English.

Before we get into it I really want to emphasise the importance

of the greeting. You know, always trying to be polite, friendly

and positive, it's going to get your conversation off to a good start.

And most Australians are pretty relaxed and laid back

and that's really reflected in the way that we greet each other.

Contrary to popular belief, not every Australian says

"G'day" every time they greet someone, right?

G'day mate.

It's commonly used by men and probably more often by older men

and it's really a short version of 'good day'

so we're saying hello

and have a good one, have a good day

at the same time so it's like a double greeting.

Now I want to give you a little demo so that you can practise.

This is a really difficult expression to get right,

you know most times anyone who's not Australian

will mess this up.

That's it.

It's just a really quick flap of the tongue on the top of your mouth.

You can also say

"Hey, how ya goin'?"

which basically just means how are you?

Try it.

If you've ever visited Australia or you live here, then you'll know  

that Australians usually spend a lot of time at the pub.

Now the pub is a great place for you to strike up a conversation

with an Australian. People are usually really friendly and relaxed.

They're in a good mood, they're joking around and you'll run into

all different types of people

so you'll learn a lot about Australian culture, about language,

slang, mannerisms, all of these things.

It's like a melting pot of Australian culture at the pub.

It's also where people are often watching sports

so if there's a sports game on, a really great way

to strike up a conversation is to say

"What's the score?"

or

"Who's playing?"

I want you to try it with me okay?

What's the score?

Who's playing?

Nice!

Now the most popular sport in Australia is unique to Australia.

The AFL or the Australian football league

and it's like the Australian version of the English

premier league or the NFL or the NBA, right?

We also have soccer and rugby and cricket

and sports like that but AFL is the most popular sport by far.

Anyone who comes to Australia is completely perplexed by

our game, right? We have this weird shaped ball.

There are four sticks at each end of the football field

and everyone on the field is running around in really short shorts.

It's going to take me like ten whole minutes, maybe more to try and

explain the game so I've actually linked to another YouTube video

if you're interested to see it and to find out more.

It's down in the description below.

So if you want an easy way to start a conversation with someone

in a pub or anywhere really especially if there's a match on

then knowing a little bit about the game is going to help you.

Most taxi drivers love to have a chat so it's the perfect opportunity

to practise your conversation skills in small talk.

Australia is a multicultural place. There are lots of different people

who drive Ubers and taxis right.

Many of them are people who've moved to Australia

from elsewhere and so they're probably similar to you

or have a similar experience to you in some way.

Why is this important?

Because there's so much to share and to talk about,

you know, you have the opportunity to exchange experiences here

so it's an easy way to get started with a conversation.

Now I usually jump in an Uber rather than a taxi so when I do that

my go-to questions are:

Have you been an Uber driver for long?

Try it.

Have you been an Uber driver for long?

Do you enjoy doing it?

Try it.

Do you enjoy doing it?

You must meet some really interesting people.

Now they might say they're doing it for some extra cash

on the side while they're studying and then

what can you ask them?

You can ask them what they're studying, right?

So it gives you all of these amazing opportunities to just

practise building confidence with these conversation skills.

Really easy way to get started.

If they have an accent I might ask:

Have you been living in Australia for long?

Try it.

Have you been living in Australia for long?

Do you like living here?

What's been the hardest part about moving to a new country?

Nice one!

A super place to strike up a conversation is at the supermarket.

So just imagine that you need some help looking for a product,

maybe for real, maybe you're just

pretending so that you have the chance to talk to someone.

But in this case, you can go and find a shop assistant

and ask them to help you find that item, right?

Simple.

Hi there! Can you help me to find the vegemite?

Or whatever product you're looking for.

And as you're walking with them to find the product

then you might say something like:

It's so hard trying to find your way around a new supermarket!

Right? But that might prompt them to say:

Are you new to the area?

But then you can continue the conversation by saying:

Yeah I'm actually from India.

I've been here for a few months now.

Or you can just continue talking about the product

that you're looking for. You might say:

I'm from Italy and

interestingly I really love vegemite from the moment I first tried it.

I know lots of non-native Australians don't really enjoy it but I do.

When you're travelling in an English-speaking country is the perfect

opportunity to get as much speaking practice as you can, isn't it?

You can ask questions when you're on your tours or

ask for directions or recommendations,

just ask someone to take a photo of you.

Let's practise a little together, okay?

Sorry for interrupting...

Does this train go to the city?

Try it.

Sorry for interrupting... Does this train go to the city?

Excuse me, do you mind taking a photo of us?

Try it.

Excuse me, do you mind taking a photo of us?

So saying "excuse me" or "do you mind"

they're really polite ways of approaching or interrupting a stranger.

Excuse me, I've only just arrived in Melbourne and I'm a little lost.

Can you tell me where the post office is?

Try it okay?

Excuse me, I've only just arrived in Melbourne and I'm a little lost.

Can you tell me where the post office is?

Adding that you've only just arrived helps the person

to understand that you're new.

They might even ask some other questions about

where you're visiting from or how long you're staying or

what your plans are.

So you're taking every opportunity to spark up a conversation.

Some of them will work and others won't.

You won't get much of a reaction.

Who cares?

The important thing is that you're having a go

and that is one characteristic about Australians that you can

definitely benefit from. We love seeing people have a go

you know having a crack.

So I hope that you enjoyed a little mini journey into

how to start a conversation in Australia and I really hope

that you're able to come and visit us soon.

The most important thing that you take away from this video

is just to get started.

Just by greeting someone, you're letting them know

that you have the courage to be bold

along with being relaxed and positive and if you really enjoy sports

Australians love and they appreciate people who step

out of their comfort zone, you know, have a crack.

And don't think of every conversation as it has to be this endless

hour-long discussion,

just a quick exchange with a few people every day

is enough to build your confidence over time.

And now that you know a little more about the land down under,

I'm curious to find out.

Are you coming to visit?

Which city are you going to visit first? What's on your bucket list?

Let me know down in the comments

and I'll see you next week.

Bye for now!