Faculty of Foreign StudiesSmall Talk: Making Conversation with People You've Just Met

Small talk is a social skill. It is used when you speak to people you have just met. A good technique for making small talk is to ask questions. This is because:

it shows you are interested in getting to know them
people usually like talking about themselves
you might learn something interesting

An important part of making small talk is to encourage someone to speak and to show interest in what they are saying. In this lesson, we will practice techniques that will help you accomplish this so that you can more easily have conversations with many different kinds of people.