When traveling, most of your conversations will be with people of different nationalities.  English proficiency is a sure-fire way to ease your interactions.

Engaging in casual conversations or small talk is a great way of practicing your English speaking skills. According to englishlive.ef.com, small talk is a light, casual and polite type of conversation you can use to make friends and get to know your classmates and peers better.

Here are some tips on how you can jump-start your conversations.

Start with greetings

Most languages around the world use greetings to politely begin conversations, and English is no exception. Depending on the setting you’re in, you will need to use either formal or informal language.

If you’re in class, a meeting, or any formal setting, you can use the following standard phrases:

• Hello
• It’s a pleasure to meet you
• Good morning/afternoon/evening

If you’re in a more casual set-up,  you may opt to use the following alternative phrases:

• Hi
• Hello
• Hey
• What’s up? (Formal: How are you?)

Ask questions

It’s only polite for you to learn more about the person you are conversing with. You can do this by asking some basic questions about them.

Here are some polite questions you can ask:

• How’s it going?
• Hi, how are you?
• How’s your day going?

Ask follow-up questions

Your acquaintance’s answers to your questions can be great prompts for you to learn more about the person. If they said they live in a certain location, you can ask them how long they live there, and what that was like.

Here are examples of follow-up questions you can ask:

• I’ve never been to New York; did you enjoy living there?
• I loved visiting New York. Are there things you miss about living there?

With these phrases, you can spark conversations and engage in small talk in any setting while you study abroad.

Improve your English skills before embarking on your journey!  Enroll in our Conversational English course today!