Day 15 Small Talk In English What Is Polite And What Is Rude

Hi, I’m Vanessa from speakenglishwithvanessa.com. And today, again, I have my husband Dan. —Hey. And we are going to be continue our conversations about greeting people and today we are going to talk about small talk. Are you ready? —Ready. Let’s go.

Alright Dan. So when you first time meet someone, what things are OK to talk about for small talks. What would you recommend that English learners use when they first meet people? ----Sure, well, this is probably common in lots of cultures. But one of the first easy things you can talk about is the weather. Very easy, yes. -----Right, so you may just say some like “warm day today”, right? Or “looks like rain”. You know just some kind of simple notification about the weather or how you feel about it. You know. So then the other person can response like “Yeah, it’s been hot all week” You know, just like this little back and forth. Not very much substance. You know, just small talk. Exactly. And I think something else you can use in small talk is talk about your “Environment”. If you see a friend in the grocery store, you are in grocery store, there are plenty of things to talk about for small talk. You could say “Wow, did you see these tomatoes on sale? I’m so excited.” Or “Oh, you have a lot of ice cream, are you going to have a party?” ----Or, you could even just say what do you shopping for? Yeah, what do you shopping for? What do you going to buy? Or if you are in a coffee shop. What kind of drink did you get? This is a latte, it’s really good. I recommended. Talk about your environment. I think it’s really common.

But what about things you shouldn’t talk about? What kind of things do you recommend that are English learners not say? ----Off-limits staff. Yeah, what’s off-limit? —Yeah, probably just people’s appearance. This can be good or bad I say. like if somebody give a haircut, then it’s OK to say something like “Wow, I really like your haircut”. You know, you can’t say “Wow, I really hate your haircut.” Of course. But you could say you like the haircut or the cloths. You wouldn’t want to mention somebody’s face show appearance. Their body. ----Yeah, their body like “Oh, you look really chipper today.” Right, even that maybe not good thing to say. Or, did you lose weight? Oh, did you lose weight? even though losing weight usually a good thing. I think if you ask someone “Did you lose weight?” or “looks like you’ve gain some weight.” Usually this kind of things are not good to talk about. So, it’s OK to talk about clothing or hair. But if you talk about their actual body. That’s not a very good idea. —Or even things like “you are so beautiful.” I think some people like that, OK. But some people just feel kind of strange. Oh, he thinks I’m beautiful or she thinks I’m very handsome. I’m pretty or whatever, I think maybe a little uncomfortable. Oh, right. I think if someone said to you “Oh, Dan. You look so handsome.” You might think do you want to go on a date. Why? Why are you saying that to me? ----Well, many people comment on my hair because of it’s color. Lots of old ladies. ------Especially old women, and I feel a little bit uncomfortable. But, I’m very relaxed. It’s OK. Right. And I think if someone said to me “Wow, your eyes are so beautiful.” I would think do you want to go on a date. Why are you saying that to me? It’s very strange to comment on people’s physical appearance unless you know, you’re part of their family. Maybe really close friend. ----Or maybe you do want to date them. Yeah, if you do want to date them, then go ahead, you can comment their body.

Thanks so much for watching this conversation part of the video. In just a moment, I’m going to explain some of natural expressions that Dan and I used in this video. I’ll see you there, Bye.

Welcome to the expression section of today’s video. I’m going to explain two natural expressions Dan and I used in our conversation just a moment ago about small talk. The first word, the first expression is “Back and forth”. Back and forth. Back and forth means going between two things. For example, you could say “we talked back and forth about going to Brazil.” We have a conversation about going to Brazil. We talked back and forth about going to Brazil. Or, you could say “She pushed the swing back and forth.” She pushed the swing back and forth in the park. This motion going between two things in a conversation or in a physical thing like swing. The second expression is the word “Off-limits”. “Off-limits”. Off-limits means it’s something you can’t do. You are forbidden from doing. For example, politics is an off-limits topic. Or, you can say "When my brother brought a friend to my house for dinner, he told his friend, my sister is off-limits. " You can’t date her. It is not allowed.

Thanks so much for watching this video. I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dan and you’ve learned some new expressions today. If this dialog of conversation and expression video is helpful to you, join our course “the 30 days of English”, where you can watch 12 conversation videos between Dan and I. You can learn over 25 new expressions and you can answer over 32 conversation speaking questions with personal life feedback. I’m looking forward to see you there. Goodbye.

substance 物质，主旨，实质

latte 拿铁

chipper happy 的口语化