Do you wish that you had more opportunities to
practice speaking English?
Or maybe you have opportunities
but you're too shy to start a conversation.
In today's lesson, you'll get my top eight favorite fun
and proven tips for starting conversations
with anyone in all kinds of situations.
And some of them may surprise you.
Let's go.
Hi, I'm your business English coach Christina
and welcome to Business English with Christina
where you become better at English and better at business.
And before we get into today's lesson, did you know
that I have a very exciting five day challenge
starting very soon, it's going to be five live videos
you and me with my favorite five smart
and surprisingly simple tips to help you boost your English.
Now it's totally free, so don't miss it.
And you can sign up
for the challenge in the link down below the video.
Do you live in a place where tourists come to visit?
You'll probably see tourists looking at maps
or looking at their smartphone to look
at Google Maps speaking in a different language
searching for a street or a monument or whatever.
Anyway, if you see the tourist, there is
your chance to practice informal conversational English
with no pressure whatsoever.
You can just say, hi, can I help you find something?
Or, hi, are you looking
for something or do you need directions?
You'll get a chance to practice a little bit
of English with these tourists
and they will be grateful for a warm welcome to your city.
And what if you are the one who is doing the one traveling?
This is also a great opportunity to
practice your conversation skills in English.
If you're visiting a country where they don't speak English
as a native language, that's okay too
because I would say for, for better or for worse
English tends to be sort of the language
of tourism and international communication.
So you'll get to the chance to practice speaking
with people who have, you know, a variety of accents.
And that is extremely important
for your confidence in English also.
So how do you start a conversation
with a random person in the street?
Maybe try something like this.
Excuse me, do you speak English?
I'm not from around here.
Do you happen to know a good restaurant in this area?
So here you go.
You get to practice your English
and find a great place to eat
which I don't know if I'm traveling
that's probably one of the things that I am most concerned
about finding is a good place to eat.
Okay, so you have found a great restaurant
and now it's time to practice speaking English there too.
You know, maybe you're lucky enough to be having lunch
with some locals, or maybe you're just waiting to be seated
or talking to the server.
That's fine.
Take any opportunity you have
and you can simply say, what do you recommend?
That's good.
People love sharing local foods, local dishes
sharing their favorite dishes with you.
And if you're talking to your server, of course
they are going to have some great suggestions for you.
Okay? Now what about if you are at work?
This is a different situation, but making great connections
at work by practicing your small talk
in English is a great way to get to know your colleagues
to build up relationships with them, and to create
I would say, a more friendly working environment.
And one of the best known
and best loved conversation starters at work is this
do you have any plans this weekend?
Now that is just a great universal conversation starter
but maybe you're looking
for something a little more original
something that is sure to get your colleagues talking.
Here's a little technique that you can do.
Think back to a conversation that you had
with your coworker in the past.
Can be about anything.
It can be about them, it can be
about their vacation, like whatever, it does not matter.
But ask them about that conversation again.
And it looks like this.
You just say, wait, remind me, where are you from again?
Or remind me, where did you go on vacation last year again?
Or remind me, what was your last company again?
So you get, you get the picture.
The idea is, remind me question again.
And there you go.
You can get that conversation started.
Maybe there's someone new who's arriving at your office
and that means that this is another opportunity to strike
up or to start a conversation in English.
And a great way to begin a conversation
with someone that you don't know.
Very simple.
Approach them and simply say, I don't think we've met yet.
And then you can introduce yourself.
I'm Christina, it's nice to meet you.
So what do you do here?
And you'll learn a little bit about this new person.
They will feel welcome in the company.
And you never know what great, you know
business or work opportunities might come.
You never know when your cat will come
into your video, but you know, if you never try
if you never approach someone, and
if you never maybe try to create those opportunities
for yourself, well then you're not, you can't
get an opportunity that you don't create, I would say.
And the more you do it, the easier it becomes
the more comfortable you'll feel doing it
the better you'll do it.
And then it becomes fun.
And like I said
can really create some new opportunities for you.
So just try it now.
Learning to start conversations in English so
that you can practice speaking a lot is a great habit
that you will learn in my five day challenge.
There may or may not be my cat there.
I don't know.
You'll have to come and see
if she photo bombs that live five day challenge.
But more importantly
you're going to get lots of surprising tips, techniques
and strategies to really boost your English.
And I would say connect with other people who are
have that objective just like you.
And maybe connect with the cat here.
I don't know, right?
So if you want to sign up for that five day challenge
it's totally free, but you'll need to get your invitation.
So the link to sign
up is down below this video in the notes, as I always say
if you don't use it, you lose it.
So here's how you can use what you've learned today
in the comments down below.
Tell us about a great, doesn't have to be great.
Tell us
about any short conversation that you started in English.
What did you talk about?
Who was it with?
How did it go?
You know, I think that we can
we'll see down in the comments that yes, this is possible.
Anybody can do it.
And it might give you some ideas
of how to go and start conversations with other people
because you can see lots of, lots of different stories.
So come back with me for that five day challenge.
The link to sign up
and get your invitation is down below this video.
And otherwise, I just wanna say thank you so much
for improving your English and improving your business
with business English with Christina
and I'll see you next time.