- Why do we have conversations?
(energetic rock music)
Good morning, good afternoon, or good evening.
I'm Julian Northbrook
and this is Doing English.
I think it's quite obvious when I say
that to us human beings, conversation is important.
I don't think anybody would deny this.
Even the most introverted among us need conversation.
What is not quite so obvious, however,
is the question of why.
You might be tempted to do what so many others do
and simply put it down to a need to exchange information.
And while information exchange is
an important part of communication,
and why we converse with each other as a species,
it doesn't actually get to the heart of the matter.
To truly understand why we as human beings
need conversation, we need to think of this
from a biological or an evolutionary perspective.
You see human beings are not the only species
to converse and communicate.
True, we're the only species with a fully-developed
nuanced spoken language system,
but spoken language is not the only means of communication.
And indeed, all species, all living things,
whether animal or indeed plant,
has a communication, a conversation system
of one type or another.
Sounds, gestures, movement, colour, smell,
chemical interactions taking place in the air.
Think of a poison dart frog or a coral snake,
why do you think they are so brightly coloured?
It's not coincidence, no, of course it's not.
It's to communicate to potential predators,
those insatiable gourmands that will consume your sweet ass,
"Touch me and I'll kill you."
Bees communicate via complex dances
that communicate to other bees where sources of pollen
or sources of water might be found.
And here's something you might not know
about plant communication.
When you pick a flower or mow your lawn,
a sweet smell wafts into the air.
Why do you think that is?
Well, it ain't to give you a whiff of something pleasant,
I can tell you.
Environmental ecologist James Cahill
of the University of Alberta says
that it is actually to attract insects.
You see, when pests are munching on plants
it damages the plants.
This causes the plants to then release
this smell into the air.
This attracts insects who then come to the plant's rescue
by killing and eating the pests.
So this smell that comes from a flower or from grass
or whatever plant it might be
that you've happened to pick or cut,
is actually the plant's communication mechanism.
It's how they communicate with insects
that are gonna save them from getting completely eaten.
Now, while this is all very interesting,
what has this got to do with human conversation
and why we do it?
Well, what we've got to think of here is
what is the common denominator among
all of these different communication types,
whether plant or animal, and why they do it?
Simply put, it all comes down to survival.
The bright colours of poisonous animals is
a plea to predators, "Don't eat me."
The dances of bees is a way of indicating
where food and pollen sources are, where water may be found,
without which the bees would die pretty quickly.
The same with plants releasing the smells into the air.
It attracts insects that kill the pests
that would fully consume and destroy the plants.
And so it has always been with human beings, too.
Go back a hundred thousand years
to the birth of the first Homo sapiens,
and with it what we believe to have been
the starting point of our incredible language system.
How did you know not to eat those bright red berries
that turned out to be really, really poisonous?
Well, it's not because you ate them yourself.
Hell no, if you'd eaten them you'd be dead.
It's because someone told you that they're poisonous,
probably in the form of a story.
Hey, you know, Ugg, the caveman down the road?
Yeah, he ate those red berries.
Five seconds, (hands clap) bam,
he was flat dead on the road.
Now, the more observant among you may have noticed
that I have somewhat contradicted myself here
because we have come full circle
back to the topic of information exchange,
which I already said is not the full picture,
is not at the heart of why we have conversations.
Well, you see survival is at the heart of everything
and an important part of that is, indeed,
the exchange of information.
But how do you know to trust that information?
How do you know that the caveman who just told you
that these red berries are poisonous
isn't trying to hide the fact
that they will give you super-human strength
because he wants to keep them all to himself?
How do you keep close ties and bonds with your friends,
your tribe, so that they stand beside you
and fight along with you when you are
attacked by a rival tribe?
Aha, now we come to the heart of the matter
because the answer is, conversation, small talk, chitchat.
Small talk, chitchat, everyday conversation has,
and will always be, about survival as a species.
Small talk is how we groom, how we bond,
how we get to know others, how we suss out
whether someone is similar to us,
whether someone is friend or foe,
and it's how we keep long-term relationships strong.
Conversation, language, communication, small talk, chitchat,
they are the glue that ties us together
in our respective groups.
And although we no longer live in the savage world
of a hundred thousand years ago
where our personal survival depended totally and utterly
on the strength of our tribe,
we've still retained these biological evolutionary needs
to communicate, to converse, to make small talk,
to chitchat with those around us.
And that my friend is why you would do well
to take the time to master the art of
casual, everyday English conversation.
Whether you speak English in work, in business,
in social situations, it doesn't matter, it's all the same.
At the heart of it all is conversation.
We do business, for example, with those who we
know, like, and trust.
Well how do you get to know someone?
How do you get to like them?
How do you get to trust someone?
It's conversation, it's all conversation.
Conversation is at the heart of everything we do,
which is why my new live event,
the advanced English conversation master class,
Small Talk Superhero live in London on June 9th,
one o'clock in the afternoon until 4:30 in the afternoon,
is gonna walk you through, step by simple step,
the advanced English conversation process.
Advanced English conversation technique,
the language we use, and how to use that language
in interesting, fun, engaging ways
that, well, helps you to have more fun speaking English
but helps the person you're talking to
to enjoy being with you even more in the English language.
If you want more information about Small Talk Superhero,
click on the link in the description
or head over to SmallTalkSuperhero.com.
At the time of filming this video we are down to two places,
so if you want to come along you're gonna want to
get your registration in sharpish.
(hands clap)
That then is it for me, Julian Northbrook,
signing off from another video.
If you've got any questions about casual,
everyday English conversation,
whether in business or social situations,
go ahead, ask in the comments, and I will reply
as many as I can in future videos.
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go ahead, give it a thumbs up.
If you hated this video and thought it was crap,
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but go ahead, hit that thumbs down button anyway.
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And regardless, I will see you same time, same place
tomorrow in the next exciting instalment of
Julian Northbrook and his daily videos.
I need to come up with a catchier name for that, goodbye.
(energetic rock music)
Want to be more advanced in your
everyday English conversation?
Sure you do, which is why I made a video
giving you my top five tips to do just that.
Click here to check that out.
And if you want more information about Small Talk Superhero
or to register, go ahead, click this button here, enjoy.