so a few years ago a friend of mine
visited from another country and he was
surprised at how many times i talked to
strangers when we went out for the day
he was surprised because in his country
it's not culturally acceptable to talk
to strangers as much as i talked to
strangers so in this english lesson i'm
going to talk about when it's okay to
talk to strangers in english-speaking
countries maybe you've recently moved to
an english-speaking country or you're
visiting an english-speaking country i'm
going to go over when it's okay to talk
to strangers and the kinds of things you
would say in those situations
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so you might be wondering how is this an
english lesson how is bob telling me
about how to talk to strangers in
english lesson while i look at
conversations with strangers as free
english practice if you can learn how to
start a conversation appropriately with
a stranger it's like a little practice
conversation that you can have in
english
one of the first places where it's okay
to start a conversation is whenever
you're waiting in line if i'm at the
grocery store waiting in line or if i'm
anywhere waiting in line after a little
while it's actually okay to say to the
person beside you something like this
wow this line isn't moving very fast or
how long have you been waiting here it's
just okay to start a conversation that
way the person might respond and just
give you an answer and that might be the
end of it but they might respond and
then ask you a question about something
and you might have a little free
practice english conversation so the
first place it's okay to talk to
strangers anytime you're waiting in a
line but not right away usually you wait
a little bit and after a minute or two
you might say to the person behind you
or in front of you wow this is taking
forever how long have you been waiting
the second situation where it's totally
okay to have a conversation with a
stranger in english is when you need
directions when you're a little bit lost
and you need to find out how to get
somewhere maybe you're a tourist in an
english-speaking country maybe you're
visiting the city of toronto and you
don't know how to get to the cn tower
you could walk up to someone and say
this very very politely excuse me could
you tell me how to get to the cn tower
hopefully the person gives you
directions and in some situations you
might end up having a little
conversation with them so the second
time when it's totally okay to talk to a
stranger when you're looking for
directions when you need to figure out
how to get somewhere the third situation
where you could have a little english
conversation with a stranger would be if
you see someone doing a hobby or
activity in public
people are usually quite open to talking
about the things they like doing so i'll
give you a few examples from my own life
of conversations i've had with people
doing an activity or hobby a year ago i
was walking along the shore of the lake
and someone was fishing and so as i
walked by i said are the fish biting
today have you caught a lot and he
showed me how many fish he had in his
bucket he had five and we had a little
conversation about fishing
last fall i was hiking with my family
and there were a bunch of people rock
climbing they had ropes and climbing
gear and they were climbing on these big
boulders on this cliff face and i
stopped and i said how long have you
been doing this for do you enjoy it and
we had a little fun conversation about
rock climbing so the third situation
where it's totally okay to start an
english conversation with a stranger
would be if you see someone doing
something fun maybe they're playing
frisbee maybe they're fishing maybe
they're rock climbing ask them about it
i'm sure they'll be happy to tell you
all about it
the fourth situation where you can have
a little practice english conversation
with a stranger would be any time you're
sitting somewhere maybe you're sitting
on a bench like this one at a park maybe
you're sitting on a bench at the mall
and someone sits down at the other end
of the bench it would be totally okay
after a moment or two to talk about
what's happening around you if i was
sitting on a park bench and someone sat
down after a moment or two i would
probably say something about the weather
i might say oh i hope it doesn't rain
anytime soon or i might say wow sure is
hot out here today isn't it
this might start a little english
conversation you might just get an
answer and that might be it but the
person might also start having a
conversation with you if i was at the
mall i would probably say something like
wow sure is busy here today isn't it or
the opposite i might say wow there
aren't very many people here today are
there
anyways either of those things will
start a little conversation again it
might end quickly but it might lead to a
little bit of a longer conversation and
you'll get to enjoy the conversation and
practice your english
have you ever noticed that pet owners
love talking about their pets in
particular dog owners seem to like
talking about their dogs and this fifth
situation involves just that talking to
strangers about their pets usually their
dog maybe you're at an outdoor market or
maybe you're again at the park and
someone walks by you with a dog a few
things that would be totally appropriate
to say or ask would be things like this
wow what a cute dog you could say that
or is it a boy or a girl sometimes we
say that or what's his name or what's
her name it's totally appropriate to ask
that i've seen many many dog owners
engage in conversations with complete
strangers about their dogs dog people
just love talking about their dogs so
take the opportunity to have a little
english conversation about the dog and
maybe a few other things
so i've mentioned a few situations where
it's okay to start a conversation with a
stranger but i feel like i should talk
about a couple situations where you
shouldn't start having a conversation
with a stranger i feel like this is more
than an english lesson it's a bit of a
cultural lesson as well
there's two places that i can think of
where it's just not a good idea to start
a conversation with a stranger the first
would be if you are sitting in a
restaurant if i'm sitting in a
restaurant with my friends or family i'm
going to talk to them but i cannot think
of one time in my life where i have
started a conversation with someone else
in a restaurant while i was sitting and
having my meal even though it's a public
place i think people expect a certain
amount of privacy while they're there so
they just expect to enjoy the time with
their friends or family and they're not
that interested in talking to other
people
the second situation i can think of
would be in a movie theater you might
ask a stranger a question like are those
seats taken at the end of that row
before the movie starts but usually in a
movie theater you don't talk to
strangers if you're sitting by someone
you don't know you try to be as quiet
and respectful as possible so they can
enjoy the movie
anyways thank you so much for watching
this english lesson and maybe a little
cultural lesson about how to talk to
strangers in english i hope it helps you
a little bit i hope at some point when
you're in an english-speaking country
maybe you already are maybe you've moved
to canada recently but maybe you're
going to visit an english-speaking
country i hope you can think of ways to
find opportunities to talk to strangers
and have a little practiced english
conversation thanks for watching if
you're new here don't forget to click
that subscribe button and give me a
thumbs up if this video helped you learn
a little bit more english and i'll see
you next week with another english
lesson bye
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