You're listening to Business English Pod, the Business English podcast for professionals on the move.
Hello, and welcome back to Business English Pod.
My name's Edwin, and I'll be your host for this episode on small talk before a meeting.
This is a situation you've probably experienced countless times.
You arrive for a meeting 10 minutes early.
There are several people already there.
You say hello and then what do you talk about?
What do you say?
In this situation, you need to be able to make small talk.
Small talk is informal conversation.
We use the term small talk because it's not about exchanging information or making decisions or having serious discussion.
It's a way to avoid uncomfortable silences and build stronger relationships.
Smalltalk might seem to be about nothing important, but Smalltalk itself is important.
Being able to make Smalltalk will allow you to make yourself part of a group.
It will set the stage for more serious types of communication.
In this lesson, we'll look at a few different ways to initiate and respond to Smalltalk.
We'll join three colleagues Coby, Liz and Sean who have arrived for a meeting and are waiting for a fourth person to join.
As they wait, the colleagues engage in the type of casual conversation you'll often hear in an English speaking office.
As you listen, try to answer the following questions.
1.
Why is Gordon going to be late for the meeting?
2.
What did Sean do on the weekend?
3.
What sport is Kobe talking about?
Oh, hey, Liz.
How's things?
Hi, Kobe.
Not too bad.
And you?
Hanging in there.
So, it's just you, me, Sean, and Gordon?
Yep.
And here's Sean now.
Hey, guys.
Uh, Gordon just texted to say he's still with a client.
Shouldn't be more than ten minutes, though.
Great.
Well, we might as well wait.
Yeah.
Oh, and here's the coffee.
I didn't have time to stop this morning.
Didn't know if I'd be able to crawl out of bed.
It was quite a weekend.
Oh, yeah?
What did you get up to?
Well, Saturday I worked on the yard all day.
You know how it is.
And yesterday I went fishing up at Gravel Lake.
Catch anything?
Not much.
Lots of little ones we had to throw back.
Just a few keepers.
But tired all the same.
Didn't get back to the lake.
So you probably missed the game last night.
Oh, the football game.
I saw it.
The Lions got thrashed.
Can you believe the Bears actually won this time?
Seriously?
Don't tell me you're a Lions fan.
There's no way the Lions should ever beat the Bears.
Sean, back me up here.
Sorry, Kobe.
You're on your own, mate.
To be perfectly honest, I don't really follow your kind of football.
Right.
I think I knew that.
Well, I'll have to ask Gordon.
He's a Chicago man.
If he ever arrives, that is.
Yeah.
Didn't we have to wait for him last time?
Sure did.
Dentist or something, wasn't it?
Yeah, something like that. even if they haven't got much work done.
But for us we need to get down to business and take a look at some of the language and techniques we've heard in the dialogue.
Oh, hey, Liz.
How's things?
Hi, Kobe.
Not too bad.
And you?
Hanging in there.
Kobe and Liz are clearly familiar with each other.
We know this because they greet each other informally.
They use the words hey and hi instead of the more formal hello.
And Kobe uses the casual question how's things?
To find out how Liz is doing and start the conversation.
Greeting someone familiar usually sounds different than the standard greetings we may have learned in textbook English.
You can hear this in these examples.
Hey there, Bob.
How's it going?
Good to see you, June.
Morning, Lana.
What's up?
Oh, hi, Chuck.
What's new?
You can hear another very brief greeting when Sean arrives.
So, it's just you, me, Sean, and Gordon?
Yep, and here's Sean now.
Hey, guys.
Gordon just texted to say he's still with a client.
Shouldn't be more than ten minutes, though.
Great.
Well, we might as well wait.
Kobe and Liz are waiting for two people.
One of them, Sean, arrives and gives a very quick and informal greeting of, hey guys.
He then explains that the fourth person, Gordon, will be a little bit late.
Kobe thinks they might as well wait, which means that's the best thing to do.
And this creates a situation where small talk will be necessary.
Let's hear how Sean introduces the first topic.
Yeah.
Oh, and here's the coffee.
I didn't have time to stop this morning.
Didn't know if I'd be able to crawl out of bed.
Was quite a weekend.
Sean connects the coffee he finds with the topic of his weekend.
He's glad there is coffee, because he didn't know if he'd be able to wake up or crawl out of bed, as he says.
Apparently, it was quite a weekend.
Sean is not giving details of his weekend.
He's simply introducing the recent past, which is a common topic in small talk.
How else can we introduce something about the recent past into small talk?
Well, let's practice a few more examples.
That was a pretty strange meeting yesterday, huh?
Nice to see they finally fixed the photocopier.
I hope everyone had a relaxing weekend.
Traffic has been nuts lately, hasn't it?
Now, Sean has suggested that he had an interesting weekend.
It would be strange at this point if Coby and Liz didn't ask him for more information.
Oh, yeah?
What did you get up to?
Well, Saturday I worked on the yard all day.
You know how it is.
And yesterday I went fishing up at Gravel Lake.
Catch anything?
Kobe asked Sean what he'd gone up to, which is an informal way of asking what he did.
And Sean mentions working on his yard and going fishing.
Liz picks up on the topic of fishing and asks Sean if he caught anything.
Both Kobe and Liz are showing interest in the topic that Sean introduced.
This is one of our duties in small talk.
We can't just let a statement or topic die.
We need to show interest or steer the conversation in a different direction.
In the following short dialogues, you can hear a person showing interest.
Notice that this typically involves asking for more detail so the conversation can continue.
I can't believe I have another car problem.
Oh?
Is it pretty serious?
It sure was great to have a week off.
I bet.
Did you travel or just stick around home?
Let's get back to our conversation.
Not much.
Lots of little ones we had to throw back.
Just a few keepers.
But tired all the same.
Didn't get back to the lake.
So you probably missed the game last night.
Sean talks about the fish they caught, which included a few good ones or keepers, and then brings the idea back around to the fact that he's tired.
This gives a sense of completion to the topic.
Then Kobe finds a way to connect Sean's idea to a new topic.
When Sean mentions that he got home late, Kobe says, so you probably missed the game.
Coby is introducing another very common topic in small talk, sports.
Let's hear some other ways of doing this.
Did you see that race last night?
Looks like Tiger Woods really can't get it together.
So, do you think Bianchi has a shot at the NBA?
That was quite the blowout by Real Madrid, huh?
Now, let's hear how the topic of sports is dealt with in the conversation.
Oh, the football game.
I saw it.
The Lions got thrashed.
Can you believe the Bears actually won this time?
Seriously?
Don't tell me you're a Lions fan.
There's no way the Lions should ever beat the Bears.
Sean, back me up here.
Liz jumps into the conversation without waiting for Sean to respond.
This shows the openness and freedom of small talk.
Anybody can join in on any topic.
Liz talks about the Lions getting thrashed, which is an informal way of saying they got beat badly, and expresses that the other team, the Bears, won the game.
Kobe disagrees with Liz, showing surprise that she is a fan of the Lions.
In Kobe's opinion, the Lions should not beat the Bears, and he asks Sean for support in this opinion.
As he says back me up here.
But does Sean back Kobe up?
Sorry, Kobe.
You're on your own, mate.
To be perfectly honest, I don't really follow your kind of football.
No, Sean doesn't back Kobe up.
He tells him he's on his own, or alone with his opinion.
This is not because Sean disagrees with Kobe's opinion, but because he doesn't know enough about American football to have an opinion.
He is admitting ignorance, and when he does this, he does it gently or diplomatically.
He says sorry and, to be perfectly honest, to introduce the fact that he doesn't follow or watch American football.
Admitting ignorance may end a conversation topic, but may be better than pretending you know something.
Listen in these dialogues how the second person admits ignorance diplomatically.
Can you believe that race yesterday?
Villeneuve is quite the driver.
Is that right?
I'm afraid I don't know all that much about Formula One.
So, do you think oil prices are going to keep rising?
I'm not sure.
To be honest, I don't really keep up with that kind of thing.
How does the conversation finish?
Right.
I think I knew that.
Well, I'll have to ask Gordon.
He's a Chicago man.
If he ever arrives, that is.
Yeah.
Didn't we have to wait for him last time?
Sure did.
Dentist or something, wasn't it?
Yeah, something like that.
Kobe says that he should ask Gordon for support, which steers the conversation back to an earlier topic.
The three colleagues express dismay that they are once again waiting for Gordon to arrive so they can start a meeting.
Now, let's practice some of the language we've learned for admitting ignorance.
You'll hear a statement, then you'll hear a prompt.
Use the words in the prompt to admit ignorance about the topic in the statement.
For example, if you hear...
So, do you think the Braves will make the playoffs?
To be honest, don't know.
Baseball.
You can say, To be honest, I don't really know a lot about baseball.
We'll play an example answer after each practice.
Ready?
Let's give it a go.
Can you believe what's happening in Portugal?
Afraid Don't know Situation Answer I'm afraid I don't know much about the situation.
When do you think the Feds will finally raise interest rates?
Not sure Don't Follow Financial news Closely Answer I'm not sure.
I don't really follow the financial news too closely.
Boy, that Garcia sure shot a good round yesterday.
Interesting, but ignorant when comes to golf.
Answer.
That's interesting, but I'm pretty ignorant when it comes to golf.
That new Audi sure looks slick.
I bet, but, haven't, kept up, developments.
Answer.
I bet it does, but I haven't really kept up with the developments.
Now, let's practice useful vocabulary and idioms.
You'll hear a series of sentences with a word replaced with a beep.
Repeat the whole sentence, saying the missing word.
For example, if you hear... You can say...
We'll play the correct answer after each question.
Let's begin.
Okay guys, we might as... Start the meeting.
Answer.
Okay guys, we might as well start the meeting.
I think that George would back me on this point?
I think that George would back me up on this point.
Sorry, Gus, but you're on your with that idea.
Sorry, Gus, but you're on your own with that idea.
Well Sally, I don't really... The financial news.
Well Sally, I don't really follow the financial news.
We've reached the end of this episode, the first in a two-part series about small talk.
We've learned how to greet someone familiar, talk about the recent past and sports, show interest in a topic and admit ignorance.
There's much more to learn about small talk, so be sure to tune in for the next episode, when we'll look at some more common topics and ways of responding.
Thanks for listening, and see you again soon.
