This is the Business English Podcast, episode 344, three tips for joining an unfamiliar conversation at work.
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Hey Aubrey, how are you today?
I'm great, Lindsay.
How are you? Good. Question for you.
You ready? Yes. All right, so Aubrey, what do you do when someone starts talking about a topic that you're just not very familiar with?
Oh, this does happen to me and I am definitely interested in the conversation.
I want to know new things, right?
So I'll usually ask a lot of questions.
I want to know what they know already, what they usually, they are, you know, passionate about it.
They've learned some interesting things and I'm curious.
So I think I just find myself asking questions in that conversation.
What about you? Yeah.
Yeah, I think questions are good.
I think it's important to time them right and sort of for sure.
It's possible to gather the answers as through listening is even better and then I can't like rapid fire questions, right?
Especially if I guess in this scenario we're imagining just one person talking about if you're in a group coming in and rapid firing questions.
That's a good point.
Especially if it's a group, I could see myself just listening, right?
They're probably multiple people who have something interesting to say.
If it's one on one, then I'm imagining like I'm probably going to need to ask questions so that it's a conversation instead of like a lecture.
Yeah. I think this really depends on the context.
How many people are participating that could change the answer drastically.
But let's go ahead and I'll go ahead and read our question for today.
It's from Marie Yang, an amazing listener.
And Marie says, most times I don't know how to join a conversation because I don't understand their topics.
For example, when my native friend talks about business news or politics, what can I do to improve this?
Thank you. It's a good one.
It is a really good question.
I believe a lot of us, we're all right there with you.
We're in the same boat, right?
We can't all know about every topic all of the time, especially in a language we're learning.
It might be that a topic that we could talk about in our first language, we just don't have the vocabulary yet.
We haven't thought about in the language we're learning.
So that's a possibility.
And then also there may be things that if you're just not listening to podcasts, there's all kinds of things where you just won't have a lot of information.
Oh yes, for sure. So today we're going to give you at least three podcasts to hit follow on, and the first one is this one.
So you can get the language skills, right?
So go ahead and hit follow on the All There's English podcast and later on the show on the Business English podcast.
Yes. Hit follow right here on this podcast and later in the show, we'll give you a couple of other great podcasts where you can actually build up that knowledge.
I think that's a key part of it, Aubrey.
And we'll get to it later.
Right. We're going to give you three tips today to solve this problem.
We want you to be able to participate in all of these conversations.
And there's a lot that you can do in advance to be ready.
Yeah. Yes. A hundred percent.
So the first tip, right, is ask questions.
And I totally agree with the Aubrey, especially in the one -on -one scenario.
It's not going to become a lecture.
That's boring. No one's going to enjoy that.
Not you or the other person.
So you do need to ask questions.
Yeah. Right. There's no shame in being unfamiliar with the topic, especially if it's something that's very new in the news or someone brings up a new twist on it that you're just not familiar with.
You know, no one expects you to have read every article or know about every latest podcast.
So be, you know, definitely feel free to ask questions.
I love that. What else do we need to know about this piece about asking questions, Aubrey?
Yeah. Well, I think it's just interesting to think about everyone, you know, if they have learned something that they're excited about, they want to share it, but they're they're going to feel a little bit hesitant, like, am I being a know -it -all?
Is anyone interested in this?
Yeah. When you're asking questions, you're letting them know, like, yes, I am interested.
I am excited that you have learned something you can share with me.
So you want to be encouraging.
This is such a connection skill to let someone know that you're excited that they have something that they can share with you instead of, you know, because they might they might need that affirmation from you before they're willing to share.
Yeah. I mean, curiosity is such a blessing to have it.
Right. And that person that wants to share share things, they're curious and they want to see that curiosity in you.
And so the what you could do is ask that question.
Let's show our listeners how it happens in a mini role play.
OK. You want to start us out.
All right. So Mark Cuban was saying if he could go back in time, he'd go into AI.
Oh, really? I didn't see that.
Did he say why? He was talking about how easy it is to do it as a side hustle and doesn't require a degree.
Oh, was this on a podcast?
Actually, it was a news article.
Oh, OK. I imagine it's pretty lucrative working in AI.
Do you know? See, we don't need to be a genius here, right, to carry on this conversation.
You've heard something interesting or you read something in a news article that I haven't heard yet.
And it's still an interesting conversation for you to share something you learned.
I want to know. It's a great conversation.
Oh, I love it. Yeah, that is such a good first lesson.
And I think it's the most important thing is asking smart questions, good questions at the right time and letting the person talk.
And then inevitably the conversation is probably going to pivot to something else because that's how things work.
And probably you'll know about that next thing.
So the point is maintain it so you can ride it out a bit and learn something.
Exactly. Right. That's our second tip is you can guide a conversation to familiar territory because you do know a lot.
There are a lot of topics that you are informed about.
And like you said, Lindsay, rarely do conversations stick to one subject for a long time.
They're moving, they're pivoting all over.
You are soon going to have something to say.
So sometimes write it out a little, listen, ask questions and be ready for that moment to jump in.
And the key caveat here is just doing it with just doing it gracefully in a sense.
Right. So we don't want to do a hard pivot because that's going to feel awkward.
Right. Yeah, we've talked about sort of letting a topic play itself out, right.
Make sure everyone has had a chance to share what they have to say before you would pivot away.
OK, so let's see what this looks like.
I'm excited to see what this looks like.
Here we go. So just to continue from our previous, continues the previous role play.
Yeah. Do you want to say the last line, Aubrey?
Yes, I imagine it's pretty lucrative working in A .I.
Do you know? Yes. He said on the podcast that teenagers with no degree are making six figures in A .I.
prompt engineering.
Oh, it does seem like things are changing and a university education isn't always required for a good salary.
Interesting. That was definitely the expectation when I was a teenager.
Same. But a lot of my friends, kids aren't planning to attend college.
What do you think? Have you noticed that too?
OK, so now we have pivoted to another topic of the relevance of higher education in our careers, like this would be I don't know a ton about A .I.
But this I could talk about.
Right. So I've sort of deftly guided the conversation to something that I have something to say about.
They probably do, too.
And this is how conversations ebb and flow.
It makes it more interesting.
And what was the pivot point here, Aubrey, where you did pivot?
What was the line where you bridged the two topics and then pivoted?
Yeah, the bridge line is it does seem like things are changing.
And and then I said something else that I've noticed changing besides A .I., which was the original topic.
Very smooth. Very smooth.
Love it. OK. All right.
And then my favorite tip is number three.
Actually, I love all these tips are fantastic.
I do. Very motivating.
But number three is stay informed.
Right. So go out and seek out some of this information because it's out there.
Right. So most likely, unless you're at a party and Michelle and I did an episode on this, how to talk to an expert about their field of expertise.
That's not what we're talking about today.
We're not talking about to the mosquito expert about how to cure malaria.
Maybe we are. But it's yeah, it's not that deep and specific.
Most likely the topic that that person's bringing into the party is something you could have heard about, too, on a podcast or if you watch the news, just keeping your ears and eyes out for these things that are everywhere.
Right. Exactly. Right.
You don't have to know about every topic, but you want to have something to add about lots of different things.
And there's a ton you can do in advance to be prepared to have something interesting to say about lots of different topics.
Yeah, I know some people in my life that do this incredibly well.
I know someone that knows the sports and knows how to drop the right line about sports at the right time.
It's just incredible in every topic.
But you can get better at this.
This is not something that you're either born doing well or not practice.
It takes practice. It's and it takes this the, you know, the accumulating knowledge on the front and you can read podcasts, you know, listen to podcasts, read the news.
You want to see informed so that you can contribute.
So we have a couple of great podcasts to recommend that share about lots of different topics.
All right. So the first one is one of my faves and that is science versus.
This is a really fun podcast that uses scientific studies, real, robust scientific studies with multiple, multiple references.
Use these studies to investigate and debunk controversial topics and fads like weight loss or I don't know, diet, really, so many topics, so many beliefs that society might have and they debunk it or they affirm it and usually it's both.
They debunk and affirm.
Right. Interesting.
Awesome. Yeah. And then number two is freakin omics radio.
Do you listen to this one, Lindsay?
No, but we've actually worked with them on some promo swaps over the last few years.
So you might hear about all her English on freaking omics or vice versa.
Um, I, I know some people that listened to this one and they do a cover a broad swath of different topics, right?
Society like sociology, social issues, current events, science, the human condition.
So if you listen to a podcast like either of these, you are going to have something to say on a wide variety of topics.
And I want to add one more that I just realized as we're talking, it's called the inquiry by BBC BBC's, the inquiry.
Have you listened to this one, Lindsay?
No, I'm just adding that one to our list and do a blog post on this one.
But yeah, it's fantastic.
It is more current events, current news articles.
Um, and they interview for expert witnesses who answer important questions about current events.
Right. Interesting.
And, um, it's really well done, really well researched.
Um, so I recommend that one as well.
All right. And then one more can't help it, but one that I listened to is called today explained.
I think it's by Vox.
It's another good one where they approached a lot of just what's going on, you know, um, explaining the election, which has happened in the American election.
Why? Right. Um, and so, but way beyond politics into just everyday occurrences, why does society do what it does?
Why are things happening the way they are?
So check those out.
Yes. And all of these podcasts are made for native English speakers, but you are at that level.
A lot of them have transcripts and you can slow down the speed on some of them.
If needed, you are at that level where you can be listening to podcasts made for native speakers to improve your English listening fluency and to have something to say on all of these different topics.
Yes. I love it. I love that this tip is so achievable.
Well, they're all achievable, but this is something you can, because you guys are already podcast listeners and podcasts.
Listening is such a good way to learn.
We know that right.
So all you need to do is open up your queue and just add a few new shows.
Right. Yes. Okay. I'll point you to a recent episode right here.
Um, no, on the others, English podcast, it was two 23, Oh seven how to connect in English as an introvert.
This is so related because some of you out there might be listening to all these tips and just being stressed out because you are an introvert and just the idea of being in these social situations maybe stresses you out.
Go check out that episode because you can also connect and have the conversations you want even as an introvert, just have to maybe do it a little differently.
Yeah, I love that idea.
And for our takeaway today, I mean, I love the fact that we don't have to know everything from the beginning.
We now know how to pivot and we'll do more episodes in the future.
We've done more in the past.
There was one episode we did Aubrey politics or pivot.
Remember that one? Yes.
How to pivot away from a political conversation.
And we'll come back if you guys have specific questions about pivoting in a conversation, let us know to support at allersenglish .com.
Love it. Great tips today.
We're excited for you to participate in all of these conversations, right?
We want you to connect in English to build these relationships.
And this is the way to do it is to get out there and have these conversations in English and equally important at work as it is in our daily lives.
So here we've shown you, you know, we've basically this topic would apply in daily life as well.
Of course, this is, this is for business or daily life, but make sure you make a point of building those relationships at work too, right?
Yes, exactly. All right.
Aubrey, well, you have a nice rest of your week and I'll see you back here very soon.
Awesome. You too. Bye bye.
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