ESL Small Talk English: Improve your Speaking Skills! — Transcript

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1. 0:01Hello, High Level listeners. So, how was
2. 0:04your day today? Good? Fine? Not bad?
3. 0:09>> Yeah, those are all fine answers, but
4. 0:11what if you wanted to say a bit more
5. 0:14than that and start to expand your small
6. 0:16talk speaking skills?
7. 0:18Today, we've got lots of great everyday
8. 0:20conversations to help you talk naturally
9. 0:22about your day, what you've been doing,
10. 0:24and how things are going.
11. 0:26>> Yep, that's right. And these are great
12. 0:28for small talk and building connections
13. 0:31with friends, colleagues, and anyone
14. 0:34that you might meet. So, first we're
15. 0:36going to listen to the dialogues. We're
16. 0:38going to go through the dialogues twice,
17. 0:40kind of at a normal speed. Then, we're
18. 0:42going to slow down with some very useful
19. 0:44phrases so you can help expand those
20. 0:46speaking skills. And if you want to
21. 0:48repeat with us or repeat while we're
22. 0:51saying the same thing, you can work on
23. 0:53your active speaking and shadowing
24. 0:55skills as well.
25. 0:56>> Yes, and if you want more fast-paced
26. 0:58American English speaking practice with
27. 1:00Kat, then you can check out her fluent
28. 1:02and friendly American English speaking
29. 1:04course. You can find the link to that in
30. 1:06the description below.
31. 1:11>> Okay, let's get right into conversation
32. 1:13number one. So, me and Mark, we've
33. 1:16bumped into each other around lunchtime.
34. 1:18Could be colleagues, could be friends.
35. 1:20So, let's listen to the conversation.
36. 1:23Oh, hey Mark. How's your day going?
37. 1:26>> Not too bad. It's been quite busy
38. 1:28lately.
39. 1:30>> Oh, yeah? What have you been up to?
40. 1:33>> Meetings, mostly. Barely had much time
41. 1:35to myself.
42. 1:37>> Oh, man, I know the feeling. Hopefully,
43. 1:40your afternoon's a little quieter.
44. 1:42>> Yeah, fingers crossed.
45. 1:45>> Okay, so you notice how we started
46. 1:47quickly and we ended quickly. That's a
47. 1:49very normal small talk conversation. We
48. 1:51don't have to go through lots of deep
49. 1:54conversation, right? So, it's quick and
50. 1:56it's fast. Let's hear it once more.
51. 1:59Oh, hey Mark. How's your day going?
52. 2:02>> Not too bad. It's been quite busy
53. 2:04lately.
54. 2:06>> Oh, yeah? What have you been up to?
55. 2:08>> Uh meetings mostly. I've barely had much
56. 2:11time to myself.
57. 2:13>> Oh, man, I know the feeling. Hopefully
58. 2:15your afternoon's a little quieter.
59. 2:18>> Mhm, fingers crossed.
60. 2:20So, something we like to recommend in
61. 2:22all our small talk episodes is to try
62. 2:24and share a little bit more, even if
63. 2:26it's a little bit boring and not super
64. 2:28exciting. So, in the dialogue, Kat
65. 2:31asked, "How's your day going?" I said,
66. 2:33"Mhm, not too bad."
67. 2:35But then I also shared a little bit
68. 2:37more. "It's been quite busy lately." So,
69. 2:40if you can say something a little bit
70. 2:42more, try to share it. It just helps
71. 2:44keep the conversation going. You get to
72. 2:45practice your English and again, you get
73. 2:47to build that connection with the other
74. 2:48person.
75. 2:49So, if someone asks you, "How are you?"
76. 2:52or "How is your day going?" you can say,
77. 2:55"Not too bad."
78. 2:57"Not too bad."
79. 3:00It's a very British answer. It actually
80. 3:02means everything's fine. Everything's
81. 3:05okay. Not too bad.
82. 3:08>> Another more positive one, although they
83. 3:10are basically the same. They have the
84. 3:12same meaning.
85. 3:13"Pretty good so far."
86. 3:15"Pretty good so far."
87. 3:19When we use that e t t y, it's kind of
88. 3:21an itty, pretty.
89. 3:23"Pretty good so far."
90. 3:26>> "It's been quite busy lately."
91. 3:29"It's been quite busy lately."
92. 3:33In the US, they will say pretty, but in
93. 3:35the UK, it's more common to hear quite.
94. 3:37So again, share something. I'm talking
95. 3:39about my work. My work has been busy.
96. 3:42It's been quite busy lately.
97. 3:45>> When we're talking about this one, we're
98. 3:46answering "How's your day going?" So,
99. 3:49Mark said, "It's been quite busy
100. 3:52lately." so your day, your week, your
101. 3:54job, right? And I'll say, "It's been a
102. 3:57long day."
103. 3:59It's been a long day.
104. 4:03Lots of emphasis on long. Sounds like
105. 4:06it's been a little tiring, maybe boring,
106. 4:09maybe stressful. It's been a long day.
107. 4:13>> I've barely had much time to myself.
108. 4:16I've barely had much time to myself.
109. 4:21So again, I'm talking about being busy.
110. 4:24Again, I shared more. It's been busy
111. 4:26lately, and I've I have I've barely had
112. 4:31much time to myself.
113. 4:34>> And the final one,
114. 4:36honestly, can't complain. It's been
115. 4:38pretty good lately.
116. 4:40Honestly, can't complain. So, I can't
117. 4:44complain means that things are good. I
118. 4:47don't have any reason to complain.
119. 4:50Honestly, can't complain. It's been
120. 4:52pretty good lately.
121. 4:57>> Okay, here's the second conversation for
122. 4:59today. Imagine Kat and I are just
123. 5:01chatting at the end of the day. So, the
124. 5:04end of the day could be like 5:00 p.m.,
125. 5:076:00 p.m., the end of the work day, the
126. 5:10early evening, the late afternoon.
127. 5:13So, what have you been up to today?
128. 5:16>> Oh, honestly, a little bit of
129. 5:18everything. I worked most of the
130. 5:19morning, ran a few errands, and then
131. 5:21grabbed some lunch.
132. 5:23>> Sounds like a busy one.
133. 5:25>> Yeah, but I got a lot done, so I'm
134. 5:28happy.
135. 5:29>> Yeah, it's always a good feeling.
136. 5:31Okay, we'll go through the conversation
137. 5:33one more time. It's another really good
138. 5:35example of a nice, friendly, easy chat
139. 5:37with a friend or a colleague.
140. 5:41So, what have you been up to today?
141. 5:43>> Honestly, a little bit of everything. I
142. 5:46worked most of the morning, ran a few
143. 5:48errands, and then grabbed some lunch.
144. 5:50>> Sounds like a busy one.
145. 5:53>> Yeah, but I got a lot done, so I'm
146. 5:55happy.
147. 5:56>> Yeah, that's always a good feeling.
148. 5:58>> Okay, so notice how in order to keep the
149. 6:01conversation going, I chose kind of two
150. 6:03or three things about my day, and I sort
151. 6:06of listed them very naturally without
152. 6:08going into too many details, right? So,
153. 6:11if someone asks you, "How's your day
154. 6:14going?" or up to today?" So, our first
155. 6:17phrase is going to be in the past,
156. 6:18simple past. I worked most of the
157. 6:21morning.
158. 6:22But that t at the very end is going to
159. 6:25be very fine, very light. I worked.
160. 6:28I worked.
161. 6:30I worked most of the morning.
162. 6:32>> If you want to share some things you
163. 6:34did, but they're not super interesting
164. 6:37or very important, you can say,
165. 6:39"I had a few things to take care of."
166. 6:43I had a few things to take care of.
167. 6:49So again, I had in the past, they are
168. 6:51finished now. I had a few things to take
169. 6:54care of.
170. 6:57>> And if you have to run a few errands,
171. 7:00errands are anything you do outside of
172. 7:03work, outside of the home. So, I ran a
173. 7:06few errands.
174. 7:08I ran a few errands.
175. 7:11>> Another thing you can say, "I had some
176. 7:13lunch."
177. 7:15"How's your day going?"
178. 7:16"I had some lunch."
179. 7:18"I had some lunch" sounds a little bit
180. 7:21more friendly and relaxed than saying,
181. 7:23"I ate lunch." "I ate lunch" is not what
182. 7:26I would say at all. I would understand
183. 7:28it completely. "I had some lunch." That
184. 7:30could be going to a restaurant, a bistro
185. 7:33to eat out, or it could be eating your
186. 7:36lunch that you brought from home. Either
187. 7:38one. But the friendliest way to say it,
188. 7:40"I I had some lunch."
189. 7:42>> So, our last one, I got quite a lot
190. 7:45done, is some is a good way to say I
191. 7:48finished a lot of things, right? So,
192. 7:51it's a very common casual way to say I
193. 7:53finished a few things. I got quite a lot
194. 7:56done.
195. 7:58>> I've had quite a productive day.
196. 8:01I've had quite a productive day.
197. 8:06Productive day means you finished lots
198. 8:09of things. You got quite a lot done.
199. 8:11Maybe you finished some
200. 8:13projects, sent off some emails, wrapped
201. 8:15up some projects. If you're quite happy
202. 8:18with what you have done so far, I've had
203. 8:22quite a productive day.
204. 8:28>> All right, so let's move on to
205. 8:29conversation number three. Chad and Mark
206. 8:32are catching up after work. All right?
207. 8:35Let's start with number one. Now, I do
208. 8:37mention how Mark looks in this, so we're
209. 8:40probably friends or he's very obviously
210. 8:44tired, sad, sick. That's okay to comment
211. 8:48on someone's looks in this case, okay?
212. 8:51If you're if you care about this person,
213. 8:53right?
214. 8:55Oh, wow Mark, you look kind of tired.
215. 8:57Long day?
216. 8:59>> Yeah, it's just been one of those days.
217. 9:02>> Oh, no. What happened?
218. 9:05>> Uh nothing major, really. It's just been
219. 9:07non-stop lately.
220. 9:10>> Oh, I know the feeling.
221. 9:12>> Yeah, I'm ready to call it a day.
222. 9:15>> Okay, let's hear that one more time.
223. 9:18Oh, hey Mark, you look kind of tired.
224. 9:20Long day?
225. 9:22>> Yeah, it's just been one of those days.
226. 9:26>> Oh, no. What happened?
227. 9:28>> Uh nothing major, really. It's just been
228. 9:31non-stop lately.
229. 9:33>> Yeah, I know the feeling.
230. 9:36>> I'm ready to call it a day.
231. 9:39So, yes, as Kat mentioned earlier,
232. 9:40usually we don't encourage
233. 9:43commenting on someone's appearance in
234. 9:45the UK or the US, but if you are going
235. 9:48to sympathize with them and listen to
236. 9:49them, and you can tell that they want to
237. 9:51get something off their chest,
238. 9:53you can say this, "Oh, you look tired.
239. 9:56Are you okay?" And yeah, it's clever
240. 9:58because if Kat just said, "How are you?"
241. 10:01I would say, "Yeah, fine."
242. 10:03Which is a lie. But, if she actually
243. 10:06notices my appearance, then she clearly
244. 10:09seems more sympathetic. So, I'm more
245. 10:11willing to open up. So, if you've had a
246. 10:13difficult day and someone asks, "How's
247. 10:16your day going?" or "Long day?" You can
248. 10:19say,
249. 10:20"It's been one of those days."
250. 10:23It's been one of those days.
251. 10:27One of those days means a stressful day,
252. 10:30a tiring day, a long day, or a difficult
253. 10:33day. It's a good phrase to use that's
254. 10:36Yeah, it's honest and it's not good, but
255. 10:38it isn't super negative and it doesn't
256. 10:40kill the conversation. Just
257. 10:43It's one of those days.
258. 10:46>> Yes, and even though I did ask Mark and
259. 10:48I care about what happened to him, we
260. 10:50can still be a little vague, okay? Which
261. 10:53means we don't have to say every single
262. 10:55little detail, and we might not want to.
263. 10:57We might not want to share that
264. 10:58information. So, it's been one of those
265. 11:00days. Oh, I know how you feel.
266. 11:03Uh it's just been one thing after
267. 11:05another.
268. 11:07It's just been one thing after another.
269. 11:11That sounds like something stressful
270. 11:13happened. Then when I was finished with
271. 11:15that, another stressful thing happened.
272. 11:17And then, oh, here's another stressful
273. 11:19thing. So, it's just been one thing
274. 11:21after another.
275. 11:23That doesn't sound like a lot of detail,
276. 11:25but I 100% know exactly how you feel.
277. 11:27Okay? Yeah. Oh, yeah, been there. All
278. 11:30right. Yeah, I understand how you feel.
279. 11:33It's just been one thing after another.
280. 11:36>> Nothing major.
281. 11:38Nothing major.
282. 11:41So, Kat asked, "Oh, no. What happened?"
283. 11:44Nothing major.
284. 11:46A major problem or a major issue would
285. 11:50be something really serious like I got
286. 11:53fired or we lost a client or some
287. 11:55something happened in my family. That's
288. 11:57a major problem. But, sometimes things
289. 12:00at work feel like big problems and they
290. 12:02are stressful, but in the grand scheme,
291. 12:05in the big picture, they're probably
292. 12:07just annoying, stressful little jobs.
293. 12:10So, yeah, if you've had a tough day at
294. 12:12work, but it's not the end of the world,
295. 12:14yeah, nothing major. I'm just tired.
296. 12:18>> It's also to help people kind of not
297. 12:19worry about you. It's it's I'm just
298. 12:22tired, you know, it's not nothing
299. 12:24nothing major.
300. 12:26Um things didn't exactly go to plan.
301. 12:30Things didn't exactly go to plan.
302. 12:33So, maybe I organized something, I
303. 12:35planned something, and
304. 12:37it didn't happen the way I thought it
305. 12:39would, right? Things didn't exactly go
306. 12:41to plan.
307. 12:43>> I'm ready to call it a day.
308. 12:46I'm ready
309. 12:47to call it
310. 12:49a day.
311. 12:51To call it a day means to finish it.
312. 12:54Maybe it's the end of the work day. I
313. 12:57want to close my laptop and stand up
314. 13:00from my desk and stop. I'm ready to call
315. 13:03it a day.
316. 13:05>> And a very good phrase when you
317. 13:07absolutely understand how the other
318. 13:10person is feeling. Uh I know the
319. 13:12feeling.
320. 13:14I know the feeling.
321. 13:16This is just a perfect way to say I
322. 13:18understand. I've also been through this
323. 13:21before. I know the feeling.
324. 13:28>> Okay, so the fourth and the final
325. 13:29conversation, we're talking about
326. 13:31looking forward to the evening. So
327. 13:34again, it's the end of the day, it's the
328. 13:36end of the working day, and me and Kat
329. 13:39are leaving the office together.
330. 13:42Got anything planned for tonight?
331. 13:44>> Not really. I'm probably just going to
332. 13:46take it easy.
333. 13:48>> Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm doing
334. 13:50absolutely nothing as well.
335. 13:52>> Yeah. Honestly, sometimes those are just
336. 13:55the best nights.
337. 13:56>> Yeah, exactly. I might just order some
338. 13:58food and watch something.
339. 14:01>> Perfect.
340. 14:03>> Okay, we'll hear that conversation one
341. 14:05more time.
342. 14:06Got anything planned for tonight?
343. 14:09>> You know, not really. I'm probably just
344. 14:11going to take it easy.
345. 14:13>> Yeah, that sounds nice. I'm doing
346. 14:15absolutely nothing as well.
347. 14:18>> Honestly, sometimes those are the best
348. 14:20nights.
349. 14:21>> Exactly. I might just order some food
350. 14:23and watch something.
351. 14:26>> Perfect.
352. 14:28>> Okay, so I know I asked Kat, "Got
353. 14:30anything planned for tonight?" I'm not
354. 14:32actually trying to make a plan or
355. 14:34organize something.
356. 14:36I'm just being friendly. It's a small
357. 14:38talk
358. 14:38>> It small talk could be It could be that
359. 14:41you're asking about the evening, but
360. 14:43most of the time it's just polite
361. 14:45conversation. You're kind of waiting or
362. 14:47putting some papers away at the end of
363. 14:49the day, and you know, you want to fill
364. 14:51the space, right? So, "Oh, hey, got
365. 14:54anything planned for tonight?"
366. 14:56>> [laughter]
367. 14:57>> Yeah, and uh we don't have any exciting
368. 14:59plans at all, but you can still talk
369. 15:00about them in a friendly way that's
370. 15:02still useful small talk.
371. 15:04Uh so, if someone asks you,
372. 15:06"Got anything planned for tonight?" or
373. 15:09"Any plans later?"
374. 15:11>> I'm probably just going to take it easy.
375. 15:14Yes, we absolutely use um
376. 15:18uh
377. 15:19you know, so those are good ways to
378. 15:22think of what you might be doing, and
379. 15:24that might be nothing.
380. 15:25Um I'm probably just going to take it
381. 15:27easy.
382. 15:29>> I haven't really got anything planned.
383. 15:33I haven't really got anything planned.
384. 15:37Can't say I don't have anything planned.
385. 15:41I don't have
386. 15:42in the UK more commonly comes out as I
387. 15:45haven't got. Like I haven't got a
388. 15:47brother. I haven't got anything planned.
389. 15:51Really also makes it more like mhm mhm
390. 15:54mhm I haven't really got anything
391. 15:57planned.
392. 15:58>> I go out for dinner.
393. 16:01Sometimes this is kind of a question. I
394. 16:03I might do this. I might do that, right?
395. 16:07I might go out for dinner.
396. 16:10>> I'm just going to have a quiet night.
397. 16:13I'm just going to have a quiet night.
398. 16:18A quiet night isn't actually about
399. 16:20sleeping. It's about the evening. It
400. 16:23means I'm not going to go out. I'm not
401. 16:24going to see friends or party. A quiet
402. 16:28night is usually staying home in your
403. 16:30house just relaxing quietly. So I'm just
404. 16:33going to have a quiet night.
405. 16:36>> I'm looking forward to doing absolutely
406. 16:38nothing.
407. 16:40I'm looking forward to
408. 16:43which means I'm excited about it. I'm
409. 16:45happy about it. I'm looking forward to
410. 16:48doing absolutely nothing.
411. 16:51>> I'll probably just see how I feel.
412. 16:54I'll probably
413. 16:56just see how I feel.
414. 16:59It's might be a good idea to practice
415. 17:00the word probably a little bit cuz when
416. 17:03we say it quickly, it changes a lot.
417. 17:06Probably
418. 17:07the B's are very soft. I'll probably
419. 17:10just see how I feel.
420. 17:13Maybe I don't know my plans. Maybe I'll
421. 17:15get home and I'll get some sudden energy
422. 17:17back. Oh, maybe I will go out, but I
423. 17:20don't know yet. I will just I'll
424. 17:22probably just see how I feel.
425. 17:24Okay, there you go. Some really helpful
426. 17:26small talk conversations to help turn
427. 17:28your passive English into more active
428. 17:31English. So, listen first, repeat the
429. 17:33phrases, and then try to use them to
430. 17:35build your own answers and use them in
431. 17:37the next conversations you have.
432. 17:40>> Absolutely. And if you want to do more
433. 17:42of this with me in my American English
434. 17:44class, we've got a fluent and friendly
435. 17:47American English speaking course where
436. 17:49we've got over 40 phrases for you to
437. 17:51practice and kind of learn to to kind of
438. 17:55shove all of those words together,
439. 17:57right? So, it'll help you sound more
440. 17:58fluent, more natural, and more friendly
441. 18:01in English.
442. 18:03>> Yeah, and as always we like to hear from
443. 18:04you. We read and reply to all the
444. 18:06comments we get on YouTube. So, how
445. 18:07about you? How was your day going? What
446. 18:10have you been up to? See if you can use
447. 18:11some sentences from today's episode in
448. 18:14the comments.
449. 18:15>> Thank you so much for practicing with
450. 18:17us. We will see you next week for our
451. 18:19brand new video.
452. 18:21>> Bye-bye.