회화와 문법을 동시에 공부하는 Everyday English VOA 매일영어 진행에 이은경입니다. 오늘은 미국인들과 영어로 대화하는데 있어 필수적으로 필요한 small talk 그러니까 중요하지 않지만 대화를 이어 나가는데 중요한 기술들 보여드리도록 하겠습니다. John Dryden을 스튜디오에 모셨습니다.

A: Hello, John. Welcome to the show.

J: Thank you for having me.

A: Today we are going to talk about small talk. How do you start a small talk conversation?

J: Well, hopefully not the weather. But most small talk does start with the weather. So it’s okay if it does. But people can start small talk about anything. Because it usually means nothing.

A: I agree, weather is the easiest topic to pick on. What else is there?

J: If you are in the elevator, you talk about the elevator.

A: Elevator?

J: You make a simple joke about how slow it is or maybe social distancing.

A: So it is whatever you can think of.

J: Right. Something easy so that everyone can agree.

A: What if you are in the office waiting for a meeting?

J: Then you talk about things in the office that are not controversial.

A: Like?

J: Like how are your kids, is printer still broken, are we getting the holiday off, is that a new phone?

A: So it can be anything. But can you tell our audience things that you shouldn’t ask?

J: Yes, politics, or talking about someone who’s not there, or anything about money, like their personal money situation.

A: Like how much money you make?

J: Exactly, never ask that.

A: How about your age?

J: We never talk about that either. People think of their money situation as a very personal subject. Same with age. I notice that Koreans always ask age. I assume so they know how to address each other. But we use first names after we get to know someone.

A: So I just call you John.

J: Right, everybody does.

A: Okay, so with small talk, we can talk about weather or family, but not politics or age, or their salary. Are you good at small talk?

J: Yes. But I always try to make it interesting.

A: I know. You try to make it entertaining.

J: Because otherwise it’s just boring.

A: Right, but small talk is boring.

J: Yes often it’s necessary. Because without it there might be an awkward silence.

Small talk fills up that silence space while we are waiting for the meeting to start.

A: And small talk is good for learning English, you can initiate talk with people you don’t normally have a chance to engage.

J: So right now you are an expert on small talk.

A: So you think it’s going to rain?

Everyday English VOA 매일영어 오늘은 small talk 미국인과 나눌수있는 잡담들 어떻게 하는게 좋은지 살펴봤습니다.