Mastering Conversation Transitions

Welcome back to Business English Pod for today’s lesson on how to keep a conversation going while socializing at work.

Some people are natural talkers. They seem to be able to start conversations, and maintain conversations, so easily. You might think this is an ability people are born with. Either you have it or you don’t. Either you have a social personality, or you don’t. But conversation is actually a skill.

And if conversation is a skill, then you can develop it through practice. In our last lesson, we practiced starting a conversation with someone. Once you’ve got the conversation started, it sure is uncomfortable if you don’t know how to keep it going. So we need a different set of skills and language to maintain the flow of conversation.

One thing you might do in this situation is direct the conversation or change the topic. And to keep the other person engaged, you’ll want to show interest and comment on what they’re saying. That makes them feel good and want to keep the conversation going. Showing interest often means asking follow-up questions and showing empathy or personal care or attention.

In this lesson, we’re going to go back to the first dialog we heard in the previous lesson, which featured Penny and George. Penny and George work for an international company called Multi-Fresh, which is hosting a conference for its employees. We’ll hear how Penny develops her conversation with George.

Listening Questions

1. What is the word or topic that Penny uses to change the topic of conversation?
2. What experience of George’s does Penny show interest in?
3. How does Penny react when George tells her about how difficult his experience was?

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