Even British people are kind of afraid of it, but we feel like we have to do it.

So today we're going to really focus on some questions.

You can ask people when you're in a small talk conversation on these are all related to the topic off work.

Uh huh.

One of the easiest things to talk about is your job, your work, your career, your studies.

Along with travel.

I think those are the most common small talk conversations.

So today I just have some really simple questions that you can ask people in a small talk conversation.

So hopefully make it a little bit easier for you.

And then we get talking.

Let's say we're talking with this person.

We've build up a bit of a report.

Now what we want to do is keep them talking.

Maybe they've mentioned their career.

Maybe you want to ask them what they do.

Easy question.

What do you dio?

Let's say this person is a lady on, she says.

She's a doctor.

After she said that she's a doctor, she may then ask you, What about you?

This phrase is extremely useful, and you can use it yourself in small talk.

Essentially, what this question does is it turns the question back on the person who asked you that question.

So they're asking you now.

What do you do?

Well, then you answer the question.

Maybe then you want to ask more questions.

So why not this one?

How long have you been doing that for?

So this is a way to open up the conversation.

How long have they been doing it for?

It shows that you're interested in what they're talking about.

A something I always recommend during small talk is too react to everything they say.

So, for example, if they say, Oh, I've been doing it for about 10 years, respond with her.

Oh, wow.

Really nice little words like this.

Just show a reaction.

And then maybe you can follow up with another question.

For example, how did you get into that?

How did you get into that?

This essentially means How did you start that job?

What made you want to do that job?

Now, if they're a talkative person, this is definitely a way to get someone to talk for quite a long time.

Do you think you'll stick with it forever?

Do you think you'll stick with it forever?

To stick with something means to stay with stick, like when we have glue and we stick things together.

Stick with it.

Well, that simply means Do you think you'll stay in this job forever?

Really, it's a yes, no question.

But in small talk, they might explain why a lot of the time with do you questions, we use the weak forms off do and you.

The reason why is because do and you are what we would call function words.

They're not really very important in this sentence.

So we replaced the vows with a Schwab sound.

Do you think, Do you think?

Do you think this makes you sound a little bit more like a native?

You'll also notice I'm dropping the T on it with it forever.

That's just a common native thing to do.

You could say, Do you think you'll stick with it forever?

It's entirely up to you what you want to do, that it's just my native way off.

Pronouncing it.

I like to drop teas at the end of words sometimes.

Okay.

Have you always worked there.

Have you always worked there?

And that simply is a way of asking someone if they've done any other jobs in the past, maybe what?

Their first job?

Waas.

Let's talk about the sound.

What's that?

That's what we call the Constant Cluster, the K and the T combination at the end, Off worked.

Okay, I hear lots of different variations of this from my students taking my pronunciation course on.

And I actually did just add a new video to my pronunciation course.

All about these constant clusters with, you know, things like tests on things like that, right?

All of these sounds that happen at the end there really difficult.

Now, this one is a very common one.

Worked.

We need to create pressure to create that sound on.

Then we need to very quickly release that sound to spit that.

Okay, so now when we create the sound, our tongue is up high.

It's kind of bent on the back, is touching the top.

So what we quickly need to do is a soon as we create that sound, the tongue needs to flick the front to the roof of your mouth, and we create that.

But worked, worked.

Their response might just be No.

Hopefully they'll say No, I actually did this job before, but if they don't do that, then say All right.

Well, what else did you do before this job?

Okay, so always be ready toe, ask more questions.

If they say no, why did they say no?

If they said yes, why did they say yes?

On also, is there anything you can agree with or relate to that they're saying Maybe you've had a similar situation toe what they're talking about?

We'll tell them they want to know.

So don't be afraid to talk about things which are similar in your life to what they're saying.

Anyway.

That's it for today's video.

Like I said, I do have a pronunciation course which has over 100 people.

It's doing really well.

I've had some great feedback.

So if you want to join the course and also have the bonus of talking to me on WhatsApp with voice recordings, then I hope to see you soon.

You could go to e.

T.

J english dot com and start learning perfect British pronunciation right now.

You might have noticed that this video is available on a Friday.

That's right.

I have now changed my days.

I release YouTube videos every Friday.

Now, just because I like Fridays, is that okay?

Anyway, thanks again.

I will see you next week.

Cheers, guys.

Bye.