Name: Watch This If You Struggle with Small-Talk in English
Uploaded: 2018-01-11T06:22:54.000Z
Duration: 4 min 48 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Past simple

- Oh, I'm sorry, I almost
didn't see you there.

Hello, I'm Julian Northbrook,
the Language Punk.

One of the most interesting
books I have ever read is

this one, Don't Sleep, There
are Snakes by Daniel Everett.

In a nutshell, Everett was
a Christian missionary.

He went to live in the jungle with a tribe

however his experience
living with the Piraha

was so profound that he ended
up giving up Christianity

He then went on to do
some very important work

in the field of linguistics, some of which

challenged the ideas of universal grammar.

See this video for an explanation of that.

One of the things that Everett
talks about in the book

the lack of phatic communication
in the Piraha's language.

Phatic communication is
extremely important in English

Put simply, phatic communication
is the language that we use

but rather to connect with
someone, to set a mood,

to show goodwill, to
show respect for someone.

For example, when we say
something like good morning,

we are not commenting on the
fact that it is a good morning.

We are connecting with that
person, starting a new day's

relationship with that person, as it were.

In the same way, when
we say something like,

We are not asking after
the person's health,

or at least not most of the time, anyway.

Rather, this has much the
same function as good morning.

We are simply connecting with that person.

Other examples of phatic
communication are things

like cheers, you're welcome,
thank you, I'm sorry.

All of these things are completely missing

It's not a part of their
culture to express these things.

They don't have words for
good morning, I'm sorry,

how are you because it's simply
not a part of their culture.

Phatic communication
is extremely important

for most languages and
cultures, English included.

But the point is, when
you are making small talk,

and phatic communication
is a kind of small talk,

you have to consider whether
the thing you are trying

to say actually translates into
that other language or not.

Someone from say, Japan
asking someone from,

for example, the United
Kingdom, what's your blood type?

It's an odd, surprising
thing for westerners,

because it's not something
which we have in our culture.

In the same way, saying
I'm sorry to someone

but the point is, if you are
struggling with small talk

in English ask yourself,
are you stubbornly trying

to communicate things that
exist in your culture,

but not in the culture of the
people you are talking to?

We're going to continue
this conversion tomorrow

and stories to share with
you, but before then remember,

on the 27th of this month,
that is January 2018 I will

be doing the Small Talk
Superhero seminar here in Tokyo.

For information and the
place to book your ticket,

You'll also find a link
to Daniel Everett's book,

Don't Sleep, There are Snakes
as well as several links

to EES Lessons that deal
with phatic communication

and effectively yourself in conversation.

And that, ladies and
gentlemen, boys and girls,

(upbeat rock music)
the Language Punk for today.

Have you ever struggled
with phatic communication?

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Watch This If You Struggle with Small-Talk in English

struggle

extremely

profound

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