GROUP 3

Renisa Purwati Retno Damayanti Ridawati Rahayu Ririn Ariance Risdiani Dwi Anugrah Rivani Kurnia

The conversation

Some people seem to naturally know how to start a conversation. They can kickoff conversations anywhere, from a party, to a seminar, to a queue at the supermarket. On the other hand, we often meet people who dont know how to start a conversation and struggle with this, either all around or in particular types of situations. Learning how to start a conversation easily and effectively has been one of the key points in developing skills

The Simple Ways to Start Conversation

In fact, there are many other ways you can begin interesting conversations to help you learn English. Asking questions is a good way, but it's not the only way. Here are three simple ways that we can learn to start the conversation and keep it going. 1. Be confident in yourself 2. Think of a compliment 3. Ask the other person questions about themselves

1. Be confident in yourself
You first need to get a good idea of how to develop your conversation confidence. Here are 3-step formula for developing your conversation confidence. For starting a conversation you must be friendly. Your goal is not to impress, it is to show that you are a relaxed and sociable person who wants to have an enjoyable chat. Thats the best way to engage another person in a conversation

Ask Good Questions One of the most important tools for engaging another person in a conversation is your curiosity. Your curiosity best manifests itself in the way you ask questions. First of all, you want to ask big, open-ended questions that require more than a yes or no answer and create for the other person the context to really talk about themselves.

In everyday life, one of the most common conversation starters is to talk about the situation you are in. If you are in a restaurant, talk about what you see around you. Give your opinion about something you see. If the person you are with shows some interest, you can continue to talk about every aspect of that restaurant.

If you struggle with starting conversations with some people or in some contexts, its OK to use conversation starters you have learned and practiced before. Remember that good conversation starters reflect your authentic curiosity. How to start a conversation in one concise phrase, it would be this: have a combination of friendliness, curiosity, authenticity and verve. This mix is an almost magical key which opens many doors in social interactions.

However, if the person does not seem so interested, you could compare that restaurant to a better one that you have been to. Besides the location you are in, you could also talk about the weather, about people who are passing by, or about what you and the other person are wearing, etc. Very important if you can show that you are confident about what you are talking about and the other person can give the positive respon. The conversation will keep going if you always confident and talking about the things that can make them interest.

You do not have to be so specific to start a conversation. You could make a more general comment. For example, you could comment about what is happening in the world, or at your job, or in your city. This is a good way to find out what the other person is interested in. Watch how they respond to your comment and use that as a sign showing whether you should continue talking or not. Don't worry if the other person does not show enthusiasm. That often happens. However, if you keep on trying, you will find something that is of more interest to him or her.

2. Think of a compliment
A great way to start the conversation is by complimenting someone to. When we dont know how to start a conversation then to break the ice, a compliment is always nice. A simple way that often helps strike up a conversation is to compliment the person, and then ask a question, for example : "I love your bag, where did you get it?"

3. Ask the other person question about themselves

Theres no better way to start a conversation than ask someone a question about themselves. We often find that lots of people hesitate to talk about themselves, especially at the beginning of a conversation. They may believe its impolite or they may not be comfortable with opening up, so they choose to bombard the other person with questions as an alternative.

 Nobody wants to feel like theyre in an interrogatory when theyre having a conversation: What do you do? Where do you live? Where do you work? Where are you from? What hobbies do you have? That is too many questions for two minutes of conversation. But we can ask the other person about the things that they like, for examples Ask them what genre of music that they like. Some examples are Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, Reggae, Country, Jazz, Classical, Rock, and Alternative. Once they tell you, try to think of a song from that genre that you know, and could use to get the conversation started.

 Sometimes simple things like these are really good conversation starters especially if the person happens to like the same kind of music that you do. You can discuss different bands, or singers. Discuss maybe what concerts you have been to, or would like to go see. Ask them what kind of concert they would go to if they had the chance to.
Then you can also ask them what their favorite food is. For example you might want to ask them if they like Mexican food. Once they reply to you, you respond with your kind of favorite food, and then you proceed to ask them which restaurant they like the most.

TIPS..
Here are some tips if you dont know how to start a conversation when you have nothing to talk about : 1. Introduce yourself if necessary. If you dont know the person, breaking the ice is very simple: tell the new person your name, offer your hand to shake and smile. You can introduce yourself with "Hello, my name is..." or you can say "Hi, I'm...

2. Ask an open-ended question

then you can continue it with the simple question like "Where do you come from?" or comment about the weather if you are on the outside room, like "It's really cold today isn't it? The weather is the simple topic which can be easy topic for talking to someone. An open question requires an explanation for an answer rather than just a simple yes or no.

Examples : Open questions tend to begin with who, when, what, why, where, and how. whereas closed questions tend to start with do, have, and is/am/are.

Closed questions: "Do you like books? "Have you been to university? "Is spring your favorite season? and "Do you come here often?"

Open questions: "What kind of books do you like? "What did you study at university? "Which is your favorite season? Why? "What are you doing right now? and "Where's your usual favourite place to go when holiday?"

3. Practice getting conversations started You may feel a little clumsy at first, but with practice it can become easy to start good conversations.
4. Know what happening It will help if you watch some TV, listen to radio shows or read a lot newspapers, magazines or books. Doing this will ensure that you have some idea of what's going on in the world.

5. Know the person who youre talking to

If you are talking to other teenagers (or other adults), they generally like to talk about music, sports, TV, celebrities, video games, cool websites, etc. Younger children like to talk about their toys, video games, music, TV shows, food, etc.

At the last, dont forget to keep the respectful with other person that you are talking with.