You see them at parties, at work, they might even be your friends, you recognise them immediately. They’re conversationalists, and you wish you could be one too.
Some people are just born with the “gift of
the gab”, they walk into a party and within minutes they’re deep in
conversation.
Some lucky ones can even do it in a foreign
language.
How
do they do it? More importantly, how can you do it?
The art of conversation may seem like an
innate ability but it isn’t, it’s just skill, and like any skill it can be
learned.
Why
are good conversation skills important?
Conversation skills alone won't get you
far, but a lack of them will stop you getting ahead. Qualifications and
business acumen are important, but to get noticed you need to communicate. That’s
right, also in English when the occasion arises J
So
how can you improve your conversation skills?
Shut
up (and listen)
One of the most important rules of conversation
may seem counterintuitive: shut up and listen. Conversation is a two-way
street, it’s not all about you speaking. Being quiet and listening to the other
person helps you learn new vocabulary and sentence structure and allows you to
ask questions to keep the conversation flowing naturally.
Speak
up
Don't’ go too far being quiet. Communication
is a two-way street, we said. Give your opinion and speak up, remember the
other person wants to listen to you as well, they don’t mind if your grammar is
a mess, and the only way to correct it is to put it into practice.
Be
interesting
It may sound obvious but make sure you’ve
got something interesting to talk about. Local news, global events, new
technologies, keep up to date and keep your conversation varied, you need to
have some business and work but also light-hearted material in there as well in
order to develop your confidence in different arenas.
Just
do it
Just throw yourself in and start talking,
studies show that when you start talking early on, you’re more likely to carry
on talking throughout the day or event without feeling embarrassed. They also
show that people who launch into speaking a foreign language without hesitating
improve faster.
Practice
Like any language skill, you can learn
conversation as well. There are even professional English conversation courses
you can find out there to help you maintain and improve your communication
skills.
maka language consulting
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento