Starting a Conversation in English with Ease & Confidence: Pronunciation and phrasing tips

Starting a Conversation in English with correct pronunciation: Common Mistakes, use of contractions

Starting a conversation in English requires confidence, especially when you’re a non-native speaker. One way to find more confidence is to check in on how you’re phrasing and pronouncing your questions in English.
The question of the day is ‘How do you normally start a conversation?’

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A lot of non-native speakers start with “HOW are you?” or “What is your name?”. This is fine, but it could be improved upon.
Firstly, in this instance, we don’t fully pronounce the word ‘are’, instead we use a schwar: ‘How- ə you?’ and secondly it’s not the very best choice of question. It’s better used when you already know someone.
So, here are my top conversation starters when meeting someone for the first time:
Formal
“Hi, nice tə meet you” Notice I’m saying ‘tə’ and not ‘to’.

More casual, but still great:
“Hi, I’m Francesca” Please note that I’m using a contraction here. Please avoid ‘I am Francesca’, as it doesn’t sound at all natural.
Giving this piece of information, should prompt them to tell you THEIR name. It’s also a good filter because if they don’t, maybe they don’t want to talk. We also want to reduce how many questions we ask, so we don’t sound nosy.
They might just say ‘hi’, in which case, you will ask:

“What’s YOUR name?” Please avoid saying “What is your name”, as again, it doesn’t sound natural. We always reduce the phrase by using the contraction ‘what’s’. Please also notice, that I’m emphasising ‘YOUR’. I only do this because I’ve already given them my name.

Interestingly, once you show interest in someone, it’s normal for them to reciprocate, so at some point they should ask you some of these questions.
“Where abouts are you from” This sounds more chatty than a simple “Where are your from”. Notice how I link these words “Where-abouts” and notice how the word ‘are’ is replaced with a scwar: “Where-abouts ə you from?”
The response here, will probably be about where they come from originally. If this is the case, you might want to follow up with: “Where- abouts do you live NOW?
“What d’you do?” Notice the link between ‘do’ and ‘you’ = d’you. It sounds like the beginning of the word (JUice)

These are just template questions. Once the conversation gets started, you’ll be looking for further questions to ask. For instance, I used to live in Wimbledon and people would ALWAYS ask me about the Wimbledon Tennis tournaments. Others asked me about the beautiful park there.

Please share your favourite questions and experiences when meeting people for the first time. Please post them in the comments, below.

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