# Feel Confident at Work: Small Talk Phrases You Need to Know **Channel:** Speak English With Vanessa **Source:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkAPnHiHRdE **Transcript page:** https://www.withtranscript.ai/video/AkAPnHiHRdE ## Chapters - 0:00 — Introduction to Workplace Small Talk - 3:24 — Career Path Questions and Answers - 7:45 — Family Careers and Background Questions - 11:23 — Previous Jobs and Career Experience - 17:26 — Polite Answers About Competitor Work ## Transcript **[0:00]:** Hey, is this your first job at our company? How long have you been in this field? If someone asked you this question, would your heart start to beat? Would your palms get sweaty? Would you know how to reply? **[0:12]:** Well, never fear. Today we are going to use the number one technique for learning how to speak English fluently to help you be able to respond to this workplace small talk situation. What is small talk? Small talk is an essential skill in English. When we have a conversation with someone, we always start with small talk. **[0:35]:** Often that's about the weather, our families, and if you're at your company, it's going to be about your job. So today you're going to practice some common small talk conversation questions and answers, 50 of them in fact, so that you can go to your job, stop speak in English with your co workers and feel confident that you can do this. What is the number one technique that we're going to use? It is shadowing or listening to my voice and repeating out loud. You're going to shadow with me so that you get the chance to listen to my voice and imitate or repeat directly after what I say. **[1:17]:** You're going to be using natural vocabulary to natural sentence structure. And I want you to pay attention to my pronunciation so that you can imitate my pronunciation as well. Today is an active lesson. You are not just listening to me, you are listening and repeating. So make sure that you are somewhere where you feel comfortable speaking out loud. **[1:39]:** Even if you speak quietly, it's okay. Speaking out loud is important. Your ears need to hear your voice using English so. So that when you actually go into the workplace and have a conversation and words start to come out of your mouth, it doesn't sound strange. You're used to hearing your voice using English. **[1:58]:** Are you ready to practice? Let's do it. And if you're new here, hi, I'm Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com and I have been teaching real life English here on my YouTube channel for over the past 10 years to now more than 7 million of you. I can't believe it. Thank you so much for learning English with me. **[2:19]:** And every week I create a new PDF worksheet that includes everything that we are going to practice today. Plus there is a speaking bonus in this worksheet. You will be able to practice speaking out loud with me answering all of these sentences and questions out loud, repeating after me so that you can really use this in the real world. I want you to be able to practice during today's lesson and also practice maybe while you're washing the dishes, while you're walking your dog, while you're driving your car, you can speak in English. People might look at you and think, is he speaking to himself? **[2:56]:** Who cares? You are practicing English. So how can you get this free PDF worksheet plus the Bonus Speaking Practice? All you need to do is click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address, and voila. The PDF worksheet and Bonus Speaking Practice will land in your email inbox. **[3:15]:** It is my gift to you. Today's lesson is broken up into five common conversation questions that you will experience in the workplace. **[3:24]:** And for each question, there are 10 possible answers that you will be practicing saying out loud with me. So let's take a look at question number one. What made you decide to pursue this career path? **[3:38]:** That's a very formal question, but. But you could also be asked, how did you get into this? Let's practice saying both of these out loud. Let's start with the first one. What made you decide to pursue this career path? **[3:52]:** Now, I'm going to pause and I want you to say that exact question again. Go ahead. **[4:00]:** Great. Let's practice the second question. Now listen to me and then you can repeat. How did you get into this? **[4:10]:** So how can you answer this question? Let's practice. Honestly, I kind of fell into it. I got an opportunity to try it and decided to stick with it. Now it's your turn to say that exact same sentence out loud. Use that same vocabulary, the same intonation, and the same sentence structure. Go. **[4:36]:** Great work. Let's go on to number two. I wanted a career where I could make a difference, and after some research, I decided that social work would be a good fit. **[4:54]:** Now you might not be a social worker, so you can substitute your job in there. And the same for the other sample sentences. You can substitute your job or you can choose which sentence would best fit yours. Number three. I'm still working on my degree in journalism and I'd like to work full time for a magazine. Who knows, maybe I'll even write a book. **[5:23]:** My dad was an artist and I was exposed to it at a young age, so I took an interest in it early on. **[5:36]:** Fitness has always been my number one priority, so I decided to take that interest and turn it into a career to become a personal trainer. **[5:55]:** My dad is a vet and I grew up going to his office every day after school. School. I've always loved animals, but I grew to appreciate how much care he put in to each of his animal patients. **[6:18]:** I've always Been interested in how the human body works. So that's what got me into medicine. **[6:30]:** I have a background in psychology, but I became interested in being a soccer coach after I worked with so many kids as a counselor. **[6:47]:** Honestly, I didn't have a clear career plan at first. I took a job in customer service and eventually moved into a management position. **[7:03]:** I took a photography class in college and I completely fell in love with it. That's what got me into photography. **[7:18]:** All right, so how did you do with our first category of listening and repeating for workplace small talk questions, what I recommend is choosing one of these and really trying to remember it. Maybe memorize it. Say it out loud again and again to yourself so that you can use it in the real world. You don't need to use all of these for every conversation, but choose one that fits you the best and try to use it in your next conversation. **[7:45]:** All right, let's go to question number two. **[7:48]:** Question number two is an interesting one. It's Is there anyone in your family who's a teacher, who's a lawyer, who's an underwater diver? This is an interesting question that you might be able to ask someone else because sometimes asking questions can feel really nice. As an English learner, you are controlling the conversation, but you don't have to answer a lot. So you can keep this question in your back pocket the next time that you have something small talk conversation in the workplace and you can ask a curious question like this to someone else who's your colleague or friend. **[8:27]:** Let's practice asking this question out loud. Are you ready? Listen to my voice. Is there anyone in your family who's a lawyer? I want you to say it out loud. Go ahead. **[8:42]:** Great work. Let's ask this with another profession. Is there anyone in your family who's a teacher? **[8:53]:** Great work. All right, let's go to our 10 answers. To answer this question, be thinking about which one you're going to use in the real world. Listen to my voice and then repeat directly after me. My dad is a police officer. He worked for the police department for several years and his job can be pretty unpredictable. **[9:19]:** Yes, my sister is a real estate agent. Like myself, she spends a lot of time showing properties and meeting with clients. **[9:35]:** A cousin of mine runs her own dental office. **[9:43]:** I'm afraid not. I'm actually the first person in my family to work in education. **[9:54]:** We have a mechanic in the family and that's the great thing because my brother in law is willing to work on everyone's car for free. **[10:11]:** No one in my family Took an interest in the medical field. So I'm the only doctor in the family. **[10:22]:** My brother is a head engineer at a construction company and helps design and oversee different building projects. **[10:36]:** My stepbrother is an immigration attorney and he mainly handles visas and green card applications. **[10:49]:** No one in my family has a serious career. I have a cousin who's a veterinarian, but that's about it. **[11:03]:** My family is full of doctors. In my culture, you'll notice that people typically pursue careers in the medical field. **[11:19]:** Excellent work practicing, listening and speaking Speaking out loud. **[11:23]:** Now we're going to go to our third question that is common in the workplace and it's this. Where did you work before here? So here we're getting into some tricky territory because if you worked for a competitor, you're going to need to know how to answer some follow up questions about the competitor. And that's the last thing we're going to talk about in this lesson. **[11:46]:** How to deal with those somewhat tricky workplace small talk questions. But first, let's answer this one. I want you to say this out loud after I speak. Where did you work before here? **[12:02]:** Great work. Now let's talk about some replies. Listen to my voice and repeat out loud. Actually, this was my first job. I started out as a server at this restaurant and then I was promoted to management. **[12:22]:** I primarily taught English online and then I decided to take up a teaching position in China. **[12:34]:** I was self employed before I came here. Unfortunately my company didn't do so well and that pushed me to find a new job. **[12:52]:** I was hired on the spot and I worked at the bookstore at my university. **[13:02]:** I was offered a volunteer position at a non profit organization. The beautiful thing is it turned into a full time position. **[13:20]:** I worked for a large corporation that distributed electronics throughout the country. **[13:30]:** I was working for a competitor before I came here. I was there for about four years and I learned a lot about the industry. **[13:46]:** I was freelancing and trying to build my clientele. **[13:54]:** I was working at a bank. I started as a teller and eventually became a branch manager. **[14:06]:** I was working at a small family business. I wore a lot of different hats so I was responsible for doing a little bit of everything. **[14:24]:** Great work. Talking about where you worked previously, I want you to choose one of those sentences that best fits your situation and try to memorize it so that you can use it the next time you go out into the real world. All right, let's talk about question number four, which might be one of the most common small talk questions in the workplace. To talk about your job it's this. How long have you been in the medical field? **[14:50]:** How long have you been in tech? How long have you been in education? This is talking about your career and when did you start? How long has it been going on? It's just a small talk question, not necessarily one for judgment. If you just started or if you've been in the field for 60 years, it's just a common small talk question. So I want you to practice asking this question out loud and then we'll practice the answers. Are you ready? This is the question. How long have you been in tech? **[15:20]:** Go ahead. **[15:24]:** All right, let's practice another variation. How long have you been in the medical field? **[15:33]:** Great work. Alright, let's practice some common answers and be thinking about which one best fits you. I've been in public education for most of my career. **[15:46]:** I've only been in tech for about a year, so I'm still pretty new to the field. **[15:57]:** I started back in 2010 as a nurse, so that would make it 16 years now. **[16:10]:** Well, I was fresh out of college when I started working on cars. You could say it's been quite a while. **[16:23]:** It's only been about three years because I made a career change from education to software engineering. **[16:36]:** I've been in sales for a decade now and I'm still at the same company that I started with. **[16:47]:** I've been in the medical field since I was in my 20s. **[16:53]:** I've been here for a few months, so you could say I'm still a rookie. **[17:04]:** I just got hired last week. I was recruited as an intern and now I'm officially employed. **[17:14]:** I've been my own boss for five years, going on six years next month. I can't believe how much time has passed. **[17:26]:** All right, now it's time for our final fifth question and the most controversial one. You need to have this skill in the workplace. You need to be able to indirectly and politely answer it. What if you worked for a competitor before this company? Someone might ask you this, what was it like working at Google? **[17:47]:** What was it like working at Apple? Tell us all the secrets. Well, maybe they're not actually asking about the secrets, but they're just genuinely curious. How can you answer this question politely? Even if you had a terrible experience, even if you do know the secrets of the other company, how can you answer this question in a formal and polite way? **[18:08]:** Well, let's practice. It was a fast paced environment, so there was always something going on. **[18:21]:** I worked for an insurance company and it was pretty chaotic during certain times of the year, especially when people were renewing their insurance policies. **[18:39]:** Working in retail requires you to be flexible and be able to float around and work in new areas. **[18:52]:** I'd rather not get into too many details, but I learned a lot while I was there. **[19:02]:** My team felt like family and my boss was always looking out for us. It was truly a pleasure to go to work every day. **[19:16]:** We were all about customer service, so our priority was our customers experience. **[19:27]:** It's hard to compare it with my current workplace and company, but both companies have different work cultures. **[19:41]:** It was a rapidly changing environment so we had to stay up to date on new products and changes. **[19:52]:** It had its moments. The job was demanding, but it taught me how to handle pressure. **[20:03]:** I almost always worked remotely, so I spent most of my time behind a screen. **[20:13]:** Great work Responding to that somewhat tricky question. Did you notice how a lot of those were indirect? It had its moments. Well, it was a fast paced environment. You're not directly saying it was awful. **[20:26]:** I felt really stressed. I had to get out of there. No, you're choosing these carefully placed words so that you can answer truthfully but indirectly at the same time. Not giving too many details. Well, great work Practicing Speaking Out Loud Today the next step is to download the free PDF worksheet that includes all of these questions and answers so that you can really review them and practice. **[20:53]:** Plus there is the bonus speaking practice where you will have the chance to speak out loud with me and repeat the all of these phrases while you're walking the dog, while you're folding the laundry, whatever you might be doing so that you can remember them and go into your workplace and have awesome small talk conversation questions and answers. Now how can you get this worksheet and bonus speaking practice? All you have to do is click on the link in the description, enter your name and email address and voila. It will land in your email inbox. My gift to you. **[21:25]:** Well, thank you so much for learning English with me and I'll see you again next Friday for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. But wait, do you want more? I recommend watching this video next where you will practice listening and repeating after me about your vacation. Whether your vacation was awesome or awful, you will have the phrases you need to speak in English. I'll see you there.