Hometown

中国大学MOOC-大学英语学习笔记，侵删。

Good Morning, everyone! Welcome to this series of lectures entitled oral English for colleges. This is a video open course. Aimed at enhancing your oral English output ability. The course consists of 30 lectures. And we will impart commonly-used oral English skills to everyone by proceeding in a systematic fashion. The course will advance layer upon layer by centering around two main directions. One focuses on common topics in oral communication, including topics, concerning, campus life and recreation and also higher, more profound and abstract topics, like science, technology, law, arts and so on. The other focuses on skills for oral communication which also includes 4 modules. Such as pronunciation, daily communication, presentation and debate. We hope you can really benefit from what you hear through the study of the coming 30 lectures. So next time when it comes for you to speak English, you'll feel less tongue-tied and more at home. Now, without further ado, let's get started with our first lecture, taking about your hometown.

You may have come across an occasion where you meet a foreign friend in some public places and you really want to communicate with him in English but don't know how to start a conversation. In English, chitchat is also called small talk. When you want to have a small talk, you will need a topic known as a conversation starter. You may greet someone by just saying hello or by finding a subject you have in common. For example, if you are both on the train, you may break the ice by saying, "I'm going to Beijing, Are you going there too?" Having started the conversation smoothly, you will have to think about the following questions, What are the things you want to know about people when you first meet them? Are there topics you could not talk comfortably about  with people you have just met? Are there taboo subjects in different cultures? What is the best conversation starter?

Ok, let's watch a video where a Chinese guy and his Western friend talk about conversation topics and areas that might be taboo in Western culture.

Hey! Amada. You're looking good. That's really smart shirt. I'm jealous. Was it expensive? It was a bit. But i think you can afford one like this. How much do you make in a month anyway? Wow, you can't ask that. It's really private. Why? It's a perfectly normal question. Well, I think Western people are just more sensitive about some topics. Oh! I'm sorry if i offended you. Could you give me some other examples? I have a lot of Western friends and I don't want to annoy them. Well, anything connected with money is usually a risky topic unless you know someone well. Also you shouldn't press people for too much information about relationships. You can ask some basic questions like if they're married. But you can't ask a single person  why they aren't married or ask a couple without children why they don't have kids. I heard that Western people don't like to be asked their age. Is that true? Well, sometimes it is and sometimes it isn't. Men are less likely to mind that women and younger people are less likely to mind than older people. Just use your common sense. If someone could possibly be embarrassed by a question then don't ask. So that's the only reason Western people don't like some questions because they feel embarrassed? It's a big reason. But also if you don't know someone very well, you should avoid questions where people have strong feelings and where a particular topic might cause a fight. Definitely avoid talking about politics or religion with strangers. So what topics can i choose if i want to make friends with someone from Western country. Well, just try and find some common interests. For example, see if you like some of the same sports or enjoy the same music. Or you could ask them what their hometown is like. Ok, thanks.