real_talk — Speak English for real

Remi

Exchange brief greetings and well-wishes with colleagues or before an interview, opening light conversations and ending them naturally.

→ / ←

How's it going?

How are you? / How have you been?

How was your weekend?

How was your weekend?

Busy week?

It's been a busy week, right?

Nice to finally meet you.

I'm finally glad to meet you.

Adding 'finally' when meeting someone you've only known through email or phone increases the warmth.

Let's grab coffee sometime.

When are we grabbing coffee?

I should get back to it.

I should get back to work now.

Today's rule

1
Small talk is a ping-pong of 'question → short answer → pass it back (Good, you?
2
)'.
3
The key is to exchange short responses rather than perfect sentences, passing the ball to the other person.

Key words

Business small talk (basic)