So, I don’t shy when I have specific question to ask. But I just can’t understand how to talk “for fun”, even with friends. It’s often goes like this :
-How are you?
-Ok
-Cool.
And I don’t understand what to do next. Other people somehow speak about some useless stuff but I just don’t get how.
What should I do?
2 comments
What are you genuinely interested in? Ask about that.
I find good topics are work and education, other people’s passions, friends, and family.
Also, ask what, not how. “What is going on in school?” not “How is school going?” The longer a person can answer, the better the question.
Part of avoiding one-word answers and stimulating actual conversation is being willing to reveal things about yourself. For example if you ask what they did this weekend, while being honest, try to add 2-3 possible topics. If you just say you “stayed at home,” that doesn’t give the other person much to work with, but if you say you “did laundry, played guitar, and had brunch with friends,” you have 3 totally different topics that they can piggy back off of to keep the conversation going.