Small talk struggle

> The speaker told me that her sister does the same thing. I wasn't able to reply with anything except an awkward, forced giggle lol. I'm not sure I would be able to instantly come up with something to say either. The speaker simply saying "yeah, my sister is really funny too" isn't the best example of good conversation. Like /u/ilPrezidente said, you could literally just ask any basic question at that point *if you feel the need to continue that conversation*, but in that case you're the one really doing the heavy lifting. The other person needs to respond with more than "me too" to keep the conversation going. You can't have a conversation with a brick wall. Your English is excellent, by the way.

Just follow up with a simple question, if you even need to say anything at all. "Is your sister older or younger?" "Do you have any other siblings besides your sister?" Or, you could giggle, and say something else about your sister. Or talk about your own comedic tendencies. The possibilities are endless. I think this is less to do with one's knowledge of English and more to do with comfort in these situations. Just keep the conversation going and don't worry about offending people, especially since in that specific conversation that you've outlined, you really have nothing to worry about unless you take some crazy left turn.

I think a lot of this comes with practice. Would you find it easy to come up with a reply to small talk in your first language? If you would find it easy in your first language then it’s probably just that your brain finds it difficult to think of a quick response in English which is very normal when learning a new language. If you would find this difficult in your first language, that’s okay too, but just suggests that you find small talk uncomfortable to engage in. I’d say here the best thing to do here (if your goal is to get to know the person you’re talking to better) is to say something that might be relatable, and ask a question. For example “my sister is younger than me, so she doesn’t always realise she’s making a joke at an inappropriate time. Is your sister older or younger?” or “it can be so awkward, can’t it? One time, she made me laugh when [give an example of an inappropriate situation she made you laugh in]”.

It's also a good idea to receive more and more english into your brain. The more time you spend with the language, the more easier you will be able to form thoughts. And even speaking will then come naturally! I suggest videos like this where the speaker speaks slowly and clearly [https://youtu.be/yy7yD6hUiS0?si=acmCaajDrJyBk-Hp](https://youtu.be/yy7yD6hUiS0?si=acmCaajDrJyBk-Hp) [https://youtu.be/o0aET0a3Njc?si=sWvtgEMl\_\_gym2sY](https://youtu.be/o0aET0a3Njc?si=sWvtgEMl__gym2sY)

I’ve found that if you’re just trying to make small talk, you have to stop trying to make interesting conversations that reflect on you well/make you seem particularly smart or cultured or anything, and just speak. You could say something like, laughing, “Wow, some people are just like that!” or “That’s hilarious, growing up together must have been funny”, literally anything. I always get stuck when I want to have something interesting to say, but if you can find something superficial (ESPECIALLY in a language conversation class), it’ll be fine. Similarly, just ask anything. “Oh, do you have a lot of siblings?”. It truly doesn’t matter, just pick something that’s related in any way and go from there. Be as superficial as needed and you’ll find conversation flows naturally from there.

if the convo was in your native language, do you think you could've thought of a response?