British people are famous for small talk. You might have heard stories of Brits talking to complete strangers for hours at a bus stop or on a long plane journey but never introducing themselves or sharing any personal information. Brits can talk to a shop worker every day for years just using small talk.

英国人很喜欢闲聊，你可能听过说英国人在汽车站或者飞机场与一个完全陌生的人聊天可以聊上一个小时， 但是他们从来不介绍自己和分享个人信息，他们能够每天与一个商店服务员闲聊。

To become good at small talk you must know which topics you can use but also the topics you cannot. Small talk is VERY cultural so you need to understand what British people like talking about and what they think is taboo. You don’t want to make the other person angry by asking questions about a taboo topic.

要想成为一个善于聊天的人，你必须要知道哪些话题你能说，哪些话题不能聊。聊天是一种文化，所以你需要知道英国人喜欢聊什么以及他们不喜欢什么。你也一定不想聊一些别人讨厌的话题惹人不高兴，对吗？

This blog post explains some common taboo, not taboo and risky smalltalk topics to help you become a better small talker.

下面的内容就展现了一些常见的禁忌以及敏感话题，让你成为受欢迎的聊天达人。

Taboo topics

禁忌话题

Jobs工作

We Brits don’t like to be asked very personal questions so don’t ask too much about what people do, how they do it, where they do it and who with. In some countries shop staff ask many questions about why you are in the country, where you are from, where you live and even who you work for. Keep your distance and only give very basic answers like “I work in IT” or “I work for myself”. The other person will usually understand you don’t like the questions and should change topic.

英国人不喜欢被问及个人问题，所以不要问太多关于他们是干什么的，在哪工作以及同事是谁。在一些国家商店工作人员问很多问题，关于你来自哪，住在哪，甚至是你的工作。保持距离同时给一些过得去的回答，像我在IT行业工作，我为自己打工。和你聊天的人就会明白你不喜欢回答这样的问题，而应该换一个话题啦。  

Salary薪水

Your salary isn’t that important in England and neither is your job title. People don’t really care about how much money you make or your job title. I have seen directors, managers and student interns chatting and smoking and all using first names. I think we have an idea about people’s salaries but also believe that people who work hard should get more pay. When we hear of a president on a high salary we see that as normal but we would never ask him how much he or she earns. If someone does ask you, try saying “enough” or “it’s OK”.

在英国，你的薪水和你的职位并不重要。人们真的不关心你赚多少钱以及你的职位。我看到过很多董事、总经理以及学生都是使用自己的名字来抽烟聊天。我认为，我应该有个关于薪水的共识，就是努力工作的人应该得到更多的工资。当我们听说总统拿高薪的时候这是很正常的，但我们永远不会问他赚多少钱。如果有人问你,试着说“够了”或“没关系”。

Address地址

Your home address is very personal and you shouldn’t give it to just anyone. It’s OK to say which city you live in and even sometimes your area but the street and your house number are very important. Small talk is just about talking because we don’t like silence. It’s not for finding out lots of information about the other person. I’ve worked with many colleagues but have never asked or known their home addresses.

你的家庭地址是很私人的信息，不应该告诉任何人。告诉别人你生活在那座城市或者哪个区域是OK的，但是不要提及街道以及你家庭的门牌号这些重要信息。闲聊的时候我们尽量不要保持沉默，但是不是要谈论别人的个人信息，我和很多同事一起工作，但是从来不问他们的家庭住址。

Family家庭

It’s not very common to see marital status or family members on British CVs but it is in other countries. Again, like address, it is just too much information. Yes, people can see from a ring on your finger if you are married and probably guess if you have kids. Some people may mention their wife or kids and then it’s OK to mention yours. You may even see people exchanging photos of their family during a long conversation on a plane or train. One reason is because the 2 people will probably never see each other again.

与其他国家不同，在英国CVs上很少会介绍婚姻状况以及家庭成员出现，像家庭地址也是非常多余的信息。大家会通过你手上的戒指来判断你是否结婚是否有孩子。有一些人可能会提到他们妻子和孩子，你也可以提到你的家人。你也许会看到有些人在机场或者火车站聊天过程中互换他们的家庭照片，一个原因很可能是他们可能再也不会见面了。

Not taboo?

你可以谈论的话题

Complaints

抱怨

Brits love complaining. It’s the national hobby for most people. Many Brits think everything is expensive so you can complain about high prices. They are sometimes right too. Every year, the ticket prices for some trains and the underground go up. Transport can be a problem in the UK because the system is old. Complain about how late, early, full or empty buses, trains or roads are.

英国人喜欢抱怨，对于大多数人来说这是民族爱好。很多英国人觉得每一样东西都很贵，经常抱怨昂贵的价格。他们的抱怨有时候是正确的，每年，火车票和地铁票的价格都在逐年上涨。英国的交通比较老旧，为英国人提供了抱怨的聊天话题，比如，抱怨火车不准时、旅客太多、火车和汽车的车厢以及路况等等。

New places

新鲜的地方

A good way to make small talk is to talk about new places in the area. Maybe you know of a new shop, a cafe or restaurant. You could tell the other person about it. If they haven’t been, they will be happy to hear about it.

Try the simple question “have you been to the new…?” or make a simple statement like “there is a good new restaurant” and don’t forget to add a small question at the end to keep the conversation going. You could try “Have you been?” or “Do you know it?”

一个很好的聊天话题是谈论某一地区的新地方，比如你知道的新商店、咖啡馆以及餐厅。你可以很轻松的与对方聊这些内容，如果他们没去过，他们将非常高兴听到这些内容。

你可以尝试开口问一些简单的问题，“have you been to the new...?”或者以陈述的方式如“there is a good new restaurant”,之后可以加一些小的问题让聊天继续下去，你可以尝试加一句“Have you been?”或者“Do you know it?”

American politics

美国政治

American politics is a safe topic as many of us know about it and we don’t vote in US elections. Many Brits follow American politics and know about Trump and Clinton. You could ask what the other person thought about the presidential election if you have talked for some time. Don’t start a small talk conversation with this topic though.

Be careful though as this topic might move into UK politics and that can be sensitive.

对于英国人来说，美国政治是一个非常safe的聊天话题，美国大选不需要英国人投票。很多英国人关注美国政治，他们了解特朗普和希拉里。如果你已经和对方聊了很久，你可以问他们对于美国总统选举的看法，但不建议在一开始就谈论这个话题，因为这个话题聊久了会涉及到英国的政治，比较敏感，所以谈论起来要小心为好。

Weather

天气

We complain about the cold weather and also the hot weather. The weather changes a lot in the UK so there is always something we don’t like so this is thebest topicfor smalltalk. British weather is terrible but interesting. You could probably just talk about this for at least 3 hours. A day can start off cold then get hot and sunny, have some light rain, heavy rain, pour down (rain a lot and heavily), the heavens will open (a downpour) and then a mild westerly breeze will turn into a gale (a strong wind) and finally it will brighten up. As you can see, we have a LOT of vocabulary for the weather too. 

英国人会经常抱怨天气冷或者天气热。因为英国天气多变，总有大家不喜欢的一面，所以这是闲聊的最好话题。英国天气很糟糕但很有趣，你能够谈论这个话题长达3个小时。一天当中，刚开始比较冷，然后又变暖和出现阳光，还会有一些小雨和大雨，甚至一场倾盆大雨，随后有温和的微风，随后变成大风，然后天会放晴。（你可以学习到很多关于天气的单词）

希望以上的聊天tips对于英语学习者有所帮助。