Lindsay McMahon
"The English Adventurer"

Do you get a lot of questions about your culture and background?

Are you interested to learn more about the American culture and various traditions?

This is a very common thing to connect on as it helps you to learn about each other.

We’re going to look at what it takes to learn about other cultures and how this can help you to make great connections.

People Love To Talk About Their Culture and Background

On July 4, episode 976, we talked about how to respond if someone tells you about a tradition from their culture or family.

This may be new to you, but it can be an interesting topic of conversation.

Go to that episode to hear the phrases so you know how to respond in these situations.

There’s an added piece, however, if you want to continue the conversation, which of course is essential for building the connection.

Of course, it’s being open to sharing something about yourself!

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You Want To Be Sure To Share Something About Yourself Too

You want to learn about others, but you also want to tell them about you too.

This is a great way of opening a conversation and sharing information about each other.

This could be something similar, totally different, anything at all that you want to share.

It could be about your specific culture, something interesting in your family, or even something that you like to do regularly.

You want to be mindful about how you can  introduce these topics to continue the conversation in English. 

Introducing Aspects of Your Culture In Background

There are different ways to introduce these aspects of yourself in conversation.

Knowing the best conversation starters can help you to talk about your background and open up to learning about others.

Here are a few helpful ways to introduce these topics:

  • #1: In my culture/family/country, we…….
    • “In my family, we make sugar cookies together every Christmas Eve.”
  • #2: That’s pretty different from what I’m used to. Where I’m from, I’m used to…….
    • This is all about contrast and showing what is normal and accepted for you vs. what is normal and acceptable for others.
      • “In the US slurping is considered to be rude, but in Japan slurping means that you enjoy your food.”
  • #3: It’s very similar to that in my family/culture. We also tend to…..
    • This is all about comparing the various cultures or traditions in a fun way.
      • “My family always went out to eat on Friday nights. It was pretty much the same in my family as we enjoyed a meal out once a week.”
  • #4: Using the phrases “It’s common” or “people typically” to talk about habits
    • “It’s common to celebrate Thanksgiving with a turkey.”

These are just a few of the phrases that one might use to share their traditions and culture.

It can be fun to share with others and learn more about them, and these phrases can get the conversation started.

Takeaway

When someone shares something about their custom or tradition, feel free to share something from yours!

This is a huge part of what builds connections and relationships.

It also makes for rich conversation and will easily lead you from one point to the next.

It’s fun to share your traditions and culture, and others like to do the same.

You can create an entire conversation out of this and really share something special with the person you’re talking to.

If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments section.

We’ll get back to you as soon as we can. 

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