When you’re studying foreign languages, a good shortcut is to have a few go-to questions and conversations starters to help communication flow.

That said, one of the more challenging parts about learning a new language is that you not only have to learn the language but the cultural values and expectations of the native speakers.

For example, when we think of basic conversations, some cultures -- such as the United States -- engage in small talk, whereas other cultures such as Germany and Norway do not engage in small talk. Similarly, in the US, people generally like to talk about what they do for a living. In other countries people do not typically talk about work in casual conversation, but instead their hobbies and interests.

So before you just choose which of these questions to ask, consider the culture. Keep in mind that asking questions too bluntly may come off as offensive. Even “where you are from?" and "What do you do for a living?" may be too blunt for some cultures.

Your best bet is to check with friends from the culture or those who've spent a long time living in a culture,to get a feel for what kinds of conversational topics are right. With that said, here are 20 questions and conversation starters to help you:
‍

Conversation Starters

These first questions will usually have really short answers. That’s why it’s not a good idea to ask too many questions like this all at once.

Instead, try to carry the conversation forward along the theme of the first question. Of all these questions, the one that may be the best to use regardless of one’s cultural background would be asking the person's name and about their hobbies. Here are the questions you could ask:

 
• What’s your name?
 
• What are you hobbies?
 
• Where do you live?
 
• What do you do for a living?
 
• Where are you from?
 
• Where did you grow up?
  ‍

Follow up Questions to Keep the Conversation Going

If you ask, "What’s your name?" consider next asking, “What does your name mean in your language?"

If you ask, "Where do you live?" and the person is living in a faraway country or city that you’ve never been to, then ask: "Tell me something about (name of city or name of country)".

The same idea goes if you ask, “where are you from?” and “where did you grow up?”

If you ask, "What are your hobbies?" the follow-up questions could be, "Where do you practice your hobby?" or "What kinds of organizations are there nearby where people could learn more about your hobby?"

If you ask, “What do you do for a living?” you could follow this up with, “How did you train to enter that profession?” or “What was your career path that brought you into that field?”

You could also consider asking questions like, “What are the things you like about your profession?”, “What are the major challenges of your profession?” and “How are disruptive technologies affecting your profession?”
‍

Questions to Ask if You Don’t Understand

When you’re learning a new language, you’ll find times where you don’t catch a place name or a person’s name. There will be times where you will hear some words and expressions for the first time. So these questions will be useful for such circumstances:

 
• Could you please repeat that?
 
• Could you please speak more slowly?
 
• How do you spell that?
  ‍

A lot of times, your ability to understand a person in a foreign language has to do with how fast they speak and whether they are speaking slang, dialect, or jargon. If they have a heavy accent it can be especially challenging.  So look for body language and listen for the tone of voice from the other person to decide how to handle the conversation from there.

For beginners and lower intermediate learners, it is difficult to follow two native speakers who are speaking at a normal pace. The best scenario is if you can have a one-on-one conversation with a native speaker who has similar interests.
‍

Travel and Leisure Conversation Starters

 
• What are your favorite vacation/holiday spots? What is it you like most about those places?

Many people like to talk about what they did on vacation and have fond memories of different places they’ve visited. If you’ve been there as well, then it can help the conversation flow even more, because you can talk about similar and different experiences about the same location.
‍

Philosophical Questions and Conversation Starters

If you are looking for a deeper connection, consider more philosophical questions. For an interesting read on this, check out Arthur Aran's research in “The Experimental Generation of Interpersonal Closeness: A Procedure and Some Preliminary Findings”

‍