LearnEnglish Hub
In our new Learning hub, you can put your language into practice. Take part in the activities and practise your English skills by writing comments, recording yourself speaking and sharing photos with descriptions.
Do the preparation exercise first. Then watch the video and do the exercises to check your understanding and practise the language.
Ana: Hi! I'm Ana. Welcome to What to Say!
Do you know what to say when you want to keep a conversation going? Listen out for useful language for keeping a conversation going. Then, we'll practise saying the new phrases – after this.
Noelia: Hi, Bob!
Bob: Oh, morning, Noelia.
Noelia: So, what's new?
Bob: New, hmm, let me think. Hmm … Nothing much. Oh, hang on. My dog Bertie had his 14th birthday on Monday!
Noelia: Oh, he's getting old then?
Bob: I guess so … but not as old as his owner.
Noelia: Haha … er, anyway …
Bob: How about you, Noelia? How's it going?
Noelia: Great, actually. Yeah … all good.
Bob: By the way, I wanted to ask you, where in Spain are you from?
Noelia: I'm from Santander.
Bob: Oh, lovely. Wonderful to grow up near the sea.
Noelia: Yeah, it was perfect. Ah, I miss the sea.
Bob: I know what you mean. I used to live in Spain and I absolutely loved it.
Noelia: Really? I didn't know that, Bob!
Bob: Yeah, I had a little bar on the Costa Brava.
Noelia: Wow! So do you speak Spanish then?
Bob: Oh, not much. Ah, those were the days! Excuse me. Perdona, Noelia. Tengo que irme. Me necesitan en el segundo piso. ¡Hasta pronto! [Excuse me, Noelia. I've got to go. They need me on the second floor. See you soon!]
Noelia: Wow!
Ana: Hello again! Wow! Bob is full of surprises. So, did you notice the useful phrases used for keeping a conversation going? Listen to me and then repeat.
So, what's new?
Let me think ...
Nothing much.
Anyway …
How about you, Noelia?
How's it going?
By the way, I wanted to ask you ...
I know what you mean.
Really? I didn't know that!
Ana: Try and use some of these phrases the next time you want to keep a conversation going in English. Bye for now!
I am from Myanmar. I used to live in Thailand. I can speak Thai but not much.
No, I am not living near the sea. i like to live near falls
let me think, actually i don't live near the sea although my province has sea boarder in north. i know what the question means. as a big city, Jakarta has not taken care its sea in a good way. Anyway, I love the sea. Last year, I got almost half a day by bus to find a lovely beach.
no ,actually i live in the mountains ,and i love it more than living near the sea .
hello community!
There is a phrase "That's a shame " in this video. I heard that this phrase is very old-fashioned and not really common nowadays.
Is that true?
thanks in advance
Hi alinchiko,
Actually, I think it is still quite commonly used. Here's a Google Ngram that shows its usage has actually increased over time: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=that%27s+a+shame&year_start=1800&year_end=2019&corpus=26&smoothing=3
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
No, I do not live near to the sea, but I really want
I want someday live by the sea, Now I live in Cairo, Egypt. I used to go to the sea every summer.
I used to live near by the sea when I was in Alexandria , now I am live in Cairo , EGYPT.
I have never lived near the sea, I am living in the country surrounded by mountains on all sides. I would love to spend some time with my loved ones near the sea and would enjoy the noise and waves of the sea.