Lesson Transcript

Hey everyone, welcome to the Monthly Review!
The monthly show on language learning.
Where you discover new learning strategies, motivational tips, study tools, and resources.
By the way, all the free lessons and bonuses you’re about to see can be downloaded on our website.
So, click the link in the description right now to sign up for your free lifetime account.
Okay, today’s topic is:
How to Speak More of Your Target Language: Talking Points for Language Learners
And today, you’re going to learn:
One: What talking points are
Two: 5 talking points you can use to start conversations and maximize your speaking time.
And Three: How to get our Conversation Cheatsheets - so you can speak even more of your target language. And you’ll find out how to get them for FREE.
If you’ve always wanted to speak more in your target language, then this episode is for you. I’ll get into this in just a bit.
But first, here are this month’s new lessons and resources.
First — The “Talking About Numbers” Conversation Cheatsheet
With this new numbers PDF Cheatsheet,you’ll learn all the basic numbers, how to state your age, and tons more number-related phrases.
Second — The “How to Count to 1 Billion “ PDF Book
With this new printable ebook, you’ll learn how to count from zero to a billion. Download it now for free.
Third — 15 Ways to Learn on Your Commute
Want to know the best ways to learn when you’re on the go?
Learn 15 ways to learn and master languages during your commute in this 1-minute lesson.
Fourth — Want to learn how to order food in your target language?
Then this 1-minute lesson is for you.
You’ll learn the 20 most common phrases and questions you’ll need at a restaurant.
To get your free resources, click the link in the description below right now. They are yours to keep forever. Ok, let’s jump into today’s topic:
If you’re like most language learners, then your number one goal is to speak more, right? You want to have fluent conversations with natives.
It’s a great goal to have.
But, for most language learners, speaking ALSO happens to be their weakest skill. You may not know enough of the language to express yourself. You tend to run out of words and things to say. And, you’re just not sure how to start conversations.
If you have at least one of these issues, then “talking points” are just what you need.
Part 1: What’s a talking point?
A talking point is “a topic that invites discussion or argument.” In other words, just something to talk about.
It could be about yourself, your work, your hobbies, the weather, food, or what you did this past weekend. All of these are talking points.
Here’s an example to help you better understand talking points. Think of a conversation you’d have with a friend. You can ask, “what did you do this weekend?” They’ll reply and then ask you back. The talking point here is “the weekend.”
Let’s say your friend says they went to a restaurant. That’s a natural talking point to explore next. You can ask, “what kind of restaurants do you like?” Now you’ve covered 2 talking points.
The more talking points you have, the more you can speak.
And the same goes for your target language.
The only challenge is, you need to know the relevant words and phrases for that topic. For example, if you want to talk about the weekend, you need to know phrases and questions like “What did you do this weekend? “I did this ___.” “What about you?”
In the next part, you’ll discover 5 easy talking points that you can master with our learning program.
Let’s get into part 2.
Part 2: 5 Talking Points You Can Use
The first one is: Learn How to Introduce Yourself in your Target Language
Why is this a powerful talking point? Introducing yourself is something you’ll do again and again, every time you meet someone new. So learning the relevant phrases is a must.
If you’ve done the first few lessons on our site, you can already do this. If not, then check out our “Absolute Beginner lessons” and the “Top 25 Questions You Must Know” lessons. You’ll learn basic conversations with our quick 3 to 15 minute lessons. We give you the exact lines to use, along with the translations, so that you can use them in conversations.
You can also use this talking point to continue a conversation. For example, if you’ve started with a different point, like the weather, then, it makes sense to say, “by the way, my name is…”
Talking Point #2. The Weather
This is a universal talking point. People like to talk or complain about the weather all over the world. In fact, just saying, “it’s really nice today” is enough to start a conversation with a native speaker.
If you want to talk about the weather, check out our can-do lesson pathway called, “Can Talk About Weather.” You’ll find this pathway in the Absolute Beginner level of our Lesson Library.
Talking Point #3. Compliments. Compliments are another great way to start a conversation, or continue one. If you’re running out of things to say, you can quickly transition and say something about their city, their country, or just, “hey, I like your shirt.”
If you want to learn how to compliment, check our compliments phrase list. This list is free to access for all users. If you don’t know where to find it on our site, leave a comment in the comments below and we’ll follow up.
Point #4: Ask for Help. For example, you can ask for directions, or about the price, and let the conversation go from there. These are very basic phrases that you learn in our Survival Phrases lessons. If you want to strike up a quick dialogue, this is a great talking point to use.
Point #5: Learn Phrases for Transactions. Like getting a room at a hotel, shopping, ordering food, or telling the taxi driver where to go. You may think that this isn’t much of a talking point. But for the learners that are shy about talking to random native speakers for no reason, this is an easy way to start a dialogue. You have a good excuse: you want to buy something, so the staff will be happy to respond.
Again, you learn all of these with our Survival Phrases lessons.
Okay, let’s move on to our last part!
Part 3: How to get our conversation cheatsheets.
Lastly, I’m going to tell you how to get our collection of conversation cheatsheets for FREE.
With these cheatsheets, you’ll be able to talk about all kinds of topics: travel, hobbies, dating, family, weather, and much more. Which means you can master a lot of talking points and speak more of your target language.
So, thank you for watching this episode of Monthly Review
Next time, we’ll talk about:
How to double your speaking time in your target language
If you enjoyed these tips, hit the “like” button, share the video with anyone who's trying to learn a language, and subscribe to our channel. We release new videos every week!
And, if you’re ready to finally learn language the fast, fun and easy way and start speaking from your very first lesson, get our complete learning program. Sign up for your free lifetime account right now. Click the link in the description."
See you next time! Bye!

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