Subject
Low-pressure topics, useful examples, and real ideas for people who run out of things to say.
Use the free practice tools for scenario choices, small talk flashcards, and listening drills connected to this hub.
Mostly other people. Ask Americans what they talk about with family and close friends, and the top answer by far is what's happening with family and friends: 69% say they talk about it "a lot", in a 2024 Pew Research Center survey of 8,709 adults. Next come jobs, work or school (46%) and whatever people are watching or listening to (38%). Politics (18%) and celebrities (6%) sit near the bottom.
Studies that record real conversations point the same way. The psychologist Robin Dunbar, summing up his group's observations of relaxed conversations, put it at about two thirds of conversation time going to social topics: the speakers and the people they know.
So normal people are not talking about anything special. They trade small, specific news about their lives and the people in them. Pick a topic someone can answer without performing, add one detail of your own, and you are doing what everyone else is doing. The 50 topics below each come with a line to say and a follow-up.
Full guide → What Do People Talk About? What Surveys and Recordings Show (+ 50 Topics)
A short editorial reading list. Pick whichever fits how you like to learn.
