Beautifulsunflower  +  274542 Sat, 30 Sep 06 02:16 PM When you meet someone for the first time in your country, what can you talk about ? Can you ask these questions : how old are you, are you married, do you have any chilren, where do you come from, how much do you earn, do you like your job, do you like travelling...Are pesonal questions acceptable? Which topic can you talk at the first meeting ? Beautifulsunflower Joined on Sat, Sep 30 2006 Singapore New Member 17 autumn-moon

	Dubai77  +  274655 Sat, 30 Sep 06 08:44 PM well...first i will ask him/her to watch a movie or something like that.... then maybe i will ask personal questions Dubai77 Joined on Wed, Sep 27 2006 New Member 16

	simplyblessedwithlove  +  274705 Sat, 30 Sep 06 11:49 PM  Beautifulsunflower wrote: When you meet someone for the first time in your country, what can you talk about ? Can you ask these questions : how old are you, are you married, do you have any chilren, where do you come from, how much do you earn, do you like your job, do you like travelling...Are pesonal questions acceptable? Which topic can you talk at the first meeting ? What do you mean by that? Is this someone a foreigner or someone in your country and you're meeting that person for the first time? simplyblessedwithlove Joined on Sun, Feb 27 2005 SF bay area, California Junior Member 90 LT

	Beautifulsunflower  +  274764 Sun, 01 Oct 06 04:44 AM For example, if you meet an American for the first time, which topic can you talk about ?American don't like personal questions, and weather, travel, music... might be good topics for the first meeting after greeting, introducing, shaking hand... In your country, is it different ?  Beautifulsunflower

	Grammar Geek  +  274772 Sun, 01 Oct 06 05:08 AM You are talking about "small talk." There is an expression in the U.S. that you should not discuss sex, religion, or politics. Avoid those topics! Generally, popular culture is safe: music, movies, tv, etc. So is the weather, but that doesn't last very long. Travel is a safe topic. Often, family is okay - but you can introduce that by saying something like "Do you have any family members traveling with you?" That would let the person decide to talk about family or not. I've learned not to ask people if they have children. (Too many people I know have had children who have died or have been  unable to get pregnant.) If you know the person is employed, then it's okay to ask about that. Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,655 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Beautifulsunflower  +  274778 Sun, 01 Oct 06 05:36 AM thanks a lot, Grammar Geek. I want to know more about "small topic"-as you wrote- in other countries, can you hepl me ? Beautifulsunflower Grammar

	TomWelling  +  275632 Tue, 03 Oct 06 12:50 PM In fact, we should avoid to tell about her/his age and family. It's popular in most developed country and I think when we meet a person for first time, we should keep long dialogs as possible as you can by anyway and create more and more perfect episodes. TomWelling Joined on Fri, Aug 4 2006 VietNam ( The best place) New Member 32 Every day you see other ways..