I have observed that many language learners tend to report information rather than engage in a conversation. For example, when asked about their weekend, they might respond, "It was good. I went to a restaurant. The food was okay."

This type of response might demonstrate your grasp of the language, but it does not sound natural or engaging in a conversational context.

Maybe you do this because you feel nervous about changing the subject, either because your do not want to be impolite or you are unsure of how to do it smoothly.

This is where conversational transitions come in to help.

Conversational transitions are small phrases that you can use to speak more confidently and have more control over the conversation. My favorite is "speaking of." American use this very often to change the subject during a conversation.

This phrase allows you to connect what the other person said to what you want to talk about. For example,

- I bought these amazing shoes last weekend.”

-Oh, speaking of shopping, did you know there's a new mall...

Another useful phrase is "that reminds me." This phrase is perfect for when something reminds the speaker of something completely unrelated but interesting. For instance,

- The weather is so nice today. It's so sunny outside.

- Oh, that reminds me… I need to buy some new sunscreen before my trip.

Check out some more of my favorite conversational transitions below:

Continuing the conversation when there is a pause:

• So…

• Anyway…

• So, anyway…

• Moving on…

• Let’s talk about…

Adding something random during the conversation:

• By the way…

• Oh, before I forget…

• I wanted to tell you…

Changing the topic to something kind of related to the topic being spoken about:

• Speaking of…

• Speaking of which…

• That reminds me…

• Funny you should mention that…

• Talking about…

Changing the topic to something unrelated:

• On a different note…

• Unrelated, but…

• This is totally unrelated, but…

• In other news…

• This has nothing to do with this, but…

By using conversational transitions, you can also take small talk and transform it into a potentially meaningful conversation.

These phrases create opportunities for you to sound more natural and engage in authentic communication. After all, the goal of language learning is not just to pass a test, but to communicate effectively in real-life situations.