The conversations people put off.
Nobody puts off talking in general. They put off one specific thing, in one specific room. Find yours below, or write your own — the app takes it in your words and puts someone new in that room for you to practise against, each time.
Small talk in the kitchen at lunch
Where Colleagues I half know; someone is always at the kettle
Every one of these is a goal you can name in the app. Here is what one looks like.
At work
The ones that repeat every week, so putting them off costs you every week.
- Small talk in the kitchen at lunch Colleagues I half know; someone is always at the kettle
- Say one thing in the Monday standup The meeting room; eight people, four of them senior
- Ask my manager for an hour of her time Her desk, or the corridor after a meeting; kind but busy, answers in one line
- Ask someone for help with the thing I am stuck on The desks around mine; whoever is nearest, which is the problem
- Stay for twenty minutes at the leaving drinks The pub round the corner; the whole floor, and I know three of them
Meeting new people
The room you have already paid to be in and keep not walking into.
- Go to the climbing social and talk to one person The wall on a Thursday; strangers, mid-twenties to fifties, mostly in pairs
- Say hello to my neighbour properly The stairwell; the man on the second floor, we have nodded for a year
- Talk to someone at the German class The classroom before it starts; twelve people, all as new as me
- Get through a party where I know one person A friend’s flat; forty people I have never met, and my one friend somewhere in it
Someone you like
Not lines, not tactics. Just being able to say the true thing out loud.
- Ask about the climbing thing The Tuesday class; she is funny, talks fast, and I go quiet
- Ask if he wants to get a coffee After the Tuesday class, on the way out
- Say I had a good time, on the day, not three days later The end of the evening, at the bus stop
People you already know
The hardest ones are often not with strangers.
- Tell a friend I have been struggling Her kitchen, or a walk; known her since school, she would be fine about it
- Ring Dad on a normal day, not just birthdays The phone, a Sunday evening; he is not a talker either
- Say no to the favour without a paragraph of reasons A message, or the doorstep; a friend who asks a lot
- Say the thing I have been not saying to my partner Our kitchen, after dinner; they have noticed
Things you have been avoiding
Small, dull, and quietly running your week.
- Phone the surgery and ask for an appointment The phone at eight in the morning; a receptionist who sounds rushed
- Tell the landlord about the boiler The phone, after two ignored messages
- Take it back to the shop and ask for a refund The counter; an assistant who did not sell it to me
- Ask the tutor the question in front of the class The lecture room; the tutor and twenty other people
In a new language
The conversations you need in a new country, in its language — here, German. Not a course: no grammar grade, no levels. The person answers at natural speed, says “Wie bitte?” and rephrases, and the scorecard is the same six rows.
- Register at the Bürgeramt The counter, with a number and a folder of papers; a clerk who has done this all day
- Ask the landlord about the heating The phone, or the stairwell when I catch him
- Explain what’s wrong to a doctor The consulting room; a doctor with ten minutes
- Chat with a parent at the school gate The gate at quarter past three; parents who all seem to know each other
- Order and ask one question in a café The counter of a busy café; a barista who is quick
- Phone to make an appointment The phone; a receptionist, and no face to read
Not sure which one?
Pick the one you thought of first while reading this. That is usually it.
You do not need the right words to start — describing where it happens is enough. The app casts someone new into it each time: a first name, where they fit, a couple of traits, how they are today. It never asks who a real person is.
A goal is a number of real conversations, three to five, and you set it. Practise fifty times if you want; not one of those fifty moves the number. Only the real one does.
These are ordinary situations, not symptoms. Get Speaking teaches a skill and is not therapy; if what you are carrying is heavier than a conversation, the app shows you where to find people who can help, before anything else.
Name one, and practise it tonight.
Free, no account, and nothing you write here leaves your phone.