交朋友 Making friends

When you go to a new place, meeting people and making new friends uses friendly conversation starters.

First day of school (开学第一天):

A: Hi! Is this seat taken?
B: No, go ahead! I'm Chen Lin. Nice to meet you.
A: Nice to meet you too, Chen Lin. I'm Zhao Mei. Is this your first year here too?
B: Yes, freshman year! What's your major?
A: I'm majoring in computer science. What about you?
B: Wow, computers! I'm studying English literature. Big difference!
A: That sounds really interesting. Do you like reading novels?
B: I love novels! Especially 19th century British ones. What do you like doing?
A: I like coding and video games, obviously... but I also read sci-fi novels too! Maybe we can share book recommendations.
B: That would be fun! Where are you from originally?
A: I'm from Chengdu, Sichuan. You?
B: I'm from Harbin, Heilongjiang. So I'm used to cold weather but this southern heat is killing me!
A: Hahaha, me too! Where are you living on campus?
B: Dorm 3, room 302. What about you?
A: Dorm 5! Not too far away. We should study together sometime. English class is going to be hard for me.
B: No problem! I can help you with English, you can help me with anything computer related.
A: Deal! Friends already!

At a party (派对交友):

A: This music is great! Do you know who's playing?
B: It's a local band! They play indie rock. I come here often on weekends.
A: That's cool! I just moved here. My name is Lisa.
B: Hi Lisa, I'm Tom. Welcome! What made you move to our city?
A: I got a new job at the design studio downtown.
B: Oh nice! What kind of design do you do?
A: Graphic design, mostly branding and websites. What do you do?
B: I'm a high school PE teacher. I coach basketball too.
A: That sounds active and fun! I should start playing sports again.
B: We play basketball every Sunday morning at the community gym. You should come join us!
A: I'd love to! Thanks for inviting me.

Conversation tips:

• Start with something you see (music, environment, something they're wearing/doing)
• Ask open questions (not yes/no questions)
• Share something about yourself after they answer
• Use follow-up questions to keep conversation going

Practice: Write a dialogue starting at a coffee shop. One person asks about the book the other person is reading.