IELTS Cue Card
Talk about a conversation topic you were not interested in
You should say:
- when you had the conversation
- who you talked with
- what the topic was
and explain why you were not interested in that topic.
IELTS Speaking Part 2
Cue Card Answer
I sometimes don't want to talk about my feelings, but telling someone when you aren't interested in the conversation can be hard!
This is not an easy topic for anyone. Whether we are talking with friends, family members, or coworkers, not everyone has the same interests and not every story is interesting. I guess there are different approaches to this situation and ways that it can be avoided.
Once, I recall a conversation not going well, not because it was a bad conversation but I just wasn't interested in the topic. Talking to my friend about her romantic life is not something that interests me at all and of course, she knew this! I wasn't interested in the topic because I had not gone through the same thing as her, and I didn't want to offer advice on something that was not my experience.
What made things worse for me was when we mixed up our feelings with what someone else's feelings would be on the subject matter. For example: "I think you should do XYZ" as opposed to "I feel XYZ". It took a while before I realized 'feel' means how I personally felt while 'think' meant how they thought a person would feel or react if I did something.
This conversation was an eye-opener for me and why some conversations are not worth having.
The main problem here is that it can be a challenge to let the other person know that you're not really interested in prolonging the conversation without hurting the other person's feelings.
I suppose there are some ways this could be avoided, for example:
- changing topics when you're not interested in the conversation anymore - telling your friend, or the other person, what's going on and acknowledge it with them. Let them know you still care about them but would rather talk about another subject at the moment.This is hard because for many of us we can feel like being vulnerable will make us look weak while other people might fear hurting someone else’s feelings if they say no thanks. But having these conversations opens up opportunities for healthy dialogue!