I seriously thought that it would be better to name this article "strike up a conversation" or "make friends". What I want to express and discuss is how to chat and socialize with backpackers who meet for the first time in places such as Youth Travel Service. It seems more accurate to "strike up a conversation" because the original intention of "strike up a conversation" is to actively communicate with strangers. But when it comes to "chatting up" these days, it is mostly understood as actively communicating with strangers of the opposite sex. We are all brothers and sisters all over the world. It is a worthwhile activity to meet friends from other countries and cultural backgrounds, listen to their life experiences and travel stories, and exchange views on the world. Backpackers meet by chance in a foreign country and go their separate ways in a blink of an eye. Different life trajectories can have a brief intersection, which is also considered fate. Some of them really hit it off, and they can even be friends for life. Having said that, it is also difficult to get familiar with strangers with different cultural backgrounds in a short time, which requires some skills. I'm not an expert, I just want to share some travel experiences and my own opinions.

When dealing with strangers for the first time, there are some behavioral details and precautions that are repeatedly mentioned in various social etiquette books and successful chicken soup. Although it is a cliche, personally, it is very helpful if you pay attention properly.

The dictionary definition of "chatting up" is "actively communicating with strangers", and the word "active" is the most important in this sentence. Although backpackers are friendly creatures, they also respect privacy. A person sitting on the sofa in the corner and swimming with his hands buried in the water will not be disturbed. If you want to make friends, you have to take the initiative. Of course, "taking the initiative" doesn't mean stopping everyone you meet and forcing a dialogue-this may be complained. Taking the initiative means that when there is a suitable opportunity to make friends, don't shrink back. When cooking in the kitchen, reading and playing games in the living room, seeing a new roommate, or even passing by a familiar but unfamiliar backpacker, a friendly "How are you?" Or "Ca va?" Or "Que tal?" Or "Have you eaten?" Can be an opportunity to start a dialogue. When backpackers meet for the first time, the topics they are most interested in are "Where are you from", "Where are you going" and "Where have you been". After talking about this, if you are speculating, you can continue talking, otherwise you can politely say "I'm sorry, I have something to do" and leave.

Ps: In the middle school English textbook, Li Lei and Han Meimei once had a standard conversation-"How are you? -I'm fine. Thank you. What about you? Believe me, nobody says that anymore. It always sounds weird, too formal or too rigid If someone asks you, "How are you? You just have to smile back and say "fine". What about you? "That would be great.

I met a little black brother H in Cambridge. At that time, H, I chatted with another Belgian buddy, G, and went to a bar to drink together in the evening. H is a Mauritanian who lived in different countries with his parents as a diplomat. He is proficient in many languages and now lives in Paris. Then I went to Paris and H invited me to dinner.

We chatted at dinner. H asked me: What do you think of French girls? I said: French girls are very temperamental.

H said: French girls are easy to chase. I said, huh? I don't know French. I don't know. I heard that they are more reserved and prefer blond hair?

H threw me an extremely contemptuous expression and continued: no, the so-called blond man just had some advantages on the first impression. If girls talk for a few days and find that you are a loser, there is no chance of being handsome again. What they value more is whether you are confident enough and have a sense of humor. Self-confidence is particularly important, radiating enough self-confidence and giving people a sense of security that "I can handle anything".

Then H told me the story of how he met his current girlfriend. Once he traveled in England and stayed in a youth hostel. One morning, a girl lived in the dormitory. H was shocked on the spot when he saw her beauty. He thought, I have to find a way to get her. So H went over to borrow the mobile phone charger from the girl (when telling this story, H proudly told me: actually, I have my own charger, I just pretended not to) and took the opportunity to chat. As soon as we talked, we found that the girl was French, just right. Let's switch to French to continue our conversation. The girl only stayed in the youth brigade for one day and left by train the next morning. H had a good chat with her and offered to play with her. So they swam happily in English towns for a day and a night. After some body fluid exchange and vows of eternal love, plus some follow-up offensives after returning to France, this girl naturally became H's current girlfriend.

After telling this story, H looked at me with satisfaction: You see, if I don't pounce on me confidently, how can I make such a beautiful girlfriend in one day?

I saw an English joke on the London underground:

Translated into Chinese is roughly:

Jokes turn into jokes, which shows the importance of eye contact. Reasonable eye contact can show people's confidence and maintain eye contact during the conversation, which is also a basic respect for people. If I talk to a person and that person keeps staring away, I think he (she) is not interested in what I say, so he (she) has no intention of continuing; If a person talks to me and keeps staring away, it is a bit perfunctory and feels offended.

In short, when communicating with others, please look into their eyes.

Smile is the universal language. When I see a man sitting in a corner with a sullen face, I usually don't touch him. Before greeting strangers, give them a sincere smile, which will make both sides feel happier and get twice the result with half the effort. A proper smile can even help people avoid trivial troubles and get unexpected help in some cases. Everyone smiles in different ways, some show their teeth, some don't show their teeth, some are accompanied by hearty laughter, and some are silent and gentle. A unique and charming smile can be a passport to travel around the world, which is worth practicing repeatedly in front of the mirror.

Slavic culture has a tradition of providing bread. Salt, bread and salt. Although this tradition is no longer strictly followed today, sharing food or drink with others is indeed a simple and easy way to express friendliness and narrow the distance. Many backpackers will bring some snacks, stay in new youth tours, meet new friends, take out a pack of snacks and share them happily. After eating and drinking enough, they can chat harmoniously. I met an old Australian man on the "Beijing-Ulaanbaatar-Moscow" international train, holding a bag of fruit candy in his hand and smiling at all the boxes in the whole carriage. In Russia, I met an Italian brother who traveled around the world. He always has a bag of delicious gingerbread in his backpack, and he often takes it out for everyone to eat when he is traveling in youth. The Korean girl I met in Italy Youth Hostel invited me to eat Nutella chocolate biscuits. The grandparents and grandchildren of Taiwan Province Province met in England and shared the fruits with me. During the youth tour in Barcelona, I ate tapas, a special snack made by the younger brother at the front desk. Wait, wait, wait. As for being called "Come on, buddy, have a bottle of wine" in the youth tour and then putting a bottle of wine into your hand, we also met many times while drinking.

As for what I have shared with others, I have an artifact to meet new friends during my trip: my bag of dried peppers. At first it was just for fun. When I first arrived in Irkutsk, Russia, I was cooking one day and was seen by a New Zealand buddy. He is curious about my own dried Chili ingredients. I told him it was delicious. Do you want to try one? Pass him one. The New Zealand buddy swallowed it without hesitation, chewed a few mouthfuls thoughtfully, and said while chewing, "Mmm, it seems delicious …". Before he could finish the rest, the spicy energy surged up and made him blush, and he couldn't stop drinking several glasses of water. I laughed at the side, and when he was stable, I re-introduced him to the way to eat dried Chili peppers in China, and told him to try spicy hot pot when he went to China. -Then we became good friends. His travel route is opposite to mine, starting from St. Petersburg, going east to Irkutsk, and then going to China, Mongolia and Southeast Asia. He told me a lot of things to pay attention to in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and I introduced him to many beautiful scenery and delicious food in China.

After that, I made many friends with this bag of dried peppers. I will kindly remind foreign friends who dare to try "this thing is very spicy". After some struggle, drinking water and foaming at the mouth, foreign friends will also praise "this thing is enjoyable". Many friends also said that my behavior of sharing my hometown specialties with others was really witty, and they should learn from it.

People are social animals, and they spend most of their lives dealing with people, and group activities such as gathering friends are even more essential. As for the form of activities, my parents like playing cards, and my classmates and friends prefer games. Games, computer games, console games, mobile games, board games, etc. It has almost become a brand-new social way. One of the ways for me to keep in touch with some classmates who are far away from the other side of the ocean is to find time to play a game like dota2 or civilization or Jedi survival. A good game full of entertainment, fun and interactivity is really a good tool to deepen the impression and enliven the atmosphere. What did you do with a group of strangers in a foreign country? Computers and game consoles are not necessarily available, and mobile games are not necessarily popular with everyone. Please find a suitable board game.

Board games are good for making friends. A group of strangers sit around the table, cooperate or fight according to the rules of the game, achieve the purpose of the game, and drink a little wine. Very lively, soon cooked. I didn't realize this at first, but on the international train to Irkutsk, one day the Spanish girl in the next box invited me to play board games with my buddies. We are playing a game called Dixit, and the basic gameplay is to look at pictures and talk. A group of people whose mother tongue is not English have racked their brains to choose English words to describe the pictures in their hands. There are many jokes, and everyone has a good time. Later, I found out that this Spanish girl had brought some table games, and I had to admire her wit-table games are really good props for traveling at home, making friends and killing time. Some board games are too big to carry, so I bought a deck of playing cards in Russia. Many youth teams also provide various types of board games themselves. "Hey, friend, how about a game of XX cards?" -A group of backpackers who listen to the southern accent and the northern accent sit down in the living room of youth travel in a foreign country, and it is easy to kill a pleasant evening.

When chatting with foreign friends, I talked about many things, from discussing computer science, Renaissance paintings, Hollywood movies and various literary and dramatic works, to exchanging travel stories and pouring out troubles in life. Slowly, I found that foreign friends are very interested in China culture. When they meet for the first time and talk about this, they will be deeply impressed. Gradually, when I was in contact with people I just met, I accumulated some fixed jokes to break the deadlock.

When I meet friends who are interested in China culture, I will first introduce them to a Chinese character: "Chuan". Many foreigners are carnivores, and once told that this pattern looks so similar to mutton kebabs (Chinese means kebabs), they are always shocked from ear to ear. This joke was inspired by my Dutch brother P in Cardiff. Thank you.

There is a word "Yi" in my name, and four "fire" make up a complete Chinese character, which is especially suitable for writing on paper. After that, I would like to introduce the traditional theories of fire, water, earth, yin and yang and five elements in China and Jin Mu. After listening to it, backpackers generally admire the magic. If the five elements of yin and yang are not enough, you can introduce the zodiac again to help foreign friends figure out what their zodiac is.

I can talk more if we talk about food. Of course, the most talked about is Sichuan hot pot. To my surprise, many foreign friends have heard of Sichuan hot pot. When I mention "Sichuan hot pot", they will all show an expression of sudden realization and excitement: Ah, it was you who said it! I know, I know.

In short, as a China native, when chatting with foreign friends, I will not lack the same language, and I will have a lot to say. Along the way, I have made a little contribution to the spread of China culture. I feel ashamed and gratified.