ABSTRACT
Conversation topics are important for a conversation to take place. The choice of conversation topic also needs to be considered, especially if the interlocutor is a speaker with a different cultural and linguistic background. This study aims to identify what conversation topics are raised by Indonesian-speaking Japanese learners in conversations with first contact situations. The data was taken through roleplay conversation, with the participants being 20 Indonesian-speaking students and 20 Japanese-speaking students. Role-play conversations were carried out in two different settings, namely the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and the setting of conversations on trains in Indonesia. From the results of data analysis, it was known that in both settings, the conversation topic category that most native Indonesian speakers raise is the category of information related to the personality of the speaker and the interlocutor. Judging by the occurrences of the conversation topic, the category is seen the most in all conversations. From these results, it can be inferred that native Indonesian speakers tend to hope for a deeper relationship with native Japanese speakers.
