What if the other person keeps giving short answers?

Keep the two-question rule and change the type of question rather than the topic. If detail questions produce one word, move to experience, which asks for a small story and is harder to answer with a label. If that also fails, ask for an opinion and accept a single sentence.

Then contribute before your next question: a person who has heard nothing about you has no reason to work harder than you are working.

A short answer about a subject someone has no stake in is not a signal about you.

If you cannot tell whether the topic is finished, change the question from fact to feeling once. A feeling question invites something a fact question cannot reach, and it costs one sentence. A reply that is still one word, with no question back to you, is an exit signal rather than a language problem. Stop following up and close cleanly; try the topic again another day, when the person has more to spend.

Keeping a Conversation Going in English When Answers Are Short →