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How to describe a person's effort to keep a conversation up and smooth? Would adjective "communicable" fit the bill?

For example:

People in Feriah are not as well-communicable as the ones from Dumba. It has been observed by many travellers that having a conversation with Feriahnians is quite a challenge. They would rather answer "yes" or "no" or "I don't know" to your questions and finish the conversation as soon as possible than give you any additional information. People from Dumba, however, are way more communicable. They would always do their best to answer all your questions and even add more to that. Their ability to keep a conversation up and smooth is well-known here.

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I would say that the word you want is communicative. This means that they are unwilling to communicate. In that respect I disagree with Andrew's answer because 'conversationalist' refers to fluency and ability to talk rather than willingness.

Thus: People in Feriah are not as communicative as the ones from Dumba.

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Communicable is not the right word to describe this, as this actually means "easily communicated" -- which is to say, "easily passed from person to person". It's often used for diseases, such as the common cold or influenza, which can be easily transmitted from person to person.

Instead we would say that they are good conversationalists, in that they are skilled at carrying a conversation.

Sarah is such a good conversationalist, that an hour talking with her feels like ten minutes.

A related expression is good communicator, meaning someone who is good at relating information to other people, usually in the context of a speech or other public oratory.

Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan is often referred to as The Great Communicator, as he had a way of speaking that made everyone feel like he understood them personally

That being said, a good conversationalist is specifically someone who is easy to talk to. It's doesn't necessarily mean they are especially friendly or nice outside of conversation. If you want to convey those qualities, you can use affable, which implies being easy to talk to:

affable (adj): Friendly, good-natured, or easy to talk to.

He had an expansive, affable personality, and loved nothing more than to sit down with anyone and talk for hours about anything and everything.

Side note: The expression "A is way more than B" is slang and should not be used in any kind of formal writing.

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  • Thank you. Just a few more questions. Does "affable" really imply a conversation? Collins just defines it as pleasant and friendly - with no conversation connotation: collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/affable Would "good conversationalist" suit for description of a child in a class? Some kids, say in the second grade, are very shy and wouldn't talk much to a teacher, others are more easy to talk to, but would "good conversationalist" apply to them, too? Or, perhaps, there is some better way here? – brilliant Sep 29 '18 at 5:46
  • @brilliant Affable can imply being good at conversation, but it's not the primary meaning. It mostly means friendly, in the sense that it's easy for other people to like you. It's also not a very well-known word, so many might think you're saying laughable (which means something very different). – Andrew Sep 29 '18 at 16:37
  • @brilliant Good conversationalist is a bit too adult to use for children. Instead we would say the child is friendly, or makes friends easily, or in some cases is a chatterbox. Chatterbox can have the negative implication of "talking too much", but with children it can be more of an endearing quality. – Andrew Sep 29 '18 at 16:39

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