In this sentence from my textbook, 会話 is not referring to the dialog as a
whole but rather to a few sentences spoken by one of the sides in the
conversation:

> 相手の会話を聞いた後に「〜(な)んだ」を使って、キーワードを繰り返すと、「確認」していることを表すことができます。

> You can show someone that you understand them by repeating back to them the
> keywords of their statement along with んだ.

The definitions in my dictionary, and all the uses I've seen so far, refer to
the entire conversation, so I was surprised. Is it a common usage? Are there
dictionaries that mention this meaning?
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2023-03-11T20:09:29.207
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2023-03-12T08:35:26.497
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question
word-usage
Can 会話 refer to a statement rather a conversation?
I'm a beginner student in Japanese but my textbook (JFZ series) has sections
called "New Phrases あたらしいかいわ", where the かいわ is hiragana for 会話.

The examples of the new phrases are: すみません, けっこう, おめでとう.
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2023-03-11T22:45:16.373
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I think this is a gray area. Strict people might say this use of 会話 is
questionable, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's unnatural. Unlike 会話, 話
is clearly a loose word that can safely refer to both a long one (tale) and a
short one (comment, statement). So, if you're worried, 相手の **話** を聞いた後に or 相手の
**発言** を聞いた後に is safer in this situation.

(By the way, I think I've seen "her chat" refer to an individual statement. It
may have been questionable, but it made perfect sense in the context.)
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2023-03-12T01:45:20.247
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Your understanding is correct. It's not a common usage. Irrespective of its
length, 会話 involves at least two parties. For 相手の会話 to make sense (in the
conventional usage of the word), 相手 must consist of multiple people and they
must be having a conversation among themselves, as suggested in the comments.
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answer