Greetings grammarians and welcome to another awe-inspiring English language video and today
we're going to look at business greetings introductions and expressions around interviews,
meetings, giving presentations and social situations in a business context. A lot of people
these days are having telephone calls skype calls and zoom meetings and most of these expressions
are appropriate for these too we look at how to greet people, how to introduce yourself,
how to make small talk, how to end a conversation and some useful expressions as well
so that your interview or meeting or whatever goes perfectly. Greetings are so
important you may know the subject like god but first impressions are really crucial
you never get a second chance to make a good first impression let's get started.
Let's begin with introductions. You can say ‘nice to meet you’, ‘pleased to meet you’,
great to meet you. “It's nice to meet you Greg
and your reply is; ‘nice to meet you too.’ ‘Nice to meet you too sarah.’ If you've met the person
before you could say ‘good to see you again.’ or ‘great to see you again; ‘great to see you again
Mary.’ If you've spoken to the person before by email but you haven't met them say ‘good to
finally meet you.’ or ‘good to meet you at last.’ ‘Good to meet you at last, Bob.’Iif you know the
person already just say ‘how are you?’ How are you? By the way, ‘how are you?’ is just a greeting
don't read too much into it. Always reply with something positive such as ‘I'm fine thank you
and you?’ Even if you're having a really bad day you're still gonna say I'm fine and
if you want to know more ways to respond to how are you then check out the video up here.
A word about names, in British and American English and in most of the English speaking world
it's usual to use the first name even in very formal situations this is the default. However,
if you are in any doubt, use the surname and take the lead from the other
person. If someone is using your surname you may say something like
‘please call me John’ or you can ask permission to call the other person by the first name;
‘can I call you Jennifer?’ if her name's Jennifer of course. You might have to introduce your
colleague to somebody else in this case just say something like let me introduce you to Jennifer
or if it's possible they met before say ‘have you met Bob?’ You might meet somebody that you've
already met in which case just say something like good to see you again or on the phone say good
to speak to you again. ‘Nice good to speak to you again, Simon/’ Your conversation partner can reply
in a number of ways he or she might say ‘What have you been up to? This is just small talk it doesn't
really require a long answer, just say ‘not much,’ ‘this and that,’ ‘I've been keeping busy.’ If
you're talking to a group of people perhaps you're giving a presentation or introducing yourself
at a meeting say ‘hello everybody’ and then say what you've got to say you could also say ‘ladies
and gentlemen’ but this is very old-fashioned and I don't recommend it although some people still
do use it what about making a conversation with a stranger in a professional context
someone you don't know might approach you at a conference for example or you might approach them
in that case just say ‘hello my name's Gideon’ or if it's someone in your circle but you haven't
spoken to that person yet you could say ‘hello, I don't think we've met my name's Gideon.’
of course often when you're making small talk people ask about your job and in that case you
could just say ‘what do you do?’ that's the classic question I'm sure you know that ‘what
do you do?’ Now this is a question about your job and the answer is ‘I'm a teacher’
‘what do you do?’ ‘I'm a teacher’ you could also say; ‘what do you do for a living? remember it's
not ‘what you do for life?,’ ‘what you do in your life?’ or something like that. I've heard that
before. No it's ‘what do you do for a living?’ and it's the same answer ‘I'm an engineer’
whatever it is do not say ‘what are you doing?’ That's a question about what's happening now
‘what are you doing? - ‘what am I doing now? I'm just talking to you and drinking coffee.’
Avoid the question ‘what is your job?’ it makes some people feel uncomfortable
especially if they're not working at the moment they might be unemployed
looking for work, a student or something else a better question could be ‘What line are you
in?’ Now this is asking for your field rather than a specific job and what line are you in
the answer is also about the field ‘What line are you in?’ ‘I'm in education.’ ‘I'm in banking,’ ‘I
work in forestry,’ whatever and it's a better question because maybe someone's not working
the moment but they still have a field so ‘I'm in banking though I'm not working at the moment,
I'm looking for a job’ Maybe you have your own business there are several ways of saying that.
You could say ‘I'm self-employed’ or ‘I work for myself.’ ‘What do you do?’ - ‘I work for myself.’
This also works if you are a freelancer but don't just say ‘I'm a freelancer’ this usually comes
with what you're freelancing in attached so for example; ‘I'm a freelance journalist,’
‘I'm a freelance designer.’ To ask about the duration of time someone has been at a job say;
‘How long have you been…?’ okay so for example; ‘how long have you been working at Bigwig
systems?’ You can omit the verb ‘how long have you been at Bigwig systems?’ The answer will take the
same structure. I've been working there okay you don't need to repeat the name of the company again
‘I've been working there for eight years.’ ‘I've been there for eight years’ Now,do your meeting,
do your email, do your presentation be fantastic and by the way we do have many
videos on this channel about interview techniques for non-native speakers check the playlist up here
Now it's the end of the meeting and it's important to sound professional and
enthusiastic at the end and here are a few phrases you can use of course you can say
‘it was a pleasure speaking with you today.’ ‘It was nice speaking with you today.’
‘It was great speaking with you today.’ Or you could say; ‘I very much enjoyed our conversation,
I hope to see you soon.’ ‘Do let me know if you have any questions.’
some people say ‘don't hesitate to let me know if you have any questions.’ Personally I don't like
that, I prefer an affirmative phrase rather than a negative phrase so ‘Do let me know if you need
anything, you can reach me by phone or by email.’ You could also say ‘I look forward to meeting you
again’ or to be more emphatic ‘I do look forward to meeting you again’ or ‘I do look forward to
speaking to you again’ if you're on the phone/ If you want to contact the person again
you could use the expression to ‘touch base’ to touch base so say something like ‘it was
great speaking to you today let's touch base again next week and we can follow up our conversation’
Now it's your turn to practice I'll ask you a question and just say the answer nice to meet you
Nice to meet you too
What do you do for a living?
How long have you been working there?
What line are you in?
Here's the answer you give me the question
I'm in banking
I'm a freelance I.T consultant this and that I've been working here for five years
Let us know in the comments if you have any suggestions for business greetings or
business expressions that you like to use have a beautiful day and I'll see you in the next video
you