Business English , 23-24

FIRST DAY AT WORK: GREETINGS AND INTRODUCTIONS

1. GREETINGS
Activity 1: State whether the following greetings are formal, semi-formal or informal.

Unless your work setting is quite

casual, it is better to be more formal
than to be too casual. Being too
informal can damage the potential of
the meeting.
Remember the Korea adage:
First impressions are everything.

Activity 2: Match the responses to the greetings.

When you meet someone the first time in a

formal situation, it is common to greet the
person with "How do you do?". The correct
response to this is also "How do you do?."
However, the stress pattern is different in
both cases:
A: How do you do?
B: How do you do?
Alternatively the response can be:
A: How do you do?
B: Fine thank you. How do you do?

Activity 3: Here are some typical corporate situations where you need to greet people. Match the situation to the
appropriate dialogue box. Then practice the conversations with your partner.
Situations:
A Receiving a foreign customer at the airport D Meeting someone in a restaurant for a business
B Running into someone you know at a conference lunch to which you’ve been invited
C After being introduced to someone at a business event, E Receiving an important visitor in your cabin
e.g. Trade Fair

Dialogue Boxes:
 If you find “How do you do?” too formal, you may choose to greet someone straight away with “Pleased to meet
you.” In this case the response would be “Pleased to meet you too.” The stress pattern will be as follows:
A: Pleased to meet you, Mr. Raghavan.
B: I’m pleased to meet you too. OR B: Pleased to meet you too.

2. INTRODUCING YOURSELF
While in a typical conversation we might focus more on hobbies and interests after introducing ourselves, in
Business English situations our target language following our names should move towards explaining our job
functions and our company.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMLDiA6Hy-Y

FIRST MEETING
Identification Company Information SITUATION: Ms. Anderson arrives at the
I’m from . . . Bangkok Post to meet the circulation director,
Good morning**, I’m . . . Khun Suwat.
I work for . . .
Formal

Hello, my name is . . .
I’m a . . . at ...
I’m in charge of . . . at ... Formal Dialogue:
(** morning/afternoon Anderson: Good morning, I’m Janet Anderson
I’m responsible for . . . at ...
/evening) from Jiffy Transport Company.
Informal

Suwat: How do you do? I’m pleased to finally

Hello/Hi, I’m . . . from . . . meet you. Please have a seat.
Informal Dialogue:
RESPONSE TO INTRODUCTION Anderson: Hi, I’m Janet Anderson from Jiffy
Transport.
How do you do? I’m pleased to [finally*] meet you. Suwat: Welcome, come have a seat.
Formal

It’s nice to [finally*] meet you.

* finally makes the greeting more cordial and friendly

Informal

Hi, Nice/good to meet you.

Hello, Pleased to meet you.

RESPONSE TO THE GREETING

Formal

How do you do? I’m pleased to meet you too.

It’s nice to meet you too.
Informal

Hi, Nice/good to meet you too.

Hello, Pleased to meet you too.

FOLLOW UP WITH THE INITIAL RESPONSE

Please have a seat. Please join us at the table.
Formal

Please take a seat. Can I get you a drink?*

Have seat. Sit over here.

Take a seat. Would you like a drink?*
Informal

Please sit.
* It is polite in many countries to offer tea or coffee to guests.
Later in the day, in certain countries or in a less informal setting,
alcohol might be offered.