Best ways to introduce yourself

- Hey guys, welcome to Linguamarina,

today is a very important class.

I'm gonna teach you how to introduce yourself.

And maybe you think, well, this is easy.

I just say hi, my name is Marina.

I'm 29 years old, I'm from Russia and then that's it.

But actually, no.

In my videos I like to cover cultural aspects.

I like to cover the context,

like if you're reaching out to somebody on Instagram,

you wouldn't do this,

you wouldn't be like, hi, my name is Marina,

I'm 29 years old.

You would adapt your introduction

to whatever is happening around you.

So in this video, I'm gonna teach you phrases

and I'm gonna teach you some cultural things

that you should consider

when you're meeting people abroad,

when you're talking to native speakers,

when you're reaching out to people

and trying to make new friends.

So if you're interested, continue watching this video.

My task for you right now is to take an exercise book,

and when I'll be giving you phrases,

I will want you to create

at least four introductions of yourself.

Number one, the introduction that you would use for a party.

If you're at a party with native speakers,

how would you introduce yourself?

The second one is an introduction that is more formal,

for example, at work or at the university,

or maybe you're just talking to your colleagues.

Three, introduction in your email,

if you're writing for work.

And four, introduction for Instagram,

for example, if you're reaching out to me on Instagram,

how you would introduce yourself.

By the way, rule number one for all introductions,

you have to be interesting.

For example, you're at a party, everyone is having fun.

Music is loud, people are eating,

they want to dance, communicate.

And what you do, you are like,

hi, my name is Marina, I'm from Russia.

I've been living in San Francisco since 2016.

I run three channels, I have a company

and the person who's listening to you is already bored.

He's like, oh my God, what is she doing?

So always, always think about the context.

If I'm at a party and I want to approach somebody,

I'll be like, hey, my name is Marina, I'm a YouTuber,

and I have over a million followers, and that's it.

And the next thing I would do,

I would ask that person something else.

Because the whole purpose of introducing yourself

is to start a conversation,

not to make somebody super bored from the start.

If we're talking about an email,

you would not start your email like,

Hey, my name is Marina Mogilko,

because Hello, Marina Mogilko

is what your email says already.

There is no need to waste somebody's time

and reintroduce yourself.

On the other hand, you can say hey, this is Marina

from this company.

This is Marina, we met at a party yesterday.

Give them some context,

no need to reintroduce yourself again,

no need to mention your first name

and the last name if it's already in your email.

That's enough.

So again, now I'm gonna give you phrases

and you're gonna write them down

to your four different introductions.

But please, please make sure you're always in the context,

you always know what's happening.

And by the way, if you learn those introductions by heart,

it's gonna be really easy for you.

I know sometimes at school

you have this big topic like introducing yourself

for like my life and it's always this big,

no need to go that way.

It should be small, should be short

and it should be interesting and exciting.

So when you're meeting somebody,

the first thing you say is Hello, super formal, right?

What is super formal?

Hello, good evening, good morning, good afternoon.

If you wanna be more informal,

then you can say hey, hi or what's up,

this is all very informal.

And then you're stating your name.

Normally, you would say I am Marina.

You can also say my name is Marina,

but if it's informal, hey, I'm Marina, nice to meet you.

If you're on the phone, you can say hey, hello,

this is Marina speaking.

I would like to talk to John from marketing department.

Or you can just say, hey, Marina speaking,

can I please talk to John.

By the way, if you feel that you need more practice,

if you feel that you need a boost

to your English language skills,

I'm very happy to say that Lingoda is supporting this video

and has been supporting this channel for a while

and they are launching another Sprint in English.

They used to call it Marathon

but they have decided to start calling it Sprint

because it's very intensive,

it lasts for three months,

but if you follow the schedule,

you get up to 100% refund.

I've already shared information about these marathons

in my previous videos

and I'm getting a lot of comments from you guys,

thanking me for giving you this opportunity

to practice your English

and many of you are practicing it for free.

The Sprint starts on January 7th 2020

and lasts until April 5th 2020.

You have to participate

in the agreed number of group classes each month to succeed.

And it's 30 classes for Super Sprint

and 15 classes for Sprint.

You can take only one class per day, every day.

And by the way, you can join the sprint in English,

German, Spanish, French and business English,

it doesn't matter what level you're at right now

there are courses for every single level,

beginner, intermediate, advanced.

You need a sign up for the sprint before December, 19

which sounds like a great New Year's resolution.

There is a 49 euro deposit to secure your spot

and it will be taken off your first month of payment.

And by the way, if you successfully complete the sprint,

this 49 euro deposit will be returned to you.

Over 20,000 students have already participated,

so this is your chance

to improve your English language skills.

And by the way, because you're watching this video,

please use my promo code SPRINT19

to get 10 euros off of your initial payment,

of that 49 euro deposit.

If you want to hear more stories of other students

about the sprint, check Lingoda's Instagram.

Now let's continue to the class.

So remember at the beginning of this video,

I told you that you should be interesting

and you should be within the context.

So if you're at a party, mention your hobby,

so after mentioning your name,

maybe mention your hobby or what you do.

If you are in a formal situation

then mention what you are doing for a living.

I work for a company X.

I've been working for them for five years,

or if you're in an academic environment.

I am doing my MBA right now.

I am in my fourth year of Bachelor's program.

I am just about to graduate from a university.

So all those phrases will help you get into context

and will help other people learn more about you,

something that is relevant to the situation.

Then if you feel that you're

in an international environment

where people come from different backgrounds,

you can also mention Where are you from.

I am originally from Russia,

but I've been living in San Francisco since 2016.

Or you can say, I was born and raised in Italy,

but I moved to the United States two years ago.

Or you can just say, I grew up in France.

The next thing, I know at school

they teach us to mention our age.

And sometimes you have these topics,

like a lot of information about you

and somewhere at the beginning,

you're saying I'm 20 years old or I'm 25 years old.

In Western cultures, we don't really talk

about age like that.

Only if you're asked and you are normally asked

at a doctor's appointment

or somewhere where you need to fill in a questionnaire,

because there are a lot of discrimination laws

like discriminating by age and stuff which is prohibited,

so people don't really talk about their age at all,

only if you're asked.

So don't do that.

Don't do like, hey, my name is Marina, I'm 29 years old,

because it sounds a little weird.

It sounds a little off.

People don't really mention their age.

But again, if you're asked the standard phrase,

I'm 29 years old.

Please remember the rule that you don't have

to say too much.

Sometimes I get DMs,

DM is a direct message on Instagram,

and I get them like that.

Hey, my name is Paula, I'm from Lithuania.

I have been studying mathematics since 2016.

I'm doing this, this and that.

I'm originally from Croatia, but I moved to Lithuania.

And I'm like, wow, what does this person want from me?

And there is somewhere in between,

there's like a question,

but because there's so much information,

I just don't have time to read it all.

Same goes for emails.

If you're writing an email,

please be short and be concise.

In one of your templates is like your email

or your DM, direct message on Instagram.

Keep it short.

You don't need to reintroduce yourself

if your tag is already saying your name.

You can say, hey, I've been following you

for a couple of years,

I wanna ask a question, do you do this, this and that?

That's it, really easy to read.

And it's a really nice way to introduce yourself

through a DM.

If we're talking about an email.

Hey, this is Marina from Lingua Trip.

I was wondering if you did this, this and this,

thank you.

Now let's go back to remembering

why we're doing all of this.

We're doing all of this to build a relationship.

So when you've done introducing yourself,

I would ask something that would provoke

another person to reply.

Like, hey, my name is Marina, I'm a YouTuber.

Do you watch anyone on YouTube?

Do you like YouTube?

This is a conversation starter

and the person be like oh yeah, oh my God.

I love Casey Neistat.

You start this conversation.

Or if you're in an academic environment,

you're like I'm graduating from my bachelor's program

and I was writing about global warming.

By the way, do you know that?

I don't know, in 20 years half of San Francisco

will be underwater?

I'm not sure, I'm just mentioning that.

And people will be like, what?

Oh my god, really?

And then you start a conversation,

they wouldn't be so happy about it, probably.

But this is the way you start a conversation.

So always think about a follow up question.

Make a person interested,

have a person talk about themselves,

you can ask them and what do you do?

What brought you to this event?

What brought you to San Francisco?

So do that, start this conversation.

Body language is also a very important thing to remember.

In Western cultures, we shake hands,

even if you're two women,

even if you're a man greeting a woman,

you would shake her hand.

Please don't do hand kissing or kissing on the cheek.

This is not really common.

What is common though, is hugging people.

And I'm surprised sometimes

my friends introduce me to their friends

and I'm seeing these people's the first time

and they're like, Oh, hey, Marina, nice to meet you

and they hug me.

And I'm like, that's super cool.

Or you've been talking to a person for five minutes,

and you finish conversation by hugging each other.

This is really Western.

I don't know, maybe this is very San Francisco, California,

people are so friendly here.

But yes, smiling, maintaining eye contact,

shaking hands, hugging people, if it's informal.

This is totally okay to do.

And yeah, always remember about the cultural context.

It's impolite to ask about politics, religion,

age, marital status, it seems a little weird,

seems a little off sometimes.

So make sure you know what's happening in a culture

that you're interacting in.

That was it from me guys,

thank you so much for watching this video

up to the very end.

If you enjoyed it, please like it.

I hope you did your homework

or at least you're gonna do it now

and create your own introductions

that you're gonna learn by heart

because it's gonna make your conversation skills

a lot better,

and it will help you the next time

you meet a native speaker.

Instead of being nervous, you'd be like,

Oh, I know this.

I know how to introduce myself.

And thank you so much and I will see you in the next videos.

Bye bye.