- So how do you meet new people? You introduce yourself and start a conversation.
- Don’t let that make you nervous. It’s a lot easier than it seems! Let’s look at some ways to introduce yourself in English.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYd_OMG8Jck
hi I'm Gabby from gonaturalenglish.com
English learners stop introducing
yourself the wrong way I see you trying
to introduce yourself and failing
because you're doing a few things wrong
and today we are going to talk about 9
tips for making your self-introduction
more powerful and memorable when you're
speaking English with native speakers
this is important because your
self-introduction is your chance to
shine it is your first impression and
it's really important to make a good
first impression so these tips are for
really any situation not only for a job
interview but in casual situations too
so across the board it's a good idea to
follow these 9 tips now if you are
learning English and you would like to
learn more with me through the complete
go natural English course you can join
the waitlist to learn more about how you
can benefit from the course at
gonaturalenglish.com slash pre-reg the
link is also in the description so you
can click on it enter your name and
email address to get that information
now now let's talk about how to make a
powerful and memorable first impression
some of these tips might seem really
obvious but I see a lot of you English
learners forgetting these maybe you feel
nervous or shy or hesitant or maybe it's
just not a habit to do these things
because maybe in your culture you would
introduce yourself a little bit
differently the first thing that's
really really really important in North
American culture when you introduce
yourself smile and make eye contact
see this doesn't even require English
language skills it's more of your body
language you want to be approachable and
seem friendly
and open a nice to talk to so smile and
make eye contact of course you can look
away you can blink you don't want to
make too much eye contact but it is
important to look the person in the eye
this shows interest and confidence
number two this is so important so many
of you say your name really quickly and
what happens
well nothing because the other person
can't remember your name they can't
understand your name and therefore they
don't remember you because maybe they're
too embarrassed to ask you to say your
name again because it's kind of
considered rude to show that you
couldn't understand the person's name so
of course this depends but sometimes
especially if someone has asked you more
than once they don't want to ask you two
or three times to repeat your name it's
kind of embarrassing so when you say
your name when you introduce yourself
please please speak slowly and clearly
especially if your name is somewhat
different or unique from the culture
from the other names in the environment
where you are introducing yourself so
for example when I lived in Japan I
would be really careful to say my name
slowly and clearly and to say it in a
Japanese way so my full name is actually
Gabrielle and even native English
speakers have trouble with that one
so in Japanese it sounds like Gabor da
doo so I would say it the Japanese way
so try to learn how to say your name the
North American English way and if it's
still difficult for people you might
consider a nickname or shortening your
name just to make it easier for people
you're meeting like my name is Gabby
which I found was much easier for people
to say in Japan Gabby just two syllables
it's way easier and
so that's when I really adopted this
nickname when I started teaching English
many many many years ago in Japan at
companies and at a university so
remember how important it is to speak
clearly loudly and slowly when you're
saying your name another tip that you
could try with your name is to tell
someone what it sounds like
for example Gabby you know it sounds
like crabby or grabby these are not
necessarily good things but they are
things that will help you to remember my
name or my least favorite flabby which
is another way of saying that so
anyway try to think of words that rhyme
with your name or maybe words that sound
like your name that could help other
people to remember them that is really
helpful and makes your name more
memorable alright next this might seem
super obvious but be ready to shake
hands in North American culture we often
shake hands even outside of business
situations if you're meeting someone at
a networking event or a party or just
casually people still shake hands in
some cases if you're meeting a friend of
a friend be ready to hug or in some
cases be ready to do nothing sometimes
people don't shake or hug you can wait
for the other person to give you a cue
or you can decide what you want to do
and go for that hug or go for that
handshake
well be ready to do that gesture
whatever it is that is appropriate for
the situation and if you are shaking
hands please practice please do not have
a limp handshake or a weak handshake
this will not earn you respect if you
have a very soft handshake men and women
alike you don't want it to be too hard
don't crush the other person's hand but
you want to show that your confidence
and you do that by going for a firm hand
shake so shake squeeze make it confident
and you could practice with a friend if
you're not really used to doing this one
strategy that has worked really well for
me especially when I'm trying to talk to
someone whom I admire or maybe someone
famous is that I start with a compliment
hey I really love your work or I admire
how your youtube channel has grown or
something specific to that person it's a
great way to start a conversation
especially if there's no one there to
introduce you but even if there is it's
always welcome to start with a
compliment when you meet someone for the
first time and you're introducing
yourself it's a good idea to say nice to
meet you
nice to meet you but we only say this
the first time that we meet someone we
don't say this the second time you see
someone that would be nice to see you
again so be careful because a lot of
English learners make this mistake
thinking that nice to meet you can be
used many times it's only the first time
that you meet someone now a lot of
tutorials on how to introduce yourself
tell you to share your achievements or
to talk about your accomplishments so
the other person knows how amazing you
are the thing is nobody cares about you
unless they know that you care about
them or if you're famous
then people care about you right but if
you're not a superstar if you're not
super famous we need to show that we
care about the other person first before
they care about all of our achievements
and accolades and accomplishments so how
do you get the other person to know that
you care about them so that they care
about you well make a connection ask a
question if that helps maybe you know
someone in
maybe you have some similar work
experience or maybe you're working at
the same place or in the same field
maybe you have common interests but see
if you can guess or if you already know
something that you have in common
make the connection and then share
something really cool about yourself so
it's important to share who you are and
how awesome you are but I wouldn't
advise doing that until the other person
knows that you care about them and they
care about you so this is a really
interesting moment for you to figure out
kind of where you connect with the other
person but don't be shy to talk about
yourself to say some information about
yourself so that the other person knows
who you are or could ask you questions
or continue the conversation a lot of
English learners make the mistake of
simply saying hi I'm Gabi and then you
don't say anything else this makes it
very difficult for the other person to
continue the conversation if you're not
willing to provide a little bit more
information about yourself so how about
sharing where you're from hi I'm Gabi
I'm from the United States or what you
do I'm an English teacher or what you do
in your free time I love to travel by
the way no one really talks about what
they do in their free time by using the
word hobby I've heard this too many
times what is your hobby
my hobby is travel native English
speakers don't talk like this this is
something from old out-of-date English
textbooks so I recommend instead of
asking people what is your hobby ask
what do you like to do in your free time
and all not know don't be afraid to ask
the other person questions to get to
know them to establish some
commonalities or connections this will
really make your self-introduction
memorable remember that a
self-introduction is not a presentation
it is not a lecture if you need to get
your slide deck out in order to make
yourself introduction it's
good you want to make this a two-way
conversation back and forth question and
answer so when you're talking about
yourself
keep it short say one sentence about
yourself and then maybe ask a question
or ask how about you or what do you do
or where are you from or what do you
enjoy doing in your free time what are
you excited about or what are you
working on these days these are all
questions that could help yourself
introduction to stick out and stick out
in a good way
it's actually really powerful to show
interest in the other person
and of course share about yourself we
need both and a bonus idea for you here
if your self-introduction goes into a
conversation with someone have some
interesting piece of information to
share maybe something you saw in the
news or a book that you've been reading
recently and something that could be
maybe useful or interesting to the other
person I know when people share
information or share a good book
recommendation I really appreciate it
and it makes that person more memorable
to me so that's why I'm sharing this tip
because when you're helpful to other
people and their interests they will
remember you and don't be shy to share
who you are remember that people are
interested in other people they want to
get to know you and make connections as
well so don't be shy if you don't share
who you are you're basically stealing
that great experience or that connection
from other people what about you do you
have any other pointers or suggestions
for how to make a lasting impression
with a powerful memorable self
introduction share them in the comments
I would love to hear from you as well
let's help each other out to make better
self introductions thank you so much for
watching if you enjoy this make sure to
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language learners
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bye for now