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  • - 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.

- Hey guys, welcome to Linguamarina,

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