16. Greetings.

People from different cultures greet each other in various ways. They may hug, wave, shake hands, nod, etc. You should not expect the Japanese to shake hands. Bowing the head is a mark of respect and the first bow of the day should be lower than when you meet thereafter. In France you shouldn’t sit down in a cafe until you’ve shaken hands with everyone you know. In the Middle East you must never use the left hand for greeting, and in Thailand you should clasp your hands together and lower your head and your eyes when you greet someone.

When meeting someone formally for the first time, we shake their hand and say "How do you do?" or "Pleased to meet you."

"How do you do?" isn't really a question, it just means "Hello"

What are “the rules” about greeting people in your country? When do you shake hands? When do you kiss? When do you hug? How does the situation affect the way you greet someone?

17. Introducing people.

Here are some different ways of introducing people who do not know each other.

First meetings

	Formal	Introducing yourself	Introducing others	Responding to an introduction	On Leaving
		How do you do? My name is Mrs Hand.	Mrs Hand, may I introduce my boss, Mr Smith.	Pleased to meet you Mrs Hand.	Goodbye. It's a pleasure to have met you.
		Hello, Lynne Hand. I'm the owner of this web site.	Lynne, I'd like you to meet John Smith, our salesman. John, this is Lynne Hand.	Pleased to meet you Lynne.	Goodbye. Nice to have met you.
		Lynne Hand.	Lynne, meet John, my husband. John, this is my teacher Lynne.	Hi, Lynne. How are you?	Bye. It was nice to meet you.
	Informal

Subsequent meetings

	Formal	Possible Greetings	Possible responses
		Hello, Mrs Hand.  It's nice to see you again.	What a pleasant surprise! How are you? It's been a while.
		Good morning Mrs Hand.  How are you today?	I'm very well thank you.  And you?
		Good afternoon, Mrs Hand.  It's good to see you.	Thank you.  It's nice to see you too.  How are you?
		Hello Lynne.  How are you doing?	Fine thanks.  What's new with you?
		Hi, Lynne! How's it going?	Not too bad, busy as ever.
		Hi, Lynne. How are things?	Oh fine. You know how it is.
	Informal

General greetings (Formal)

1. Hello!

2. How are you?

3. How are you doing?

4. How is everything?

5. How’s everything going?

6. How have you been keeping?

7. I trust that everything is well.

General greetings (Informal)

1. Hi.

2. What’s up?

3. Good to see you.

4. How are things (with you)?

5. How’s it going?

6. How’s life been treating you?

Greeting a person you haven’t seen for a long time (Formal)

1. It has been a long time.

2. It’s been too long.

3. What have you been up to all these years?

4. It’s always a pleasure to see you.

5. How long has it been?

6. I’m so happy to see you again.

Greeting a person you haven’t seen for a long time (Informal)

• How come I never see you?

• It’s been such a long time.

• Long time no see.

• Where have you been hiding?

• It’s been ages since we last met.

18. Pretend you are sitting at a bus stop waiting for your bus to arrive in about five minutes or so. There is a person sitting next to you whom you don't know (your conversation partner). Start a natural conversation with the person using a variety of small-talk questions and expressions. Then, end the conversation as your bus arrives and you have to get on it.