24 - Greet Someone
Now
think for a moment, how many ways do you know how to greet someone in English?
You probably learned basic greetings like, “Hello” and “How are you?” which are
useful in a wide range of situations, but they are kind of boring.
Why Greetings Are Important
General greetings (Formal)
These
greetings can be used in any formal situation, such as a business meeting or
meeting someone’s parents, and they can also be used in informal situations as
well.
- Hello
- How are you? or How’re you?
- How are you doing? or How ya doin’?
This
is different than “What are you doing.” “How are you doing?” means “How are
you?” whereas “What are you doing?” is asking what action you are currently
doing.
- How is everything?
- How’s everything going?
General greetings (Informal)
These
greetings can be used in any informal situation. To show extra enthusiasm you
can add “Hey” to the beginning of these greetings.
- (Hey) What’s up (man/dude/bro/their name)?
- (Hey) Good to see you.
- (Hey) How are things (with you)?
- (Hey) How’s it going?
The
pronunciation can be shortened to “goin’.” A typical response to this question
is “It’s going good.”
- How’s life been treating you?
- What’s cracking?
The
pronunciation is often shortened to “crackin’.” This is highly informal and
should only be used with people around your age. Its similar in use to “What’s
up?”
- What’s good?
- What’s happening?
The
pronunciation is often shortened to “happenin’.”
Greeting a person you haven’t seen for a long time (Formal)
- It has been a long time.
- It’s been too long.
- What have you been up to all these years?
- It’s always a pleasure to see you.
- How long has it been?
- What’s new?
Greeting a person you haven’t seen for a long time (Informal)
- Long time no see.
This
is the most common.
- Where have you been hiding?
This
is a playful way of greeting someone.
- It’s been ages (since I’ve seen you).
- How’ve you been?
Now
that you have this list of greetings at your disposal, go out in to the world
and start practicing them. Make sure you use them with confidence so that you
make a good first impression. Try to use a different greeting every time you
have English class or meet with your English speaking friends.
What is your favorite way of greeting someone?
Greetings
and Goodbyes
Greetings
In Spanish the formality of
greetings is more pronounced than in English. In English we might say Good
morning, Hi, or Hello to anyone. We know that Good morning tends to be more
formal, and Hi tends to be less formal but we tend not to pay much attention to
the difference.
In Spanish, they are not as
interchangeable. Good morning is for people you would NOT call
by first name, and Hi is for people you would call by first name and family
members. The Spanish language does not allow the speaker to mix these back and
forth between the different groups.
Here is a sample list of greetings.
|
Formal/Informal
|
Spanish
|
English
|
|
Formal
|
Buenos días
|
Good day/good morning
|
|
Formal
|
Buenas tardes
|
Good afternoon
|
|
Formal
|
Buenas noches
|
Good evening
|
|
Formal
|
¿Cómo está usted?
|
How are you?
|
|
Informal
|
Hola
|
Hi
|
|
Informal
|
¿Qué tal?
|
How's it going?
|
|
Informal
|
¿Cómo estás?
|
How are you?
|
Goodbyes
Goodbyes are not quite as rigid as
greetings. The Spanish speaker will use most goodbyes to anyone. It is more
important that the goodbye say what you want. I for example, “see you later”,
is not the same as, “see you soon”.
Here is a sample list of goodbyes.
|
List of greetings
Written and verbal
- Ahoy G'day Good evening Good morning
- Good afternoon Greetings Hello Hello there
- Hey Hi Hi there How are you?
- Sorry My Dear Thank You How are you doing? Howdy
- How's it going? How's it hanging? Salutations Sup
- Wazzup? What Doing? Welcome, What's up?
- Yo Bonjour i
Gestures
Waving
When
I first came to Brazil I didn’t understand how important greetings were when
meeting new people. I used to greet people by saying, “Hola,” which nobody else
does. The result of saying this is that people would think that I didn’t speak
Portuguese and would ask my friends questions about me instead of asking me
directly. I was pretty annoyed by this but I realized it was my own fault that
they treated me like that because I didn’t greet them in a way that they were
expecting. Once I started saying things like, “E ai cara, beleza” people
started treating me like a normal person.
Because
greetings are a part of every conversation, it is important to know how to use
them properly and with confidence. Its easy to become fluent with their use
because you have an opportunity to practice them every time you talk to
someone. Over the course of a day you can practice dozens of times until you
have achieved total confidence in their use.
The
first moments of an interaction you have with someone are crucial because they
set the tone for the conversation to follow. If you start a conversation
doubting yourself and unsure of what you’re saying this will effect your
performance for the rest of the conversation. But if you can effortlessly use
the right greetings then you will feel confident during the rest of the
conversation.
It’s
important that you feel confident when greeting someone because they will
quickly form a first impression of you that may be hard to change later on. If
you greet someone with confidence they will feel more comfortable with you and
will form a positive first impression. If you stumble around and aren’t sure of
what you’re doing, they may misjudge your true level of English and speak to
you differently than you’d like.
In
order for you to gain confidence and control during conversations here is a
list of greetings that you can use.
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