Learn how to introduce yourself
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| INTRODUCTION |
| John: Hi everyone, and welcome to RussianPod101.com. This is Business Russian for Beginners Season 1 Lesson 1 - Introducing Yourself in a Russian Business Meeting. I’m John. |
| Karina: Привет, I'm Karina. |
| John: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to break the ice in a business meeting by introducing yourself. The conversation takes place at a restaurant. |
| Karina: It's between Linda and Elena. |
| John: The speakers are strangers, so they will use formal Russian. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| Линда: Добрый день. |
| Линда: Разрешите представиться, я - Линда Бейкер из ABC. |
| Елена: Здравствуйте. Приятно познакомиться. Я - Елена Иванова. |
| Елена: Я менеджер в ОАО "Прогресс". |
| John: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| Линда: Добрый день. |
| Линда: Разрешите представиться, я - Линда Бейкер из ABC. |
| Елена: Здравствуйте. Приятно познакомиться. Я - Елена Иванова. |
| Елена: Я менеджер в ОАО "Прогресс". |
| John: Listen to the conversation with the English translation |
| Linda: Good day. |
| Linda: Let me introduce myself, I’m Linda Baker from ABC. |
| Elena: Hi, pleased to meet you, I’m Elena Ivanova. |
| Elena: I'm the manager at OAO "Progress". |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| John: What should we expect in a first meeting in a business scenario in Russia? |
| Karina: In Russia, first as well as later meetings are usually accompanied by a handshake. |
| John: So, it’s pretty similar to other countries. |
| Karina: Right, but don't forget to remove your gloves before shaking hands, as it may look rude not to do so. |
| John: And finding yourself in this situation could be quite common because of the low average Russian temperatures. |
| Karina: Right, and also remember that handshakes are widely used among men and when men and women are meeting, but can be skipped when two women are involved. |
| John: What’s the Russian for “to shake hands”? |
| Karina: пожать руки (pozhat’ ruki) |
| John: Okay, now onto the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| John: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Karina: Добрый день. [natural native speed] |
| John: Good afternoon. |
| Karina: Добрый день.[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: Добрый день. [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: я [natural native speed] |
| John: I, me |
| Karina: я[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: я [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: из [natural native speed] |
| John: from |
| Karina: из[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: из [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: здравствуйте [natural native speed] |
| John: hello |
| Karina: здравствуйте[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: здравствуйте [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: приятно познакомиться [natural native speed] |
| John: nice to meet you |
| Karina: приятно познакомиться[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: приятно познакомиться [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: в [natural native speed] |
| John: in |
| Karina: в[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: в [natural native speed] |
| John: Next we have.. |
| Karina: разрешать [natural native speed] |
| John: to let, to allow |
| Karina: разрешать[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: разрешать [natural native speed] |
| John: And last... |
| Karina: представляться [natural native speed] |
| John: to introduce yourself |
| Karina: представляться[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Karina: представляться [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| John: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Karina: представляться |
| John: meaning "to introduce yourself" |
| Karina: The verb представляться grammatically consists of two parts - the verb представлять meaning "to introduce somebody," and the reflexive suffix ся which changes any verb into passive. |
| John: That explains why we translate the verb as “to introduce yourself.” You can use it when you want to introduce yourself. |
| Karina: The typical form is pазрешите представиться |
| John: Which is formal. |
| Karina: Разрешите представиться is usually considered to be a very formal expression and it is not often used by women. Another typical form is давайте представлюсь where ся is changed into сь |
| John: And it’s informal. Can you give us a sample sentence using this verb? |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Разрешите представиться, я - Владимир. |
| John: ..which means "Let me introduce myself, I'm Vladimir." |
| John: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Karina: OAO |
| John: meaning "open joint-stock company." There are two types of joint-stock companies in Russia, and the abbreviations for these are usually not translated to English. |
| Karina: They are OAO which stands for Открытое акционерное общество |
| John: meaning "open joint-stock company", as we said. |
| Karina: the other one is ZAO which stands for Закрытое акционерное общество |
| John: and it means "closed joint-stock company." An OAO is a type of a company where shares may be publicly bought or sold without the permission of other shareholders, the number of which is unlimited. A ZAO is a type of a company where shares are distributed only among a maximum of 50 shareholders. Karina, let’s give a sample sentence, using one of these abbreviations. |
| Karina: Sure. For example, you can say.. Российское правительство объявило о продаже 20% акций ОАО Роснефть. |
| John: .. which means "The Russian government announced that it would sell a 20% stake in OAO Rosneft." Okay, now onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| John: In this lesson, you'll learn about how to break the ice in a business meeting by introducing yourself. |
| Karina: When you introduce yourself in a business meeting, you give your name first and then add your company name as well. |
| John: First, let’s see the difference between a general self-introduction in Russian and a self-introduction in a business setting. |
| Karina: A general self-introduction could be Я - Линда. Приятно познакомиться. |
| John: which means “I’m Linda. Nice to meet you” |
| Karina: The pattern is Я followed by your first name and then Приятно познакомиться. |
| John: Okay, now let’s see a self-introduction in a business setting, |
| Karina: Я - Линда Бейкер из ABC. Приятно познакомиться. |
| John: which means “I’m Linda Baker from ABC. Pleased to meet you” |
| Karina: The pattern is Я, which literally means “I”, followed by your full name, then из which means “from”, followed by the company name, and at the end, Приятно познакомиться. |
| John: Is there any difference whether it’s a man or a woman introducing themselves? |
| Karina: The pattern is the same for both male and female workers. You can leave out the preposition из, meaning “from,” for example Я - Линда Бейкер, компания ABC |
| John: which literally means “I’m Linda Baker, ABC company.” This pattern is the most common one for introducing yourself to people who have a lower, similar, or even higher job position. But what if you would like to introduce yourself, but you can’t find the right timing? |
| Karina: In that case, you can just be straightforward and, before actually introducing yourself, say that you are going to do it. For example by saying Разрешите представиться, я - Линда Бейкер из ABC. Приятно познакомиться. |
| John: Which means “Let me introduce myself, I’m Linda Baker from ABC. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” |
| Karina: Keep in mind that this phrase is very formal and rarely used by women. |
| John: What do you say if it’s the other person who introduces his or herself first? |
| Karina: In that case, you can simply reply by introducing yourself as well, for example Приятно познакомиться. Я - Линда Бейкер из ABC. |
| John: meaning “Nice to meet you. I’m Linda Baker from ABC.” |
| Karina: The sentence here starts with Приятно познакомиться. and is followed by the full name and the name of the company. |
| John: To be sure you understood your partner’s name well, it may be nice to repeat it. |
| Karina: Right, for example Линда, приятно познакомиться. Я - Елена Иванова из компании “Прогресс”. |
| John: which means “Linda, nice to meet you. I'm Elena Ivanova from “Progress” company.” |
| Karina: The pattern is the same, you just need to add your partner's name at the beginning |
| John: Ok, let’s wrap up this lesson with a couple more sample sentences. |
| Karina: Разрешите представиться, я - Иван Абрамов, ЗАО "Идея". Приятно познакомиться. |
| John: "Let me introduce myself, I’m Ivan Abramov, ZAO "Ideya." Pleasure to meet you." |
| Karina: Здравствуйте. Приятно познакомиться. Я - Елена Иванова. |
| John: "Hi, pleased to meet you, I’m Elena Ivanova. " |
Outro |
| John: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Karina: Пока! |
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