How to Introduce yourself in a Chinese Business Environment

Your Pocket Guide on How to Introduce Yourself in Chinese

Written by Juliette Pitt

Learning how to introduce yourself in Chinese is a vital skill. Whether you are just studying Chinese for fun or visiting China for business or even just attending an event, learning how to introduce yourself is a good way to make the best first impression.

It is important to be polite and this normally means using the formal versions of word/phrases and perhaps longer sentences.

There are two ways you can make a good formal introduction – let’s look at the shorter way first.

Short Introduction 

This is simply a short, warm and a point of hello to greet a superior or new colleague.

• Hello! My name is (XYZ). I’m very happy to meet you
• 您好! 我的名字是 (XYZ). 很高兴见到您 (nín hǎo! wǒ de míngzì shì (XYZ). hěn gāoxìng jiàn dào nín)

Here we use 您(nín) as 你 (nǐ) is more appropriate  in a casual setting.

Longer Introduction 

If you are in an event or perhaps attending a job interview for a Chinese company, it is important to give a bit of a longer introduction to tell people more about yourself.

Here are a couple of useful phrases that might be good to use to formally introduce yourself:

• I graduated from Tsinghua University in 2009
  • 我于2009年毕业于清华大学 (wǒ yú 2005 nián bì yè yú qīnghuá dà xué)
• I’ve worked for (XYZ) company for 3 years
  • 我在(XYZ)公司工作了五年 (wǒ zài (XYZ) gong sī gong zuò le wǔ nián)
• My interests include…reading and swimming
  • 我的兴趣包括…阅读和游泳 (wǒ de xìng qù bāo kuò… yuè dú hé yóuyǒng)

Alternatively, you may be required to give an even longer introduction in a job interview.

In this case let’s take a look at this example of an introduction from our colleague below, who pretends to be a new colleague speaking to her new boss at the Chinese company Alibaba.

您好！我的名字是[朱丽]，我来自[英国]，是[北大大学][经济]的毕业生。我非常高兴也非常荣幸的加入到[阿里巴巴公司]这个大家庭中来。加入[阿里巴巴司]之前，我在[苹果公司]担任[营销部总监]。希望今后的工作和生活中得到大家多多的指导和帮助，合作愉快！

Now this may look a bit daunting but the structure is easy to follow, let’s break it down and look at the translation:

Hello! My name is [Chinese name, for example朱丽 ] I am from [insert place, for example England], I graduated from [University name, for example Peking University] as a [for example, Economics] major.

您好！我的名字是[朱丽]，我来自[英国]，是[北大大学][经济]的毕业生。(nín hǎo! Wǒ de míngzì shì [zhū lì], wǒ láizì [yīngguó], shì [běidà dàxué][jīngjì] de bìyè shēng)

• I’m happy and honored to join the big family that is [Company name, for example Alibaba].
  • 我非常高兴也非常荣幸的加入到[阿里巴巴公司]这个大家庭中来。(wǒ fēicháng gāoxìng yě fēicháng róngxìng de jiārù dào [ālǐ bābā gōngsī] zhège dà jiātíng zhōng lái)
• Before this, I was at [Former company name, for example, Apple] as [position name, for example: as the Director of Marketing]
  • 加入[阿里巴巴司]之前，我在[苹果公司]担任[营销部总监]。(jiārù [ālǐ bābā sī] zhīqián, wǒ zài [píngguǒ gōngsī] dānrèn [yíngxiāo bù zǒngjiān])
• I hope that after today, I can count on everyone’s support and assistance, and that we can work together happily!
  • 希望今后的工作和生活中得到大家多多的指导和帮助，合作愉快！(xīwàng jīnhòu de gōngzuò hé shēnghuó zhōng dédào dàjiā duōduō de zhǐdǎo hé bāngzhù, hézuò yúkuài!)

This type of formal introduction will for sure impress your peers and give you the confidence to professionally introduce yourself.

Final Tip

The important thing is not to be shy! Remember to be confident and even if you do make some mistakes, don’t worry, its common and has  happened to all of us.

Perhaps prepare some small cue cards or if you are continuously attending job interviews – why not learn your self-introduction by heart! This way it will be more natural, and you’ll get plenty of practice.

Please feel free to check out our other blog How to Network in Chinese – where you’ll find tips and tricks on how to do short introductions if you are attending a networking event.

Comment down below if you have any useful phrases to share with us!