Informal in-person greetings
Many ESL students learn the popular greeting, “Hi, how are you?” only to be confused when they arrive in the United States. Instead of this familiar question, they often hear “How’s it going?” or “What’s up?” from friends or roommates.
Here is how to decipher (and re-use) the informal greetings you hear:
If you are meeting a college friend or someone close to you (especially a young person), you will most likely hear “How’s it going?” or “How are you doing?” (Translation: How is everything going in your life? How is life?). A good answer would be “Doing well, and you?”
You may also hear “What’s going on?” or “What’s up?” or “What’s happening?” (Translation: What is new in your life?). If you want to answer that nothing exciting is happening, you may reply “Not much, what’s new with you?”
These informal questions may come by themselves or follow an even more informal “Hi!”, or “Hey!”, “Howdy!”, or even a “Yo!” They all mean “Hello.”
Formal in-person greetings
When greeting people in a more formal setting (such as a professor in college, or a potential employer for an interview), your greeting must be more formal and conventional. These situations call for the well-known, “Hi, how are you?” or “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” Other polite greetings include “Good morning” or “Good afternoon.” If you are meeting someone after 5 pm, most people greet each other with “Good evening” in formal situations. You should only say “Good night” when you are going home.
Some students wonder about the greeting, “How do you do?” In America, you rarely hear someone using it. It is more common in Great Britain.
Regardless of all these options you have, when in doubt, always use the old reliable “Hi, how are you?” It is a safe greeting for both formal and less-formal situations.