Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

A friend rang this morning to ask if his son aged 16 or 17 could come and vist us in Spain, to practice Spanish, with the agreement being that we would speak Spanish all the time with him.

He is going to college studying Spanish as one of his subjects, his proud father put him on the phone so he could ask me himself, I said "Hola" to which he replied "buen dia"...:D

I was just wondering what level he would be doing on a college course.:confused:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

oh boy...............

GCSE Spanish isn't actually a very high level - you barely have to be able to speak Spanish & because it's aimed at teens it's quite a limited vocab, too

at his age I'd have thought he would have already done the GCSE so be studying a higher level than that - AS or A level - & he should know better than to say 'buen día' - but I've known kids pass with good grades who maybe didn't :(

how did the rest of the conversation go?

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

As for the rest,I asked him where his little sister was and what was she doing,(just for something to say in Spanish) and he said "dormir".....oops

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

My newsagent says,'Bon Dia' every time I go in his shop.

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

yeah but........................... as you well know - there's NO WAY he's learning Valenciano in the UK!!

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

oops indeed :blink:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Actually, in my albeit a bit ancient recollection of Argentine Spanish no-one said buenos dias or buenas a la Andalu' or bon dia or bomdi a la portuspanglish, rather they all said buendia. Hence when I moved here fulltime that's what I used to say until I realised I was out on my own!!! Now I say buena (and try to cut that short if at all poss:lol:)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

As to GCSE, a Spanish friend was commenting how basic the requirements seem to be for GCSE Spanish and I was able to recount how having found some test papers online, I set my then-9yo to have a stab at it without notice, forewarning, etc., and he got about 75%!

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

As in "Bh"? :rofl:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Nah, get it right.... more "bwe'a" :p

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

That's the trouble with them thinking what to say in English... then trying to convert it to Spanish.
It never works in my experience and is better to try to actually think in Spanish, I even find myself dreaming in Spanish now. :rofl:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

that reminds me of when I learnt another language - the Morse Code.
I had nightmares in code, also remember sitting in a train carriage and subconsciously converting an advert into code
:eek:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Cuando me ir en verano, ir nadando.

Any tips on how to correct this without seeming too harsh and deflating the poor kids confidence.

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Correct it? It looks fine to me!;)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Help me out here? should I start with the positive that verano is not spelt with a B?
:D

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

send him a copy of IR, conjugated, & suggest he tries again ;)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Cant do that, when my wife mentioned the "C" word, he thought it had something to do with "marital rights under the sheets".:blink:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Oh effing dear is all I can say. Mind you that's from someone who did Latin (badly) and French (quite well) and Italian (slightly better than Latin)... :rofl:
Conjugating conjugal... well that's a whole different ballgame;)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

is there a hidden subset with greetings ?

if i say Buenos Dias I get an Hola back
if I say Hola I get a Buena back

:confused:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Many people say adios when you say hola. A beginning and end of a greeting, as though you have had a whole conversation.

Rosemary

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

why am I not surprised...............


just tell him he has to 'make it fit the person'




much the same thing really ;)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Yes I've noticed that.:confused: You meet someone in the car, they're on foot, you say hello and they say goodbye..... but they're not trying to despatch you, it's just what seems to be done:blink:


Lynn::lol:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Dont be confused it is just like English.........

If I say good morning they say hello.
if I say hello they say Hi.
If I say HI they say Hiya
If I say hiya they say good morning.....:)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

yes I know what you mean, etiquette etiquette etiquette
just wouldnt want to inadvertantly upset someone :(

'luego

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

I lived in Calpe for a short while because I thought I had fallen in love. We used to use a Spanish restaurant there and the owner made us most welcome.

I thought he was a friend but when I walked in one day and said Buenas Dias, he said Adios. I was shocked, because in the UK when you walk in somewhere and say Hallo and they say Goodbye, they don't want you there.

I tried once more and got the same Adios. My world collapsed, I fell out of love and scuttled back to Benidorm.

Years later I found out about the welcoming Adios. It was too late then, she got married to an Canadian and my Spanish pal had gone skint.

Adios.

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

which explains why when I say Buena I get a Dios reply - it is actually a 'dios

I was warned that the locals round here had a "funny way of speaking" - and that was from a Spanish senorita from La Mancha
:eek:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

I often get Vaya con Dios.

Guess they think I'll not be around much longer anyway. :ohmy:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

Thinking back to my time in the UK, I had no knowledge of English before I went, and often put my foot in it.

A friends mother reminded me a couple of years ago, that I had really made a big blunder.

My friend and his parents living with the Grandfather, he was not retired at the time, and whenever my friend asked for any money or sweets, the answer was always, "Yes OK, before Titus comes home from work", Titus being the grandfather.

Then one day I met Grandfather, I didnt know what to call him, grandfather was ruled out, so I called him Titus.

My mates mother went bright red, and I was sort of shoved out of the door to shut me up, I had no idea what had happened.

The old grandad was a mean old sod, hated spending money, and they all called him Tightarse, which I heard as Titus.:rofl:

We had a good laugh about it, years later.

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

:rofl::rofl::rofl:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

I wonder what the Spaniard visiting North Yorkshire would think or answer when greeted with "Nah Then"?

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

:o:o
:rofl::rofl:
:rofl::rofl:

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

ee oop lad

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

or "oh, Mierda"

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

I'd reply, 'better than before'.

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

basic GCSE isn't a very high level to get a pass in any subject, while waiting toi be called for my Russian oral test I saw some old maths GCSE papers on the desk, I picked on up, and completed it in 10 minutes without calcualtor, pen/pencil or paper, and it asked 'show all your workings'!!, I'd doen it all in my head..

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

How about the visitor who pops into Northmberland and says in his best english to the local Good Morning to get the reply "wots thi fettle" and we think Spanish is confusing

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

I know.............. I taught GCSE maths & spanish last year ;)

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

They don't look so easy to me..maybe I am just dim...don't answer that:D

http://www.pixymaths.co.uk/examples.php

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

so you failed Mike - as you said "show all your workings" surely that would allow the examiner to look for any errors and give partial marks even if the final answer is wrong !
stupid I know, but then you would have a decade or three experience on those who are taking it

Re: Is "Buen Dia" GCSE,O level, A level or what?
 

I don't often hear the spanish say buenas dias to each other, I think it's more used in shops or with the Brits? Could be because I am rarely out and about before mid-morning though:lol:

Most popular form of greeting between people who know each other where I lived were ¿Cómo te va? ¿Qué tal? ¿Qué hay? ¿Qué pasa? Suppose it's regional like the UK. Has anyone mentioned "MornIn"