1.1: En contexto- Los saludos y las despedidas
- Introduce yourself
- Greet friends and people you don’t know very well
A leer y escuchar:
In this section, we will learn how to greet friends and family members, and people we may not know very well. Think about how you greet people in English. Do you use different expressions depending on who the person is? What social cues (e.g., age) do you rely on? Do you think greetings in English differ from greetings in Spanish? Let’s have a look… Pay attention to the following conversations and see if you can notice some social patterns.
Situación 1
Rosy and her boyfriend Ramón are having lunch with Rosy’s mother. Ramón and Rosy’s mother are meeting for the first time.
Rosy : ¡Hola, mamá! ¿Cómo estás?
Mamá de Rosy : ¡Hola, hijita! Bastante bien, gracias. ¿Y tú?
Rosy : Muy bien, gracias. Mami, este es mi novio. [Rosy looks at her boyfriend.]
Mamá de Rosy : Buenos días, joven. ¿Cuál es su nombre?
Ramón : Buenos días, Señora González. Me llamo Ramón. Mucho gusto.
Mamá de Rosy : El gusto es mío, Ramón.
Situación 2
Mariana and Kareza are students at Butler and are very good friends. Mariana is with her new friend Jessica. On their way to class, they see Mariana’s good friend Kareza. Kareza and Jessica meet for the first time.
Kareza : ¡Mariana! ¿Qué tal la clase de español con la Señorita Ribota?
Mariana : Hola, Kareza. Muy bien. La clase es interesante.
Jessica : ¡Howdy! Soy Jessica. ¿Y tú? ¿Cómo te llamas?
Kareza : Mi nombre es Kareza. Mucho gusto.
Jessica : Encantada. Y, ¿de dónde eres?
Kareza : Soy de Houston. ¿Y tú?
Jessica : Yo soy de Laredo.
Mariana : OK, chicas. ¡Vamos que llegamos tarde a clase! (Come on! We’ll be late for class)
Antes de continuar:
As the previous dialogues show, in the Spanish-speaking world, when you greet someone or you introduce yourself, there are two types of situations: formal and informal. In order to use socially-appropriate forms, it is important to know the difference between the expressions and structures you need in these two types of situations. Let’s have a look…
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Introductions in an informal situation: When you meet someone who is your same age or younger than you, you can ask these questions:
- To ask someone’s name: ¿Cuál es tu nombre? / ¿Cómo te llamas?
- To ask where someone is from: ¿De dónde eres?
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Introductions in a formal situation:
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When you meet someone who is older than you or you are in a professional situation, you can ask these questions:
- To ask someone’s name: ¿Cuál es su nombre? / ¿Cómo se llama?
- To ask where someone is from: ¿De dónde es usted?
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When you meet someone who is older than you or you are in a professional situation, you can ask these questions:
Situación 3
Attribution: Public Domain
Dr. Suárez and Dr. Campos are new colleagues at Butler and will both be teaching Spanish courses this semester. They introduce themselves.
Dr. Suárez
: Buenas tardes, Doctora Campos. ¿Cómo está usted?
Dra. Campos
: Bien, gracias. ¿Y usted?
Dr. Suárez
: Bastante bien. ¿De dónde es usted?
Dra. Campos
: Soy de Perú. ¿Y usted?
Dr. Suárez
: Yo soy de Puerto Rico.
¿Comprendiste?
The objective of this section is to check for your understanding of the dialogues/texts presented in each of the modules. This section helps you analyze critically and appropriately the multimodal text presented.
Is Situación 1 formal or informal ? How can you tell whether the conversation is formal or informal ? What expressions led you to this conclusion? Would you have changed the register in this situation? Why or why not?
- Answer
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Rosy and her mom are informal with each other - you probably are informal with your family members as well! Notice the phrases ¨¿Cómo estás?¨ and ¨¿Y tú?.
Ramón and Rosy´s mom are formal with each other - this is the first time they are meeting. Notice the phrases ¨su¨ and ¨Señora¨.
Situación 2: Why is the conversation informal when Jessica and Kareza meet for the first time? What does this tell you about the use of informal expressions in Spanish? What are the similarities and differences between this exchange and the one that you would have had in English?
- Answer
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Jessica and Kareza are peers - they are both college students. When you meet someone who is your same age or younger than you, you can use informal expressions.
Compare Situación 2 and Situación 3 and write a few examples of formal and informal greetings. Why did Dr. Suarez and Dr. Campos use a different register than Kareza and Jessica?
- Answer
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- Formal greetings : ¿Qué tal...?, ¿Y tú?, ¿Cómo te llamas?, ¿De dónde eres?
- Informal greetings : Doctora, ¿Cómo está usted?, ¿Y usted?, ¿De dónde es usted?
- Dr. Suarez and Dr. Campos used a formal register because they were in a professional setting.
Based on your newly-gained knowledge, what are some ways you can tell a conversation will be formal or informal? What social cues are important?