"Ciao" - acceptable or what?
 

Conversational Italian now...

The older language tapes suggest that "Ciao" is only for use between friends
of if you're talking to children. The more modern BBC late night programmes
sprinkle the greeting around quite liberally as if its got the same status
as "Hi" in English.

Lots of perfect strangers say "Hi" to each other in the English speaking
world, but would an Italian I don't know be affronted if I said "Ciao" to
them on first meeting?

Ciao would be used among young people or among people that are well
acquainted with each other.
It would be funny to use it with people that you do not know or older than
you are.
"Graeme Miller" ha scritto nel messaggio
...
Conversational Italian now...

The older language tapes suggest that "Ciao" is only for use between
friends
of if you're talking to children. The more modern BBC late night
programmes
sprinkle the greeting around quite liberally as if its got the same status
as "Hi" in English.

Lots of perfect strangers say "Hi" to each other in the English speaking
world, but would an Italian I don't know be affronted if I said "Ciao" to
them on first meeting?

An easy solution is "salve" wihich is more formal than "ciao" and less
formal than "Buongiorno" etc.
"Ciao" is fine in an equal status situation like friend/friend or same
age relationship, but it would be a little strange in a situation like
shop assistant/customer or in case of age gap, whereas "salve" passes
in almost all cases.
Try "salve" and see how it goes.
Peace
Cris

On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 14:50:36 +0100, "Graeme Miller"
wrote:

Conversational Italian now...

The older language tapes suggest that "Ciao" is only for use between friends
of if you're talking to children. The more modern BBC late night programmes
sprinkle the greeting around quite liberally as if its got the same status
as "Hi" in English.

Lots of perfect strangers say "Hi" to each other in the English speaking
world, but would an Italian I don't know be affronted if I said "Ciao" to
them on first meeting?

Yes, they probably would. It's never done.

But then if it's obvious you don't speak the language, they would
likely forgive you immediately. The Italians are pretty good about
that sort of stuff. But they DEFINITELY appreciate it when you make an
attempt to learn their language, especially the difficult grammar.
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

wrote:
An easy solution is "salve" wihich is more formal than "ciao" and less
formal than "Buongiorno" etc.
"Ciao" is fine in an equal status situation like friend/friend or same
age relationship, but it would be a little strange in a situation like
shop assistant/customer or in case of age gap, whereas "salve" passes
in almost all cases.
Try "salve" and see how it goes.
Peace
Cris



How do you pronounce "salve?"
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
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John Bermont ha scritto
:


How do you pronounce "salve?"

SAL' - vay

ElaineBenes wrote:
John Bermont ha scritto
:



How do you pronounce "salve?"


SAL' - vay



grazie!
--
------------------------------------------------------
* * * Mastering Independent Budget Travel * * *
http://www.enjoy-europe.com/
------------------------------------------------------

i have never used salve in my life..
Buongiorno or Buonasera is the greeting..
when you part from somebody use

arrivederci..
ha scritto nel messaggio
ps.com...
An easy solution is "salve" wihich is more formal than "ciao" and less
formal than "Buongiorno" etc.
"Ciao" is fine in an equal status situation like friend/friend or same
age relationship, but it would be a little strange in a situation like
shop assistant/customer or in case of age gap, whereas "salve" passes
in almost all cases.
Try "salve" and see how it goes.
Peace
Cris

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 01:37:52 GMT, John Bermont
wrote:



ElaineBenes wrote:
John Bermont ha scritto
:



How do you pronounce "salve?"


SAL' - vay



grazie!

And that's usually mispronounced by foreigners as "GRAHT-zi", and not
"GRAHT-zi-ay" as it should be!
--
---
DFM - http://www.deepfriedmars.com
---
--

tile wrote:
Ciao would be used among young people or among people that are
well acquainted with each other. It would be funny to use it
with people that you do not know or older than you are.

I don't remember us using, or hearing, it in Italy a few years ago.
Guess it was too normal to notice.

What I vividly remember is many much longer ago, in South America, I
seemed to be the only one who said "Adios" as everyone else, without
regard to age or status, said "Ciao". That was true in Brazil as well
as the Hispanic countries.
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