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"Ciao" - acceptable or what?



 
 
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  #31  
Old July 8th, 2005, 02:28 AM
Holly J. Sommer
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"Ken Blake" wrote in message
...
In ,
B Vaughan typed:

On Tue, 14 Jun 2005 05:02:58 GMT, "tile" wrote:

i have never used salve in my life..


Many other Italians use it liberally, especially when they can't
decide whether "ciao" or "buon giorno" would be more appropriate, or
when they want to avoid being too informal yet don't want to feel
servile. (For instance employees to their boss.)

"Arrivederci" is likewise neutral in formality.



Barbara, how about "arrivederla"? Am I right that it's more formal than
"arrivederci" and used less frequently?


I'm not Barbara, but yes, ArrivederLa is the formal invocation of
Arrivaderci.

-Holly


  #32  
Old July 8th, 2005, 09:36 PM
Bob Fusillo
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Local usage in Venice is ciao as greeting --"hi" --( see below) and ciao
ciao-- "bye bye" --on parting. Even with friends, the first greeting of the
day is usually buongiorno ( or buona sera), and then ciao afterward in the
course of the day. If one happens to pass a friend on the street is a quick
wave and a ciao. Arevederci -- 'see you"-- is a sort of friendly assurance
that you will see them again at some future time.
rjf

"B Vaughan" wrote in message
...
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.


Yes, "ciao" is about as informal as "hi" in English. However, Italians
tend to be a bit more formal than most English speakers. If you're old
enough to remember, you can use the same guidelines that would have
been current in the US up until the mid 1960s. (I don't know what the
watershed years were for formality in the UK.) When I first came to
Italy I used to decide whether to use the formal or familiar verb
forms by thinking whether this person would have been addressed as
"Mr." or "Mrs." by my mother when I was a child.
--
Barbara Vaughan
My email address is my first initial followed by my surname at libero dot

it
I answer travel questions only in the newsgroup



 




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