SP-EN Translation of greeting "Buen dia" Thread poster: Victoria Adalid
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I am translating a paper which is on the content elaboration of an automated message.
There are two options that the participants chose from:
"Hola"- Which they seemed too informal for an automated SMS message.
"Buen día"- which they agreed was formal and warm.
The problem is that I do not have a direct translation for the translation of "Buen dia" as a general greeting that can be given at almost any day time, it's either "Good morning" or "Good afternoon"... See more I am translating a paper which is on the content elaboration of an automated message.
There are two options that the participants chose from:
"Hola"- Which they seemed too informal for an automated SMS message.
"Buen día"- which they agreed was formal and warm.
The problem is that I do not have a direct translation for the translation of "Buen dia" as a general greeting that can be given at almost any day time, it's either "Good morning" or "Good afternoon". I cannot go for "Good morning/afternoon" as it is too robotic, and "Hi" is cancelled out as it is way more informal than "Hello"...
Any idea???? ▲ Collapse
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Kang Seok Lee
South Korea
Local time: 12:02
Member (2018)
English to Korean
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| How are you? | Jan 24, 2019 |
I have studied Spanish and am agree that "Buen dia" can be used anytime regardless of time.
Then how about translate it just " How are you?"
I think you don't need to too much become aware the time of a day.
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| Hola, buenos días. | Jan 24, 2019 |
I normally use "Hola, buenos días" when I want to be polite but not too formal, so I guess "Hello, how are you?" would fit here.
Hope that helps!
Francisco Vare
[Edited at 2019-01-24 12:57 GMT]
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Thomas Pfann 
United Kingdom
Local time: 03:02
Member (2006)
English to German
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What about 'Hi' for 'Hola', and the slightly less informal 'Hello' for "Buen día"?
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B D Finch
France
Local time: 04:02
French to English
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| Phrases that make one cringe | Jan 24, 2019 |
Kang Seok Lee wrote:
I have studied Spanish and am agree that "Buen dia" can be used anytime regardless of time.
Then how about translate it just " How are you?"
I think you don't need to too much become aware the time of a day.
"How are you?" is both inappropriate as an opener for a communication and one of those awful phrases that people in call centres are instructed to use by their ignorant bosses. Such phrases include "How are you doing?" "Are you OK?" "Are you fine?" (that one is only used by non-English speakers). They offend by their pretended familiarity. A person in a call centre or an automated message doesn't care how I am feeling, whether I am doing well etc. When they pretend to care, I want to slam the phone down or press delete, because it is so false.
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 04:02
Spanish to English
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"Good day" is commonly used in Australia, but would be understood in most if not all English-speaking countries.
I agree with Thomas that "Hi / Hi there" would work for "hola".
"How do you do" is formal, only used when meeting someone for the first time. You could THEN ask "how are you", but straight off the bat it would be too informal and inappropriate.
[Edited at 2019-01-24 17:14 GMT]
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MollyRose
United States
Local time: 21:02
English to Spanish
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| What is the target country? | Jan 24, 2019 |
I agree with "Good day" or "Hello" or maybe "Greetings!" but one of these might sound better than the others, depending on the targeted audience.
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Sorry, but by 'Greetings' I think of mister Spock or Data in Startrek.:-)
[Edited at 2019-01-24 18:57 GMT]
[Edited at 2019-01-24 18:58 GMT]
[Edited at 2019-01-24 18:58 GMT]
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Victoria Adalid
Argentina
Local time: 00:02
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER
Thomas Pfann wrote:
What about 'Hi' for 'Hola', and the slightly less informal 'Hello' for "Buen día"?
This is a really good idea! I'm thinking I could explain that "Hello" is not is informal as "Hola", seeing as English already has its own informal form with "Hi".
It's always such a hassle with these "simple" phrases, the author ends up thinking they chose a translator that can't even translate a greeting but it has all this background to it...
Thanks for the help!
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Victoria Adalid
Argentina
Local time: 00:02
English to Spanish
TOPIC STARTER | Inciting response | Jan 24, 2019 |
Kang Seok Lee wrote:
I have studied Spanish and am agree that "Buen dia" can be used anytime regardless of time.
Then how about translate it just " How are you?"
I think you don't need to too much become aware the time of a day.
That was one of my first options but then I considered it's an automated message, I'm not really sure they would get a response back if they decide to respond, and I think including a "How are you?" or any question incites a response to some extent
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neilmac
Spain
Local time: 04:02
Spanish to English
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| Take me to your leader! | Jan 25, 2019 |
Robert Rietvelt wrote:
Sorry, but by 'Greetings' I think of mister Spock or Data in Startrek.:-)
[Edited at 2019-01-24 18:57 GMT]
[Edited at 2019-01-24 18:58 GMT]
[Edited at 2019-01-24 18:58 GMT]
And you think this somehow makes it unsuitable for an SMS message? Although I wasn't posting it as a suggestion, simply a heading for my response (see above), the client apparently thinks "hello" isn't idiosyncratic enough, which leaves us with very few options, so I don't see why this couldn't be one of them.
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