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Buongiorno, Ciao

Italian translation: Ciao or Salve

10:32 Jan 9, 2010
Italian language (monolingual) [Non-PRO]
Marketing - Marketing / Market Research
Italian term or phrase: Buongiorno, Ciao
We are working on a project where a character is visiting many different countries in the world. We're introducing the countries with a short line of copy starting with an official greeting of the country - i.e. for France, he'll say "Bonjour I'm in France..."

We are trying to find a generic greeting for Italy & Switzland that is authentic but this seems to be quite open to debate. So we would like the below greeting we've found confirmed accurate or if there is a better suggestions.

Italy = Buon giorno
Switzerland = Ciao


Thank you
Melissa Angus
Selected answer:Ciao or Salve
Explanation:
Ciao for an informal register, salve for a formal register

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Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-09 11:46:15 GMT)
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Correction: Salve is less informal than Ciao but the formal one is Buongiorno

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-09 12:21:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note that it is buongiorno and not buon giorno
Selected response from:

Angie Garbarino
Local time: 17:32
Grading comment
thank you
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +4Ciao or Salve
Angie Garbarino


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
buon giorno, ciao
Ciao or Salve


Explanation:
Ciao for an informal register, salve for a formal register

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-09 11:46:15 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Correction: Salve is less informal than Ciao but the formal one is Buongiorno

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 hr (2010-01-09 12:21:42 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Note that it is buongiorno and not buon giorno

Angie Garbarino
Local time: 17:32
Native speaker of: Native in ItalianItalian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
thank you

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
neutral  Monia Di Martino: Uhm....."salve" is also informal IMO.
3 mins
  -> Ok, but less informal than ciao
agree  zerlina: same opinion as Angio's.
2 hrs
  -> :)
agree  mariant
2 hrs
  -> :)
agree  Oscar Romagnone
3 hrs
  -> :)
agree  theangel: Personally, I don't like "Salve", it's informal and impersonal at the same time. Ciao is better, as it's friendlier, if you want to keep the sentence informal. Otherwise, buongiorno is perfect. Why do you need to diversify between Switzerland and Italy?
4 hrs
  -> Hi theangel, it is not me that need to diversify between Switzerland and Italy, you should ask to the asker by using the discussion box :)
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