Answering the phone

[Caballero]

What do you say when you answer the phone? Are their other variations that are used in your country? What does the other person say after you say your greeting?

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Caballero

What do you say when you answer the phone? Are their other variations that are used in your country? What does the other person say after you say your greeting?

Give your examples in English first.

It wouldn't be bad either, if you provided your tries in Spanish.

[Caballero]

-Hello
-Hi

-Hola
-Hola

[Rusty]

Bueno (Mexico)
Hola, Aló or ¿sí?
Buenos días, buenas tardes or buenas noches
Diga or Dígame

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Caballero

-Hello
-Hi

-Hola
-Hola

That simple?

I thought you had something else in mind.

But then again, why are asking something you already know?

[Caballero]

I wasn't sure if that was commonly used or not, since most languages use a completely different telephone greeting.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Caballero: That's correct, but "hola", "diga"/"dígame", "aló" are (I think) universally understood, even if some regions prefer one or the other. Mexicans prefer to say "bueno", about which some foreigners tend to be a little puzzled.

In business and government offices, people tend to answer with the name of the place one is calling to. (Intonation is often that of a question.)

--Restaurante La Cava, a sus órdenes.

--Oficina de Impuestos, buenos días.

--Servicios al cliente, le atiende José Hernández, ¿en qué puedo servirle?

--Organización Pro-derechos de la Mujer, buenas tardes.

[Caballero]

So, does the person that answered the phone also say hola/diga/dígame/aló/bueno back to the caller?

And would you reply "Buenos días" to --Oficina de Impuestos, buenos días. ?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

One doesn't say "bueno"/"hola"/"dígame" if you're answering with the official name of the office, but intonation is like a question, so the other person will reply.

--Oficina de Impuestos, buenos días.
--Buenos días. Disculpe, necesito información sobre la nueva ley...

--Servicios al cliente, le atiende José Hernández, ¿en qué puedo servirle?
--Gracias, señor Hernández*. ¿Cómo puedo poner una queja?
*You can insert a greeting there too, like "buenos días" or so, and introduce some polite expressions like "por favor", "disculpe", "¿Podría decirme...?", etc.


If the phone rings at a Mexican home:

--Bueno. -> Hello.
--Hola, Margarita, soy Juan. ¿Está tu papá? -> Hello, Margarita, this is Juan. Is your dad there?
--Sí, te lo paso. -> Sure, let me put him on the phone.


--Diga. -> Hello.
--Buenas tardes. Disculpe, ¿el señor Manuel Ramírez? -> Good afternoon. Excuse me, can I talk to Mr. Manuel Ramirez?
--No se encuentra. ¿Quiere dejarle algún mensaje? -> He's not at home, would you like to leave a message for him?


If I have some time later, and you'd find it useful, I might record a couple of those examples for you to hear some intonations.

[Caballero]

--Bueno. -> Hello.
--Hola

--Diga. -> Hello.
--Buenas tardes.

Ah, I get it now. So it's only the person who answers the phone that uses a "phone greeting". The other person just uses the same set of greetings that are used in everyday life.

If I have some time later, and you'd find it useful, I might record a couple of those examples for you to hear some intonations.

Yes, that would be great.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Caballero

What do you say when you answer the phone? Are their other variations that are used in your country? What does the other person say after you say your greeting?

As the others said, it depends on the country.

In Colombia, when we answer the phone we say "aló" and then when the caller identifies himself we say "hola" as a greeting.

I have an anecdote from once when I went to Mexico.
I needed to get in touch with a lady I had never met before and I called her home. One her daughters answered the phone: "¿Bueno?". And I thought to myself... "¿Bueno qué?". I thought she was talking to someone else so I said "¿Aló?".. there was a moment of silence and finally she realized what was going on and went to get her mother and said "Mamá, creo que te llama una señora americana". Of course, she meant from the US, "aló" sounded like "hello" to her.

When I met the lady in person and she told me what her daughter had said, we both laughed..

That's the day I learned how the Mexicans answer the phone.