Qué tal

[aniRB]

Hola,

¿Cómo estás? (Am I being presumptuous?)

Anyway, this is the phrase that I am familiar with to ask someone the standard greeting of how he or she is doing.

However, I have recently learned "¿Qué tal?"

Is this functionally equivalent to "¿Cómo estás?"

Is it also appropriate to use in more formal situations where you would be more likely to use "¿Cómo está usted?"

Is there a difference between Spain and Latin America with respect to "Qué tal?"

Gracias,
ani

I apologize, this should have been in the vocabulary section.

Lo siento,
-ani

[poli]

¿Qué tal? roughly corresponds to How's it going? in English. As far as I know, it is used both in Latin American and Iberian Spanish. It is informal.