I thought this was funny and sad at the same time

[estudianteX]

Creo que es mejor que usar "Last night"
en vez de --

>Escribiste "yesterday's night". Usa
>yesterday night.

[Alfonso]

Thanks a lot, Estudiante X! Maybe both are correct and last night is more colloquial than yesterday night?

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

Thanks a lot, Estudiante X! Maybe both are correct and last night is more colloquial than yesterday night?

Alfonso,

Tradúcelo en español: last night la noche pasada o anoche, yesterday night la noche de ayer. Anoche es mas común.
I use yesterday night sometimes but last night is more common and not at all colloquial. I never used la noche de ayer. Would it be incorrect to say la noche de ayer?

Poli

PS: I forgot about la noche anterior.

[Iris]

Poli,
You say "traducir al español". Y siempre se dice añoche. You can say "la noche anterior" if you are telling a story in the past. It is like "the previous night or the night before".

[Alfonso]

Poli, it's not incorrect la noche de ayer, only longer and less common than anoche.
That's why I'm not very fond of correcting expressions that are right although they are not common. Both are correct. It's only the speaker style, or the talking register (can I say this?), what makes an election.

You have:

Anoche, ayer por la noche, la noche de ayer, la pasada noche.

I don't think any of them is more formal than the others. Maybe some of them are more common on news, for example, la pasada noche. But you can use whatever you are more comfortable with.

La noche anterior always refers to a night before something. So, you can say: La noche anterior a mi boda. Iris also gave you a piece of advice on this, but she wrote añoche. Iris, are you pulling our legs? Who can pronounce that?

[Iris]

Sorry, no leg pulling. Just a typo.

[Iris]

Just a question: how do I remove the "lounger" thingy under my name? And why did I get it in the first place?

[Alfonso]

I'm sorry Iris you will have to get older with the lounger thingy. It's an automatic lab depending on the number of collaborations you've done.
Neither I'm happy with my intern thingy. I'd rather my former title student. How can I get it back?

[Iris]

What do you mean "lab"?

[Alfonso]

I mean label. But I wanted to say tag, like in a blog.

Lab, I think I've seen it before. Am I wrong?

[Iris]

Not a clue. For me lab is only short for laboratory. But who knows? Are you still studying poetry or have you moved on to something else?

[Alfonso]

Well, I can not find lab in any dictionary as a short for label. So, it must be a neologism I'm proposing to English speakers. I hope they will agree with me.
No, Iris, I'm not moving on to something else at least for the next two or three years, unless I gave up in the next two or three hours.
Did you get your pile smaller than yesterday?

[Iris]

Slightly, I keep on doing other things because I get so bored. (I'm about to finish The Mill on the Floss and Agnes Grey, I write in this forum and now I think I'm going to go for a picnic...). I think I need a longer holiday to finish my correcting...

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

I'm sorry Iris you will have to get older with the lounger thingy. It's an automatic lab depending on the number of collaborations you've done.
Neither I'm happy with my intern thingy. I'd rather my former student. How can I recover it?

Iris & Alfonso

Thank you Iris for your info.
Alfonso you asked about speaking register. That doesn't work. Try
speaking style or way of speaking instead. Above you wrote, "I'd rather
my former student" I think you meant, I prefer my former title student.
As for, "How can I recover it." Technically it's OK, but recover has two meanings, and it is more often used as a synonymn form recuperate.
In order for "how can I recover it" to sound more natural you would need to clarify the word recover in the sentence. For example ''How could I recover my former title. More simply (and most of us prefer more simply) you may say, "How can I get it back".

Se me da mejor corregir inglés que escribir español.

Saludos

Poli

[Iris]

Pero si escribes español muy bien...

[Alfonso]

Thanks a lot for your corrections and explanations, Poli.

When I said talking register I was translating literally from Spanish.

Maybe it's a little technical word, but I'm really interested in finding out the accurate expression to distinguish between estilo y registro.

Registro can be formal / informal; cultured / non cultured.

Estilo is a more personal way of deciding how to talk or to write.

So, you can say that estilo is important for a writer; and registro is an exigency of the place, the environment or the people you are talking to.

Will you enlighten me on this subject, please?

[poli]

Originally Posted by Alfonso

Thanks a lot for your corrections and explanations, Poli.

When I said talking register I was translating literally from Spanish.

Maybe it's a little technical word, but I'm really interested in finding out the accurate expression to distinguish between estilo y registro.

Registro can be formal / informal; cultured / non cultured.

Estilo is a more personal way of deciding how to talk or to write.

So, you can say that estilo is important for a writer; and registro is an exigency of the place, the environment or the people you are talking to.

Will you enlighten me on this subject, please?

Alfonso,
This is very interesting. I am not sure there is a word that translates
directly for register in English, but if I understand you correctly the word is tone. Examples would be: The saleman at the jewelry store spoke to the penniless customer in a very dismissive tone. The jewelry salesman spoke to the wealthy customer in a flattering tone. The college professor spoke to me in a very condescending tone when I asked a stupid question . She spoke to her child in a very endearing tone.
¿Podría mostrarme como usarias registro una frase? Se puede decir, "El ladron habló en un registro amenazante a su victima"?

Poli

[Iris]

Poli,
I think that both "registro" and the English equivalent "register" are not words that you use in everyday conversations. It's more a technical term used by linguists to refer to the words, style and grammar used by speakers and writers in particular conditions.Look at this example: Official documents are written in a formal register.
I hope I helped.

[poli]

Iris,
That sounds right. Register is a high-tone word for tone--it seems. Excuse the pun. Perhaps register is best used to discribe written attitude and tone is best used when spoken attitude is discribed. Does that sound right?
Thanks.

Poli

[Iris]

I know register can be used for both written and spoken English, but I wouldn't be sure how to explain tone. Alfonso might be able to help...