"Que no bien"

teachertraveler8,

According to Google Translate, it means "not good."

gazpacho

Thanks, Gazpacho. I was writing a pen-pal who used this expression and I think it is a colloquial phrase. I'm wondering if anyone knows how it is used? I thought it meant "not good" also, so I wrote back, "Porque no estas bien?" and she wrote, "Estoy bien", so that's why I'm perplexed about the meaning.

teachertraveler8,

I understand. It would be nice if one of our Spanish members of this site would answer.

gazpacho

I found out...First, I had it wrong, it was "que bien no" Second, my penpal is notorious for not using punctuation, so it is "Que bien, ?no?" Meaning...That's great! It's so helpful to have a native speaker living at my house now!

teachertraveler8,

I type letters to my Spanish friends using MS Word. They always send me handwritten letters. And I have a heck of a time deciphering them. Some sentences I just give up on. I have a Christmas card right now, I'm still trying to figure out. It's not the language, its the penmanship.

gazpacho

Hahahaa... .SEE, PEOPLE, what happens when we don't use punctuation?!?! Man, that's a serious pet peeve of mine. I some English-speaker friends (sorry, don't mean to generalize, but in all cases they're British) who write entire paragraphs without a single punctuation mark or capital letter. It's infuriating trying to read it.

Saludos, MadridMan

"I some English-speaker friends" That would be - " I HAVE some English SPEAKING friends " jejejejejejejeje . I love the Brit-American debate !!!

No Steve,

I think what you're pointing out is a Brit vs. MadridMan debate. Obviously he was typing late at night, or he had an errant keyboard. But you're right, he slaughtered our language.

At one time, when I looked at all the typos and misuse of the language on this board, it drove me crazy. But then I noticed that some of my posts weren't much better.

gazpacho

Actually Gazpacho , you´re right .. And I often have to go back to my posts to correct typos . Normally MM does that before he posts so it was just "amusing" .
I have had big conversations here about the difference between UK and USA English . Always good fun . Many things you use , or are considered correct , in the USA would fail you in your exams / tests in the UK . The one that springs to mind is "gonna" ...completely unacceptable in the UK . But there are so many differences in our shared language . Sidewalk=pavement , hood=bonnet , trunk=boot , rubber = eraser .. not condom ! When you guys say "i´m pissed" it means you´re unhappy .. in the UK it means you´re drunk .
I had to teach all this sort of stuff to a business client .
It´s really interesting for me . My flatmate ( from Perú) spent 14 years in Chicago so I often hear the differences when he speaks .
As a footnote .. Some schools ( business and for kids ) here insist that you teach both American and UK English . Especially the business clients . Having always been close to colleagues in NYC , Chicago and San Francisco in my previous life in finance I had a head start on my teacher colleagues , especially the 22 year olds arriving here in Madrid having had no real interaction with Europe .
I´m still learning about American English and I love being educated about it .
JD Salinger died a few days ago ... Catcher in the Rye was an amazing book .. The way it was written was so American . One of my all time favourite writers is Jack Kerouac .. very American style ( though from Lowell, Massachusetts he was born of parents fro Quebec I believe ) .
A film I watched many years ago was "The Dead Poets´society" with Robin Williams and Sean Robert Leonard . Had I not seen that amazing film I would never had learnt about Walt Whitman´s poetry .. an amazing poet .
In school we studied the English language classics .. but always UK based . That´s to say - Shakespeare , William Golding , Jane Austen , George Eliot and the "war poets" such as WH Auden , Siegfried Sassoon and , my absolute favourite , Wilfred Owen . We never studied the American classics which was a shame . I´m trying to catch up !