Cultural Differences - Parts of the Day

One issue that often comes up when understanding and appreciating cultural differences in the classroom is Spain’s daily schedule, which often doesn’t coincide with that of other countries.

To start with it is interesting to remember that Spain finds itself “outside” of the appropriate time zone that would correspond with its longitude, since the vast majority of the country is situated west of the prime meridian. Spain should be “synchronized” with Britain or Portugal, but it is not. Do you know why?

Spain's Time Zone

A little bit of history: in 1940, just after the end of the Spanish Civil War, when Franco had secured power, he decided to adapt Spanish time to that of Hitler’s Germany. Theoretically, this change should have been “undone” but the truth is that it has continued until today. There have been calls demanding the implantation of the old time zone to “normalize” the Spanish schedule and adapt it to the longitude of the country. Many people are of the opinion that the time difference between the Canaries and the Peninsula should be eliminated, which would bring an end to a phrase that can always be heard on Spanish radio programs: “It is three o’ clock…an hour earlier in the Canaries.”

Perhaps this “lag” time is the reason that many important times in Spain: our meal times, dinner, opening hours of shops and public organizations…surprise our visitors.

One activity that I have done in class that has been interesting is to give students program schedules of the most important general television channels and ask them to analyze the listings; for example, the air times of the news and “newscasts”.  We know that these times often coincide with those of the main meals of the day.

Greeting in Spanish

Another interesting question is the use of greetings. What time do we start saying “good afternoon” and stop saying “good morning..? When do we say "good evening"?

Most students tend to look for a specific point in time that marks the barrier between using these greetings…it is not that simple. I use some pictures in the classroom that show a clock striking 2:30 pm as two women cross the street. One says “good morning, Marta” and the other responds: “Good afternoon, where are you going so quickly?” I ask the students to discuss what they think is happening here, and after a few moments of talking, I explain to them that many Spaniards will say “good morning” up until immediately after lunch. Therefore, the first woman was in a hurry for lunch while the second woman had finished eating.

In the case of “goodnight” and “good afternoon”, I explain that the difference is based upon sunlight, something so simple and yet so important. Thus we can find that at 8 pm in January we would say “good night” but at the same time in August we would use a cheery “good afternoon”.

I find the following graph very interesting to talk about in the classroom. I found it in the Santander “Diario Montañés” a few years ago and am grateful for the fantastic work of its designers: G. de las Heras and I. Toledo. I hope you find it useful also.