Poco a poco?
My Spanish mother-in-law just greeted me by asking "poco a poco?". I know the literal translation would be "little by little" but it seemed like an odd question. When used as a greeting, what does this phrase mean and what is the proper response?
2 Answers
Hello Melissa,
Welcome to our Spanishdict community forum 
Reading between the lines here, due to lack of a full context (ie: I wasn't present in your conversation) and hopefully an inspired guess too, your native Spanish mother in law is possibly asking you if you are going to learn Spanish/ use more of your Spanish / make progress in your Spanish: " poco a poco" = Little by little 
Again, possibly reading between the línes and I could be mistaken, her experience of non native Spanish speakers generally could be that they usually take a long time to build up.language skills to a sufficient level to be able to told a basic conversation in her native language of Spanish. What she may be hinting at is that wants or to be able to talk/ chat with you in her native language!
The correct response will varu according to people's individual circunstancia but you could respond by saying that you are learning Spanish 'little by little' .
Aprendo español poco a poco = I learn/ am learning Spanish little by little
and then see how she responds!
May I take the liberty of asking you some questions, please?
1.How long have you been learning Spanish?
2.Does your husband/ partner support you in your endeavour to learn the language?
3.What are your (estimated) levels of proficiemcy (ability) in.Spanish? ie: beginner, intermediate or advanced?
4.Have you tried speaking a little Spanish and how did she respond to you?
I hope this helps
I am a beginner. My husband speaks fluent English, and he has taught me a few words and phrases over the last two years, but it was only recently that I have been seriously trying to learn. His parents just arrived two days ago and are spending a month with us, so I've been doing my best to communicate. So far I've been doing okay but when I woke this morning and she said buenos días, poco a poco, I was pretty stumped. Thanks for your help!
