salut and Bonjour

It sounds to me like when in English we use "good day" when speaking with someone that we don't know very well and "hello" or "hi" to friends and people that we are more intimate with. Could that be the difference ? Hey, why don't you upload that moving avatar that our friend left for you on that other topic? You might not appear quite so frightening

"Salut" is closer to "Hi" than "Hello", so you can use it whenever you like. It's not very polite, though, and is mostly used between friends, colleagues and acquaintances. If you're meeting someone for the first time, you'd use "Bonjour". Annoyingly, "Bonjour" is "Good day"... so if you meet someone in the evening you'd use "Bonsoir" instead. And also annoyingly, "Bonjour" is a greeting but "Bonsoir" can be used like "Aloha" or "Ciao" and used when you meet AND when you part (though most people switch to "(Passe une) Bonne soiree" instead - "Have a good evening"). "Good night" ("Bonne nuit") is only really used when someone's going to bed, much like in English. When people leave (during the day), they'll usually say "Au revoir" ("See you" or "Later"). They may say "A plus" if they're young and friends (which is much closer to "Later") or "A tout", which is short for "A tout de suite" ("See you in a minute") if they're just popping out and will be back shortly. Source: my lady is French and I spent 7.5 years living in Paris.

As what I've understand from translation application, it is much better to use Salut. Bonjour means Good morning while Salut means greeting. So, Salut therefore is for general. It could be by morning or by noontime or evening or even by dawn. hehe. Hope you've learn something from me.

Wow paris. everybody loves paris! I love Paris too