Speaking of, [...] or Verbing, [...]?

Question

I started out wondering if there was any Spanish analogy to the English construction `Speaking of, [independent clause]` as in >Speaking of potatoes, I love them. The most obvious possibility is >Hablando de las papas, las amo. but to my (untrained) ear this sounds weird. ____ Then I realized that in English, the construction `Verbing, [independent clause]` is more widespread. For example, >Walking to the post office, I saw John. In Spanish could this be >Caminando a la oficina de correos, vi a John. or would you have to say something like >Mientras estaba caminando a la oficina de correos, vi a John. ? More importantly, *is this natural? Do people actually talk like this?*

Answer 1

Your instinct (Hablando de las papas, las amo) is understandable, but in real Spanish it sounds odd. Native speakers don’t usually use “Hablando de…” this way in everyday speech.

More natural options are:

1. A propósito de… (apropos of…)
2. A propósito de las papas, me encantan.
3. Hablando de… is possible, but almost always as a full phrase before a clause, in conversations, like:
4. Hablando de comida, ¿te gustan las papas?
5. It works, but it’s more like “Since we’re on the subject of…” rather than the flexible English “Speaking of…”

So yes, Hablando de… exists, but A propósito de… is often more idiomatic.

Answer 2

While it may sound weird to you now, the phrase you're mentioning is used in a lot of Spanish speaking countries.

A conversation might go like this:

+Ayer fui al parque y me encontré con tu hermana. Ella me dijo que cambiaste de trabajo.

-Si, hablando de mi hermana. ¿Sabias que se casa este mes?

Also the construction of a sentence in the form:

"Caminando a la oficina de correos, vi a John."

Is correct, however it's important to understand that this may not apply to every situation.