Question about the Spanish word "conveniente"
I am pretty confused about the word "conveniente". What is the proper situation to use it ?

My Spanish teacher said the English word "convenient" is not equal to "conveniente". But I checked several dictionaries they all translated "convenient" into "conveniente".

I know if you want to say the public transportation of a city is very convenient, then you should use " bien comunicado". So I guess there are different words for different situations to refer to the English word "convenient". What situations we can really use "conveniente" in Spanish sentence?

Question

Question about the Spanish word "conveniente"
I am pretty confused about the word "conveniente". What is the proper situation to use it ?

My Spanish teacher said the English word "convenient" is not equal to "conveniente". But I checked several dictionaries they all translated "convenient" into "conveniente".

I know if you want to say the public transportation of a city is very convenient, then you should use " bien comunicado". So I guess there are different words for different situations to refer to the English word "convenient". What situations we can really use "conveniente" in Spanish sentence?

Answer

The first use I can think of is "appropriate". It would be appropriate to book the hotel in advance. -> Sería conveniente reservar el hotel con antelación.

When I face this kind of "dilemmas" I like to refer to the more reputable source in both languages. The definition of the word "conveniente" in the dictionary of the Real Academia is: useful, timely and fruitful.

The Oxford Dictionary defines convenient as: Fitting in well with a person's needs, activities, and plans. Which would translate to "cómodo" in Spanish.

Answer

It's a common problem. We even have a name for it in English,  it's called FALSE FRIEND - if it sounds similar in the 2 languages but the words have different meanings :)

Answer

Puedes traducir "conveniente" como "convenient" en inglés. 
En español, cuando dices que algo es "conveniente" significa que te conviene, que brinda algún  beneficio, que es útil y que es adecuado. Algo puede ser conveniente porque es rápido, sencillo, o barato.
Debes saber que no usamos esta palabra como se usa en chino la palabra 方便.
Lo menciono porque en español no acostumbramos preguntar, por ejemplo:

¿Es conveniente para ti vernos mañana a las tres de la tarde?
 
En este caso, sería mejor preguntar:
¿Podemos vernos mañana a las tres de la tarde? (No usaríamos la palabra "conveniente" en este caso).

Puedes usar la palabra "conveniente" en este caso:
Usar el transporte público es  conveniente porque no tienes que preocuparte por encontrar estacionamiento.

I hope that helps you!