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How polite is your language? | ||
Tags: Polite/Informal Forms | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Cultural Experiences in Foreign Languages |  | |
| Dagane Triglot Senior Member SpainRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4508 days ago 259 posts - 324 votes  Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishB2, Galician Studies: German Studies: Czech | Message 25 of 51 28 August 2012 at 6:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I have changed the forms of "vos" and "usted" in my previous message. I promise I had a flash telling me that was wrong when I went to bed!! But waking up and turning the computer on again didn't worth :). By the way, Tractor, you have explained it fine.
I also thought about other 'vos' usage and I remembered that it's used sometimes in other situations, but all of them are extremely formal and ancient. One example is "vuestra merced" (relatively spreaded). In an ancient but not necessary too 'high' situation, also "vuestra hermosura" (formerly "vuestra beldad"), "vuestra presencia", "vuestro interés", and so on and on. In conclusion, it's a form confined mainly to the ancient literature and to some dialogues in modern films and books which narrates ancient histories and fantasy stories. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4704 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 26 of 51 28 August 2012 at 7:40pm | IP Logged | |||||
I agree, and I get called this all the time. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4712 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 27 of 51 28 August 2012 at 9:56pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Probably this is a cultural thing, since we Brazilians tend to be friendly to everyone from the start and address everyone with "você" (except for the elderly), but I feel reaaaaally uncomfortable using the the Russian polite form "вы" to address my in-laws.
My wife says it's right to do so, but still, it's like a red alert goes off in my brain shouting "O-V-E-R-L-Y P-O-L-I-T-E". I'll probably get used to it, but I think it's really funny that I have this "internal" reaction. EDIT: Just out of curiosity, we usually address people with "você", but if you go to a bank or a restaurant, the attendant/waiter will most likely address you with "o senhor" or "a senhora", which is the same we use with elders. That might be risky though, because it implies you're calling the person "old". =P Edited by fabriciocarraro on 28 August 2012 at 10:04pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| FELlX Diglot Groupie France Joined 4767 days ago 94 posts - 149 votes Speaks: French*, English | Message 28 of 51 28 August 2012 at 10:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
One thing that would be interesting to develop is how "tu"/"vous" (and other equivalents in other languages) is used on the Internet. Generally in forums, and in most communities, the familiar form is the norm. Therefore it is more and more frequent to meet people (on the Internet, then possibly IRL) without ever using the formal pronoun to talk to them. Is it also the same in other languages? 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4712 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 29 of 51 28 August 2012 at 10:22pm | IP Logged | |||||
Yes, I've never used the formal approach on the internet, even when e-mailing my former and current bosses. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Josquin Heptaglot Senior Member Germany Joined 4841 days ago 2266 posts - 3992 votes Speaks: German*, English, French, Latin, Italian, Russian, Swedish Studies: Japanese, Irish, Portuguese, Persian | Message 30 of 51 29 August 2012 at 12:06am | IP Logged | |||||
It depends. On HTLAL and other forums, I would always use "du", but on some more official pages like newspapers (FAZ, Süddeutsche) or Amazon.de, people tend to use "Sie". 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5053 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 31 of 51 29 August 2012 at 11:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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On the Lingvoforum, where I’m banned now, they call everyone «вы», until a person asks to
be called «ты». But on other forums it is not the case. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4769 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 32 of 51 29 August 2012 at 11:17am | IP Logged | |||||
As for Japanese language websites, I just adjust my politeness level to how the other people on the thread are writing, since in places like YouTube comment threads the politeness levels can vary depending on the kind of video that is being discussed. Now that I look at my last post on the Japanese thread (let's see if I can make this link correctly - here), I'm not sure if I wrote it in a consistent style. Most of it is in 丁寧語 (polite language), the quote of my "thoughts" is in plain language (I meant to make it sound somewhat silly and cartoonish and it wasn't really addressing the audience, so that was intentional), while the last phrase, the Japanese translation of "The rest is history", ends in である, a form that is formal, but not polite. The latter style is more common in newspapers and encyclopedias - "serious" writings that aren't addressed to anyone in particular. I assumed that 残りは歴史である was a stock phrase, like its English equivalent, but now I'm wondering if I should have used であります to keep the style consistent. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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