That's how people make me feel that start the online-conversation with "Guten Tag, wie geht es Ihnen?"*. God...! I am not that old guys! Well... but first things first! In German we've got two ways of saying "you". One form is formal, the other one is... well... less formal. I proudly present those two forms to you:
I know it's pointless to give an English translation here...
Well, seems like you cannot translate everything, right? Distinguishing between the two ways is pretty easy though. It's more or less the equivalent of calling somebody by his first name or by his family name. So you'll say "du" to Bob but you'll say "Sie" to Mr. Smith (Herr Schmidt would be the German equivalent of Mr. Smith).
Still you guys should be careful, especially when being from the US. We've got a little cultural difference here! Modern English lacks of this formal way to refer to a person and usually people will start using the first name quickly. So your business partner Mr. Smith might soon become your good old pal Bob. In Germany he would probably stay Herr Schmidt for much longer, maybe even for the rest of your life.
"Sie" is usually used when talking to people of respect or that you have a professional relation with. Business partners, teachers, your boss or strangers (adults) are usually among this group. Using "Sie" shows a certain amount of distance and is pretty impersonal. In case people might have to evaluate you they might also use "Sie" to keep a distance and to prevent personal feelings from influencing their evaluation. (god... that sounds so German)
I strongly reccomend you to use "du" when talking to friends, family members, random people on the web and kids or young people. In case you're a university student better use "du" when talking to other students. Even the German freshmen often confuse it, especially when talking to those poor postgraduates.
It also happens that people offer you the "du" which goes along with calling them by their first name.
"Hello, Mr. Smith!"As you can see we can be really polite! It might still sound like shouting and yelling... but it might be the most formal yelling you will ever hear.
"Call me Bob!"
*Another thing you should also know is that using "Guten Tag" is also a pretty formal way of saying hello. "Hallo" is perfectly fine in most situations, especially the less formal ones.
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Will it be fine if calling someone older (above 40 years old) with "du"? I don't want to make that person feels as if she/he is so old and wanted to make distance or prevent personal feelings. But I just wanted to give an impression that I respect him/her.
ReplyDeleteAnd if I met an old lady in the train, does using "du" to her is impolite?
Kindly advice on these :).
Danke.
In your case it's better to use "Sie". :)
ReplyDeleteThis will give the impression of respect and is simply... "appropriate".
Using "du" might feel weird for that person. The use of "Sie" doesn't mean that you have to be cold or unfriendly. As you just stated it yourself, it is also a sign of respect.
Kids for example will always use "Sie" when talking to their teacher for example. Their relationship can be really good and they might really like that teacher - but using "du" would be considered as rude in their situation. It might imply a lack of respect (or... bad manners). A teacher is no kid, so a kid shouldn't talk to a teacher the way it talks to kids.
In my example in the text above it's mainly this: The use of "Sie" is not appropriate when talking to me online ;)
On the web, people tend to encounter each other as "friends", although they might not know each other.
When a kid meets me on the streets and asks me for the direction then it will be very likely to use "Sie" though.
To make a long story short:
People at the age of 40 or above will not feel "old" when you're using "Sie" and they will also not feel too much of a distance. Using "du" would not be appropriate though.
I hope I made that clear for you :)
One more question ^^
ReplyDeleteMy German is still not perfect and sometimes when using "Sie" form to the older people, I forgot and saying "du" to them. Is it still fine? I hope it won't make her/him feel offended with me saying "du". ^^
Ah, you gave a clear explanation up there :). You're a good teacher ^^.
Danke Herr Alex :P
Since you're not German, people will usually not be too strict to you. So don't worry about that. ;) Many people will be aware that this can be confusing for you. Still you should try to do it right because if you're talking to people on the street a few might be less understanding.
ReplyDeleteDifferent than you, I for example really shouldn't make that mistake. The chance that it's causing negative reactions when a native is doing that thing wrong is pretty high.
Thank you so much for this!
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome :) If there's something you want to know that's not covered, please let me know. It might sometimes take a bit for me to take care of it, but you'll get a reply! :)
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