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Forms of address
Sep. 25th, 2001 12:18 amOK, anyone who speaks Spanish or French, listen up...
In Spanish, when can I address someone with the informal "tú" rather than the formal "usted"?
And in French, when can I address someone with the informal "tu" rather than the formal "vous"?
OK, strangers on the street I'll use the formal address, obviously. But with fellow travelers in the hostel, with whom I'll likely speak several times, can I just jump into the familiar forms? Do I use formal address the first day, and informal the second day on? Do the rules differ between men and women?
I'm pretty confident with the German "du" vs "Sie" question, as "du" is for first-name people and "Sie" is for last-name people and that's the rule, and I can handle that. But I've heard only the vaguest of guidelines for French and Spanish.
And, of course, like most Yanks speaking Japanese, I'll talk like a little girl all the time just to keep from offending anyone.
In Spanish, when can I address someone with the informal "tú" rather than the formal "usted"?
And in French, when can I address someone with the informal "tu" rather than the formal "vous"?
OK, strangers on the street I'll use the formal address, obviously. But with fellow travelers in the hostel, with whom I'll likely speak several times, can I just jump into the familiar forms? Do I use formal address the first day, and informal the second day on? Do the rules differ between men and women?
I'm pretty confident with the German "du" vs "Sie" question, as "du" is for first-name people and "Sie" is for last-name people and that's the rule, and I can handle that. But I've heard only the vaguest of guidelines for French and Spanish.
And, of course, like most Yanks speaking Japanese, I'll talk like a little girl all the time just to keep from offending anyone.
