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Why Koreans ask what year you were born

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Re: Why Koreans ask what year you were born

#371

Post by pyman »

sensanaty wrote: post #366
bambax wrote: post #6

> The younger person also addresses the older person, usually with a title or another word that fits their relationship, but not their name. Only the older person addresses the younger one with their name. (There can be more nuance.) I love this. I'm an old French guy and still can't quite accept when srangers in an email (or a machine, a system, a web form) adress me using my first name. Being "on a first name basis…

It's interesting for me as I'm Serbian but grew up in Indonesia. In Serbian we very much have honorifics (I think honorifics is the wrong word, not sure what the correct one is) and rules like "Younger always addresses the older with vi instead of ti, and vama instead of tebi etc. unless you're relatives or are close", but it also applies generally for strangers, so even if you're the same age or even if you're older…

I live in Montevideo, here people use "usted" (the formal "you" in Spanish) to show respect to older people. But there's no strict rule about when to switch from "tu" (informal you) to "usted". So you kind of guess based on how old someone looks.

The problem is, if you say "usted" to someone who doesn't see themselves as old, they might take offence. So, trying to be polite in Uruguay can backfire if your mental age calculation is off!

Re: Why Koreans ask what year you were born

#372

Post by tandoei »

dkga wrote: post #173

I find it surprising actually how much these seniority rules are well-defined in many cultures, but in Brazil there is strong variation - even in the same geography. For example, a colleague who is learning Brazilian Portuguese was under the impression that "você" and "tu" were the equivalent of "vous/tu" or "Sie/du". In reality, they are just different regional ways of saying the informal you. In Brazilian Portugues…

It can't be a coincidence that my Mexican family we were also taught to not use the formal 'usted' as it's too distant and actually has the opposite effect of making others feel disrespected. It's intentionally used when talking badly about someone similar to 'well YOU {usually bad thing but the emphasis on the formal you makes this feel more impactful}'

Re: Why Koreans ask what year you were born

#374

Post by whstl »

Melonai wrote: post #359
whstl wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Germany I never had someone go to those lengths, but I've once made someone visible irritated when I used "du" instead of the more formal "Sie" . Of course I didn't notice but a friend just clued me into it right after. Thing is, in Berlin nobody really cares I guess, but this time I was in the country... oooooops...

Interesting. In Germany I've always had the opposite issue of my superiors vastly preferring I used "du" for them instead of "sie". I've always had some trouble with that since in Russia you usually try to address senior employees, your teachers and professors formally, although tech companies are as usual a big exception. Many people were quite unhappy when I kept slipping up and being too formal with them afterward…

I think the issue is people you never talked with before! For people I know, you’re right, they prefer du.

Re: Why Koreans ask what year you were born

#375

Post by MiguelX413 »

troad wrote: post #361
triceratops wrote: post #316

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> People used "thou" (the familiar form) in conversations with God. People used "you" as a singular pronoun to be polite. Why didn't people address God with "you"?

> Why didn't people address God with "you"? Even today, this tends to be the case in European languages that distinguish familiar and polite pronouns (what linguists call the T-V distinction). God tends to be an exception to the usual T-V rules. The reason for this is that in all these languages, thou started out as simply the singular and you as the plural, with no politeness dimension at all. Using the plural prono…

That isn't a fossilized exception, it's intentional. God is supposed to be close and personal.

Re: Why Koreans ask what year you were born

#376

Post by make3 »

nc0 wrote: post #303
make3 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like tu vs vous is extra annoying in French when you're speaking to someone who's not a stranger. I have no desire to judge if you think you're too famous of eg a professor for me to say tu, your success doesn't create a hierarchy between us, and it's annoying if you think so. I much prefer English for that.

It's not really a question of fame but more of respect, we are not relatives, so you do not use tu.

it's ok if we both do it, not just one

Re: Why Koreans ask what year you were born

#377

Post by [deleted] »

MiguelX413 wrote: post #375
troad wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Why didn't people address God with "you"? Even today, this tends to be the case in European languages that distinguish familiar and polite pronouns (what linguists call the T-V distinction). God tends to be an exception to the usual T-V rules. The reason for this is that in all these languages, thou started out as simply the singular and you as the plural, with no politeness dimension at all. Using the plural prono…

That isn't a fossilized exception, it's intentional. God is supposed to be close and personal.

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