Categories: germany, translation, triumphs
Date: 13 October 2008 17:09:25
getting to know all about you!
Anyone who learned French, German or Spanish at school will remember that there are two forms of address*; the formal (vous, Sie, usted) used for people you don't know well or where respect is required and the informal (tu, Du, tú) for family, friends and - erm - animals.
Since the middle of last month, I have been corresponding with a prospective new client. As you might expect we have been very polite and addressed one another as Herr Klient and Frau Tiggywinkle and remembered (in my case) to use capital letters for all the personal pronouns. Herr Klient was setting up a new website which will require little correspondence in the future as much of the mundane stuff will be carried out automatically. There were a few teething troubles which resulted in much to-ing and fro-ing to try and sort it out.
It seems that this morning all is well with the system. Herr Klient celebrated by breaking with convention and addressing me as Kerensa - but still using Sie. I have no problem with this at all. This whole Du/Sie business is a bit of a minefield and is becoming a larger one the older I get.
When I was a young whippersnapper, I could just fit in with convention and call anyone older than myself "Sie". This was a wonderful catch-all as most people were older than I was. The convention seems to be that you wait until the other person starts to call you Du and then you can follow suit (in some cases, this never happens. Colleagues may work together for 30 years, see each other every day and even go to the pub together and still be calling each other Sie when they attend each other's retirement parties). Nowadays, I am at that glorious age when there are quite a lot of people younger than I, but also (probably/hopefully) still greater numbers of people older. The problem with faceless e-mail is that you have no idea how old your correspondent is. Am I the one to take the lead in calling others Du? My general policy, I think, is to stick with being safe and call everyone Sie. I can always hide behind the good old tradition of British politeness. I'd rather be seen as quaint than cause great offence.
I'll let you know when Herr Klient starts getting chummy and calls me Du.
*English dropped this convention goodness how many centuries ago. Thou/thee etc are probably only still used in some northern English dialects. Interesting, isn't it, that we address one another with the formal "you" irrespective of the level of relationship and yet in (traditional) prayers address God as Thou?