Indeed the general concept applies also to Asia where, for example, whole sentences in Japanese will be different, depending on what level of politeness you need to use. Remember that old 80’s pop song “Domo arigato Mister Roboto” from Styx? “Domo” means “thanks” in Japanese; “domo arigato”, one level of politeness up, means “thank you very much”. Take it up one more notch and it is “domo arigato gozaimasu”, which would be like “thank you very much with sugar on top”. You get the picture.

Back to Europe. The distiction between the formal and informal you (in French vous/tu, in spanish usted/tu, in German Sie/du) is an understated way (and so many things in Europe are understated – concepts like Las Vegas and bling bling are children of the new world) to distance yourself from others.

One way to understand the two forms of you is to think of people whom you have never called by their first name. Mr. Becker was our elderly neighbor for almost 20 years; not even my parents would have thought to call him by his first name. If there was a formal you in English, you can bet we would have used it with him.

In general, the barriers are falling as people who would be Herr Schmitt and Monsieur LaCroix change to Klaus and Francois during meetings in English. In Sweden they have just about buried their formal “you” form, which just goes to show how progressive and egalitarian Sweden is.

Helmut Kohl, who was chancelor of Germany from 1982 to 1998, was not known for his expert command of the English language. The story goes that when he first met Ronald Reagan, he shook hands and said “you can say you to me”. Germans find this story very amusing, but there are few Americans who understood the context – Kohl was offering to Reagan that they could be informal and use first names. I wonder how the interpreters got that one straightened out?

Post from: EveryJoe

You can say you to me