In the culture(s) where 'your' language is spoken, are there significant differences in the language when you are talking to family rather than strangers? older people rather than younger? men rather than women?
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The use of formal language in Urdu is distinct between when spoken and when written. Though official verb conjugations/word endings etc. follow the same rules when written and spoken, the difference lies in the level of formality in wording. When writing in English there is a difference in formal writing and informal despite our lack of a explicitly formal forms. It is the same case as in Urdu, however the difference in level of formality between spoken and written Urdu is even greater than in English. Only in "formal" settings does the spoken language reflect the formality of written Urdu.
Aside from formal settings, when speaking Urdu not much emphasis is placed on the wording of language. However, it remains important to use the correct forms of words - verb conjugations, formal endings to words etc. There are three forms when speaking directly to a person: 1 - "disrespectful/very familiar", 2 - "equality (of status)" and 3 - "respectful/higher authority". There is a distinction in genders, but gender in the language does not affect how one speaks to that gender, but only for noun/adjective ending agreement (like in Spanish or French.)
It is really different in Korean when you are talked with different people. Korean has honorific and non-honorific speech levels. Honorific speech also has two different verb endings, which are in the polite form and more formal form. A formal speech is mostly used only in very formal settings such as formal presentations, speeches, or the broadcasts, and when someone is talking to someone with a higher hierarchy. The less formal conversation is commonly used in everyday conversations as a polite form. Non-honorific form is used between very close friends and to their children. In addition, traditionally Korean women are often viewed as subservient to men, and this can be observed in their daily conversation. For example, Korean women get used talking with softer tone in order to minimize conflict or aggression.
Korean has 7 speech levels of formality. The formalities include honorific endings in verb, adjective, noun, quantifier, and adverb, as well as sentence endings (e.g., 시/으시) and normative pronouns (e.g., -께서). Different levels of formality apply to different age groups, levels of position, males and females. For example, the word "grandmother" is 할머니 (halmeoni), and the honorific version is 할머님 (halmeonim).
When you say "hello" to your peers, you can say 안녕 (annyeong) which is the informal version of "hello." When you talk to your elder brother, you can say 안녕하세요 (annyeong haseyo) which is the standard polite/ informal version; when you greet your professor, you need to say 안녕하십니까 (annyeong haseumnikka) which is the deferential polite/formal version.
All verbs and adjectives need to add the infix -시- (-si-) or -으시- (-eusi-) after the stem and before the ending. For example, the word "to go" is 가다 (gada), wheres the honorific version is 가시다 (gasida).
In addition, when you talk to or refer to senior colleagues or mentors, use 선배(Seonbae) , and you need to call yourself 후배 (Hubae)as refering to juniors.
I got the information from http://www.omniglot.com/writing/korean.htm
Cultural post #2
From what I have learned so far, there are some differences in language when you are talking to older people and strangers vs. friends or younger people. For example, saying "How are you" to your senior or to whom you want to show respect is "Nasılsınız?" but is "Nasılsın?" for someone you know well.
There is a difference in formal and informal language in Hindi. I learned that when you are talking to an elder or someone who is wiser or more significant than you, you must speak formally. However, if you are talking to your friends or someone at your age or younger, you can speak informally. In Hindi, the distinction between formal and informal are the words "tum" and "aap". They both mean the same thing but when asking "How are you", you will use either tum or aap to distinguish between formality. Tum is used informally, while aap is used formally. This is the main distinction I learned in the formal and informal words in Hindi.
Culture Post #2
This week I was able to meet with my Language partner twice, in which we were able to discuss formality and informality in the Urdu language. I found out that, according to him, Urdu for the most part is not so formal WHEN SPOKEN. However, in writing it is extremely formal. Seeing that my goal for this course will not be to learn how to write, or the alphabet, I chose to focus on the differences found when speaking the language. We mostly spoke about pronouns, and how pronouns change depending on who is being addressed.Unlike in English, but similar to my native language Spanish, pronouns hold different formalities. "You" in urdu can be either "tum" "tu" or "ap." Tu would only be used when talking to a close friend, as it would be considered offensive to refer to an elder, or person of higher rank as "tu." Tum is neutral, and then "ap" is the most formal. It is interesting that in Urdu, three different levels exist-- all increasing in rank/authority.