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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There are two types of Hebrew: Sephardic (Hebrew that was spoken by those of the Mediterranean) and Ashkenasic (Hebrew that was spoken by those in Central Europe). They have different accents and pronounce certain letters differently. The Sephardic pronunciation is used in Israel. Hebrew has no set formal and informal tenses but using the feminine plural in second of third person is typically seen to be formal. There is also no set tense/word differences regarding age. There is a big difference in words for males and females. Not only do they have 2 sets of numbers (one male and one female) but verbs are also conjugated differently for males and females. Something I find interesting is that subjects are not given a gender.
Yes Indian culture values respect for elders it reflects on their traditions, ideals, and language. When talking to someone older than you one needs to talk to them in a respectable manner using different pronouns. For example when referring to an older person one needs to use the pronoun ‘aap’ (your) versus ‘tu’ or ‘tum’ (you). ‘Aap’ is the respectable way of addressing someone who has aged more and has more wisdom than you. Also when addressing older people by their name one needs to add ‘jee’ at the end to show politeness and respect. It’s usually placed after people’s first or last names, and for both male and female. In the case of the name Ram Singh, it can either be ’Ram jee’ or ’Singh jee’.
In Hebrew, there is technically no formal version of the language. When speaking formally, often the feminine version of pronouns are used in second and third person speech. However, unlike spanish, which is the other language I have studied, there is no formal pronoun. I think this is really interesting, and probably says something about the blunt and abrupt Israeli culture. There are not really differences in the way you address people, but there are differences in the way you are addressed. For example, older generations will pronounce certain letters differently, while younger generations will pronounce them another way. When doing business transactions or something like that, I know it is prized when businessmen/women are informal with each other and are down to earth and act like they know each other. This is also probably due to the no-nonsense Israeli culture that does not want to waste any time on formalities.
Yes, there are differences between the two. When speaking to someone informally, you use the "you" version "tum". Whereas when speaking formally to someone, such as an elder, you use the "you" version "aap". This is very important because if you dont use "aap" with an elder then it is considered very rude, while if you use "aap" instead of "tum" with someone younger to you, or the same age as you - it is considered very weird. Also, in India it is very common to have servants to do household work for you. Seeing as those people are technically under you, the boss is supposed to use "tum" towards them, even if the servant is older. Also, unlike in the english language, there is a distinction between feminine and masculine. Usually the last letter becomes an "i" when speaking of yourself and you are a girl.
Since Swedes are in general pretty informal and because their society is very egalitarian, it is very rare that you would use formal Swedish phrases and terms. Sometimes I will look up a phrase and my language partner will tell me that the way I had found to express myself was overly formal and that, although people would understand me, they would probably think I was very strange or a stranger to the informal language structures. For instance, there are words for Sir and Madam (Herr and Dam) but Swedes hardly ever use them (except maybe to point to the bathrooms in a restaurant) and you are far more likely to call (even people who are your superiors) just by their first names.
Ukrainian language has its own interesting aspects of conversation conduct that I will attempt to describe. When among family there are barely any differences in the way the language is spoken with family members opposed to random people. The only prominent difference is that among your family circle you would not need to call your mom, brother, dad, or sister by their full first and middle name, which is something that Ukrainian people do to show respect to who they converse with. However, when approaching an older male or female stranger, or even person that you are not quite yet familiar with, it is appropriate to pay your respect to them by calling the males "uncle" and the females "aunt". It is also optional to add their respective names followed by either "uncle" or "aunt" if you are more or less familiar with them. Older people almost always prefer to be called by their full name followed by their middle name, it's a sign of respect to the elderly, similarly to how Americans add the Mr. and Ms. before a person's last name to show their respect, really the same idea but different execution. Fun fact: Ukrainian middle names are always your father's name ending with an "ovich". So for example, my dad's name is Michael, so my middle name would be Michaelovich. As in almost all languages, the younger generation always tends to shorten their full name to something more playful and melodic that elders and their friends call them by. In terms of women opposed to men, there are really no significant differences unless there is an age difference, resulting in the younger party calling the older party by their full first and middle name and vice versa. It is also common to call your friends, male and female, by their last name.
Swedish people tend to be known as pretty informal people. Almost all relationships tend to be informal by calling everyone by their first name opposed to Mr. and Mrs. Titles are not that important in Sweden. It is also interesting to note that in languages like Spanish when talking to a teacher or someone you hold respect for you would use Uds instead of tu. While in Swedish you use du (you) for who every you are talking to, regardless the rank. Louise told of us how in companies all the higher CEOs are basically on the same level when it comes to respect. Although one may have a higher title than another, they are all friends and treat each other pretty informally. I thought this was an interesting article that describes how the Swedish language lost it's formality.
http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Education/Swedish-language/Reading/Ho...
This link no longer works. Is this the same article: http://archive.is/o0Vq ?