Are there significant differences in the language when you are talking to family rather than strangers? older people rather than younger ones? Are there class distinctions? Are there gender distinctions? What else do you know about formality and informality in cultures where 'your' language is spoken?
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Koreans mostly speak in the formal language so when it comes to speaking to a family member or a stranger, it is spoken in the same manner which is formally. They always show respect to the elderly so whenever anyone is talking to someone older than them they will always use formal language. The younger ones are spoken to informally but some families actually talk to their younger ones formally just so they can get used to speaking formally no matter what. After all, you can't go wrong with speaking formally and showing respect to the person you're speaking to. The only time anyone would use informal language is when speaking to friends and younger people. I asked my language partner more about this and she said there are no class/gender distinctions when talking to each other.
For example, when greeting a person older than you:
You would say Hello (Annyonghasaeyo) --> the "yo" part makes it very formal.
where as talking to your friend or someone younger than you:
You would say Hi (Annyong) --> It is much shorter and informal.
I learned that when in doubt, always speaking formally.
So I was interested in looking into this question for some other languages and I found this website. http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=2300189 Someone had asked this question on a forum and many other languages replied. Really REALLY cool. Korean, Turkish, Italian, and other languages are listed on there.
Thank you for this. It's an excellent reference.
I finally found the discussion!! Ok, In Hebrew there is no true "formality", at least not in the same sense as in other languages like Spanish. When you are speaking to your family, or a stranger, you use the same verb tenses and vocabulary. However, if you really want to be "formal", you can choose different vocabulary. Additionally, there is an ending a form of YOU that is almost never used:
Heinkha (masculine), Heinekh (feminine), Heinkhem (masculine plural), Heinkhen (Feminine plural).
Shir says that this is only used when you are trying to be VERY formal such as in a business interview, but otherwise it is never used even if you want to give deference to someone such as your grandmother. Hebrew tends to be a very informal language, which makes sense when you understand the culture as being very straightforward but community oriented.
In Farsi, different pronouns are used based on formality (or plurality). For example, toh (تو) and shoma (شما) both mean "you," but تو is used informally and شما is used formally. You would use تو to refer to someone younger than you or a peer, and you would use شما with someone who is your elder or a stranger. تو can be used for close family members, even parents, but شما is always used to show respect (for example, it would always be used with grandparents). There aren't really class or gender distinctions, and the lack of gender is interesting in Farsi. There are no gendered nouns or adjectives, and the pronouns used for he/she/it are all the same (او) as well as for they (آنها) -- there is no distinction between male or female.
In Persian culture, the importance of being polite is very high. I remember as a child, if I accidentally addressed a grandparent as toh instead of shoma, my parents would scold me for not being polite. There are also different ways to pronounce words if your intent is to be informal rather than formal. For example, the word for bread (نان) is pronounced as "naan" formally, but when speaking colloquially, the informal pronunciation "noon" is used.
The differences in pronunciation for formal and informal use is really interesting. Why do you suppose there is that difference?
I'm not exactly sure why, but I would guess that it is similar to a situation in English. For example, in English, if you were speaking to someone you respected or giving a presentation, you would make sure to clearly pronounce your words. But if you were talking to your friends, you would be much more lax about enunciating each word perfectly. I will have to ask my parents what they think and get back to you!
I was intrigued to find that in Gujarati, there are so many ways to refer to people based on age, relationship, status, etc. Where in English everyone is referred to as "you", in Gujarati, there are two forms of "you": tame and tu. These designations are based on formality. The formal "you" is based on respect. When greeting an individual older than yourself they are addressed using "tame". Whereas, when addressing a peer of the same age, "you" it would be used in the form of "tu". I found it easy to make this connection as, I've studied Spanish for 6 years, and the formal and informal nature of "you" is the same.
There are three gender distinctions in Gujarati - feminine, masculine and neutral. For example, girl is "chokri", boy is "chokro" and child is neutral - "chokru". Not only are gender distinctions applied to people in general, gender is also assigned to nouns. For example, chair (ખુરશી) is feminine and rubbish (કચરો) is masculine and toy (રમકડું) is neutral.
Does the use of formal and informal correspond completely to the Spanish?
Hindi is very much like Spanish as far as formality goes. There are informal pronouns and formal pronouns as follows:
I
We
You
They (informal)
He, She, It
They (Formal)
Formal pronouns are used to talk to elders and address people you don’t know. Respect is a big part of Indian culture. If someone is a year older than you, you have to use a formal pronoun to address them. Parents are always spoken to using formal pronouns. The rule is the same for all the other elders of the family, for example, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, etc. Depending on what part of India are you in, formal pronouns are also used for siblings. Also, siblings are referred to using a formal name. For example, a father is referred to as papa and mother is mummy. Similarly, a bother sibling is referred to as bhai, whereas, a sister sibling is called didi.
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