Timeline for Should a letter to a future host family be formal or informal?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
4 events
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| Mar 2, 2016 at 11:47 | comment | added | Thorsten Dittmar | While it's a tradition in Germany (and maybe in other countries with a Du/Sie distinction) that the "Du" is always offered by the older person, it could be OK in a hosting family to simply ask how you should address the parents. Also with adults of about the same age, most of the time one of them will ask Können wir einfach "Du" sagen?. You see, more often than not the key is communication :-D | |
| Mar 2, 2016 at 10:29 | comment | added | Janek Bevendorff | Adding to that: the correct choice between formal vs. informal adress is sometimes very unclear, even when talking face to face. Sometimes you want to use du but are not quite sure if it's okay while the other person feels the same. In the end you try to make a conversation without any personal pronouns or use du in one sentence and Sie in the next which is really awkward and something I hate about German. Very often someone will propose the Du at last, but sometimes this style of conversation goes on and on. | |
| Mar 2, 2016 at 9:00 | history | edited | Thorsten Dittmar | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 11 characters in body
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| Mar 2, 2016 at 8:45 | history | answered | Thorsten Dittmar | CC BY-SA 3.0 |