Comments on: Voulez-vous coucher…

By: théo-Montpell

théo-Montpell — Thu, 04 Nov 2004 14:01:24 +0000

Point de vue d’un français: i found it cute when native english speakers use “tu” instead of “vous”…I don’t feel offended, even in a professional context. I’ll feel at ease and use “tu” myself: native english, your mistakes are a strengh for you !!! A frenchman that would be offended bye a “tu” would really have a problem of ego i think…It is so seldom that anglosaxon learn to speak french, that we really excuse such details as a “tu”.
I continue in french: Bien au contraire, les anglosaxons, en particulier américains ont une spontanéité que j’apprécie particulièrement. Que le “vous” n’existe pas en anglais en est un signe. La société française est assez ouverte pour ne pas focaliser sur de tels détails, dumoins je l’espère.:wink:

By: Katia

Katia — Mon, 25 Oct 2004 19:22:14 +0000

I use “vous” for my FIL and “tu” for my MIL. That’s because at the very beginning, my FIL told me a big long story about how it was all about tradition and respect which means that one must always use “vous” for ones parents in law. My MIL, however, crept up to me five minutes later and insisted that tradition is ridiculous and I use “tu” when speaking to her.

I’m still only just coming to grips with the language, and find that I accidentally slip between “vous” and “tu” at times. Most people just laugh it off. I do find it very hard to move from a “vous” relationship to a “tu” relationship in a work situation. I never know what to do.

By: Miss Tra-La-La

Miss Tra-La-La — Wed, 20 Oct 2004 18:30:46 +0000

This tutoyment business annoys me. Here in Brussels people tend to use “tu” a lot more than seems appropriate to me. Shopkeepers, policemen, delivery men, salesmen, colleagues in the office and generally complete strangers all insist on addressing me as “tu”, while I stubbornly soldier on with the “vous”. After 22 years of living in the UK, I am just no longer used to the “tu” and hearing it irritates my ear!

By: Natalie

Natalie — Sun, 17 Oct 2004 00:04:18 +0000

Be glad you are not dealing with Thai, which has, as I recall, 54 different honorifics, depending on the relative status of each person in the conversation.

Most foreigners (and of course in Thailand you have the advantage of your foreigness being immediately visible) simply learn the medium/high polite term “Khun” and use that for more or less everybody.

I had a real ethical problem, however, when I got a maid, who I should by rights have called Nu (literally mouse), also the term used for children, because of my relatively high status. I deliberately decided, however, that I wouldn’t do this, even though she was uncomfortable with “Khun”. You can take “going native” only so far.

By: Root

Root — Fri, 15 Oct 2004 21:43:09 +0000

Only the French could worry about the proper form prior to getting their kit off. N’est pas ?