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Eugen Rochko

I'm translating the app into German and wondering if "you" should be "Sie" or "du" 🤔 What is the expected form in apps nowadays?

24 comments
Dave Lane 🇳🇿

@Gargron good question - keen to know what you find out!

Григорий Клюшников

Coming from Russian (you do speak it too, right?) it's always interesting to see what the convention is in different languages. I'm used to UIs addressing me formally (Вы == Sie) because everyone's been doing that since forever. But then in Spanish it's "tu", everywhere. German translation in Smithereen is also using "du".

Thaal Sinestro

@grishka
From my Russian friends, I gather the informal is relatively rarely used.

Григорий Клюшников

Thaal Sinestro, kinda yes, generally "ты" is only used with people around your age and younger (except when someone is serving you, then it's "Вы" regardless), your friends (and their friends), your relatives... It's complicated and I don't think there are formal rules on that. Some staff in some trendy coffee shops would sometimes use "ты" with their customers but I personally find that a bit cringy.

Thaal Sinestro

@grishka
That was my understanding. Not entirely unlike the rules for "vous" and "tu" in French ... thank you for your response.

Deuchnord

@grishka @Gargron in French, the apps normally use the formal form « vous »

Parnikkapore

@Gargron I think Masto is going for playful and informal enough to warrant "du".

Michal :verified:

@Gargron Maybe add a new language choice - "German (formal)" for those that don't like to get too close to their apps :)

Mark B Tomlinson

@Gargron use Du, it is fine I am an old fart and prefer it to Sie in apps and most online correspondence.
Sie is slowly going from online use and even causal conversations.
So let's duzen.

Deuchnord

@Gargron I’m interested too about that.
On a personal project, I have translated with Sie, but I’m not a German native speaker, so I may have been mistaken 😅

Aron A. Hohmann :fedora:

@Gargron As far as I can tell, direct speech is usually avoided in apps in German, instead opting for a more indirect infinitive form when possible (although the past years have shown an increase of "du" in ads and apps alike).

kurtus

@Gargron 'sie' is a so called person of respect, an elder one for instance. 'du' is called a well known person or college.

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