#formal speech

[charactervoicecollection]

Samurai Jack from "Samurai Jack", played by Phil LaMarr

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"Enough! You are my mirror image, yet your speech is foul with evil and disrespect! Who are you, and how have you come to be me?"

"Please understand, I have spent my lifetime preparing to come face-to-face with Aku. Fulfilling this goal would forever change my life."

"I have hoped that just once I would not have to battle for my goal, because it is noble and just. But I see that this is impossible. I must use the power of this time passage, and so I will defeat you."

[incognitopolls]

For people whose FIRST language has formal speech (e.g. Spanish tu vs usted) do you have trouble knowing when to use it?

Yes, sometimes, and I'm autistic

Yes, sometimes, not autistic

I always know when to use it, and I'm autistic

I always know when to use it, not autistic

Other

My first language doesn't have formal speech/see results

Voting ended onMar 5, 2024

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[languagelvlup]

Just got invited to my friend’s wedding, and my friend talked me through how to RSVP.

If you’re familiar with 敬語 (keigo) then this might make more sense, but basically you have to cross out the parts of the card that are respectful speech, because we aren’t supposed to use those to talk ourselves.

The card says ご出席 because originally it is asking politely about my Most Gracious Attendance. But when I respond, I need to cross out the “ご” so that I’m just saying “I’ll be there” instead of being pompous about it.

The card says ご住所 but I need to make it say just 住所, since I’m talking about my own address.

Language!!!!

[gear-project]

Annon-Guy: If it's okay to humor me here...

You see in a crossover idea me and my friend do, one of the OC's we have (recently) addresses most of the heroes by Mister or Miss (occasionally Missues depending on the situation).

So, barring I-No and Chaos, how would the cast react to Always being addressed so formally?

Granted, Faust is pretty formal himself, but he is a doctor to be fair.

I'll list the ones that are particularly notable and interesting...

Sol: *Is used to hearing Ky speak formally so he puts up with it* (When Sol speaks Science Jargon, it goes over most peoples' heads and it shocks them when he gives a Lecture, because he almost never talks that much)

Ky: *doesn't realize he speaks formally and it annoys people*

Anji: *knows Ky speaks formally and hates him for it*

Baiken: *ignores anyone who talks formally*

May: *can't understand any formal language whatsoever*

Jack-O': *swaps between formal and informal depending on her personality*

Johnny: *has florid speech, but is not entirely formal surprisingly*

Answer: *very polite language on the phone, very rude language in public around President Chipp*

Chipp: *tries to impress people, but can't seem to speak formally*

Jam: *gets made fun of for her verbal "aru" tics, but ignores them because she's too strong to be messed with*

Zato: *used to speak casually but ever since being revived he can only speak formally like an encyclopedia*

Asuka: *thinks he's speaking casually but it's actually formal speech, not unlike Ky*

Bedman: *is talking but nobody can actually hear him because he's sleeping*

Sin: *has no idea what he's saying half the time anyway*

Ramlethal: *has a verbal tic of using "chigao" (wrong) too much, but otherwise fairly average speech pattern*

Kum Haehyun: *has a verbal tic of using "jonryoku" (effort) too much, but is mostly disrespectful in her speech*

Slayer: *has very casual speech, even in insane situations, which makes him UNFLAPPABLE*

Faust: *casual mostly, until he gets worked up in crazy situations*

Testament: *has very formal speech and doesn't care if people complain about it*

Venom: *has never been casual a day in his life*

Robo-Ky: *has a "Dame" (Useless) verbal tic, but despite being high spec, has very rude language patterns*

Raven: *casual in all situations, not unlike Slayer*

Valentine: *doesn't understand the purpose of human language*

Justice: *extremely formal and extremely rude, doesn't care if humans hear her or not*

Nagoriyuki: *formal, but even more so when he speaks of Onigiri*

A.B.A.: *formal and ornate language, but speaks too fast for most people to comprehend in her emotional outbursts*

[sayitaliano]

What is the difference between "e lei" and "e tu"? Is one used more often?

Ciao,

I'm gonna first add a link to a video I made not long ago about formal and informal speech. It's in English, so hopefully it can be of help.

To answer you without going into detail (the video can do that imo):

"Lei"= she/her/you. Unless you are talking about a third (feminine) person not involved in the direct speech (like you're talking with a friend about this other woman/girl that can be either in your same room or anywhere else -English pronouns are her/she), this is formal speech: basically the 3rd singular person conjugation we use when we need to address to someone we don't know well or need to bring respect to (eg. boss, elders, professional figures...). It works both for men and women (you address to men and women you don't know well by using "Lei"). It's translated as "you" in English. + look at this links X | X | X (you can find more in the grammar masterpost's final section).

"Tu" = you. Used for informal speech, second singular person. You're talking directly with someone you know well or... can be around your age or younger (especially kids). Again, refer to the video for further infos aout the differences please. And have a look at the direct prounouns too if you haven't (links in the grammar masterpost linked above, pronomi section).

The ones you're specifically enquiring about, with the "e" in the beginning, are specific questions generally used when you ask for opinions, for example: You say "Oggi sono felice, e lei?" = Today I'm happy, and you? You should say this to your boss or a lady/older man you met on a train for example, or again to anyone you don't know well or need to bring respect to. Not parents, we don't do that with them nowadays. You could also be talking with anyone but refer to a third person, but tbh, this is not the best example* (BTW I know it's a stupid example but please bear with me and my limited choices of adjectives or example sentences atm). But, if you were talking to your bestie, brother, mother... you could say "Oggi sono felice, e tu?" = Today I'm happy, and you? *One better example of this last type (3rd person not directly involved in the speech) could be "Io vengo alla festa, e lei?" =I'm coming to the party, is she coming too?

Which one to use depends on the specific context and who you're dealing with.

Hope this helps!

[mollyringle]

Yes, people spoke casually in ye olden days too

Another Linguistic Pondering for you: in book/TV/film reviews for stories set in historical (or prehistoric) times, people often complain if the dialogue is casual, because that feels "too modern." The fallacy there is the notion that everyone was always formal in ye olden days. Which they were not! Humans have always been humans. All languages have always had a casual register and options of informal usage.

The issue on what would make it "feel too modern" is more one of translation: e.g., if you decide "'sup, dude," is the appropriate casual translation for a friend's greeting in ancient Rome, then yeah, that will seem anachronistic, even though technically having them speak English at all is inaccurate, so the whole thing is in translation. Even so, what can we substitute? We know, if we think about it for five seconds, that close friends likely didn't greet each other with "Good afternoon, my friend," but rather with something along the lines of "'sup, dude." But what can we use? "Hey"? "Hi there"? "How's it going"? Nope, all those will get you flagged "too modern" too, unfair though that is. We have to fall back on "Good afternoon, my friend" or else it doesn't sound "historical." Which is stupid, now, isn't it?

Part of the issue, I suppose, is that casual wording, being akin to slang, falls out of usage fairly quickly, so even what was technically casual in, for instance, Shakespeare's time now sounds archaic and therefore "formal" to our ears--because of the above fallacy that anything archaic must be formal. (Did you know that "thou" was the informal 2nd person term of address, and "you" was the formal? Yet try using "thou" today without sounding super-formal.)

In short, I wish more of the world freely accepted that people have always had a casual register (alongside a formal register), throughout all of time, and therefore using casual English as the equivalent is not an error, but rather an accurate translation.

[thewritersguardianangel-blog]

Hey there! Itsa me again! I was wondering if you could help me with a problem in my story. I write about faeries and most of them speak extremely formally. But I don't know how to write extremely formal speech??

Hey hey, welcome back!

Formal speech can differ depending on time period and setting, but here are a few general tips that I generally find is enough to fake it til you make it.

1. Don’t use contractions. Ditch your didn’ts, don’ts, it’s, and so on and replace them with I did not, do not, it is. 

2. Spice up the vocab a little. That doesn’t mean you need to use a thesaurus for every other word. Too many long or obscure words can be very annoying for the reader. But do use a more elevated lexicon for your Fair Folk than the one you use for your human characters.

3. Don’t use slang terms, nicknames, or shortened versions of things. Just be straightforward and specific. Also, don’t use cut of sentences like “tell you later” or “see you soon.” Instead, write out the full “I will tell you later” or “I will see you soon.”

4. Indicate possible status. Think about how you talk differently to your friends than how you talk to your teacher. Use the appropriate titles and indicate authority depending on how they are talking to.

5. Up the polite language. Don’t say “can you do this for me?” But do say “Might you do this for me please” or “May I ask this of you?”

Basically, imagine you are doing a job interview or writing a school essay. Another very important thing to remember about the fae is that they never lie. They can be manipulative and deceptive and are very clever and specific with their wording, but they never lie. Be very careful with your wording when you write dialogue for them.

- Penemue

[charactervoicecollection]

Panne from "Fire Emblem Awakening", played by Jessica Gee-George

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Transcript under Keep Reading

"Please."

"Good question."

"[Grunts]"

"[Sighs]"

"Stop."

"You."

"Right."

"Yes."

"The Taguel do not play."

"No."

"Well..."

"Oh!"

"As you wish."

"To think that I might love a human... What a strange world this is."