Really interesting that someone complained as per the title. When I joined ClozeM I was a bit unsettled to find more Formal than I expected, took a while to adjust. After a discussion in our club this evening it seems the formal Lei or Voi is still very much used and respected in Italy. Glad to hear it and very glad to be using it here. Thanks ClozeM!
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I made the same point in a number of discussion threads back when I didnāt know any better than to be atā¦ that other place. There seemed to be a REALLY strong institutional bias against it, probably due to the site founderās artificial and plastic kumbaya view of āwe are the worldā. We are all one, we are all equals, we are allā¦ ah, no, actually. Some people have earned some basic respect and marking a question wrong for using the Lei form is just asinine. (Unless itās an audio question which uses the tu form of course, but Iām talking about purely vocabulary questions.)
If I were to somehow run into Sergio Mattarella (and presumably his bodyguards were looking the other way to let me get close enough to speak to him), Iām not likely to say āEh Sergio, come stai??ā It would be disrespecting the office as much as the man.
Iāll admit that I find it easier to stick to the tu formā¦ or more precisely itās easier to stick to ONE form, but Iāve never received a knock back to a simple āci possiamo dare del tu, vero?ā (Which I usually offer if Iām addressed as āSignoreā as well.) Iāll sometimes qualify that with āĆ piĆ¹ facile per meā as an explanation. At least in shops and restaurants, when in doubt you can just flip to the āvoiā form given that the formal version of that is universally regarded as antiquated.
What I find more difficult to adapt to here is that there is a lot more passato remoto than Iām used to. I never use it myself, and whether you come across it seems to depend on which region youāre in. Yes, Sicilia and Toscana, Iām looking at you two in particular.
But then Toscana is also the only place where Iāve been greeted with āBuonaseraā at 1:30 in the afternoon too. They sometimes do things a little differently there.
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Ciao LuciusV. Loved your comment (eh Sergio;-) and feel much the same. I learned v quickly to apologise for the ātuā when discussing the price of a gondola ride etc. Was met with charm and understanding but with noticeably molto di piĆ¹ rispetto when I used the formal.
And here, whenever I ājust donāt get itā I think āAh itās the Remoto!ā And youāre so right about Toscana where my friend Cristina in Lucca insists theyāre the only Italians who speak properly. Mamma mia, it will be joyous to breath Italian air once again, north south, anywhere. Tanti auguri, rispetto eh!
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[details=āEnglish Translationā]You too.[/details] Mashed potatoes?
Yes, I found this a real failing of Duo - and frankly also of many of the standard language classes in the USA. I was just in Italy and Lei is still very much used, and I got far more comfortable using it while there myself.
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I also appreciate the emphasis on Lei and find it disconcerting that Google Translate tends to default to tu. When I finally visit Italy I wonāt have friends or family there and am hardly likely to be speaking to children, so I doubt Iāll ever have reason to use the tu form.
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Pleased to say that in the last few minutes I was given several lei and voi sentences, so bravo Clozemaster!