Formal and Informal Use
Poles pay great attention to the correct way of referring to or addressing other people depending on the level of social distance, familiarity and politeness. The differences between formal and informal language include:
- using surnames vs. given names;
- using vs. not using honorific titles such as Pan / Pani / Państwo;
- using the third person singular (formal) vs. the second person singular (informal) forms.
Read more about this topic: Polish Name
Famous quotes containing the words formal and/or informal:
“There must be a profound recognition that parents are the first teachers and that education begins before formal schooling and is deeply rooted in the values, traditions, and norms of family and culture.”
—Sara Lawrence Lightfoot (20th century)
“We as a nation need to be reeducated about the necessary and sufficient conditions for making human beings human. We need to be reeducated not as parents—but as workers, neighbors, and friends; and as members of the organizations, committees, boards—and, especially, the informal networks that control our social institutions and thereby determine the conditions of life for our families and their children.”
—Urie Bronfenbrenner (b. 1917)