Hello, butting in. I've actually been contemplating the lack of a formal "you" for a while now, and it does tend to bother me.
In Japanese, the meaning of the statement is often more implied. For instance, instead of "sit down", it'd be "dozo [suwatte kudasai]" ("Go ahead [please sit]"). "Would you like some tea?" in its most literal translation becomes "[Would you like to] drink some tea?" That entire first part is implied. Japanese is one of the most indirect languages in the world, and therein lies the formality. In fact, it's so indirect that the common translation for "you" ("anata"), while used amongst friends, is also regarded as an intimate, affectionate pet name for a husband. (I'm not sure if it works for wives).
There are three levels of formality - the plain form, with no "suffix", "desu"-form, and "de gozaru" form, the first one being the least formal.ex. A: "Is this fic amazing?" B: "Yes, it is." B could say it as "sou" which means, "Yes, it is as you say" (it's just a word that expresses agreement with a previous statement), "sou desu", and "sou de gozaimasu." (Although I doubt B would discuss fic with someone with whom they'd use "de gozaru" form :) haha). This goes along with the ways of addressing someone: plain ("Christoph"), relatively formal ("Christoph-san") and very, very formal ("Christoph-sama"). The last one is usually used for emperors/gods so you very rarely ever encounter it in everyday life, except for in stores. Employees in stores and resteraunts, particularly high end ones, tend to address their customers in the most formal language, ex. "Okyakusama" (Customer-sama).
Come to think of it, when you want to emphasize something you use a higher form. "Thank you" can be "arigato", there's no middle form, then if you're really, really, really thankful, "arigatoo gozaimasu". Also, there are no swearwords in Japanese.
Re: That's a Bingo on Languages. :-)
Hello, butting in. I've actually been contemplating the lack of a formal "you" for a while now, and it does tend to bother me.
In Japanese, the meaning of the statement is often more implied. For instance, instead of "sit down", it'd be "dozo [suwatte kudasai]" ("Go ahead [please sit]"). "Would you like some tea?" in its most literal translation becomes "[Would you like to] drink some tea?" That entire first part is implied. Japanese is one of the most indirect languages in the world, and therein lies the formality. In fact, it's so indirect that the common translation for "you" ("anata"), while used amongst friends, is also regarded as an intimate, affectionate pet name for a husband. (I'm not sure if it works for wives).
There are three levels of formality - the plain form, with no "suffix", "desu"-form, and "de gozaru" form, the first one being the least formal.ex. A: "Is this fic amazing?" B: "Yes, it is." B could say it as "sou" which means, "Yes, it is as you say" (it's just a word that expresses agreement with a previous statement), "sou desu", and "sou de gozaimasu." (Although I doubt B would discuss fic with someone with whom they'd use "de gozaru" form :) haha). This goes along with the ways of addressing someone: plain ("Christoph"), relatively formal ("Christoph-san") and very, very formal ("Christoph-sama"). The last one is usually used for emperors/gods so you very rarely ever encounter it in everyday life, except for in stores. Employees in stores and resteraunts, particularly high end ones, tend to address their customers in the most formal language, ex. "Okyakusama" (Customer-sama).
Come to think of it, when you want to emphasize something you use a higher form. "Thank you" can be "arigato", there's no middle form, then if you're really, really, really thankful, "arigatoo gozaimasu". Also, there are no swearwords in Japanese.
Sorry, I kind of word vomited there.