Avoiding cross-cultural faux pas

I always write “tu” except if the person’s profile says that they are much older than me. In swaps or tags, if the person says “tu” to me from the start, I will do so as well, no matter their age.

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@yudi, I doubt your, “Let’s pray that…” will upset anyone. :relaxed: Even if the recipient interpreted this in a religious way, the statement does not remark on anyone’s beliefs or lack thereof. I think religious and non-religious people alike will appreciate the hope for a better year!

@whitefroststreetboi, “She’ll have to pry them from our cold, dead crab crackers” is my favorite response to attempted grand cuisine larceny. And now I really want to try a chili crab.

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I would see it as religious. While we say “thank God” or “oh my God” without meaning any actual gods, we never say “let’s pray” in the same way. :thinking: But it’s still not offensive or anything, I’d just see it as a good wish from someone religious.

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To pray is even more religious than to thank God, I think.
I suggest to write “luckily it stopped raining” if you want to avoid religious expressions.

Thank you! I also answer “tu” if someone starts this way, but if I’m the one starting the conversation, I go with “vous”, I guess it’s weird to me because I learned that way - but postcards are different and informal, so I’ll start doing like you :slightly_smiling_face:

I would consider Postcrossing to be a sort of “social club”, which would mean that the members can use “du” and first names with each other (but I can’t promise you that everyone sees it the same way).

There is also the compromise option of using the “formal Du”, where you capitalize the D on pronouns (Du, Dir, Deine, etc). This is mostly done when the recipient is a generation or more older or if the you are “per du” but don’t know each other well.

If I read this on a postcard and didn’t have any other cultural clues, I would perhaps think that the sender is quite religious. But like @PinkNoodle said, I definitely would not be upset and would appreciate the optimistic note. :blush:

Dibs on the band name :joy:

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Me, too. This is the reason I always “duzen” on Postcrossing cards, because we all belong to the same “Verein” / club. I have never once received a German card addressing me with the formal “Sie.”

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In Canada it’s way more common to use “tu” than “vous”. Nobody will be offended if you use “vous” though :slight_smile: it’s perfectly fine.

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No. This form is used in mail. It says nothing about anyone’s age. Before the spelling reform in the 1990s it had to be written with a capital D, after that reform the D was wrong and the d was right - and after the reform of the reform you are free to write du or Du. It says nothing about age or respect.

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I was taught in school to use du/Du as I described above. Perhaps the rules are different in Germany. But in any case, I doubt any Postcrosser would be genuinely insulted to receive the “wrong” one.

The rules definitely are different, starting with rules about using the “ß”. But I don’t know anything more exact about the Swiss-German spelling rules in comparison to the German rules. Maybe @anon89508662 can clarify?

Egni discussed that with me in a PM (in German). Her opinion was “Sie/du”.
As I like to find out stuff like that I tried to find some information about the typography rules.
https://www.ortografie.ch/stichwort/anredepronomen.php
That’s all I could find. But in general I think no-one will feel bad if “du” is written in capital letters “Du”. The German spelling really is complicated enough without worrying about that :wink:

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In Polish, I was taught to always write the 2nd person with a capital letter - out of respect, and I follow it all my life. I write Ty, Tobie, Ciebie, Twój (you + cases, yours) to my closest friends. Actually, I think the closer the relationship, the more natural the use of the capital letter in the 2nd person.

I applied the same principle to German, I had no idea that it would have been just plain wrong at some point.

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In Latvian identically.

R.O.C. (Republic of China) is the formal name of Taiwan. Another reason to add is to avoid missent to Thailand I think, so cards with Taiwan (R.O.C.) should be fine. Hong Kong is not a part of R.O.C. in terms of mailing system so not need to write R.O.C. after Hong Kong.

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And proud to have more geographical knowledge :sunglasses:

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Thank you for the clarification! :heart:

Hey, I really like the card of Nuremburg, :blush: I love history. It is a beautiful sad card (I think this would be the way to describe it)

Let me know if you would like a swap

Thanks

Aishling :ireland:

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If my family received birthday greetings within the MONTH of their birthday, I feel I have done well and they feel lucky! :rofl: :joy:

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Hi All, a very interesting tread, I’ve learnt so much about the recommended do’s and don’ts for specific countries,

I am not aware of any for the UK, I think we are all a savy bunch,

My mother is from Malaysia and I have heard the ‘Don’t Write in Red’ so many times especially to Chinese families (and most Asian countries) etc
I usually only write my Postcard ID in Red.

I work in Pharmacy and some hospital pharmacy teams, have colour coded pens, Green for Pharmacists and Red for Pharmacy Technicians, Black and Navy for Dispensers, etc
I once gave a green pen to a patient to sign a document, he was Indian of Bengali origin and he told me that in India and Bangladesh, only Government Officials could write in a green pen on documents. He still signed it, but frowned upon it.

Found it interesting, but has always made me think when I request a postcard going to India.

Could any Indian Postcrossers shed any light on this?

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