How To Say Dear In Polish

Dearest Sir/Madam: Writing Letters in Polish Posted by on October 8, 2008 in Culture

Yesterday I got an e-mail from somebody, and I but almost fell over while reading it. Luckily, I was sitting on a bed.

The e-mail began with the words "Szanowna Pani!" which would exist something like "Honey Madam" only much more pompous. "Szanowna Pani" ??? People yet utilise this expression? Even immature people? Dang, I must be then out of the loop, it's scary. I accept never heard this phrase being used by anyone younger than, say 65 years old, and not wearing a suit. The guy who wrote the electronic mail was about my age (and I'thousand not THAT old nonetheless) and he wasn't even a total stranger. True, this was his kickoff email to me, and it was well-nigh business organisation, and he did endeavour to make a good impression, but still… I thought he totally overdid it with this "Szanowna Pani" stuff. This is the kind of language I meet on papers from the Tax Part (Urząd Skarbowy), not from somebody who'due south my peer.

On the other hand, I can't actually arraign him, Smoothen tin be a very formal language, heck, Polish IS a very formal language. And people may take offense when they're not addressed properly.

A few months ago I was out with a group of friends and strangers, foreigners and Poles. I chatted with one lady in English, turned out she was Polish, so I switched to Polish. Because in English, I addressed her every bit "you", I didn't fifty-fifty think twice about using the same form in Polish – "ty". She was my age and nosotros were in a strange land. Yet, her response was an icy stare and an even icier "Ja z tobą krów nie pasałam" (I didn't tend cows with y'all) which is a nasty warning to a person talking to you lot (me in this case) that he/she has breached the magical Pan/Pani barrier. Apparently, that ways you're simply allowed to use "you/ty" to people with whom you were tending cows at some point in the past, or somesuch. I should have begun referring to that woman every bit "Szanowna Pani" for the residue of the evening, just unfortunately I totally forgot nearly this ancient phrase.

Somehow the male person equivalent "Szanowny Panie" (Dear Sir) and the plural "Szanowni Państwo" are easier to stomach, it's merely that unfortunate "Szanowna Pani" that rubs me the incorrect way. Peradventure because it's a sign I'm getting quondam? Dunno…

So, how do you maneuver this minefield of Smoothen courtesy expressions? I asked several people and got several answers. This is more or less the general consensus:

1. If you don't know someone, address them as Pan/Pani (Sir, Madam)
ii. If you know someone, address them as Pan/Pani
3. If the person you're addressing is much, much younger than you, then yous're condom using "ty" (you).

We could write volumes on this Pan/Pani/ty business, and you betcha it volition be connected. And here imagine me winking.

😉