So with two folks at once you cannot make the tu-vous distinction? that is what I thought and it don

A perplexing question often not only for foreign visitors to France but to the French themselves is whether to use the "tu" form of "you" or the "vous" form for "you". The 'tu' form being traditionally judiciously used only for folks you really feel dear or close to - family and close friends mainly and the 'vous' form for all others, including neighbors and colleagues at work - the vast majority mediterranean cruise deals of daily greetings would be 'tu' - this all recently explained to me by a friend friend who is visiting my house for a few weeks -
after I asked her that I had read recently on Fodors that one Fodorite residing in England and who was furiously studying French had posted that it was her understanding that there had been some recently cracks in the 'tu' - 'vous' facade and that 'tu' was now being more widely used - and in response to that query my friend firmly stated - "No not all all" - saying there was certainly not any lessening mediterranean cruise deals of the 'tu' and 'vous' gulf and that she only used 'tu' with dear friends and family.
She did explain that one neighbor from North Africa called he 'tu' so she reciprocated but otherwise stated that she would never ever use the 'tu' form with neighbors or colleages at work unless they were also dear friends.
Well that is at least one French women's take on it all - do other French agree or not - that the 'tu'-'vous' matter is basically mediterranean cruise deals unchanged and one should be very careful in using 'tu' lest they be considering being too familiar!
Well, for travelers, there's only one thing to keep in mind, really, and that is, you can run the risk of offense if you use "tu," but you can't if you use "vous," except that you might look a bit idiotic using "vous" with a 3-year-old. Most travelers aren't talking to toddlers, though.
For someone who doesn't know French and is a traveler, you would use "vous". This is a non-issue to anyone who doesn't know what to do, they should not be using the familiar. Who would they use it with?
PalenQ - I think your question is mostly of interest to those non-native French speakers who either live in France or visit there frequently and have occasion to encounter people professionally mediterranean cruise deals or socially mediterranean cruise deals whom they are unsure of addressing properly.
I recognize that this is a maytery to us Americans - who call everyone by their first name immediately (unless it is the POTUS or an MD you have a professional relationship with or something) using other than the first name is considered unfriendly. Agree to tu kids and animals. tourists are VERY unlikely to know a local well enough to tu them.
I work in a business with a lot of MD consultants - who are typically very highly credentialed, full professor and often world-known in their specialty. And I have found the americans almost always say "call me X" after the first time I address than as Dr. Z. the British are about 50/50. MDs from other countries rarely say "call me X" unless i have been working closely with them on a project for some time.
I have another mediterranean cruise deals observation. Correct me if I am wrong. In English we have no equivalent to the French use of constant use of madame and monsieur in conversation. I recently read MADAM BOVARY and I was struck by how often these monikers are used even among those who appear to know each other well.
North Africans of the older generation say "tu" because the "vous" form does not exist in Arabic. Ditto for some Africans. This does not happen often nowadays with the young generation - born and raised in France.
You're the visitor. So, if you initiate a conversation you virtually always use the formal (vous, Lei, usted, Sie), except with very small children mediterranean cruise deals and animals unless and until the local tu's or du's you. And even little Pierre won't be offended if he's voused
If you don't initiate mediterranean cruise deals the conversation, the local MIGHT tu you if they're mediterranean cruise deals an intimate or colleague or of the iPad generation. You ought to follow their lead - and obviously will with friends mediterranean cruise deals and colleagues - and though personally I find some callow youths' indiscriminate tuing to strangers ill-mannered and am tempted mediterranean cruise deals to vous/Lei etc back, I usually suppress my inner curmudgeon.
The rules in Germany are slightly different: between colleagues, for example, it's commonplace to hear them Sie-ing and Herr Doktoring each other in German and "oh crap, Hans: you're always getting this wrong" when speaking English to each other.
The big exception is political demonstrations (universal tu, except with police). At some other events (like university libraries, big football matches, bierfest and community celebrations), my sense is that in France, Italy and Spain universal tuing is now the norm - but for foreigners it's never inappropriate to vous till you're tued.
You are absolutely right nytraveller - many doctors, including those with Phds, or managers etc would expect to be called with their titles of Dr or Professor or Mr or whatever in Europe, even after one would haveworked with them for many years. Many would never ask you to start calling them by their first names, I guess that for them this is a sign that you are showing them respect or because they enjoy their higher status, lol.
Right on, Kerouac. But I also think Palenque should not make the mistake of taking one person's opinion for 'they way they do things there.' It's like asking anyone from a different country how things are done. You get their opinion, which is not always wrong - or right - but it still mainly an opinion.
We always vouvoie until asked to do differently, or until someone tutoies us. (One of our closest neighbours, and friends, has used tu for a very long time, and we reciprocate. But we still vous her husband.)
Just to throw something else into the mix. After we had lived here for a few years I was congratulated on my very good French by an older neighbour, because I used 'nous' rather than 'on'. I hadn't really absorbed the fact that most of my friends were saying 'on sort ce soir,' for example, rather than 'nous sortons ce soir' Now we hardly ever use 'nous'. Again something that a visitor to France doesn't have to worry about, however.
When I went South to get my Ph.D., one of my [Northern] professors told me, "They'll "doctor" you to death down there." It was true. At my undergraduate university, all the faculty were called "mister" (yes, it was a men's college and I never heard of a woman faculty member) on the assumption that of course _everyone_ was a Ph.D.
It strikes me as very odd that some native English mediterranean cruise deals speakers on this thread have said they are not happy to be addressed mediterranean cruise deals as tu by someone they don't know in France. At home, the same people would probably be using your first name. Frankly, I can't think of anybody I would prefer to call me by my last name, whether at home or abroad, except perhaps in court, and it's a long time since I've gone to court. This is reflected in my screen name, I suppose.
I'm surprised that the thread mediterranean cruise deals has got this far without anybody mentioning that there is a generational difference in French usage. We were visiting a French family, accompanied by our them 19 year old daughter, when our host's daughter of about the same age came in. She had never met us before, but opened conversation with my daughter "Comment tu t'appelles?".
I was aware that there are regional differences, although I am not conversant with the details. Most of the French people we know socially are Breton (some of whom would not want to be described as French): they consistently mediterranean cruise deals say that that Bretons use "tu" more readily than people mediterranean cruise deals elsewhere in France
Right on, Kerouac. But I also think Palenque should not make the mistake of taking one person's opinion for 'they way they do things there.' It's like asking anyone from a different mediterranean cruise deals country how things are done. You get their opinion, which is not always wrong - or right - but it still mainly an opinion
Good point and if you re-read my OP I I was really asking the question mediterranean cruise deals "has the tu and vous situation changed and I quoted my friend that in her opinion mediterranean cruise deals it has not - the thread mediterranean cruise deals has turned into other interesting discussions but the question I am posing is "is the tu and vous situation changing in daily use in France - it seems not - but that was the question.
Oh how I hate it in countries where people call me by my first name (just because they saw my first name on a form or a screen) when I have not invited them to do so. Yet I will admit that it is an aspect of one's personality and upbringing since lots of other people love this sort of thing.
I have mentioned in the past that variations mediterranean cruise deals of the use of "tu" and "vous" are nearly infinite -- and often contradictory, so I well understand why outsiders are confused. During my professional career, for example, I have used "tu" with close colleagues, but also with more distant ones (without being invited) just to show that I do not consider them to be superior to me in any way. And yet I have also used "vous" with other colleagues that I do not consider to be superior to me in any way with the added nuance "we will never be close - don't even try - I don't trust you."
As I approach the end of my working years, now I find myself dismayed that I can say "tu" to every single person mediterranean cruise deals in the company if I feel like it and it is perfectly accepted, but many of my younger colleagues (except the close ones) always say "vous" to me, which I interpret to mean "you are old and I must show respect."
Kerouac - so is the thing changing in general or just with you as you age, like a fine wine I may add. The Q is the tu and vous thing changing in the general population or is it the same, as my French friend mediterranean cruise deals adamantly mediterranean cruise deals claims? Qu'est-ce que TU pense or qu'est-ce que VOUS pense?
So with two folks at once you cannot make the tu-vous distinction? that is what I thought and it don't make much sense that you cannot mediterranean cruise deals say a collective 'tu' when talking to two dear friends. But that is the language, I understand.
I grew up learning old-fashioned French mediterranean cruise deals and was told that one may never use "tu