Malagasy people have a tradition which obligates every single one of
them to be polite towards others by using formal words when they speak
to others. Unlike other people in the world, Malagasy people are the
most respectful people in the world. So we are going to see how much
formality means to the Malagasy people.
Formality is a way of respecting someone when we communicate. One
way to do this is through the language we use and the way we speak to
people. For Malagasy people, using formal words means that you are
being polite towards another person. There are words we use to speak
to elders, between families and between people of the same age. But,
the formality is the way and the language that we use to communicate
with people that deserve respect or with people we have just met.
There are different words we use every day and some we use between
friends. To be formal, we do not use slang or words that would be
considered rude.
For Malagasy people, formality depends on hierarchy. This means that
it depends on the place where the people are how you will communicate
with them. For Malagasy people, elders deserve to be respected more.
When we speak to elders we are more formal than to a younger person.
For Malagasy people there are two expressions which are popular,
"Azafady" and "Miala Tsiny." These are used to show respect.
When Malagasy people speak to a foreigner they are formal and kind.
To conclude, Malagasy are the kindest people in the world. For them,
formality is a polite way to speak to people. Although Madagascar is
an underdeveloped country, people in Madagascar are very polite
towards others.
2 comments:
I enjoyed reading your blog! In class we have learned about different cultures and their different communication styles and it's interesting to hear the differences between our cultures. I love that your cultures gives great respect to it's elders. I wish people here in America would do that more. Elders get respect, but probably not as much as they should. That's for sharing!
You say you speak with formality to every person, but you also use different words that show respect in different situations. Are you saying that Malagasy people are never speak casually with each other? That concept is very obscure to me. In my culture the less formal I speak to a friend or family member the more affection I am trying to create in my communication. I also know that in America we don't respect our elders as much as they deserve, but their are also times when people who are older don't like to be treated differently because of their age. The two words we often use to address women that we are not familiar with are, Miss (for younger women) or Mame(for older) but sometimes using Mame is seem as almost an insult.
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