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This article researches the usage distinction between T/V forms of the second person singular pronoun in some European languages by means of the analysis of the translations of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Pilosopher’s Stone”. The researched languages are Dutch, German, Luxembourgish, Russian, and French. The main fi ndings of this research are as follows. As expected, the V form is likely to be used in the remarks of inferiors to superiors, and between strangers, while the T form is likely to be used in the remarks of superiors to inferiors, between family members, and between pupils or mates. Of the remarks in which the T/V usage differs among languages the V form is used most frequently in French, while the T form is used most frequently in Dutch. The other three languages take the middle position and resemble each other in the number of T/V forms used. The characteristic usage of French V form is seen in some of the remarks to which Hagrid, keeper of keys and grounds of the school, participates as a speaker or an addressee. As opposed to other languages in which Hagrid is spoken to with the T form even by pupils, he speaks or is spoken to with the V form in French except for a few exceptions. The status difference is a more important factor in the T/V distinction of French than in other languages. The characteristic usage of Dutch T form is seen in some of the remarks of superiors to inferiors. In Dutch the T form is used even in the remarks of professors to pupils and between colleagues in which the V form is used in other languages. It can be said that informality is preferred in wider range of situations in Dutch than in other languages.

This article researches the usage distinction between the familiar form (= the T form) and the polite form (the V form) of the second person singular pronoun in some European languages by means of an analysis of the translations of Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. The researched languages are German (4 translations), Luxembourgish, Dutch, French (3 translations), and Russian (3 translations). The main findings of this research are as follows. In 44 situations (remarks of a speaker to an addressee) the V form is used by French translators most frequently and the T form is used by German translators most frequently. The situations are divided into the following 5 groups and arranged in order of the probability of the V form usage; (A) Alice to a character of higher social status, (B) Alice to other characters, (C) Between characters of same status, (D) Superior to inferior or other characters to Alice, (E) Between mates. In the situations of (A) the V form and in the situations of (E) the T form is exclusively used in all translations.

Background: Conversational agents (CAs) are a novel approach to delivering digital health interventions. In human interactions, terms of address often change depending on the context or relationship between interlocutors. In many languages, this encompasses T/V distinction—formal and informal forms of the second-person pronoun “You”—that conveys different levels of familiarity. Yet, few research articles have examined whether CAs' use of T/V distinction across language contexts affects users' evaluations of digital health applications. Methods: In an online experiment (N = 284), we manipulated a public health CA prototype to use either informal or formal T/V distinction forms in French (“tu” vs. “vous”) and German (“du” vs. “Sie”) language settings. A MANCOVA and post-hoc tests were performed to examine the effects of the independent variables (i.e., T/V distinction and Language) and the moderating role of users' demographic profile (i.e., Age and Gender) on eleven user evaluation variables. These were related to four themes: (i) Sociability, (ii) CA-User Collaboration, (iii) Service Evaluation, and (iv) Behavioral Intentions. Results: Results showed a four-way interaction between T/V Distinction, Language, Age, and Gender, influencing user evaluations across all outcome themes. For French speakers, when the informal “T form” (“Tu”) was used, higher user evaluation scores were generated for younger women and older men (e.g., the CA felt more humanlike or individuals were more likely to recommend the CA), whereas when the formal “V form” (“Vous”) was used, higher user evaluation scores were generated for younger men and older women. For German speakers, when the informal T form (“Du”) was used, younger users' evaluations were comparable regardless of Gender, however, as individuals' Age increased, the use of “Du” resulted in lower user evaluation scores, with this effect more pronounced in men. When using the formal V form (“Sie”), user evaluation scores were relatively stable, regardless of Gender, and only increasing slightly with Age. Conclusions: Results highlight how user CA evaluations vary based on the T/V distinction used and language setting, however, that even within a culturally homogenous language group, evaluations vary based on user demographics, thus highlighting the importance of personalizing CA language. ISSN:2296-2565

Background: Conversational agents (CAs) are a novel approach to delivering digital health interventions. In human interactions, terms of address often change depending on the context or relationship between interlocutors. In many languages, this encompasses T/V distinction—formal and informal forms of the second-person pronoun “You”—that conveys different levels of familiarity. Yet, few research articles have examined whether CAs' use of T/V distinction across language contexts affects users' evaluations of digital health applications. Methods: In an online experiment (N = 284), we manipulated a public health CA prototype to use either informal or formal T/V distinction forms in French (“tu” vs. “vous”) and German (“du” vs. “Sie”) language settings. A MANCOVA and post-hoc tests were performed to examine the effects of the independent variables (i.e., T/V distinction and Language) and the moderating role of users' demographic profile (i.e., Age and Gender) on eleven user evaluation variables. These were related to four themes: (i) Sociability, (ii) CA-User Collaboration, (iii) Service Evaluation, and (iv) Behavioral Intentions. Results: Results showed a four-way interaction between T/V Distinction, Language, Age, and Gender, influencing user evaluations across all outcome themes. For French speakers, when the informal “T form” (“Tu”) was used, higher user evaluation scores were generated for younger women and older men (e.g., the CA felt more humanlike or individuals were more likely to recommend the CA), whereas when the formal “V form” (“Vous”) was used, higher user evaluation scores were generated for younger men and older women. For German speakers, when the informal T form (“Du”) was used, younger users' evaluations were comparable regardless of Gender, however, as individuals' Age increased, the use of “Du” resulted in lower user evaluation scores, with this effect more pronounced in men. When using the formal V form (“Sie”), user evaluation scores were relatively stable, regardless of Gender, and only increasing slightly with Age. Conclusions: Results highlight how user CA evaluations vary based on the T/V distinction used and language setting, however, that even within a culturally homogenous language group, evaluations vary based on user demographics, thus highlighting the importance of personalizing CA language.

Self-help books are becoming very popular nowadays and have to be translated in other languages in order to be accessible to a wider audience from other countries. All self-help books share the same goal: to help the readers find solutions to their problems. They are written with a specific purpose and have special characteristics, which have to be considered when translating them. This graduation thesis focuses on the translation of self-help books in general and gives an analysis of some aspects of the translation of a specific self-help book - The Secret. This is a self-help book about happiness and getting and achieving everything the readers want in their life, written by Rhonda Byrne in 2006. The thesis looks into some specific problems the translator faced while translating the book from English into the Slovene language and examines the inconsistencies with the original that occurred in the Slovene translation. The first problem addressed is the decision about the use of formal or informal addressing of readers. The translator decided to use a T/V distinction and addresses the readers with a polite second plural V-form of a verb (“vi”) – “vikanje”. The second problem discussed is the problem of non-equivalence of word-meanings. The most common and important verb that is repeated throughout the whole book is verb “want”. Nevertheless, the verb is not translated consistently and is sometimes replaced with other verbs and words. The third problem is the problem of repetition of the lexical items or phrases, which have a cohesive and a rhetoric function. However, the translator did not preserve all the repetitions. The fourth problem the thesis focuses on is the problem of capitalization of words. Some concepts are capitalized in the original, because they are allegorical personification or because of their importance, yet the capitalization is not preserved in all cases in the translation. The main focus of the graduation thesis is to determine how the translator solved the problem of pragmatic adjustment of the book to the Slovene audience and their culture. Knjige za samopomoč postajajo zelo priljubljene v današnjem času, zato morajo biti prevedene v druge jezike, da so lahko dostopne širšemu številu bralcev iz drugih držav. Vse knjige za samopomoč imajo enak cilj: pomagati bralcem najti rešitve njihovih problemov. Napisane so z določenim namenom in imajo posebne značilnosti, ki jih je pri prevajanju potrebno upoštevati. Diplomska naloga se osredotoča na prevajanje knjig za samopomoč na splošno in na nekatere probleme ki so se pojavili pri prevajanju določene knjige za samopomoč – Skrivnost. To je knjiga za samopomoč na temo sreče in tega, kako dobiti in doseči vse, kar si bralci želijo v svojem življenju, ki jo je napisala Rhonda Byrne leta 2006. Naloga se posveča določenim problemom, na katere je naletela prevajalka, ko je prevajala knjigo iz angleškega v slovenski jezik in analizira neskladnosti z originalom, ki so se pojavile slovenskem prevodu. Prvi problem, je odločitev o uporabi formalnega ali neformalnega naslavljanja bralcev. Prevajalka se je odločila uporabiti vikanje in naslavlja bralce z drugo osebo množine (»vi«), ki je spoštljiva oblika naslavljanja. Drugi obravnavan problem je problem neenakovrednega pomena besed. Najbolj pogost in pomemben glagol, ki se ponavlja skozi celotno knjigo je glagol »want«. Vendar le-ta ni preveden dosledno in je včasih zamenjan z drugimi glagoli in besedami. Tretji problem je problem ponavljanja besed in besednih zvez, ki imajo kohezivno in retorično funkcijo, kjer prevajalka ni ohranila vseh ponovitev. Četrti problem, ki se mu naloga posveča, je problem pisanja z veliko začetnico. Nekateri pojmi so v originalu zapisani z veliko začetnico, ker so alegorične poosebitve ali zaradi njihove pomembnosti, vendar prevajalka ni ohranila zapisa vseh teh pojmov z veliko začetnico v prevodu. Glavni namen diplomske naloge je ugotoviti, kako je prevajalka rešila problem pragmatične prilagoditve knjige slovenskim bralcem in njihovi kulturi.