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Helene Blüm: Du oder Sie?

What about the use of du (the informal form of 'you') and Sie (the formal form)?

Of course, when I'm with relatives, it's du. And of course to strangers you always say Sie. Otherwise, I'm never there long enough to establish a friendship.

Here (in the United States) it doesn't seem to be important to say Sie when you are acquainted with someone. A complete stranger who only spoke German, yes, but when you know English, I think that here you do the same thing as the Americans with each other in regard to each other, even with language. (First names in English and German and in German du.)