As I worked in German companies I always put (Ms.) behind my name in my email signature, so that the readers know that I am female and therefore they would reply my email with "Dear Ms Sihombing", not Mr Sihombing.
Someday one of our big boss from Germany came to our office in Jakarta. As we had a chance to chat, he asked me why I put Ms, because Ms means Fraeulein. In German "Fraeulein" is used for little or young girls. For adult woman should be "Frau". However "Frau" doesn't only mean "Mrs" in English. It can also mean "Ms". I told our big boss that Ms doesn't mean Miss (which means Fraeulein in German) in English.
According to my information in the USA there is a new additional title in gender differentiation besides Mrs and Mr. It is Ms. This "Ms" refers to adult women and doesn't show the marital status, which is not important. Just like Mr, it also doesn't show the marital status. This should be an idea from the feminists in the USA.
Back to text 10: Germans Can Not Understand Our Pronunciation
No comments:
Post a Comment