>Ah, Dmitry should get that. Like tu and usted in Spanish... I've noticed that the practice is different depending on the country. In some areas, usted is always used in business, with city officials, in media, and for elders. (There was an area in Columbia where everyone used usted with each other even friends) While in other areas, usted is seldom used at all, not even on first meeting someone, speaking with someone who may be senior to you in business or even a client.
>
>When I was first learning Spanish, I had numerous teachers and each came from a different country. It was Spanish all day every day for 6 months, no English. It was difficult learning all the tenses, verb conjugations, etc so I focused on usted instead tu so I wouldn't offend anyone. Eventually one day, my Puerto Rican teacher and my Spanish teacher told me to stop. Their actual words were "Stop that, what do you think you are, on the news or something?" :o)
>

I have a very good understanding and use of tu vs. ud. And I was recently talking to a woman from Spain and she told me that these days Ud is almost never used (unless in a some formal occasions). She says that when you address someone Ud (even recently met) it is like implying that they are very old. So most people even when just introduced use tu.

>What gets me now is ustedes or vosotros. Totally different between Spain and Latin America.
>

I too have difficulty with vosotros. So I stick with ustedes; everybody understands me even though it might sound a little different for them. Just like when we talk to people from England they say things that sound kind of odd to us but we understand.