Standard for translation of second person to Spanish ?

[pelario]

Hi!

I have just started translating some problems to Spanish, and I run into the following question:
In Spanish there are m voices for the second person, the formal one ( "You are" => Usted es , "Play at A" => Juegue en A),
and the informal one ( "You are" => Tu eres , "Play at A" => Juegua en A).
The first one you use talking in your work, the second, could be if you are talking with your family. (Actually there are also some variations country-wise )

It would be nice if we agree on a prefered translation to keep certain uniformity.
Looking for your thoughts.

Best,
Daniel

P.s. I guess that the same dilemma may appear in other languages like French.

[BartTM]

If you discuss go problems with other players at your local Go club, what form would you use?
If that is formal or mixed, I'd use formal for the problems. Otherwise, use the familiar form.

For Dutch it is simple.
We use the formal form less and less, mostly for complete strangers, business relations, dignitaries, police, doctors etc. and the elderly.
When I went to university a professor held an introductionary speech, adressing us students with the formal U. Every time he did there were students who could not suppress a giggle.
While everybody would address the professor formally, unless maybe in the coffee room.
Amongs ourselves everyone used the informal form.
Therefore in my Dutch translations I used the informal form almost exclusively.

[zwim]

You do not know who is using the website at the other end, so i would go for the second person form.

In french at least (but from what pelario said, seems quite similar in spanish) it is formal but normal and well accepted when giving directions to an adult. It is not as highly formal as "o-" forms would be in japanese for instance.

In french i would feel a "Connecte les 2 groupes noirs" (connect the 2 black groups) as a bit childish, while "Connectez" would go fine.

I guess it depends of the cultural level of formality of the language, but i would go for the one that as no risk of shocking or offending anyone, in french at least, i believe it is second person form.

[BartTM]

In Dutch the verb is often the same in formal or informal sentences, so if you don't have to address the reader you can often avoid this altogether.
It might have helped to loosen up the matter for Dutch.

I would suggest using the formal form in French, definitely. The few French I read always has the formal form unless in insults

[Mary1308]

I'd avoid this to decrease chances of misunderstanding.