Greek to Catalan: formal correspondence needs one consistent form of address
The source polite plural does not dictate a single Catalan person
Greek εσείς can politely address one person as well as refer to several listeners. Catalan offers more than one respectful address construction, including forms associated with different grammatical persons. A translation of a formal Greek message should preserve its relationship with the recipient without mixing those target constructions halfway through the document.
The Greek resource distinguishes familiar εσύ from formal or polite εσείς. This tells the translator about social distance, but it does not alone establish whether the recipient is one person or a group. A notice to one applicant can use plural-looking Greek address without becoming a notice to several applicants.
The Catalan public-administration guidance distinguishes vós, using second-person plural agreement, from vostè, using third-person singular agreement. In its administrative context it generally favors vós. This is guidance for that kind of document, not a claim that ordinary Catalan conversations must always address people in the same way.
The choice affects possessives and short pronouns too
The Catalan table links vós with us and vostre forms, while vostè takes a different set of weak pronouns and seu forms. A translator who selects only the first greeting and then translates each Greek pronoun independently can mix the two patterns. The resulting document may keep a respectful tone yet shift its grammatical relationship with the same reader.
For an original example, imagine a Greek request to submit your application followed by we will inform you. The applicant is the same person in both parts. The Catalan possessive associated with the application and the short pronoun associated with informing should belong to one chosen address pattern. Changing from vós-related forms to vostè-related forms is not required simply because the reader changes from possessor to recipient.
The sender’s voice is independent. The administration guide distinguishes jo, nosaltres, and impersonal constructions for the writer and warns against mixing them indiscriminately. A Greek source signed by one official may say I inform you, while a collective office may say we inform you. Respectful address to the reader does not authorize changing the institution’s own stated voice.
This is useful in a short appointment letter. A source instruction telling the reader to attend and a later statement that the office will contact the reader contain different actors. The target must keep the applicant responsible for attending and the office responsible for contacting. Selecting a polite address form cannot replace that actor distinction; third-person target agreement under vostè still addresses the reader rather than introducing an unrelated third person.
The practical task is to preserve the Greek recipient and sender while applying a coherent Catalan register appropriate to the document. Decide whether the source addresses one reader or several, identify the writer’s stated voice, and keep the chosen recipient pattern across verbs, possessives, and weak pronouns. This carries the Greek formality into Catalan without making the applicant appear to change identity between sentences.
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