Why doesn't the English language have distinct words to use when talking to elders? [closed]

In many of the languages that I've studied there are separate distinctions in the words to use when talking to elders and when talking to someone of your age or younger.

For e.g. in Hindi, if I wanted to ask you to do something, I would say:

To an elder:

kya Aap ye karoge ?

To someone my age or younger :

kya Tu ye karega ?

If I try to translate this to English, it merely comes to "Will you do it?". There is no consideration for elders or so I think. The closest I can think is when I try to say it comically, like that Indian guy from any of the sitcoms (think Apu from The Simpsons), " I respectfully ask you to do it ". So why is it so ??

_{Note: The original title of the question was "Why is the English language so rude?"}

Solution 1:

English is polite by default, it's other languages that are optionally rude.

You raised the polite/rude second pronoun example; well English used to have thou in addition to you. Thou was used by superiors to inferiors, or if you wanted to be rude, whereas you was used when respect is given.

Over time, upper class people tended to use polite pronouns like you all the time, and this was emulated across society so that thou is no longer used.

Solution 2:

English is not intrinsically rude, it's just that certain social assumptions are not built in, as they are in Hindi. Instead, deference is optional. As user21820's answer states, there are various ways of showing deference (to one's elders, if one wishes), such as honorifics. Choice of words means a lot, as does various phrasing choices. For instance, "I'm afraid that won't work, sir" is far more respectful than "Buddy, that's just dumb", which would probably be recognized as rude by most native speakers.

And it's not as if one cannot be rude in Hindi. One need only use "kya Tu ye karega" to an elder, for instance.

Solution 3:

English is just a language and cannot be rude; it is the people who use it who might be rude (intentionally or otherwise).

One can use the modal "could":

Could you do it?

Adding various phrases are also recommended as basic courtesy:

Could you please do it?

Could you do it, please?

To address adults:

Sir/Madam, could you please do it?

Mr./Mrs./Ms. X, could you do it, please?

Other ways of expressing a request:

I would appreciate your help if you could ...

Please allow me to request that ...

May I ask if I/you could ...