What is the accepted or acknowledge way to turn to professor or teacher at the college or at the university?
For example if I have a question to ask him, Should I say to him "professor" or "teacher" or there is another way to do it? I have African friends who say to the teacher (female) "mom", while Indian friends say to the teacher (male) "Sir". so I am confused in this topic and I'd like to know one time what is the way to turn to teachers in USA, England, Australia, South Africa and Canada.
In the U.S., teachers generally teach at the K-12 levels, while professors teach at colleges and universities.
It's also quite unusual in the U.S. to refer to a teacher as "Teacher," except perhaps at the elementary level. In the middle school and high school environments, teachers are usually known by their last name, with a prefix (for example: Mr. Jones, Mrs. Smith, Ms. Davis, or Miss Miller).
At the collegiate level, it's less uncommon for professors to be known as "Professor." Assuming the professor holds a doctorate degree, though, many of them prefer to be referred to as Doctor (for example, Dr. Brown).
However, these very general guidelines can vary quite a bit: not just from country to country or school to school, but even from department to department. My daughter goes to a university where, in her department (which happens to be the Theater department), most of the professors prefer to be called by their first name (Dave or Nichole, for example). However, I believe other departments are not quite so informal with their students. It might vary by generation, too. Ultimately, though, it's a personal preference.
If you are worried about not being respectful enough, you can use Sir or Ma'am initially – that's usually pretty safe. The only way to know for sure, though, is to simply ask:
What would you prefer that I call you?
or:
How do want me to address you?
You could change the first person pronouns to a more collective question, if you'd like:
How do you prefer that your students you? Professor? Doctor?
I think you'll find that most professors will be happy to answer that question, and get the awkwardness and doubt out of the way.
