Re: The pitfall of Chinese/Mandarin

>From: "H. S. Teoh" <hsteoh@...>
>Date: Sun, 9 Dec 2001 16:27:01 -0500
>
>And if you think this is bad... just wait till I tell you about
>translating "aunt" and "uncle"... *snicker* there are distinct words for
>your father's siblings (and distinctions between younger/older,
>male/female), your mother's siblings (and distinctions between
>younger/older and male/female), AND your in-laws, plus separate terms with
>the same distinctions for each uncle/aunt on your in-laws' side, etc.,
>etc., ad infinitum. And this only covers relatives of the same
>generation... it gets a LOT worse with grandparents, nephews, nieces, ...
Aiya!  I get so confused trying to remember ayi's and gugu's and waigu's and
shenshen's and buomu's and yimu's and then all the numbering with dagu and
ergu and sangu.  AIYA!!  It's enough to drive a sane person crazy!  Chinese
family trees are terrifying!

>
>(And, unlike what they tell you, most Chinese can't figure out all those
>terms either... they tend to only know those terms that actually
>correspond with somebody that exists in their family -- which is a
>consequence of having the proper term seared into their memory through
>strict repetitious reminders at every single family reunion -- and they
>usually have a hard time remembering exactly what relationship the term
>denotes. :-P)
>
I have noticed that.  Ask a Chinese out of the blue (especially when there
are two or three present) "What is the Chinese for father's younger
brother's wife?" and confusion results if only one is present, pandemonium
if two or more. *g*  (No, no, no it's X.  NO! That's father's sister's
husband!  No, it's mother's sister's husband.  oh, you're right.  Then it's
Y.  No that's . . . )  Quite amusing unless you really need the term for
some reason. *g*

Adam who must have been hanging around chaosmaster czHANgie too long
>
>T

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