I need a tranlation for Uncle (non literal) in Chinese.

POSTED BY: RTByers
UPDATED: Thursday, May 5, 2005 00:42
VIEWED: 11192
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RANDOMLING

Tuesday, December 7, 2004 1:42 PM

*nods* In English, I'd reserve "sister" for my one blood sister, and one or two close (female) friends. I don't have any brothers, but I do have a few close male friends I think of as my brothers. :) It sounds like you're saying that it would be okay for me to use "mei mei" for my own sister, and a younger friend that I thought of as my sister. Am I reading you right?

I'm not sure what you mean by "rank", though. Could you expand a bit?

IZCHAN

Wednesday, December 8, 2004 4:02 AM

you hit jackpot.

when i mean rank, i mean the level of each generation.

for instance.

I grand fathers uncle has a son that is younger than me. He is technically my uncle (my "Tang Shu") but I could still call him brother if my dad does not mind.

In chinese customs, the way the family tree falls will have different addressing methods.

If a father has brothers which then have sons, then those children will have the word "TANG" in front of it. for example, my fathers brothers son will be "Tang Ge" or "Tang Ti" for me, where "Ge" is elder brother and "Ti" is younger. If it is a girl, then "Zie" is elder and "Mei" is younger.

The list goes on, most of the time I get so confused with the formal addressing that I just go and say "Uncle" in english and be done with it.

"Mei Mei" is younger sister. Thats the meaning of it. I use it with my own sister, my god sister and those young ones that which I care a lot for.

The reason why I use the word rank, because the relations remind me a lot of the ranking system in the military.

I hope it helps.

CMONEY

Wednesday, May 4, 2005 10:29 PM

A non-literal uncle would be 叔叔, shu2shu2. The others aren't used very often, and this works for just about any older male that isn't in your nuclear family.

Same goes for Meimei and Didi. You can call any younger girl on the street mei mei, and any younger boy didi.

I have a few pages of family names... most of them never get used, they are too confusing for most Chinese speakers.

Cousins are addressed as "biao" + di, mei, ge, or jie (younger male, younger female, older male, older female). Becareful using biao though... use the wrong tone and it means whore.

REKA

Thursday, May 5, 2005 12:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by izchan:
big sister - Ta Jie
Big Brother - Ta Ke
Little Brother - Di Di

----
as for sister - it is - Mei Mei

the "xiao" in the front means young sister but not in the same context as english, it is purely just an pronoun to make the phrase so better.

Sometimes we add it to actually mean "little" as in younger sister, or sometimes to mock the person you are addressing as too young.

"Xiao" can also be used as an affectionate addition, and the usage implies a certain closeness between the speaker and the addressee. The way Mal talks to Kaylee is a good example of this kind of closeness and affection.

For big sister and big brother, be careful actually using "Ta jie" and "Ta ke". "Ta ke" is also used to mean "Big Crime Boss", or "head dude" in various contexts, some of which are as harmless as a kids' summer camp head counselor, and a lot of things in between. No one ever really says "Ta ke" (pronounced closer to "Da guh" and officially pinyinized on the mainland as "da ge") because of the multiple usages. "Ge ge" is what people actually say, in the same way one uses "mei mei". For big sister, it's "jie jie".

And you'd never put "xiao" in front of "ge ge" or "jie jie".

--Reka

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