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

POSTED BY: RTByers
UPDATED: Thursday, May 5, 2005 00:42
VIEWED: 11219
PAGE 1 of 1

RTBYERS

Friday, September 17, 2004 3:33 PM

If anyone knows it, please help.

Don't give up on your
Dreams. Unless you really suck and
No one likes you.

STILLSHINY

Friday, September 17, 2004 7:00 PM

Not sure if they'll have it but I use this site for Chinese symbols

http://www.formosa-translation.com/chinese/u/uu.html

Check out my shop!
http://www.zazzle.com/contributors/products/gallery/browse_results.asp
?cid=238187680745956238

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I took the road less traveled by and they CANCELLED MY FRIKKIN' SHOW. I totally shoulda took the road that had all those people on it. Damn." --Joss

AILIAN

Saturday, September 18, 2004 12:50 PM

It depends:
Father's elder brother: bofu
Father's younger brother: shufu
Father's sister's husband: gufu
Mother's brother: jiufu
Mother's sister's husband: yifu

GYPSYCASTER

Wednesday, October 6, 2004 1:05 PM

When I took Kung Fu, we called our teachers Sihing
(brother non-related)
and the master (in school) Sifu
(most respected uncle, non-related)
Ain't Chinese fun?

RANDOMLING

Tuesday, November 30, 2004 9:26 PM

On a similar note, I'd like to know the following - both related and unrelated, if you've got 'em. (I know we have at least one native speaker around.)

big sister
big brother
little brother

What is the difference between "mei mei" and "xiao mei mei"?

GYPSYCASTER

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 4:12 PM

in class it wes always: Si jet =big sister (elder)
Si hing = big brother (elder)
and I don't remember the others

It's me!! It's me!!
Gypsy

GYPSYCASTER

Wednesday, December 1, 2004 4:13 PM

oops...both are unrelated, honorific.

It's me!! It's me!!
Gypsy

IZCHAN

Monday, December 6, 2004 4:56 AM

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.

These are all pronounce in Mandarin.
There are a lot of dialects in china and mandarin is what we call the common.

The other popular dialect is cantonese, which is used commonly in Hong Kong Movies.

---
When you address your seniors in your class, you call them
Si Xiong (Mandarin)
Xi Hing (Cantonese)

Si or Xi comes from the word "Teacher" but it does not mean that the person being addressed is a teacher, rather it means that they are under the same guidance of the same school or master.

"Xiong" or "Hing" means Older Brother.
"Di" means younger brother
"Zie" means Elder Sister
"Mei" means Younger Sister

I hope I cleared up some of your questions.

RANDOMLING

Monday, December 6, 2004 8:31 PM

It did - thank you Izchan, and Gypysycaster too!

More questions: Does Mandarin make a distinction between related and unrelated terms - between talking to somebody who is (say) your blood sister, or somebody who is so close a friend you consider them a sister, for instance - or are these terms okay for both related and unrelated people? And are these terms all right as terms of endearment (as "mei mei" seems to be), or are they merely descriptive?

IZCHAN

Tuesday, December 7, 2004 5:18 AM

actually, the terms are used loosely, but depends on the kind of relationship you have with the person you are talking to.

it more or less the same when we speak in english, you don't call everyone sister, do you?

in formal usage of the language, you will need to determine the "rank" you are in and used the proper terms to address your seniors and juniors.
miscalling a person's "rank" is rather serious.

yet in the modern times, tranditions are loosely kept, so you might still get away with addressing people with inaccurate "rank" ... :)

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