: Re: How to address family members solely by relationship in dialogue? Most English speakers probably just care about You, Mom, Dad, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, Great-Grandparents and Ancestors,

@LarsenBagley300

Vote Up Vote Down

I would suggest that if this is a story, the character uses the Romanticized spelling of a particular word and then explain the direct translation by the narrator, and use the word as the address. I would also draw attention to the fact it's a foreign word by using italics every time it's brought up in narration (not sure on Dialog. Dialog should be less formal in grimmer than narration.). I recomend the following:

[Foreign Term], [description of relationship], [continuation of dialog].

The description should occur only on the first use of the term, to avoid repititon.

With rearguards to an English equivalent, there are "some" elements like this but they are much looser. Grandparents are usually given unique versions of gendered grandparents to avoid having to figure out which of the two female or male grandparents are being discussed. In my one family, my fathers biological parents divorced and both remarried, which led to three seperate pairs of names. (Mother's Parrents: Grandpa and Grandma. Father's Father and 2nd Wife: Pop-Pop and Mom-Mom. Father's Mother and 2nd Husband: Granddad (2nd Husband) and Granny (Father's Mother).) There are other variants too. Neither is more important than the other. Grandfather and Grandmother are seen as more former and descriptive and rarely are used in conversations. Parents and Grandparents are almost always refered to by their relationship role by their descendants than their actual name (referring to your biological parent by their given names is seen as rude or dismissive... though step-parents tend to accept a child using their first name out of respect for the person who is their real parent).

Siblings of parents and their spouses are "Uncles (male) and Aunts(female)" regardless of their actual blood relationship, though an official title for the wife of your parent's brother is an "Aunt-In-Law". Children will refer to them as Uncle [First Name] or Aunt [First Name]. Using a diminutive or a family nickname is perfectly acceptable (Uncle Joe instead of Uncle Joseph, Uncle Bob instead of Uncle Robert). The more adult nieces and nephews will drop the Uncles and Aunts in casual conversations, using their first name casually without honorrifics, and pick it back up moments later. Uncles/Aunts will refer to a collection of a sibling's children as nieces and nephews but individually will address them with their names.

It should be pointed out that in many families, the concept of an "Honorary Uncle/Aunt" may exist, which is when a child is instructed to call a very close family friend as Uncle//Aunt despite no familial relationships. A good example of this can be observed in the TV Show "How I Met Your Mother" which is framed by the Protagonist, in the future, telling his teenage children the story of the titular event during the early 2010s. When discussing the other four main characters in the series, the future!Protaganist will refer to them as the children's Uncles and Aunts (and later when the married couple's first kid is born he's referred to as a cousin).

Cousins will never address each other with any titles, though some spellings may denote a cousin's gender, in dialog it is moot as the two spellings sound alike.

(0)

Login to post a comment!