All In the Family

One of the things I’m trying to decide in regards to the book is whether to refer to my relatives by their Chinese titles or the nearest English equivalent of those titles. Whereas in English, a word like “aunt” or “cousin” can refer to multiple types of familial relationships, the designations in China are extremely specific. For instance, a term like “er gu ma” (二姑妈) tells you all the following information about the aunt to whom it refers:

• She is from my father’s side of the family.
• She is older than my father.
• She is the second sister on that side of the family.

Here’s a comprehensive list of these familial titles. As you can imagine, it can be difficult keeping track of all these relationships. I’m familiar with the commonly used ones, such as the titles for aunts, uncles, and cousins, but the more obscure ones can stump not only me but my parents as well.

As far as what to use in my book, I’m leaning toward using terms like “aunt” and “cousin”, which would definitely make it easier for a non-Chinese audience to keep up. However, it would likely also require me to frequently explain someone’s familial relationship, which could disrupt the flow. On the other hand, part of me does like the idea of using the Chinese titles and including a who’s who list with the titles in the book. Of course, that could make readers have to constantly refer back to the chart, but they might have to do that anyway to remember which character is who, since they will all have Chinese names.