Comments on: Meet the Uncles

By: Sensei MIchael

Sensei MIchael — Sat, 26 May 2007 03:55:51 +0000

Uh…actually 阿姨 is maternal aunt. 姑姑 is the term for paternal aunt. And wait till you’ve got to deal with the 堂 and the 表. It took me many years of growing up in an overseas Chinese family to get an idea in my youth.

By: canrun

canrun — Thu, 24 May 2007 07:25:21 +0000

How did your Chinese girlfriend’s Father manage to live in Italy? I’ve been trying to get my WIFE to the states for 16 months now…

By: Jeremy

Jeremy — Tue, 08 May 2007 14:08:39 +0000

thats true,man,the cultural differences. great job,bravo!

By: James Chiang

James Chiang — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 04:42:41 +0000

I think It is quite convenient for you to call somebody that you don’t know his name or his surname.
When I studied in primary school, we always called the teachers “teacher”. But in order to distinguish each teacher, we called the teacher whom teaching math 数学老师 (math teacher), called the teacher whom teaching Chinese 语文老师 (Chinese teacher), called the teacher whom teaching music 音乐老师 (music teacher), etc. Instead of disrespect, it’s just a custom.
When I studied in middle school, we didn’t call teachers that way anymore. But I don’t know the reason why we change the way calling them. We’re used to calling teachers “his surname plus teacher”, for example, 李老师 (Li teacher), 林老师 (Lin teacher), etc.
It’s very interesting.

By: Health Store

Health Store — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 13:52:46 +0000

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By: Matt Schiavenza

Matt Schiavenza — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 02:44:23 +0000

This presents particular problems for me because I have, for pretty much my whole life, avoided calling people by their names. For example, when I talk to you, I don’t say, “I don’t know, Ben” or really use your name very much at all.

So in China, even though I know most of the relationship words, I generally use them only if I need to get someone’s attention. (e.g., 小姐).

I have a Thai classmate who seems unable to address our teacher without calling her 老师. For example, when our teacher asks her a question that she cannot answer, she always says, “我不知道老师” which I find odd and a little bit annoying.

Also, one of my teachers must say the word “同学们” a million times in each lesson.