ChinesePod
@ 50625 親戚稱呼
A 哎，我昨天在街上看到你和你媽了。你們母女倆真像。
āi, wǒ zuótiān zài jiēshang kàndào nǐ hé nǐ mā le. nǐmen mǔnǚ liǎ zhēn xiàng.
Oh, yesterday I saw you with my mom on the street. You look a lot alike.
B 我昨天沒和我媽上街啊。哦，對了，你看到的肯定是我娘娘，不是我媽。我昨天跟我娘娘在一起。
wǒ zuótiān méi hé wǒ mā shàngjiē a. ò, duìle, nǐ kàndào de kěndìng shì wǒ niāngniang, bùshì wǒ mā. wǒ zuótiān gēn wǒ niāngniang zài yīqǐ.
I wasn't with my mom on the street yesterday. Oh, that's right! You must have seen my paternal aunt.
A 娘娘？是什麼？
niāngniang? shì shénme?
Huh? What's a paternal aunt?
B 就是我爸爸的妹妹。
jiùshì wǒ bàba de mèimei.
My dad's younger sister.
A 噢，我們北方人叫姑姑。你們上海人叫娘娘呀，真有意思。那第一聲的“娘”怎麼寫呢？
ō, wǒmen běifāngrén jiào gūgu. nǐmen Shànghǎi rén jiào niāngniang ya, zhēn yǒuyìsi. nà dì yī shēng de `` niāng" zěnme xiě ne?
Oh, we northerners call her ``gu-gu." You Shanghainese call them ``niang-niang." It's really funny. So how do you write a first-tone ``niang" ?
B 沒有這個字的。那是上海話的發音。你說，我們中國的規矩怎麼這麼多啊？親戚的叫法也五花八門，什麼都有。而且最頭疼的是，不僅有一大堆稱呼，北方和南方的叫法還很不一樣。麻煩死了！
méiyǒu zhège zì de. nà shì Shànghǎi huà de fāyīn. nǐ shuō, wǒmen Zhōngguó de guīju zěnme zhème duō a? qīnqi de jiàofǎ yě wǔhuābāmén, shénme dōu yǒu. érqiě zuì tóuténg de shì, bùjǐn yǒu yīdàduī chēnghu, běifāng hé nánfāng de jiàofǎ hái hěn bù yīyàng. máfan sǐ le!
There is no such word. It's just Shanghainese people's pronunciation. Tell me, why are there so many rules in China? There are tons of different ways to address your relatives. And to make matters worse, there's not only a ton of names, but northerners and southerners have really different names. What a pain!
A 就是啊。那麼多稱呼，叫的時候經常搞錯。哎，你們管姑姑叫娘娘，那麼姑姑的老公叫什麼呢？娘夫？
jiùshì a. nàme duō chēnghu, jiào de shíhou jīngcháng gǎocuò. āi, nǐmen guǎn gūgu jiào niāngniang, nàme gūgu de lǎogong jiào shénme ne? niāngfū?
That's for sure. There are so many ways to say things, it's easy to get screwed up. Oh, so your ``gu-gu" is called a ``niang-niang." So what's the paternal aunt's husband called? Niang-fu?
B 什麼亂七八糟的。我們也叫姑夫。
shénme luànqībāzāo de. wǒmen yě jiào gūfu.
Baloney. We also call him ``Gu-fu."
A 這個又是一樣的。你看搞不搞？那你們管姥姥、姥爺叫什麼?
zhège yòu shì yīyàng de. nǐ kàn gǎo bu gǎo? nà nǐmen guǎn lǎolao, lǎoye jiào shénme?
That's also the same. Doesn't it seem weird to you? So what do you call your maternal grandfather and grandfather?
B 外公、外婆，或者阿公、阿婆。你知道上海人怎麼叫舅舅嗎？
wàigōng, wàipó, huòzhě āgōng, āpó. nǐ zhīdào Shànghǎi rén zěnme jiào jiùjiu ma?
``Wai-gong" and ``wai-po," or ``a-gong" and ``a-po." Do you know what Shanghainese call their mother's brother?
A 阿舅？孃舅？
ājiù? niángjiù?
``A-jiu? Niang-jiu?"
B 嗯，兩種叫法都有。不過我比較喜歡叫孃舅。
ng4, liǎng zhǒng jiàofǎ dōu yǒu. bùguò wǒ bǐjiào xǐhuan jiào niángjiù.
Ah, we have both ways of saying it. But I like to say ``niang-jiu".
A 你怎麼這麼喜歡娘這個字，是不是和媽媽有關啊？
nǐ zěnme zhème xǐhuan niáng zhège zì, shì bu shì hé māma yǒuguān a?
Why do you like the word ``niang" so much? Does it have to do with your mother?
B 我也不知道，大概是語言習慣吧。對了，我發現南北不僅叫法不一樣，而且有很多音根本發不出來。比如你們叫baibai，就是第一聲的bai。我們上海話里根本就沒有這個音。
wǒ yě bù zhīdào, dàgài shì yǔyán xíguàn ba. duìle, wǒ fāxiàn nánběi bùjǐn jiàofǎ bùyīyàng, érqiě yǒu hěn duō yīn gēnběn fā bu chūlái. bǐrú nǐmen jiào bai bai, jiùshì dì yī shēng de bai. wǒmen Shànghǎi huà lǐ gēnběn jiù méiyǒu zhège yīn.
I don't know, either. I guess it's a habit of speech. Oh, right-- I've noticed that northerners and southerners not only have different forms of address. There are also a lot of sounds that they just don't say. For example, you say ``baibai." It's ``bai" with the first tone. We have no such sound in Shanghainese.
A 方言嘛。當然會有一些差異。那你們管伯伯伯母叫什麼？
fāngyán ma. dāngrán huì yǒu yīxiē chāyì. nà nǐmen guǎn bóbo bómǔ jiào shénme?
That's just dialects-- of course there will be some differences. What do you call your father's elder brother and his wife?
B 大伯伯，大媽媽。我聽說你們北方人管伯母叫姨媽的。
dàbóbo, dàmāma. wǒ tīngshuō nǐmen běifāngrén guǎn bómǔ jiào yímā de.
``Da bobo" and ``da mama." I hear you northerners call the wife of your father's elder brother ``yi-ma."
A 不是，姨媽是叫媽媽的姐妹的。媽媽的姐姐叫大姨，媽媽的妹妹就叫小姨。
bù shì, yímā shì jiào māma de jiěmèi de. māma de jiějie jiào dàyí, māma de mèimei jiù jiào xiǎoyí.
No, ``yi-ma" is what you call your mother's sisters. Your mother's older sisters are called ``da-yi," and her younger sisters are called ``xiao-yi."
B 哦，和上海差不多。不過我們很多人也叫大阿姨和小阿姨。你有沒有發現，我們上海的叫法聽起來會可愛一點？
ō, hé Shànghǎi chàbuduō. bùguò wǒmen hěn duō rén yě jiào dà āyí hé xiǎo āyí. nǐ yǒuméiyǒu fāxiàn, wǒmen Shànghǎi de jiàofǎ tīngqǐlai huì kěài yīdiǎn?
Oh, that's more or less the same as in Shanghai. But then, a lot of people also say ``da-a-yi" or ``xiao-a-yi." Have you noticed, the way we Shanghainese address our relatives sounds a little cuter?
A 所以說吳儂軟語嘛，你們的方言本來就比較嗲。
suǒyǐ shuō wúnóngruǎnyǔ ma, nǐmen de fāngyán běnlái jiù bǐjiào dǐa.
That's why it's called soft speech. Your dialect has always been a little bit cutesy.
B 喲，你都會說“嗲”啦？有些上海人就叫爺爺diadia。看來你很有做上海人的潛質嘛。
yō, nǐ dōu huì shuō `` dǐa" la? yǒuxiē Shànghǎi rén jiù jiào yéye dia dia. kànlai nǐ hěn yǒu zuò Shànghǎi rén de qiánzhì ma.
Oh, you've learned how to say ``dia?" Some Shanghainese call their grandfathers ``dia-dia." It looks like you have a lot of potential to be Shanghainese.
A 我才不想做上海人呢，那麼嗲。哎！難怪人家外國人聽到中國的親戚稱呼就一頭霧水了，我現在算是明白他們的苦衷了。
wǒ cái bù xiǎng zuò Shànghǎi rén ne, nàme dǐa. āi! nánguài rénjiā wàiguórén tīngdào Zhōngguó de qīnqi chēnghu jiù yītóuwùshuǐ le, wǒ xiànzài suànshì míngbai tāmen de kǔzhōng le.
I really don't want to be Shanghainese. They're so cutesy. Oh, no wonder foreigners are baffled when they hear about all the different names for relatives in China. Even we are totally buffaloed by them.
B 是啊，連我們自己都被搞得七葷八素了。
shì a, lián wǒmén zìjǐ dōu bèi gǎo de qīhūnbāsù le.
Buffaloed? What does that mean?
A 七葷八素？什麼意思啊？
qīhūnbāsù? shénme yìsi a?
I was just praising your potential. Figure it out on your own.
B 剛誇你有潛質呢，你好好想想吧。
gāng kuā nǐ yǒu qiánzhì ne, nǐ hǎohāo xiǎngxiang ba.
Key Vocabulary
五花八門 wǔhuābāmén all kinds of
吳儂軟語 wúnóngruǎnyǔ soft language
嗲 dǐa ingratiating
潛質 qiánzhì potential
一頭霧水 yītóuwùshuǐ in confusion
苦衷 kǔzhōng hardship
七葷八素 qīhūnbāsù confusion
Supplementary Vocabulary
輩分 bèifen position of seniority in a family
遠親 yuǎnqīn distant relative
近親 jìnqīn close relative
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