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>... In Mandarin there are so many titles, and even family friends can get them. I also heard that it's customary to mention the titles instead of resp. names.
by zoomablemind 4y ago
>...
In Mandarin there are so many titles, and even family friends can get them.
I also heard that it's customary to mention the titles instead of resp. names.
That is instead of saying Aunt Jane, they'd need to say a specific title in the father's or mother's hierarchy.
- HKH2 4y agoThat's definitely the case for relatives of previous generations. You never address them by name.
- k_sze 4y agoNote, however, that in some places, it is OK to combine the name + title for disambiguity, instead of relying solely on the attachment of an ordinal number. e.g. for your father's sister, who is the 3rd child, you could say either: - 三姑 ("father's sister, 3rd in birth order"), or - 艷姑 ("father's sister, Yan"), if she has the character "艷" in her name.