So, you have a nice, happy FAMILY, two PARENTS, CHILDREN, SONS and daughters, Brothers and Sisters, maybe even STEP Brothers and STEP Sisters or even FOSTER children, probably GRAND-parents and PARENTS-IN-LAW, not to mention Uncles, Aunts, Nieces and Nephews, Cousins or even an adopted family member. There is no end to the confusion a family can bring.
And confusion it does bring as soon as we start moving across cultures and language.
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Relatives, Kin -
Parentes
- Parents - Pais
- Family - Familiares. (NOT to be confused with FAMILIAR - which means someone or something that we know quite well)
The first time I heard someone tell me
they had 10 Parents living in Sao Paulo, I was really confused. (They meant that they had 10 relatives living in Sao Paulo)
In English, a Parent can only be your Mother or Father.
We have Grandparents and Step-parents which fulfill similar roles as parents do.
- Parents are NOT your Uncles and Aunts, nor your Nieces, nephews or cousins. These we refer to as Family or Relatives. Your Mothers large family of 6 brothers and 5 sisters are all your relatives.
- Their extended families are often referred to as Distant relatives.
For older generations we begin with GRAND, as in Grandparent being your Grandfather or Grandmother.
- Then their parents are referred to, by us, as GREAT as in Great Grandfather, Great Grandmother etc, which becomes Great, Great, Great for each generation that precedes theirs.
- In Brazil it isn't uncommon for us to hear a relatively young woman saying she is a Great Grandmother. She means that her Granddaughter(or Grandson) has had a child.
While on this subject let's look at another awkward set of family terms.
- The term STEP as in Step Mother, Step Father or Step-children, refers to the Mother or Father or Children who are not yours by blood but through remarriage when two families become united under one family.
- This is not to be confused with FOSTER (Mother, Father, Children) which is part of a social program designed to provide, usually temporarily, a family environment for mostly children, when their own environment is compromised. FOSTER and ADOPTED should not be confused. An adopted child or family refers to a choice in making the Adopted members legally real members of a family. As real members of the Family, the same designation applies, Father, Mother, Son, Daughter, Brother or Sister.
- And what about IN LAW? you might ask. Parents IN LAW refer to your Father IN LAW or Mother IN LAW. (IN LAW obviously means that the relationship comes about through LAW, being your marriage). IN LAW relations include - Brother IN LAW and Sister IN LAW.
- Brazil has a strong religious trait to it which means that it is not uncommon for families to invite friends to be their children's GOD PARENTS. They are referred to as GOD MOTHERS and GOD FATHERS to their GOD CHILDREN (GOD DAUGHTER or GOD SON)
Sons, Children - Filhos
- While the translation is correct, the word Filhos is also used to mean children.
This leads to a lot of confusion when Brazilians ask questions like,
- 'Do you have any Sons?' (already a strange first question. We would ask - 'Do you have any children?).
- When you answer, Yes, 2 sons and a daughter, the normal understanding would be, Oh, so you have 3 sons. After some time the speaker begins to understand the term children and can relate to that concept when the children are young.
- Then the same speaker talks to a much older person and reverts to;
- 'How many sons do you have?'
The concept of Child - crianca in Brazil, is for young and small members of your Family or young and small people, children in general.
- In English, a child is a small and young human, but your children are your offspring as well.
- Your children are born and remain YOUR children, even when they grow up. They will always be YOUR children, not simply CHILDREN (small, young people).
- 'How many Children do you have?'
- 'I have 3 children, 2 sons who are both married and a daughter who is teaching at Univeristy.'
