Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Cousin?

I have discovered that when I mention a relative such as aunt, uncle, or cousin, people want to know exactly how they are related to me.  Then I have to try to remember how second cousins and removals work and describe the relationship.  This is because in Korean, every type of relative has their own name.  Your mom's sisters are a different name than your dad's sisters.  "Cousin" is not even a word they can really understand since your aunt and uncle's children have a different name depending on you mom or dad's side.  I don't know how second cousins work, but I suspect they have their own name too.  I have not memorized these at all since none of my family is Korean and I just use to opportunity to describe my family.
Another confusing aspect of naming relatives specifically comes in siblings.  Since I am a girl, I would call Laura (my older sister) Unni.  If Laura was Riley's older sister, she would be Nuna.  To Ruth, Riley (her older brother) would be Oppa, and if she were a boy, he would be Hyung.   Younger siblings are less important, so they are usually just called by name. 
If you have a friend more than a couple years older than you, you are supposed to call them by these names as well, not by their actual name. 
This gets very confusing.  I miss just calling everyone "kinfolk."

1 comment:

  1. I like so many things about Korea, but as a youngest sibling, I don't like being less important. Youngest siblings unite!

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