I am always wondering how the Americans distinguish these words.Such as grandpa, grandma, aunt, uncle and cousin.
For example, when you say "My grandpa is 80 years old." How do I know which grandpa you refer to, your father's father or your mother's father? When we refer to mother's father, we call"外公". we call father's father "爷爷". we call mother's mother"外婆", father's mother "奶奶". But Americans always call "grandpa, grandma", it makes me confused.
We call mother's sisters "姨", if she is older than mother, we call "大姨，二姨...", if she is younger, we call "小姨". But we call father's sisters "姑姑" or "姑妈". We call parents' female friends "阿姨".
We call father's elder brother"大伯", father's younger
brother "叔叔", call mother's brothers"舅舅". So when an
American says" My aunt and uncle like China." How do I know who he exactly talks about?
I think the most difficult word is "cousin". In China, If mother's brothers' or sisters' daughters are older than we, we call them"表姐", if they are younger, we call them"表妹"; and their sons, we call"表哥" or "表弟". While father's brothers' or sisters' daughters, we call"堂姐" or "堂妹"; their sons, we call"堂兄" or "堂弟". When you say "My cousin likes American football, another cousin likes soccer." I am not sure who likes football, who likes soccer.
Can you tell me how to distinguish such words?
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