169 Dad & Mom

Stephen Turban, Harvard University student, talks with ShaoLan about the many different words for parents. In Chinese, you need to know the formal way to talk about your parents, the way to address them respectfully, the way to address them informally, as well as the way to address other people’s parents, or indeed, the way to talk about your parents to other people in a humble manner.

The informal Chinese word for Dad is 爸爸, and for Mum is 媽媽/妈妈, while the slightly more formal (but also polite) way of describing them is as 父親/父亲 “father ” and 母親/母亲 “mother. ”