Sometime during my first year of language learning (back in 1990), our teacher tried to teach us the various terms used to describe family relationships in Chinese: mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, etc. It was useful stuff, since we were all anxious to talk about our families in Chinese. We usually did fine as long as things were confined to the immediate family.

Then came the day our teacher branched off into relationships further out (cousins, in-laws, grandparents). Our eyes glazed over and our brains shut down. Watch this video clip to see why. ( “The Complicated Family Tree,” from OfftheGreatWall)

Got that?