Jocelyne Rodriguez
Seventh Cultural Post: Attitudes about Family in the Target Culture
The main difference in attitudes about family between English and Portuguese is found in the way people speak of their in-laws. For example, Portuguese has uses words like ‘cunhada’ (sister in law), ‘genro’ (son-in-law), sogra (mother-in-law). You do not find the ‘in-law’ clause within the words used in Portuguese, meaning they are used even when there is no formal ‘in-law’ relation. For example I can refer to my brother’s girlfriend as ‘cunhada’ (sister in law) even if they are not married.
Another difference is found within the gender of the words used to describe relatives. For example, while in English there is one word to describe both female and male cousins, in Portuguese there are different words for ‘cousin’ that specify gender. The word for a male cousin is ‘primo’, while the word to describe a female cousin is ‘prima’.
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