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So the MC in the draft I'm working on now is from a mixed race and mixed culture background. His mom is Mexican and his dad is Egyptian, and the family lives in a big American city. Because the mother's native language is Spanish and the dad's is Arabic, they don't speak each others' native languages, so the family speaks English at home. The MC speaks English, Spanish and some Arabic.
I've been trying to figure out what the MC would call his parents, though. I know a lot of families with Spanish-speaking background use Mama or something similar. But if he referred to his mom as Mama, it stands to reason that he would refer to his dad in Arabic, so Abee (I think, if you speak Arabic please feel free to correct me), but then I feel like this might be jarring to readers or won't make sense. But I'm also worried it will seem unnatural for him to use the English names.
Some context, my family is also mixed culture, mom from Israel, dad from South Africa. (Family reunions are hilarious.) We also speak English at home, and I don't call my mom Ima or my dad Oupa. But my parents also tried really hard to assimilate when they moved here to the US, which contributes to that.
In the story, the MC's family is much more proud of their heritage than my family was. So I feel like maybe he would refer to his parents as Mama/Abee, but I don't know if this is normal for third culture families anyway? Is that common?
Any advice?
I've been trying to figure out what the MC would call his parents, though. I know a lot of families with Spanish-speaking background use Mama or something similar. But if he referred to his mom as Mama, it stands to reason that he would refer to his dad in Arabic, so Abee (I think, if you speak Arabic please feel free to correct me), but then I feel like this might be jarring to readers or won't make sense. But I'm also worried it will seem unnatural for him to use the English names.
Some context, my family is also mixed culture, mom from Israel, dad from South Africa. (Family reunions are hilarious.) We also speak English at home, and I don't call my mom Ima or my dad Oupa. But my parents also tried really hard to assimilate when they moved here to the US, which contributes to that.
In the story, the MC's family is much more proud of their heritage than my family was. So I feel like maybe he would refer to his parents as Mama/Abee, but I don't know if this is normal for third culture families anyway? Is that common?
Any advice?