If I should put this somewhere else, please let me know! I’m not really a redditor so the nuances of subreddits escape me. (There’s an auto message threatening me to go to r/translator but this isn’t a translation?)
Me and my dad are going to Japan for most of July and he’s been helping me get a very elementary vocabulary of phrases to get by. He (this guy passed his level 5 in Japanese— he says that’s basic conversation) said that while everyone typically uses 父さん or some variation of it when talking to their dad, it wouldn’t be a translation of what I call him in English.
When talking about him to others, like now, I just say ‘my dad’ but when I talk To Him, he’s always been Father or Father Dearest (in a genuine way, but the humor doesn’t escape us). He suggested for me to do the most direct translation and use 父親 but that people would probably laugh.
Should I obey the standard conventions or go for the most literal translation? It’s not like I don’t get odd looks when I say “Father dear” out in public anyways.
(I guess I’m just scared to be an ignorant foreigner)
by Agrainofglitter