“There’s one word for the nuclear family, and another for in-laws, and a third term that means ‘those who are considered to be like family’ even when there’s no blood tie. And then there’s a basically untranslatable term, something like ‘foster family’—di kest-eltern. ‘Host family,’ you might say, because traditionally, when parents sent a child away to university, they looked for a family who would provide lodging and meals for that child.”
