Different languages

[Mims27]

ahhh I love it when he says sweet things to me in Persian!!

Aww that sounds sooo sweet vero!!

My SO tells me all the time she loves it when I speak French to her. I've even taught her a few words (some good and bad ones lol) and it makes me melt completely when uses them. hehe And it gets me even more melty that she wants to learn it!

[Verojoon]

Aww that sounds sooo sweet vero!!

My SO tells me all the time she loves it when I speak French to her. I've even taught her a few words (some good and bad ones lol) and it makes me melt completely when uses them. hehe And it gets me even more melty that she wants to learn it!

aww!!

I teach mine some French too!! Not many bad words... we swear too much in English as it is! LOL he tells me "Je t'aime" and calls me "chérie". He wants to learn French eventually... but we will focus on his English for now.

[Tooki]

It's great for your SO that your native language is Swedish (sometimes I wish it were the case with my SO ) however if he were to move to Finland to be with you, wouldn't he have to learn Finnish in any case since just knowing Swedish and English would diminish his employment opportunities? Or do you live in a city where everything is conducted in Swedish?

On a tangent, I'm trying to convince my GF to put more effort into practising Finnish, in the (fair) scenario that she moves to Finland to make money.

[Off2Spain]

I'm Dutch and my so is spanish. I learnt to speak spanish fluently and hes learning dutch. Even though all the Dutch speak english fluently i find it essential to learn eachothers language. It makes it easier to blend in and it shows you make an effort to speak with your so's family in their own language. Also our children would be bilingual and thus so should we. It isnt easy but with effort defenitely doable! And speaking an extra language opens up so many doors!

[littlekakau]

English connected my SO and I. But his English is still poor, and I learned Spanish, his second language. I'm Portuguese speaker.
My question is how I will communicate with my in laws if we get married. My SO's family's mother language is quechua, and I can't even find a place to learn! Plus I can't pronounce well even number on this idiom. :/

[Alle1770]

I thought I answered this! Maybe it was another, similar thread... Oh well! My native language is Swedish, and my SO's is argentine Spanish, but we communicate with each other pretty much solely in English because I'm pretty much fluent in it after 15 years of studying it and he's been taking it for several years as well. However, we do use some words and stuff in Swedish and Spanish, sort of like a mix between all languages just to mix it up and to try and introduce each other to our respective languages. I've been taking Spanish for the past 6 years, so I understand it pretty well even though I'm very shy about speaking it, but I think that eventually we'll be able to talk both in English and Spanish if we want to, since I'm planning on going over there and living with him, which will force me to speak fluent Spanish in a year or two He's also trying to learn Swedish and he's very good at understanding it, even if speaking is a bit harder, so we both have the same issues that we need to get over, haha xD

Thankfully, my entire family speaks English pretty well, so my SO is able to communicate with them just as well as with me His brother also speaks fluent English as he has a Canadian girlfriend, and his dad is trying even though his English is very rusy, so I'm able to communicate with them as well thankfully!

[Evelyne]

English is not our first language. His is Russian, mine is French but we both communicate in English. He moved from Russia to the US when he was 12 so, he actually perfectly speaks english now. As for me, even if I still have some difficulties to express myself, i'm pretty fluent in this language and I just keep getting better. Of course we sometimes have some difficulties to understand each other, but we always find a way to rephrase what we say to make sure the other one understand.

[dragonlady]

here it is the same, he speaks english i am dutch but handel myself well in english (altougt the prases some times is not correct)
and am learning fast, about everybody around here speaks english so he will manage with my mom and such.
but if he lived some where else learning the native tongue would be wise in general (if you would move there)

[demonwithin]

~ In my relationship i'm the English speaking partner.

sweetheart tell him that you wanna try an teach him, cause when my SO asked me if i wanted to learn Serbian i was more than willing to try and learn it. it does bring the two of us closer. and it will in fact give you two more a lot to talk about

As for the kids thing, when you get kids, since their so young an can take everything in. teach them english. then Russian. or the other way around?

[aniay]

Me and my SO comunicate in English, even though my native Language is Polish, It would be nice if he learned my language but considering how hard to learn is Polish, I'm not really expecting that. He knows how to say I Love You and few other words. He will never be able to communicate with my parents but i don't think it's that important.

I admire the fact that he wants to learn at least some basics and at the same time, speaking different language and understanding that the other person might not understand completely the language you are speaking (idioms for example) makes the communication easier, makes you ask if you really understood what the other person said correctly, less misunderstandings, more patience.... etc

[JBanks]

My SO speaks German as a first language but is basically perfect in English. There's only a few times he won't understand a word but it's rare! I would like to learn German but haven't

[Aniheaton]

I think learning the other one's language is really important! Obviously, communication, understanding, and a willingness to work at both are the most important factors, so as far as necessity, those elements in a common language are the most important. That said, there are some things that you can only fully express in your mother tongue, and to have another person that wants to invest in you enough to fully understand that makes all the difference. My boyfriend and I each speak 3 languages, but we only have English in common (English is my native language and I speak Spanish and Portuguese as well, and Czech is his native language but he speaks English and German as well). We have a great time, and both work hard to overcome the language barrier but I want to get better at speaking Czech (right now I only know a few basics) so that I can communicate with his family and friends, watch the movies he grew up with, and learn how to navigate his culture. A person's culture and language form an inseparable part of who they are, and we both want to understand that about each other. I also think it's good for the mind and well-roundedness of a person to speak more languages, so I will always be a fan of learning more languages! It can also be almost like a puzzle or game in the relationship to teach each other words, phrases, jokes, etc. in your native languages, because then you will be constantly growing and sharing in something with each other. Ultimately, your relationship should revolve around trust, communication, offering the benefit of the doubt if someone says something that sounds hurtful or bad, and having a sense of humor. One of the perks of having a language barrier is all the hilarious auto-correct and mistakes that come with it!

[Jaka]

My SO speaks Spanish, I learned Spanish when I was in Costa Rica.
So we speak almost only spanish but I help him learning english and now he tries to learn german so therefore he sometimes uses german words which is just too cute.

[Caity]

I've been learning Russian since January ^^ It's great fun having him to help, he's always praising me and he says I sound really sweet when I speak Russian, he reckons it's cause he knows I've learnt it for him XD. He's been learning English since he was 11 so we communicate mostly in English, and occasionally in Russian. I'm trying to learn really fast ready for June when I go to stay with him and his parents. I want to make a good impression on them, and as they don't speak English, learning Russian will really help

[Jaka]

Im trying to learn russian too because i'll go to ukraine and i hope to learn ukrainian too so that i can complete language nr. 5 and 6
but russian is very difficult
so you have all my respect for trying to learn it to impress his family thats really nice