The other night my husband and I were talking about our relationship — and how it’s pretty cool to be able to communicate in more than one language. So while on vacation, I pulled several posts from the past that discuss how language and love collide in our relationship (and other relationships like ours). Enjoy!
And I’ll return with fresh content on Friday June 21!
I Love You, Just Not in Chinese. All these years, my Chinese husband had told me “I love you” in English but could never bring himself to say the same in Mandarin Chinese.
The Relationship Between Language and Falling in Love. Have you found you have a better relationship in the language you used when you fell in love with someone?
The Couple That Wordplays Together, Stays Together? Do bilingual cross-cultural relationships like mine make it easier for couples to become equal partners? Does bringing a different native language to the table encourage lovers and spouses to work together in a beautiful way?
Mixing languages can be pretty fun!
We do it often but just kind of joking.
In Spanish I usually end words with “ito/ita, ino/ina…” so i do that with some Chinese and English words, let’s say I give them my own touch.
Now that I can call Tony husband I use the words “husbanito” and “laocunito”…
And he does the same with some other words too!
@Laura: I totally agree! Although my husband can only say a few things in German, it’s fun to make use of the few words he can use on a daily basis. And we can say things to each other without other people actually knowing what we’re talking about, adding to the fun.
We mostly talk in Chinese though and I am not always able to express all of my thoughts the way I’d like to be able to. I guess I’m not the only one with this problem though.
It’s doesn’t matter if you both speak different languages, what’s important is that your hearts understand one another without even saying a word. Acceptance and willingness to cope up with changes are great factors show love other than what languages can do.