Learn Your Partner’s Mother Tongue ♥️

I have been with my partner for seven years, but for the first two years, we only used Spanish to communicate. My first language is English and my partner's is Portuguese so using a second/middle language to communicate was such an interesting/educational experience and I want to share a few of my thoughts about it. I hope you enjoy and I'd love to hear your stories if you've had something similar :)

[@MicaelaShore]

Com certezzzzaaa! I’m American and just married a Brazilian - o amor de minha vida, o paulista, e estou aprendendo português com ele e sua família aqui no os Estados.
He and I communicate mostly in English, but learning his language has been a really beautiful experience, and it’s actually one of the first ways that we bonded. His parents are visiting from Brazil, and they are soooo thrilled when they hear me speak their language. They ask me about English and try to say little things the way I say them, too. Let me tell you, the first time I reacted with a genuine “puuuuta merda”…my husband’s reaction was priceless 😂
In contrast, his sister is engaged to an American guy who just refuses to make an effort and claims he “just doesn’t have a talent for languages” (garbage). His sister has completely internalized the “English only” attitude, and won’t even speak to my husband in Portuguese - their OWN mother tongue. There’s a lot to say here about language and power dynamics, linguistic trauma, etc etc etc…but to your point, it’s evident that their relationship suffers because one partner won’t make the effort to communicate in the others’ mother tongue.
(Side note: I’m an adult ESL instructor and super passionate about languages and linguistics, and I am elated that you are talking about these important topics on a personal level!!! 🎉❤ I feel really inspired, thank you for sharing!)

[@lagringabaiana]

Thank you for sharing your story Micaela! It’s so cool to hear about other relationships the go through these things 😄 And yeah his sister’s journey is hers but I hope she will come to be proud of her language, but having a partner that shows no interest or even avoidance can make that hard 🥲 I’m so glad you can connect with your sogros too! That’s something that she probably won’t have and it makes a big difference in my opinion. Making links to your partner’s family is so cool and even if it’s not all the time that you’re with them, your effort and interest creates laços de família and that’s beautiful ♥️

[@Fizzandfolly]

Soooooooooo real

[@ludmila6048]

yesss