Are mixed nationality marriages a good idea?

[hielepriori]

Are mixed nationality marriages/relationships a good idea?

What are your experiences?

[canalon]

Why would they not be?

[jonmoulton]

Hybrid vigor is good for kids. You'll need good humor and patience to find good outcomes when different social structures collide. Deep ties between societies may help stabilize political relationships; it's a local step toward peace. If you like adventure, I'd recommend it (my wife and I come from different continents and ethnic backgrounds).

[canalon]

Fully agreed. Patience and understanding are necessary.
On the other hand, being unable to talk to your in-laws is a curse and benediction at the same time (my wife and I both emigrated to Canada, so our families are spanning 3 continents and 3 languages, and no-one besides the kid speaking more than 2 of those).

[jonmoulton]

LOL "being unable to talk to your in-laws is a curse and benediction at the same time"

I've been working on Mandarin for 20 years and still can't converse with my father-in-law. My mother-in-law is patient and tries to help me along. Food and directions - no problem. Technology and philosophy - fall back on pantomime.

They say that using multiple languages decreases the probability of Alzheimer's. Does this mean I can use my healthcare account to put dual-language dictionaries? Ah, never mind Canalon, you are in a country with civilized health care and needn't trouble yourself with American healthcare kludges like the Healthcare Savings Account.

[canalon]

You are a wonderful man, Jon, I must say that I am not even trying to learn mandarin either. I am absolutely tone deaf, and cause laughter and confusion in my modest attempts. My daughter's chinese name is Yu-zhu and it is supposed to meansomething along the line of "bamboo in the rain", but when telling her name to a chinese colleague, she asked me why she was "fish stew"...

But I can tell that in all objectivity my daughter is the cutest and smartest 3 year old in the world. And she can speak mandarin, so she is even smarter than her dad. So obviously hybrid vigour is good for the kids

As an aside can you imagine that I sometimes grumble about the failing of the Canadian health care, compared to what I was used to in France. And see why I resist the attempts by my wife to make me find a job in the US. As long as your health care situation is not solved, I will not look for work there.