Any interracial couples out there? :)

Yup! I'm disowned so the husband doesn't have to deal with my parents. They're uber traditional of the kind that royally freaks out about it. I'm a disobedient child who refused to follow their plans for me, so that's how it goes. You guys are lucky his parents sound pretty accepting actually. Asians are probably the most attached to old customs and the belief you should marry not just within your own race, but your own ethnic group so it can be tough. If they didn't disown him immediately or forbid him from even dating you, you're in like Flynn

DH is too white, or I think they might actually like him if it weren't for the fact that I like him. Of course there's lots of other reasons I'm disowned so us getting married was just gravy on those potatoes.

Awww, Im sorry to hear that! D:

Actually, my fiance's parents werent always so accepting! Huy is actually the second youngest of eight boys. His two eldest bros married white women, while two others married another Vietnamese girl and a Chinese one. When his eldest brothers were getting involved with/married to their now wives, his parents were very upset. They had an issue with the first just because she was white. The second was also white, but was also divorced, had 4 children from her previous marriage and was also 11 years older than their son. Huy's parents are also Catholic, so this was a huge issue for them. Luckily, she didnt get married Catholic the first time, so they eventually accepted the marriage. Both women are now a pivotal part of the family and his parents often come to them for help with various things but they definitely didn't start that way. If it wasnt for them, I probably wouldnt of had it so easy! @___@ lol

I'm white as bread, FH is half black, half Puerto Rican. No culture shock here, I've had a pretty colorful spectrum of boyfriends over the years and my parents have always been accepting of any person I bring home, unless the guy was a jerk. FH's mom loves me, and his father has never been in his life so I've never met him. Our families have a lot of different norms, but I don't think it's necessarily a racial/ethnic thing.

I have had my share of boyfriends whose parents didn't want anything to do with me because I was white. I'm really lucky that our families are so accepting.

They paved the way! That's good for you though

Also good he wasn't the first born too. And he's a boy. Things aligned well for you guys. I mean that in the most understanding and positive way. I have the double whammy of being the oldest child(first to get married, and set an example for the others.....which is a negative one in my parents' eyes), and a girl(I was gonna leave their home and family anyway so I'm more expendable). Plus I'm a step child so I'm not blood to my stepfather. It's good his parents eventually accepted them. Mine probably never will, but I'm okay with that.

Yep, I am American and he is Turkish! Never met a Turk until I met him I thought he was Italian, love has no boundaries!! I am Catholic and he is Muslim. We decided to respect each other's religions and celebrate each other's holy days!

We have been together for 13 years, I learned to cook Turkish food and I am learning Turkish!

I believe that life is an adventure!

My FH is Japanese, and I am Caucasian (from the South haha). My family never had any problems with me dating someone outside my race, and his family was actueally really supportive, too. I have a difficult time trying to communicate with my FMIL in Japanese, but she is very nice to me.

(below is cherry blossom viewing at night--really cool)

I will second Pan about being attached to old customs and the belief you should marry not just within your own race, but your own ethnic group. In Japan even, there are great things, you know, but there is a bad side, too (just like in every culture or country). It happens at some point to all non-Japanese here. Especially common to Japanese-Korean or other SE Asian pairings.

I have personally gotten flack about not belonging, but FH is really my champion about such matters.

Im white, hes Filipino Hawaiian...my parents thought I was gay for a bit when we first starting dating...all of a sudden I was talking about this Gail person all the time. LOL but they never said anything, glad to know they'd be okay with it anyway. Now my coworkers husbands think they are going to a lesbian wedding from the invitations, I had to tell one sorry its just your run of the mill hetero interracial marriage...Im not that cool

Pan: Yeah, you are right about the first born son thing! They definitely took it a lot harder with the two eldest. And the amount of responsibility seems to dwindle down the ranks. They did not have any daughters, so I really don't know how it works with daughters. @___@

Sarah: Oh, so you are living in Japan then? (lucky girl!) I'm sorry to hear about that though. It's pretty ingrained in Japanese culture to not really accept outsiders. Japan has always focused inward more than trying to integrate into the rest of the world. Not that that has necessarily been a bad thing for Japan as they are way ahead in technology and such because of it and they still have a deep connection with their traditions.

On an outside note, I have always been in love with Japanese culture and art and my parents always thought and said that I would end up marrying a Japanese man. lol. I ended up with a Vietnamese one instead, but close enough I guess. X)

Hi Brittany! Yeah, I live in Tokyo. I really like it here, but it opens your eyes as to some things that I took for granted before...like communicating with people!

Are you currently learning Vietnamese, by the way? I am really impressed...I know, it can be so hard! What are you using?

Sarah: Lol! Uhhhh.. you could say I'm "learning", to put it nicely. Mostly, its me fumbling with pronunciation. hahaha In 8 years of listening to it and attempting to learn, I have only been able to retain the names of food and how to pronounce names. I mostly try to learn by listening to his family speak it (which they always do when they are together) and asking my fiance what this or that is in Vietnamese.

The main issue is that Vietnamese is completely tonal; there is like 5 or 6 ways to pronounce a word with 5 or 6 different meanings and I really do not have an ear for it. I'll probably never completely learn, but I am fully expecting my fiance to speak it around our children and to teach them. So maybe I will pick it up some more then.

Honestly, I think that Japanese is probably the easiest to learn of all the asian languages. I have taken several courses and I feel its pretty straight forward when it comes to pronunciation. Reading it is another thing though!

Japanese probably is the easiest. A lot of Asian languages also use sounds that are kind of a combo of different English sounds, and if your not used to it it's hard to figure it out and make it sound right. Like rolling R's in Spanish. A little word like pho is a lot harder to say than it looks lol

Yes! My husband is Cambodian and I'm a white mutt ;P

He isnt so traditionl, though his parents speak little english. I think living with a male was more of a cultural shock! Lol...

He has started teaching me what he knows about speaking Khmer, which

been fun but more difficult than learning Spanish! Lol

I am so interested in your story! For your wedding, will you be incorporating Vietnamese traditions, too?

Tonal languages, eekk. I don't think Rosetta Stone could help with this. You probably know more Japanese though than I do lol because I never took courses actually. I know what you mean, reading kanji can be so tough.

On a side note, I am so pleased with myself, I learned how to write my FH's last name in kanji, which will soon be my own )))))

Welcome to WW Brittany!

There are tons of interracial couples on WW, we're a pretty big melting pot

I - for the most part - am black. FH - for the most part - is white. It runs a lot more in depth on both of our sides but if I got into that, I'd be typing on this thread forever lol.

We're both from the US so the biggest culture shock for us is from regional differences of where we're from. I'm used to city life and lots of variety. I've never once lived in one place longer than 3 years and each time in or near a major city - Atlanta, Washington DC, Brussels Belgium, Seoul Korea, upstate NY, etc. With the exception of his military career, FH has lived ONLY in New Hampshire, near the mountains, so far out in the middle of nowhere, that when I go up there with him, I have no phone service (I know - 1st World problems haha).

His idea of fun - hiking and fishing. My idea of fun - shopping and a glass (or 2!) of wine. Polar opposites! Through LOTS of compromise, we make it work

Pan: lol! TOTALLY. My last name is going to be Ngo. And while the white-person pronunciation is "no" the actual pronunciation has a lot more going on, involving some sort of back of the throat sound that I can't do. So.... I wont even be able to truly pronounce my own last name. hahahahaha.....

Sarah: We are doing a pretty non-traditional wedding actually! If it was up to Huy's family, we would be getting married in a Catholic church but we are doing a non-dom wedding. Which, for Huy's father (who is a Deacon) this is an issue, and will not be attending. (His mother is though) We are also getting married in Vegas. I WAS going to wear an Ao Dai (traditional Vietnamese dress) to the reception but I ended up loving my wedding dress to much and also couldnt order an ao dai from Vietnam in time.

The only thing I can think of that we are doing that is traditional is that we are only taking cash gifts at the wedding, which is the traditional gift at a Vietnamese wedding. Most of our guests (30 or so out of 50, all his fam) are Vietnamese, so I would be getting a cash gift anyway.

We will however, be incorporating Vietnamese customs into our family life by celebrating Vietnamese holidays and giving our children Vietnamese middle names.

I'm black and my FH is Chinese. Both families are accepting and supportive. The only sort of tension we ever experienced came from my parents and their fear that after we get married I will move to his home (Malaysia) and never see them again...they are very dramatic but I love em'

I'm black and white. FI is white. No huge culture shock me. FI had somethings to get use to however. Dealing with a big overly involved extended family was one of the biggest hurdles for him. Also, just dealing with being in an interracial relationship in the south poses it's own challenges. I've dealt with it my whole life. FI never had so some of the looks/comments we've got from people when we first started dating really pissed him off. He's gotten use to it now and has learned to shrug it off.

Lots of inter-racial couples...count me in too...FW is Chinese/Taiwan born...I'm your typical caucasian white guy. Her mom loves me . My parents are both gone...but they were fine with whomever made me happy. 1st wife was 1/2 latina..so this is nothing new for me