Judging by the way Sam described his boyfriend, no wonder Vince had come up with something so simple yet so brilliant on the spot. "He's an absolute sweetheart," Sam told Bored Panda. "Our friends consistently call him an 'angel' because he's so thoughtful and kind. He can be a bit nervous in big social situations, but once you get him talking, he's happy to geek out and have fun! He tries hard not to depend on his French, so he makes a lot of word substitutions (like calling a pot lid a hat) when he's talking. I think it's cute as heck."
Sam acknowledges that couples who have some sort of a language barrier between them face additional challenges. But that's nothing they can't solve if both partners are committed to one another. "Healthy relationships are built on good communication, so being in a bilingual relationship sometimes means working twice as hard to communicate clearly," the man said.
"We often find each other totally missing important things that the other person said, which can definitely be frustrating, but we make sure to be understanding and kind to each other when it does happen. On the plus side, we've both drastically improved our second language skills!"
The attention Sam's tweet has received was not something he expected. So many people have been relating to it. Sam himself thinks the Internet's reaction is really cute. "Amazingly, everyone has been so positive about it! Almost zero negativity. Lots of people sharing similar stories and talking about what it's like to live in a bilingual relationship. It's amazing! I'm happy to share in that joy with so many people."
Interestingly, Joshua Wolf Shenk, author of Powers of Two, wrote that long-term couples "start to match each other in the basic rhythms and syntactical structures of their speech." This happens because of something psychologists call emotional contagion, which causes us to mimic everything from our partner’s accent to their laugh, bringing us even closer together. But it doesn't happen overnight.
"Be patient with your bilingual partner, and give them ample time to speak their mind," Sam added. "Celebrate the little mistakes and unique sayings that come from each other, and laugh about them together."
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