Marrying Someone who Speaks a Different Language: The Good, The Bad, and the Awkward

I get a lot of messages from people regarding the “language barrier” in my marriage. Some people are simply curious; others are also dating or married to someone with a different native language and are wondering how Ryosuke and I were able to “work through our problems.” Believe me, Ryosuke and I have plenty of problems… but they don’t come from a language barrier. They come from the fact that we are different people – something that every couple has to deal with (regardless of whether they were raised in different countries or in the same small-town neighborhood).