I'd like to date more Latin women...

…but I speak very little Spanish (or Portuguese, or any other language commonly associated with Latin America).

Do you think this poses a problem if I were to ever meet her parents?

They say the best way to learn a language is to fall in love with someone who speaks the language. :) I certainly can’t speak from the “parent of a Spanish-speaking person” perspective but my guess is that (a) it wouldn’t be a big deal and (b) you’d probably learn Spanish/Portuguese pretty quickly anyway.

lol too funny…

Good advice, Jon. :)

Here is how not to date more latin women.
I was in Tarifa, Spain and a local told me that the key to a spanish woman’s heart is to tell her, “Los ojos son al tun muerte” - which i found out the hard way means “your eyes look like a dead tuna”.

Nice, Josh! lol

Thanks for the ab workout. :) Too funny..

atun muerte hahahaha I’ll have to try that here in BsAs :)

Sorry guys, I couldn’t help but listen in…

Obi I think fathers would have more of an issue if you don’t speak their language. I think they might take it as a sign of disrespect. We have a large Latino population where I live and that has been my observation. It’s all about respect.

Learn a few key phrases to show respect and then learn how to play a few Beatles songs on the guitar. Music breaks down language barriers as you can all sing “Hey Jude” together. That worked for me in Prague (the breaking down the language barrier part…not the dating Latin women part).

This isn’t really about meeting her parents anyway. You just really want to know how to date more Latin women. Become an amazing dancer, memorize a few key love poems, and the guitar/piano thing will help to. That really applies to all women, not just Latin. Somehow I ended up with a boyfriend who doesn’t really do any of those. Hmm…interesting. Ok. I guess I don’t have an answer.

I first went to South America not knowing Spanish and missing so many opportunities of meeting women by not understanding them properly.
Take my advice , learn some BEFORE you travel.
Here i will give you 2 free lessons , i own a Spanish school now.
www.121speech.com

Thanks for the tips guys/gals! And I like your checklist Carrie, let’s see:

*piano = check!
*_amazing_ dancer = half-check!
*poem memorization = got to work on this one, but I do love this poem by whom I thought was Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

Seems like I’m halfway there. And I did take 4 years of Spanish in high school, so if I brushed up a little bit I could hang in a conversation with her father. I think he’d dig that, right Sandra? :)

I’m brazilian and when my husband came to Brazil to meet my family he didn’t know a word in portugues, but still my parents loved him. I gues love shows no matter where you are from!!

Good point Fernanda!

Obi, just be yourself, how could they not love you! ;)

Ok, after giggle just a little, here is my take on this:

As someone who not only fell in love with someone who has a different native tongue than I do, but married him and moved to his country, I can assure you that if you plan on living in the country where they may live or have many relatives living in that only speak Spanish, you better improve your Spanish. :)

Since you are a guy, you need to to get good points with the father for sure!
And if her native tongue is Spanish, it would be music to her ears to hear you speak to her in Spanish.

I dated a guy in Spain and believe me it is more important to be able to speak and understand the person you are dating than the parents. LOL Every friggin’ conversation was hard for most of the time we were dating!

OMG I just caught the dead tuna phrase. Thanks for the laugh, however delayed it was, lol. Just schedule some sessions, and immerse! You should do fine. The important thing is that you are able to speak with her! Once you overcome that hurdle then you can worry about the parents!

I agree…I dated a guy from Italy once and phone conversations were brutal. I never understood a word he was saying and would have to ask him WHAT like 45 times during a 10 min phone conversation. He probably thought I was really annoying…hahahaha