Dating Advice: Our Cultures Are So Different, Can It Really Work?

By David Wygant

There’s a saying I have in life as a relationship expert. Date someone from common backgrounds. Why? Because you understand one another. When you have a common background, grew up the same way, in similar neighborhoods and schooling, then you’ve got a lot of familiarity between the two of you. Now it doesn’t mean that if you’ve grown up differently it can’t work out at all. What matters most is how you took your childhood experience and manifested it into adulthood. If your concerned about whether or not your differing cultures will cause relationship problems, follow my dating advice as someone who has made it work personally.

Dating advice that will help you date outside your culture successfully.

We live in a multi-cultural world right now. Where people from all over the country are living all over the planet. A person who grew up in New York City might be living in the deep woods in the dark south. A person who lived in LA on the beach might be living in the middle of Manhattan. A guy from India might be living in New York City. A girl who grew up in Bangladesh might be living in the heart of Chicago. The great thing about the United States and the world nowadays is that it’s so multi-cultural. So can it work out if a couple is from different cultures? Can a man from India fall in love with a small-town girl from Sioux City, Iowa after a single date night. The answer is absolutely yes! You see, if they grew up the same way, meaning they grew up with love, similar morals, values, and parents that actually cared about them, then their cultural backgrounds actually make life far more interesting. You see, it’s fascinating dating somebody from another culture, because really it just comes down to communication. And love is not a cultural thing. Love is really about how you relate to things, where your value system is, and how you can teach and show one another the lessons that you both need to go through.

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One of the most fascinating experiences I ever had was when I dated a girl from Vietnam. She was fascinating in so many different ways. She grew up in an entirely different time than I did. Her dad actually was an American GI and her mother was a Vietnamese refugee. They met during the war and she was born. She never really got to see her dad because he was moved back to the U.S. and never returned. She ended up moving to the U.S. herself when she was a young adult and going to college. She actually got to meet her dad in the process and got to form the relationship she always wanted. She may have grown up dirt poor, but she grew up with values and a culture that was different than my own. She was appreciative. I on the other hand. grew up in New York, where everything was go, go, go! Despite these differences, our value systems were pretty much the same. Our cultures were very different. but it was a fascinating experience. When it comes down to dating, it’s really about what somebody’s heart says.

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So ask yourself some serious questions when you think of your significant other. What is their heart about? What does their heart say to you? It’s fascinating that we can date within your culture, but isn’t it more interesting to date outside your culture and learn some new, amazing and beautiful things?

David Wygant is an internationally-renowned dating and relationship expert, author of the book Naked, and speaker. Through his boot camps, personal coaching, and his website, his love advice has transformed the relationships and love of hundreds of thousands of people from every corner of the globe. 

For more expert relationship advice from David, click here.