About Hope Expertise I`m nineteen years old and I`m an expert in the United Arab Emirates culture. I`m one of country`s locals so I`m able to answer any question about the culture of United Arab Emirates, and the culture of the Arabian Gulf countries in general. You can ask me anything about the culture or the traditions of the United Arab Emirates. I don`t have enough information about the history of the traditions or the name of the tools that were used in the past. I`m also able to answer your questions about the United Arab Emirates youth and what they are interested in nowadays. I won`t be a much of a help in the matters of business. I can only help you with the culture & the people of UAE.
Experience I'm living my life according to the cultural and the traditions of the UAE so it will not be that hard on me to answer your questions.
Question Hello. I grew very close to a friend when I first moved to the country, and after some time our feelings naturally grew for each other. He is local and I am not. It has been 8 months and his parents do not know about me. He tells me we cannot marry right now as his parents are very very old and traditional. Although, he likes to remind me that "you never know what can happen in the future". I guess I'm just wanting to know what the traditions are in regards to marriage and girlfriends/boyfriends. I don't understand how his family can only allow him to marry a UAE national when they live in a country where roughly 70% or more of the population are expats. If we are both really in love with each other, make each other happy and i will be there to take care of him and family for the rest of my life, why can't they be happy for their son and supportive that he is happy?
Answer Hello Talia ,
Interesting case you have here :)
Well mostly I don't answer for situations I don't know about , but I will try to answer from a general prospective.
Parents usually don't approve mixed marriges because of certain points. Their disapproval most of the time comes from not being able to imagine how to communication of the daughter in law ( exapt ) would be like. there is the language factor to start with. Most expats know 0% of UAE arabic + traditional language. You don't expect old parents to speak in the language the son uses to communicate with you ( in case of English ) most parents of the age of 50+ don't speak the language and even if they do its not prefered. Families here don't focus of the son and wife in general its creating a bond between the wife and the family of the wife . The UAE society is a very bonded and close ( conservative ) community where they see marrige as a chance to bond or relate to a very good family and a very good future wife which will reflect on a good family wife of the son .
The expats in the UAE 70%+ almost know nothing about the locals of the UAE when its comes to tradition + customes inside the family. there was lots of incidents where children become very torn between two cultures as a result of a mixed marrige as they become isolated in the community of the UAE ( wrong , but is happening ) I witnesed some of my friends who always talked about the father and the family of the father but mentioned nothing about the family of the mother as a result of that.
I'm not trying to make you feel bad or to take the hope out of you , but I'm just explaninig to you the issue from the prospective of the family of the son and families opinin.
mixed marriges do work out in cases where the family of the son is open and educated and open to the outside communities and other cultures because of a previous mixed marrige in the family.
Most couples see that they are happy now but neglect the other factors such as stability , religion , language , traditions ,etc.
I wish you good luck and I hope that I helped to clarify in general what families in UAE think about mixed marriges :)
