My girlfriend and I want to move to the United States, and we both have a good level of English. I’ve been wondering whether we should start speaking only English with each other, too. Full immersion, including the person I’d usually turn to when I needed a break.
On paper, it seems useful. We’d get more practice and make English a regular part of our lives before the move. It would become the language of ordinary conversations, with all the repetition and small details that come with talking to someone you know well.
What I’m less sure about is how it would feel between us. Being able to express an idea in English isn’t necessarily the same as saying it exactly the way I mean it. I wonder whether I’d feel that gap more when the subject was personal.
There are practical things to discuss as a couple, but there are also jokes, affectionate comments, and moments when one of us might want to explain something difficult. Would those become easier with practice, or would we sometimes feel held back by the rule we’d chosen?
I can imagine the satisfaction of realizing a conversation has happened entirely in English without either of us having to work at it. I can also imagine reaching for a familiar expression and stopping to translate when I really just want to talk to my girlfriend.
We haven’t found out yet. I’m curious about couples who have tried this: did speaking the local language together help it feel natural, and did it still feel natural between you?
