Western-asian.com is a website providing information support to people who have decided to enter into a cross-cultural marriage. Here, we endeavor to answer the “Whats”, the “How To’s” and most especially the “Whys” relating to Filipino- Western Relationships. The objective of the site is to make foreign nationals who are married to Filipina and those intending to marry Filipinas understand their wives and fiancées much better and the culture of the Philippines as a whole. It could also come helpful to Filipinos abroad know more about their heritage.
Being a Filipina married to a foreign national, I would like to think there is no better person who understands the plight of Filipinos-western couples than those who have been in the same shoes. Besides, if you will read my post on the “Things that most Filipinos find annoying”, one of which is a “foreigner who talks about the Philippines and Filipinos without really knowing about the subject”.
The idea of putting up this site is based on the experiences of expatriate wives like me. I have come to a realization that the union of a Filipino and a westerner does not end in marriage and does not presuppose that both understand each other that well. In most cases it is actually just the beginning of the “getting to know” stage.
It is at this stage when the couple starts to live under one roof that the peculiarities of each culture surfaces. In instances where there is a language barrier, explaining these differences could become a cause for misunderstandings. For instance, an educated western man who marries a quite naïve, uneducated Filipina from the province would seek an explanation on the personal “quirks” and practices of his wife, like sending money home or her attitude on certain occasion. If the wife is not able to explain why she does such things, it could lead to resentment on the part of the western partner. This is the area that western-asian.com wishes to address.
We know that speaking the English language is not enough. For a western man to understand his Filipina wife better, the latter must be able to converse properly in English. It is important for a Filipina to understand that “speaking English” and “conversing in English” has a big difference.
What I mean is, it is easy for one to ask, “Are you hungry?” or “What do you want to eat?”. That is “speaking in English”. But once you get on the table, what topics will you talk about? Will she be able to cope with your world? If a foreign husband asks his wife, “Why do you have to send money home?” or “Why do you call home so often?”, would they be able to justify it properly or will they just say “That’s how we do it in the Philippines”. If one gets these answers, it would create resentment, on the part of the foreign husband because he will definitely be unsatisfied with the answer and on the part of the Filipina wife for being asked to justify and damaging her “amor propio”. The problem lies on communication and conversation.
This website is for those who want to understand their Filipina wives better and find answers to lingering questions about their personality. We believe that the best way to understand your wives would be to understand the Filipino Values and the culture of the country so that you will be able to justify your wives’ habits. Be able to know how “worse” you think her habits are based on the values of an average Pinay and from here you can address your issues at hand.
Since it’s inception in late December of last year, western-asian.com has posted a lot of informative articles on understanding Filipinos and their culture. Due to the growing number of site visitors, we have recently appended a forum where visitors can post their questions and for others to respond to.
We have also started a dating website for those who want to meet respectable Filipina ladies on www.pinaywives.com. We have a stricter policy in this website as not all applicants are allowed to join. We try to manually review the applications submitted before giving the approval to post their profiles. The objective is to separate those who are sincere and honest from the unscrupulous ones. Although we cannot give 100% assurance that the applicants who join are as they say they are, we try to read the profiles and essays one by one. We choose applicants on the basis of education and English aptitude. We would like to think it is better to have a smaller membership database as long as the ones in it are the “cream of the crop”, Filipinas that you cannot be ashamed to have as a wife. At the moment, membership is set on a FREE mode as we are still building our database, so we eagerly encourage everyone to join now.
For those wanting to look on a broader perspective, we have also set up www.westernasiandating.com to include ladies from all over Asia and the world. But since this site is not regulated and covers almost all races, we have no control as to the personality of ladies who join.
To our site readers and visitors, thank you for continuously patronizing our site. Mabuhay!
