Very interesting subject - We are together 24 years now. Maybe in the beginning it was more fun as a challenge. As the years go by, we are surely much better as living in Thailand, it is more important for me. I like to be able to communicate with everyone I meet. And can get by conversationally quite well. And yet, oftentimes it seems my ability to communicate with my wife can be more difficult as time goes on.
"do you want to go to the movies?" - "You know I can't eat seafood!"
And as time goes by, I see that she and her friends can have the same type of communication issues too. They laugh.
I have come to not seek perfection in communication. It is as though I am living in a more ethereal place where perceptions are as important as words. She is a kind and caring wife. I try and read intent. I know she does not want blame. It is another world here, for me, and my ability to understand must go beyond words, if you can imagine that. The Thai mind is programmed differently and I assume that is just the start of it.
I never push an issue of words. "ok. no seafood."
I also find there are things she won't talk about, until she will.