Asian Matchmaking moves to the Digital Age

Asian Matchmaking moves to the Digital AgeBy [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Adrienne_Davis]Adrienne Davis
It is clear there has been a shift away from the traditional form of arranged marriage, involving a matchmaker and formal introductions where the couple meet only after they have been chosen for each other. But there is still a particular approach to marriage in Asian culture worldwide. Marriage is important to young Asians: even in the UK they and their family usually hope they will be married or at least engaged by the age of 30, even though the rest of the population is marrying later and later – or not at all.
While the new generation of Asians has adapted to the lifestyle of their country, they also maintain Asian cultures and traditions, as shown by the approach to their search for a life partner. The majority will still want to settle with an Asian Marriage Partner if possible.
Although few marriages in the Asian community are arranged in the traditional meaning of the word, the extended family remains involved in the search for a life partner – even if they have to resist the urge to take over as matchmaker! The difference now is that young people are given the choice to find love, and meet and get to know each other before making formal family introductions. At this stage the family will consider the suitability of the match before any engagement or wedding is announced.
We now have a second and third generation of Asians who have a balance of cultural understanding that covers both East and West with equal ease. Many communities, for example Telugu and Kerala, have migrated widely but would still prefer a spouse from a similar background. They expect more freedom in their marriage choice, while still respecting the wishes of their elders and family traditions.
However, there is a growing contradiction to this tradition. There are a growing number unmarried after the age of 30, showing how the change in marriage trends has affected Asians. Most of these people are now in good positions and stable employment looking for partners, yet often it is difficult to meet a suitable partner.
There a clear reasons for this: young Asians are more likely to go to university, graduate at 22, find a job and enjoy it. Time passes quickly after the first few years of establishing a career and suddenly you are 30 and still single. Clearly someone who is used to this independence is not about to ask the local Matchmaker to take over the search. Instead they are taking the initiative to find a suitable match themselves, often using the power of the Internet.
Through responsible online matrimonial agencies they find confidential and respectable introductions to like-minded prospective partners of an appropriate religious and ethnic background. Online dating and marriage agencies are no longer the last resort – many attractive and articulate couples meet this way, knowing that the fragmented offline social scene would not otherwise bring them together.
The reputable online marriage and dating agencies offer full confidentiality with the opportunity to select or reject potential partners’ profiles and correspond by email to find out more about each other. They can then choose whether to meet, and what form that meeting should take.
An established agency (usually with a paid subscription) will normally ask clients to state their intentions - marriage or dating – so the young person can meet someone who is serious. This online matchmaker trend is fuelling a fundamental change in Asian marriage traditions.
Adrienne Davis – Find your matchmaker online. Matchmaker Telugu and all Asian weddings, Asian Online Dating. Links to Top Matrimonial and Marriage agencies worldwide. http://www.myasianpartner.co

Learn Korean: Part 1 - Asian Languages and Language Families

Learn Korean: Part 1 - Asian Languages and Language FamiliesBy [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Russell_Holloway]Russell Holloway
So, you have always been fascinated by Asian culture have you? Maybe you are someone who loves the martial arts; kung fu, tae-kwon-do, or karate. Perhaps you are interested in the cool oriental stores and like to buy many things from them to decorate your house. Maybe you like the peaceful society you see depicted in some Asian films. Or maybe you are just incredibly in love with the Asian languages such as Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Whatever your interest is in Asia and its society, it could never hurt to know a little bit about the culture. In fact, learning about something more than is shown in action movies and your Korean dramas can be quite beneficial.
My experience is with Korean culture and Korean language, but the culture is similar in most Asian countries.
Language Families
One of the main things you may have noticed is how incredibly different the Asian languages are from English. You come across languages such as Italian, Spanish, and French, and you can at least find some similarities in those languages and English. Yet there seem to be none between English and Asian languages! The fact is they just come from different language families. Most European languages will fall in the same language family as English. Many of these are in the Indo-European language families. Words will be similar between all of the languages that come from the same family.
Asian languages such as Japanese and Korean are in the same language family, the Altaic family. You will find many similarites in these two languages. Mandarin Chinese comes from the Sino-Tibetan family.
Altaic Family
The Altaic family is named after the Alti Mountains. They are located in Central Asia. The Altaic Family consists of Turkish, Mongolian, Korean, and Japanese. Out of these, Turkish is the most western of the languages, while Korean and Japanese are more eastern.
Sino-Tibetan Family
The Sino-Tibetan Family consists of Mandarin Chinese. Languages in this language family are made up of one syllable words, but there are MANY. There is no simple alphabet to form these words, which causes the vast number of Chinese characters, making it one of the hardest languages to learn. You also must learn to speak, read, and write all separately. There is no reading a word and being able to speak it, nor can you hear one and guess on how it is spelled. Writing is still completely on it's own even if you can read, because you have to use proper stroke orders! Very time consuming to learn.
There are also several tones in these languages. A change in pitch while saying a word could change the meaning of the word completely. It makes the language sound very pretty when spoken, but is incredibly difficult to learn!
Sentence Structure
As with many Asian languages, a common fact you will notice is many of the languages follow an SOV sentence structure. That is, Subject, Object, Verb. English tends to place the verb after the subject of the sentence. Asian languages place the verb at the very end of the sentence. The most important part of the sentence is saved for last :) Don't we all save the best for last?
Although much of the culture evolves around the language, there is plenty more to culture. Korean culture is amazing in every way. Look forward to future articles covering Korean culture! lttp://www.learnkoreanlanguage.com is a site based on teaching the Korean language. It also provides details on Korean culture, Korean foods, Korean recipes, Korean music, everything Korean!