List five positive and unique aspects of intercultural relationships. There are many good and unique reasons for having intercultural relationships, and as I was doing research on different opinions of people and different advantages and benefits I found very good points on it. For instance by doing so we discover a new culture, and the moment we begin an intercultural relationship is the moment we start to learn about an unfamiliar culture with its own traditions and customs. “The ways that we communicate, from the volume of our voices to our concepts of personal space and gesturing, are heavily influenced by our cultures.
So are our religions, the ways we speak, our relationships with family members and often the rites of passage we undergo. You and your partner can teach one another about the aspects of your cultures that are dissimilar. ” (Johnson, 2010) Another reason is that we learn new skills. “Culture describes a wide range of practices of a particular group of people, including the foods they eat, the music they listen to and create, the sports they play and the books they read. You may already have mastered some of the skills associated with your culture, and being in an intercultural relationship will open up a whole new world of welcome challenges.
For example, you could perfect a recipe for a dish you’ve sampled at a loved one’s home, practice a sport played in a different part of the world or learn a game that your partner has grown up enjoying with family members. You might learn a new language or dialect in order to communicate with your partner’s family or read some literature you might not have been able to access before. ” (Nakayama, 2011) Another good reason I think would be that we would relate better with others. “The difficulties involved in intercultural relationships may actually have upsides.
According to University of Wisconsin communication studies professor Tony Docan, the skills we develop in all relationships are exaggerated in intercultural relationships. Docan explains that we build feelings of connection with other people in general through our own specific connections to partners from different cultures. Your newfound understanding of one different culture — that of a close loved one — will likely make it easier for you to relate and feel close to people from many different walks of life, not just those most like you or your partner. ” (Elmhurst, 2012)
Healing past prejudices can also be a good advantage, and this one seemed very interesting to me. “One of the greatest benefits of an intercultural relationship is its effect on everyone it touches, starting with the two people at the center. The suffering one or both partners have gone through at the hands of prejudice can be addressed, at least in part, by this healthy relationship. This healing effect can grow and blossom as family members, friends and even strangers learn that their prejudices have little to do with the thriving relationship in front of them.
Another advantage of intercultural relationships is the opportunity to confront erroneous beliefs you may have about another culture. For instance, you may be surprised to learn that someone who is disabled with paralysis is able to drive a vehicle on her own and live and work independently. Likewise, the assumption that Asians excel in mathematics and engineering is shattered when your new Japanese roommate despises these subjects and is instead passionate about liberal arts. ” (Benson, 2013) List five reasons why people may be hesitant to develop relationships (platonic or romantic) with people from other cultures.
I think that some of the reasons why some people are hesitant in having some kind of intercultural relationship may be because they are afraid of not being able to connect or have that bond with the other person. Also they may believe that a romantic relationship must be within the same culture and ethnicity in order to work. They may think their family will judge them and not allow them to have any kind of relationship either platonic or romantic unless it is from the same culture.
Some people may just be racist and not like people from different cultures and races period. Others may be living still with the old school mentality and not agree much with any kind of interracial or intercultural relationship. Others may have had some kind of bad experience with a person from a different culture, and because of that they now think all people from different cultures are bad and what not. There can be many reasons out there, but I think those are the main ones. Which one or two of the above reasons pertain most directly to you?
I think that the only one that would pertain to me out of the ones I listed would be that I am afraid that starting a romantic relationship with someone from a different culture may not work to the fullest. We would easily have our bumps and disagreements. Not saying this doesn’t happen with relationships or marriages of same culture. But I think that the point of views are much different and we could clash a lot more and we would have many differences. It is not the case in most cases, but I think that is one concern I personally would have.
If I would consider to marry for instance someone from Asia, or India, or Africa or just any other country with total different culture, language, beliefs, etc. I personally think I would rather marry someone with the same culture in order to avoid these type of issues. I have seen many couples and interracial marriages and they are just fine and happy and just like any other marriage you would see out there. Sometimes these are just ideas that are stuck in our heads and ideologies people make us believe.
Though sometimes I do think that it would be very interesting having a romantic relationship with someone with a different culture, though personally I would take more time to get to know the person and be able to relate, also by being open-minded and working out our differences, before making the big step of getting married and being able to know things will work out even though we still have our differences. Many intercultural communication specialists mention openmindedness as an attribute necessary for the development of successful intercultural relationships.
What are some other attributes or ways of thinking that a person should have in order to develop relationships with cultural different people? I think that other attributes and other ways of thinking people should have are to be friendly and socialize not only with their same group of friends or people, but maybe trying to go to different cultural events, maybe travel or even learning a new language. Learning about history may also be a good way to learn about the different cultures. Seeing everyone as people and human beings and not as aliens and “races”“.
We are all equal regardless of our appearance and backgrounds. I think people should stop being prejudice and start seeing all people equally, and not discriminate others for their culture or ethnicity, we are all the same in God’s eyes and that is how we should all see each other as well. I think that the people who are close to God or religious may not have this type of issue, but for those who are not may not be as open-minded to develop a successful intercultural relationship. Which of the above attributes or ways of thinking do you feel you need to develop further?
Why did you choose these attributes or ways of thinking to work on? I feel I would need to learn more about history and the ancestors and learn to appreciate the different cultures and the reasons why we live in such a multicultural nation. I think that by expanding my knowledge I would want to relate myself even more to the different cultures and not just correlate myself with the same circle of friends and people, but I would enjoy making friends and socializing with different cultures and developing those relationships and learning from them as well.
