Intercultural Relationship

Running head: INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS 1

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What are the benefits and challenges of intercultural relationships?

Intercultural relationship bounds several kinds of cultural differences and offers several rewards

and opportunities (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p.255). It is an essential tool in our daily survival.

The world would not be where it is now were it not for the interaction with one another.

Intercultural relationship plays a big role in balancing differences and similarities within

cultures. It has several benefits as well as challenges.

Benefits of intercultural relationships

1. Learning each other different world

When you interact with different people from different regions, it is the moment you get to

know unfamiliar cultures with its own traditions and customs. Whenever we travel to different

states for studies or for work, we get to meet new friends who introduce us to their ways of living

and we introduce them to our culture as well (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p.255). Our culture

influences the way we communicate, the volume of our voices to our notion of personal space

and gesturing. Through intercultural relationships, we learn different religions, languages, rite of

passage and the relationship among family members. According to Jenifer, when one gets to

learn about a different ethnic history, s/he becomes interested in learning the history of other

different ethnic groups (p.256). Relational culture is more persuasive than knowledge attained

from the books (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 P.256).

2. Acquiring new skills

Daily practices of a particular group of people are well described by their culture. This

includes the type of food they consume, the type of music they listen and compose, the sport they

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participate in and the books they read. It becomes very interesting to successfully manage to

make a dish of a different culture from yours. Through the intercultural relationship, you may

learn new games your friend has perfected well from their culture, new language and dialect in

order to communicate with others without any hindrances or even reading literature that you may

not have accessed before. The newcomers in the society can acquire new skill through

intercultural relationship (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p.256).

Challenges of intercultural relationships

1. Motivation

Motivation is the fundamental challenge in intercultural relationships. The survey shows that

young people show no interest in meeting new friends different from them yet there is an

increasingly chances to meet new people from other cultures either through the internet,

workplace or even in school. Some of the young people are open to intercultural relationships

while others are not. There is no motivation among the young generation in interacting with

others from different cultures.

2. Anxiety

Anxiety is one of the challenges that occur in the early stage of the relationship. Some people

may fear being seen as stupid for not being familiar with someone else language and culture

(Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p. 260). Variances in physical ability, financial ability, and race may

be major factors that can contribute to anxiety.

What are the cultural differences in relational communication?

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There may be a similarity in intercultural relationships among people of different cultures but our

thinking about communicating is guided by some unique themes, which are related to issues, of

competence, similarity, involvement and turning points.

Competence

People might be speaking the same language but have language difficulties that can be a

hindrance to fluent communication in a relationship (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p. 270).

Therefore language skills in an intercultural relationship are fundamental.

Similarity

It is very important to develop the similarity that transcends the cultural differences (Martin &

Nakayama, 2013 p.272). This can be implemented when we share religions, sports and other

activities, lifestyle or altitude. This can aid in establishing common bonds.

Involvement

The intimacy of interaction is an element of involvement (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p. 272). A

sharing friend is important and contributes to developing a concrete relationship in

communication among different cultures.

Turning point

There are situations that relate to perceived changes in the relationship and acts as a turning

point, which can drive the relationship forward or backward (Martin & Nakayama, 2013 p. 272).

For example, if a friend asks for a favor and you agreed to it, you will strengthen the

relationship. However, once you refuse to do a favor as requested by your friend, the relationship

may not develop beyond that point.

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References

Martin, J. N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2013). Experiencing intercultural communication. McGraw-

Hill Higher Education.

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