Intercultural Romance Essay

Obstacles for Intercultural Romantic Couples: Traditions with Food Multiracial or cross-cultural romances are certainly much more common today, but there are some aspects and dynamics that I suspect are at the very least complex. One obstacle for multiracial or cross-cultural romances that couples experience is the sharing in or rejecting of another’s cultural food. Sharing traditions and experiences around our food can be both something that bridges a cultural divide or expands the gulf between two different cultures (Martin, 2007). For most people, food is strongly woven into our identity. And even when folks assimilate into the cultural traditions of their partner 's family, they can have mixed feelings about the reaction. The reason food

There are great differences in Japan than in the United States between in groups and outgroups and the degree which they talk about personal things, are able to coordinate their communication, and difficulties when communicating (Nair-Venugopal 2009, P. 80). People in the United States tend to view boyfriend, girlfriend, and romantic relationships as more intimate than close friendships, and Japanese tend to view close friendships as more intimate than romantic relationships. A romantic relationship between an American and a Japanese person most likely would have trouble communicating personal matters, since they come from cultures who have a conflicting perspective about intimacy, context, and communication. You might find the American partner more inclined to speak intimately with their Japanese counterpart and frustrated with the lack of intimacy that is reciprocated from their Japanese lover (Montgomery,

Our culture impacts our everyday lives, and with intercultural romantic relationships, meeting your partner’s parents can create anxiety (Montagne, 2011). According to the authors of Communicating with Strangers, romantic love is less likely to be considered an important reason for marriage in collectivistic cultures than it is in individualistic cultures. Comparing individualistic cultures, like the United States, to collectivistic cultures found in Asia, shows that with collectivistic cultures, having a family tends to be the main reason for marriage. If having a family is the most important consideration, the acceptability of the potential mate to the family is critical, whereas individualistic cultures take pride in marrying a partner for love (Gudykunst & Kim,