The Effect of Cultural Difference on Intercultural Marriage

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The Effect of Cultural Difference on Intercultural Marriage

As the world integrates, more and more people are leaving their mother lands to visit, study and work overseas. Young people now have more opportunities to meet prospective partners from other cultures than they had in the past. “The number of intercultural couples is increasing worldwide.” (Klein, par.3) Many intercultural couples claim that their relationships do not differentiate from monoculture relationships at first. Passionate love bonds them. When their relationships come to a stable stage after a while, however, cultural difference immerges. The couples can certainly benefit from cultural difference yet they also have to face the challenges resulted from it. This paper will examine such effect that cultural difference takes on intercultural marriage

According to Dugan Romano, intercultural couples increase self-knowledge by being forced to examine and define their own values, ideas, and prejudices. (Romano 179) They all feel richer and less parochial after they spend many years together trying to work things through. They are able to be exposed into other cultures thoroughly as well as to strengthen the understandings of their own cultures.

Cultural difference also introduces more lifestyle options to intercultural couples, which will enrich their life. Even if a couple ends up choosing one’s home country as their permanent residence, they will definitely visit the other’s hometown pretty often. Sometimes they live in a third country, which means they’ll go to both of their home countries from time to time. They have chances to travel in many places, experience different customs, and have friends from diverse backgrounds. “My mom told me it was her int...

... middle of paper ...

... For people who are considering entering intercultural marriage, it is very important to seriously weigh the pros and cons of the cultural difference before making a final decision.

Works Cited

Drumm, Tamula. “Mixed Marriage- Why Expats Marry Forefingers and Then What Happens.” Transitions Abroad July/ August 2001 Transitions Abroud Publishing, Inc. .

Klein, Amy. “Marrying Across Cultures.” Studio Classroom April 2004 Studio Classroom Magazine .

Larabell, Joseph. “Sobering Advice for Anyone Contemplating a Across-cultural Marriage.” Joseph L.(Joe) Larabell the Suburban Eclectic 9 June 2003 Joseph Larabell .

Romano, Dugan. Intercultural Marriage/Promises and Pitfalls. Yarmouth, MN: Intercultural P, 1997.

Xu, Mingyang. “A Chinese-American Mixed Marriage---A Mini Story.” Hua Xia Wen Zhai CND Magazine March 1993 China News Digest International, Inc. .

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