INTERCULTURAL RELATIONSHIPS

Conflicts of Communication in Intercultural Relationships



Conflicts of communication in intercultural relationships

Introduction

As globalization is increasing the influx of immigrants swapping localities, cities, states, countries and continents is a regular consequence. People who migrate from their homelands to other parts of the world carry their heritage and culture naturally with them. People of different races and cultures get attracted towards a person of differing culture and race is a common thing found in countries like USA.

The relationship between people of differing cultures is formulated on the attractive basis, but due to lack of understanding of others culture and traditions face many hardships as time progresses. The primary reason associated with this problem is the lack of understanding about each other's tradition and culture, secondly the lack of communication between mates and peers also serve as a catalyst to create problems in intercultural relations.

In this paper I will review the work of several authors who have cited their works in books and journals. We will examine the problems which are encountered by intercultural relationships. The reasons which create these problems and further investigate the solutions suggested by these authors. In conclusion we will provide alternative solutions to the problems as how to reduce communication gaps, define the role of an individual and society as to how to help these couples and lastly highlight some inevitable facts which can't be worked out due to social and religious pressures.

Background

People of the world and Nations are increasingly mutually interdependent and interconnected. Globally, most countries and cities are becoming more diverse internally, with residents and citizens of varying national backgrounds, ethnicities, races and religions. Intercultural communication is defined as communication, and its analysis, among peoples of different ethnic, cultural and tribal backgrounds. Because of the natural differences between the speaker and the receiver, the risk of misinterpretation is particularly significant in intercultural situations.

The confusion in intercommunication scenarios is not only dependent on the verbal language barrier and its encoding by the receiver but a significant part is dependent on the gestures as well. Gestures like thumbs up, which means an encouraging sign or a gesture of good luck in USA is considered an abusive and igniting sign in China and neighboring countries. The sign of forehand is signaled as stop in USA but an abusive sign in countries of Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

The formation of intercultural or interracial relationships is not a very old phenomenon. In USA it became common after the civil rights act of 1963 where racial discrimination was considered a legal crime by the Supreme Court of USA. USA as a country is an opportunity provider to talented people from all around the world. This fact encouraged thousands of new immigrants from all over the world to come and reside in different states of USA. People from different races belonging to different cultural backgrounds came into relationships with people from different cultures brought in various communication problems between the companions.

Intercultural marriages are defined as a marriage between two individuals of totally different ...