From my experience it is quite fun to meet somebody from a different

country, even religion…for a short term. You are curious about his/ her
culture, customs, language. But for a long time, it is quite different.

What’s the difference between multicultural, intercultural, andcross-

cultural communication?
What is the difference between multicultural, cross-cultural, and
intercultural?
While they all might be under the same roof, they describe entirely
different rooms.
The differences in the meanings have to do with the perspectives we
take when interacting with people from other cultures.

Multicultural refers to a society that contains several cultural or

ethnic groups.

People live alongside one another, but each cultural group does not
necessarily have engaging interactions with each other.

For example, in a multicultural neighborhood people may frequent

ethnic grocery stores and restaurants without really interacting with
their neighbors from other countries.

Cross-cultural deals with the comparison of different cultures.

In cross-cultural communication, differences are understood and
acknowledged, and can bring about individual change, but not collective
transformations.
In cross-cultural societies, one culture is often considered “the
norm” and all other cultures are compared or contrasted to the dominant
culture.

Intercultural describes communities in which there is a deep

understanding and respect for all cultures.
Intercultural communication focuses on the mutual exchange of ideas
and cultural norms and the development of deep relationships.

In an intercultural society, no one is left unchanged because

everyone learns from one another and grows together.

Intercultural Marriage
Increased multiculturalism has led to a rise in intercultural
marriage. What are the challenges and benefits of intercultural marriage
for individuals and society?
In the era of openness and globalization, intercultural marriages
added a set of distinctions to relationships. An intercultural marriage is
also known as mixed marriage. Couples of different races and cultures have
the desire to marry and to merge the two cultures into one. Culture is a
system of shared beliefs, values and constantly evolving and changing
around the world. Australia is one of the greatest multicultural and
multiracial societies in the world at the moment. Marriage is one of the
deepest and most complicate involvements of human relationships. It is a
corner stone of society and a very important part of the community system.
Interracial marriage has positive and negative effects on individuals and
society. Special challenges notable by couples in different cultural
relationships include: ethnic, treat with religious differences, loss of
identity, communication language barriers, and different concepts about
the phrases and meaning of love, family and relationships, different ways
of dealing with conflict unsupportive families and some lifestyle
disagreements. Interracial marriages have been a growing issue in the
society.
First, the challenges of intercultural marriage for individuals and
society, racial and cultural differences put stress on the marriage
itself. With two variety cultures a family has striven to know the
differences between the families. Sometimes, even the differences are not
known or clear up. Most of the time the problem between different ethnic
is because of lack of respect for mores for each other, when spouses,
their families or the community around them look down on their partner's
culture or their way and tradition. There is no chance for happy married
life.( ukessays 2017).
Second, gender issues become especially difficult when the spouses
cultural difference are great and when each partner has strong and
different tenets about suitable gender roles. Notable clash arise when the
wife has an equal view of marriage and the husband a male dominated one.
The challenges are increased as well if the couple resides in a country
whose gender role anticipation are well defined and tough. (Marsha 2004).
Communication also becomes a matter when it affects the way a couple fix
problems. Different cultural situation towards the particular roles of men
and women in the home can play ruin with this part of the relationship.
Furthermore, religion can pose challenges of intercultural marriage
for individuals and society, whether people are Catholic, Buddhist,
Muslim, Jewish, Atheist or anything in between their spirituality touches
are on important aspect of their lives (Marsha 2004 ). In some cultures,
the maintaining of religion is of the utmost importance. With rapid
globalization and the integration of cultures around the world, it's
becoming increasingly difficult to maintain onto some religious
traditions. While some cultures still practice arranged marriages, not all
young people are happy with this and many fall in love with people outside
of their religion. This can cause of family split and people are often
forced to choose between their families and their partners. In Australia
mixed marriages has been steadily increasing. In 1974, 39% of all
marriages registered in Australia were between people from different
birthplace group. By 1998 this proportion had increased to just over half
of all marriages 52% (ABS 2008).
As has been noted, in intercultural marriages people can lose their
identity, if people have moved to a different country, converted their
religion, or sacrificed their own culture to embrace their partner, they
may be to feel a little departed from the people they used to be. When
they integrate into a new culture, they often have to leave some of their
old customs behind. Soon, it becomes superficial just how important those
small customs were to them, and how much they affected their own emotion
of identity.( Counselling Directory 2016).
In addition, communication language is a fundamental part in every
relationship. An intercultural marriage spouse speaks different mother
tongue language; lack of language is the very big problem to remain in
their life. Clear explanation is that language has meanings and deep
concepts related to culture and education and is applied socially. The
problem of addressing between women and men is due to social upbringing of
both. Even if the person mastered the foreign language, there would remain
empty spaces. There is a language of feeling and emotion that sometimes
remain distant from them. They can't actually express something easily and
directly. (Remennick 2009 )
Moreover, culture can be one of the biggest difficulties faced up
interracial or intercultural couples. The challenge involves literally
speaking different language. The most of culture is unseen, also the
culture of a host country is differences associated with such factors as
expression of emotion, struggle expression and handling the role of the
family of descent in rearing children, different customs, traditions and
community's denial these factors are led into higher failure of the
marriage. (Marsha 2004 ).
Also, heritage and background it takes effort to integrate the two
cultures successfully, and a ready attitude to learn from both partners.
The main point of why families specially parents when they criticize such
marriages is that, it is a departure from family norms and values.
Generally, all families value their own ideas, custom, tradition,
lifestyles and they feel these have to be immortalize in the lives of
their children and their grandchildren. The problems encountered by
interracial spouses are oftentimes the result of passive community
situations about interracial relationships. Many interracial spouses are
faced with passive reactions from community, making it difficult for them
to have a normal relationship. They have to deal with censure from their
own race, gloomy reactions from family and friends, and not to indicate
the pass of society as a whole.(Tili, ,Barker, GG 2015).
However, there are advantages of mixed marriage for individuals and
society. Cross-mixed marriage is a common phenomenon these days. It
reflects the changing situations to culture, variety and highlights
maximal approval of other people's heritage and background. An
intercultural marriage becomes a success and full of benefits when it is
started on the right foot. Spouses relating to several cultures have a
chance to improve their lives by sharing traditions, social mores,
learning new culture, language, customs and traditions and their children
arise more merciful and well-rounded people because they are taught to
honor each person's cultural background. For example, children grow up in
mixed cultural families have an opportunity to learn two languages or
three at once, which is a great interest for them and for the society
development. They also have a chance to have many passports and easy
traveling to many countries, learn the new culture and traditions and
build a multifaceted identity.
In conclusion, communication in intercultural marriages is managing
cultural differences and conflicts. Marriage is a complex social structure
that can be detrimentally affected by cultural difference; the problems of
intercultural marriages include resistance from family, friends and
society, as well as individual ideas and expectations within the
relationship. Family members may feel as though the person isn't embracing
his culture or religion they may not understand the other person's
culture. People raised in different cultures have different worldview and
values that may pose a threat to their relationships. These differences
often arise later in marriage when the couple decides how to raise a child
and what language to speak. Managing cultural differences is challenge,
but marriage itself is a challenge. Cross- cultural marriages can be
beneficial for couple belonging to different cultures have a chance to
enrich their lives and their children. Intercultural marriage has a good
result of benefit in individual and in society. People who are part of
intercultural marriages are more lenience of other races and cultures. The
parents in intercultural marriages and their children are more accepting
of other ethnics and learn each other's perspectives. Children,
especially, are less likely to be intolerant of someone because of their
race, religion, or their nationality. The world is multicultural and
races; there are places for everyone to live in harmony with society.