Class: Intercultural Communication

MIDTERM TEST ON INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

(30% of course grading)

Write an essay from 500 to maximum 700 words on the following topic. Illustrate your
arguments with examples from your first-hand experience or personal observation.
Interracial romance or marriages are on the rise in many parts of the world. Discuss
the benefits and challenges of these unions. What are the reactions of people in your
culture to this kind of relationship? What is your own opinion?

In the past, interracial romance or marriages has been banned in many countries
around the world by racial discrimination and ethnocentrism. The love and marriage
between people having different ethnicities are growing and gaining support. This
essay is intended to discuss the advantages and disadvantages that this community
faces. At the same time, this essay also gives the actual reaction of the Vietnamese
people on this issue and the writer's personal view.
“Interracial marriage” means a marriage between two individuals from different
racial, ethnic, national, or religious backgrounds (Ho, 1990). Thus, a romantic
relationship or marriage between two people with many differences can cause both
positive and negative effects for themselves and even their communities.
Although supposedly having many advantages, interracial love or marriages can bring
two main actual benefits. Firstly, two individuals from two different cultures getting
together in a romantic relationship can reduce prejudice and discrimination across
cultures. Love or marriage is a process of contact, understanding, and adjustment of
couples in many aspects such as culture, beliefs, religion, traditions to harmonize life.
This process does not only takes place between the couple but also extends to the
people around them. Therefore, intercultural romance and marriage may create an array
of opportunities for cultural exchange and harmony. Another benefit of interracial is
that children with many different beautiful bloodlines who are the result of interracial
romantic relationships. In fact, hybrid children inherit the great beauty of two or more
different races have especially attractive, which helps them draw more attention and

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integrate into the community better. Besides natural beauty, they also inherited the
cultural identity from their parents, bridging the cultural gap between many races
through practical activities. For example, Angelina Jolie, who owns 5 bloodlines, has
been a favorite actress and the Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations for many
years.
Despite the above two benefits, interracial romance or marriages also bring many
drawbacks that couples have to face. Firstly, it is difficult for a mixed couple to
communicate due to different languages. Couples often have to agree on the common
language that the two people will use language is a useful method for mutual
understanding. However, Renalds (2011) hold the belief that even if there is no
problem with a mutual language being used, barriers still exist when communicating as
subtle differences in communication patterns may lead to misinterpretation. The second
challenge that every interracial couple faces is acculturation. For example, it is
complicated to harmonize a culture that values collectivism (like the East) with a
culture that values individualism (like the West). Especially, some cultures value a high
– context communication style (such as Vietnamese, Chinese,…) while others value a
low context style (such as German, French,…), which is a barrier to adapt to the
partner’s lifestyle and perceptions in marriage and love.
For many years, there have been many controversies surrounding the marriage of
foreigners in Vietnam. Vietnamese law has recognized that it is legal for interracial
marriage. However, the Vietnamese public opinion has never stopped recognizing this
issue harshly. In addition to the romantic relationship or marriage originated from
sincere love, in Vietnam, there have been many interracial marriages depending on the
need for benefits. According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Seoul,
figures from the National Statistics Office of Korea show that the number of
multicultural couples registered to marry in this country in 2018 was 23,773 pairs, up
8.5% compared to 2017. Vietnamese wife accounts for the highest proportion of the
total. They mainly get married because of material factors. Most of them want to
change their lives and help their poor families.
In my point of view, despite many difficulties, multiracial marriage really brings
numerous opportunities to connect the cultures of different countries. Everyone has the

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right to equality and freedom in love and marriage. Therefore, there should be no
prejudice and discrimination against interracial love and marriages.
In conclusion, this essay addresses two benefits of interracial marriage including a
method of eliminating cultural stereotypes and creating generations of multi-ethnic
people. At the same time, this essay also presents two major barriers facing by
interracial couples consisting of the language barrier and cultural differences.
Particularly, this essay also highlighted the current situation of the reaction of the
Vietnamese people to the interracial couples and writer's support for interracial love.
(719 words)

References
1. Dariusz P. Skowroński (2014), The Outline of Selected Marital Satisfaction Factors
in the Intercultural Couples based on the Westerner and non-Westerner relationships,
Polish Psychological Bulletin 2014, vol 45(3), 346-356 DOI - 10.2478/ppb-2014-0042
2. Latson, Jennifer. "The Biracial Advantage". Psychology Today. Retrieved 25 April
2020.
3. Pr. Thinh Ba Hoang (nd), Social research on marriage with foreign elements,
Department of Sociology of Gender and Family - University of Social Sciences and
Humanities, VNU Hanoi. Retrieved from https://thegioiluat.vn/bai-viet-hoc-thuat/DU-
LUAN-XA-HOI-VE-HON-NHAN-CO-YEU-TO-NUOC-NGOAI-2074/
4. Tran Phuong (2019), Vietnamese brides account the highest proportion among
Korean multicultural families, Tin Tuc Newspaper. Retrieved from
https://baotintuc.vn/xa-hoi/co-dau-viet-chiem-ty-le-cao-nhat-trong-cac-gia-dinh-da-
van-hoa-han-quoc-20191106134338691.htm