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Common Problems For Cross-Cultural Couples
Love is not confined to any geographical boundary. You never know when Cupid will strike a person defying all odds of geographical barriers and the huge differences of culture arising out of it. Let’s find out more about cross-continental couples in relationships.
Love eternally blossomed between two persons staying in two distant continents separated by long physical distance. A layer of different time zones. History says such relationships remained successful too.
There are inherent challenges, but one has to overcome them to emerge successful in a cross-continental relationship. So these challenges can be broadly categorized as follows.
Common Problems in Cross-Continental Relationships
1. Linguistic Barriers
A steady and long-standing relationship requires a perfect understanding between the partners. But effective communication is the key to build such an understanding. Verbal communication has to be conveyed in a language; both partners are conversant with. So people always feel comfortable communicating in their mother tongue.
In a cross-continental relationship, at least one partner has to use a language other than his mother tongue to have effective communication clearly understood by both the partners.
The challenge lies in coping with learning and easily communicating in a language, which may not be the strong point of one or both the partners. The relationship will forever depend on the concerned partners’ ability to communicate their feelings in a verbal form effectively.
It has often been seen that in intense, passionate relationships, people prefer and love to communicate in their mother tongue and feel uncomfortable communicating in an alien language.
2. Difference Of Culture
There are thousands of communities spread across all over the world. Each community has its own distinct culture and etiquettes. In the United States, if you are offered a hot drink when visiting a household, it signifies you are welcome, have a seat, and chat for a while. In the same scenario, in Japan’s country, offering a hot drink to a guest signifies just the opposite.
You are expected to leave the house after being served a cup of hot drink in Japan. And this is just a single instance. There are thousands of such cultural differences.
Both partners need to perfectly understand and evaluate these differences of culture to avoid any miscommunication, embarrassment, and misunderstanding. It requires careful and studious observation of the nuances of their respective cultures. Only then the couple can have a harmonious relationship.
3. Difference Of Perception in Cross-continental Relationships
A long-distance cross-continental relationship can survive only when the perceptions of both partners regarding their relationship converge. In today’s fast-paced world, not everybody prefers to commit to a settled, long-standing relationship. Some people like to enjoy such relationships only as a temporary and pastime thing.
If one partner expects a steady relationship and his counterpart pitches just for a temporary encounter, the relationship is bound to fail.
4. Anxiety Of Going To An Alien Country
In the case of a cross-continental relationship, one partner has to leave their own country and be prepared to live in their partner’s country. This is the only way they can make a home of their lives together.
They have to adapt their partner’s country as their own, which will be thousands of miles apart from their homeland. This will be with different climatic conditions, different cultures, food habits, and every other imaginable thing different than their own country.
The person has to adjust and adapt to such different conditions. For some, even the thought of such adjustments and adaptations can create anxiety. Seamless acclimatization in a different environment is the key to survival in these scenarios.
The success rate will depend upon the capacity of the concerned persons to quickly transform themselves to the required degree.
5. The Distance Factor
At some point in time, the impact of distance will be gravely felt by the persons in a cross-continental relationship. It is not always possible for the partners to stay in each other’s country nearby. Invariably there will come a time when they will have to stay apart for a fairly considerable amount of time.
In today’s digitalized world, instant communication is not a problem at all. Despite their distance, both partners can stay connected most of the time. This is due to the technological developments witnessed in the world in recent times.
They can resort to a Skype chat or engage in a virtual reality program to compensate for their physical distance. However, the comfort that a physical presence can achieve cannot be replicated by any of the above-mentioned digital tools. So, the challenge stays and cannot be completely taken care of.
6. A sense Of Aversion To Wards The Partner’s Home country
The last thing people may expect in a cross-continental relationship is the aversion of one of the partners towards his counterpart’s home country. But it is a very tricky situation, and it is tough to tackle. To come out of such a sensitive situation requires skillful maneuvering of the ways and means the partners possess.
Finding a middle ground and slowly convincing the dissenting partner. But, the finer points of the country in question can solve the problem to some extent.
Loads of patience, an optimistic attitude, and finding positive vibes in adverse circumstances will be the need of the hour in such a scenario. As we have discussed, a few most probable challenges a couple is likely to face in a cross-continental relationship.
We may safely conclude that sustaining such a relationship. However, challenging is viable provided both the partners act most maturely and sensibly. They should be ready to adapt according to the circumstances’ requirements. So if there is true love between the partners, every other thing will fall in place in cross-continental relationships.