Understanding Intercultural Friendship

1. Example of Personal Factors (Cultural Similarities) – Belingual Language Club at Familia

We currently live in a globalized, interconnected, multicultural world.  Societies are shifting towards environments where people from different cultures, nationalities, languages, beliefs, and customs live together in one community. Increased intercultural contact is more likely, and therefore new social interactions are constantly settled.
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Intercultural friendships represent a complex intimate intersection of different variables, aspects, and processes. They are unique in a way that individuals most surmount challenges such as overcoming stereotypes and negotiate cultural differences. On the other hand, intercultural friends can benefit from expanding cultural knowledge and broaden their perspectives. 

Friendship Development

Research on this topic is still very limited. Despite this, studies suggest that intercultural friendships are influenced by personal and contextual factors. 

​Contextual factors: Emerge in certain scenarios and play a pivotal role in friendship development. Examples: 
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• Cultural Similarities: Particularly important to initiating friendships. These include resemblances between national cultures. I.e., Asian cultures.
• Cultural Differences: Individuals find the cultural differences fascinating and it’s this attraction that draws them together. 
• Prior intercultural experience: Prior experience in another country or relationships with people from different culture plays a pivotal role in initiating a friendship and continue nurturing the relationship. Individuals with previous exposure to intercultural encounters are willing and even eager to develop an intercultural friendship. 

Contextual factors: Emerge in certain scenarios and play a pivotal role in friendship development. Examples:
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• Targeted socializing:  Especially important during the early phases from being an acquaintance to becoming a friend. It refers to all socializing opportunities aimed towards either specific cultural groups or intercultural gatherings.
  
  
• Physical proximity: Research suggests that proximity between individuals can potentially foster socio-culturally diverse friendship. An example of this would be classrooms- students must quickly establish new social networks among strangers. But would all types of classroom scenarios lead to inter-ethnic formation? That is still debatable. 
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• Critical life events: During critical life events, positive or negative, people often draw upon places where they can find social support. According to some experts, this shared or social leisure pursuits can presumably buffer stress and positively contribute to health. 

Example of Contextual Factor (Physical Proximity)- Finnish Language Courses at Familia

1. Example of Contextual Factor (Critical Life Events)- Mom and Baby Peer Support Group at Familia

Communication

Findings suggest communication supports intercultural friendship formation. How are we communicating with our intercultural friends?  How communication impacts our friendship development?

One aspect, for example, is lack of fluency in a common language. Language barriers often become a hindering factor in pursuing an intercultural friendship- making conversation difficult, increasing the chances of miscommunication, frustration, and ultimately animosity. On the other hand, language differences can also motivate individuals to talk more often, even becoming a source of humor. In many cases, a jargon unique to the friendship is established, moving the friendship to closer levels. 

Conclusion

Intercultural friendships portray the complexity of cultures and the significance of communication to nurture and maintain such relationships. Once the individuals overcome challenges, such as language barriers or prior misconceptions, they will continue to develop successful, rich, and rewarding relationships.
Further research should be focused on intercultural friendship development and identify what elements could potentially deteriorate such relationships.
 
Bibliography

1. Patricia M. Sias, Jolanta A. Drzewiecka, Mary Meares, Rhiannon Bent, Yoko Konomi, Maria Ortega & Colene White (2008) Intercultural Friendship Development, Communication Reports, 21:1, 1-13, DOI: 10.1080/08934210701643750
2. Barnett, G. A., & Lee, M. (2002). Intercultural communication. In W. B. Gudykunst & B. Mody

(Eds.), Handbook of international and intercultural communication (2nd ed., pp. 275–294). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

Yvette Ahonen