Do you find it harder to establish friendships with other cultures, religions, race and if so why?

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Pinky

No i dont find it hard to establish friendship with other cultures,religions and race,as long as u respect where do i come from and vice versa,than we're both fine and can hit the road!

not fair

i do not think it is hard at all, as long as each party respect one another.
we know that we can agree to disagree, which it is healthy thing because it opens doors to new things and it makes us to think that yes it is not just us, it is not just our beliefs our way of life,our way of thinking or doing things.
others (different cultures) do think, do feel, do have opinions and ideas.

I am Armenian and i was born in Iran and i am proud of it, to be Armenian Iranian.

i tell you something funny when I arrived England the 3rd day
i told my self i will go out and walk around and i notice Mothers put on sort of leash thing on their kids you know the one that we put on dogs, to me that was so unbelievable how could they do that, at that time i could not understand it is for their child safety to me it was so barbaric. the other thing that it gave me shock of my life i had to buy food so when the teller was counting pounds i was short one pound and 30 shillings so i just stare at her thinking that she will do the same thing like back home right it down on there famous note book and the next time i would pay it back, ha ha he he
no she told me to put back one item.
in Iran every grocery store knows there customer and the owner of the shop have book with the names and phone numbers, in Iran some customers will pay weekly or monthly of what ever they bought.

the point is we learn about other cultures and customs, buy respecting their way of life and understanding it.

by the way Ipek you can answer my question if you want too.

Ð¯Ð»Ð¼Ð°Ñ€ â„¢

No to me it is the personality that matters not nationality, race or religion.
Due to this and a lot of traveling I have freinds of a lot of countries from different races and religions.I never had any trouble having friends of another religion or race or nationality than my own.

Anoosh

No, it is not hard for me at all.
I will try to answer some members here too....

I grew up in Iran, among Arabs and Lors, I played with them when I was a kid, we respected their traditions, and they were very fond of ours and sometimes try to participate, but we never mixed our culture together.

Culture is something beautiful and unique for every country, and it should stay as original as it could.

I can be friend and talk about everything and anything , have fun and all, but can't say it is right to ignore the culture.

if we ignore culture then there should not be a country or borders, we will be all the same, and that's funny.

Even in USA, every culture has its own place, at least in the last twenty years they realized that.

And don't you guys mix with the race, that's different issue!

DejaVu- RETURNS

No I dont find it hard at all, obviously its easier with people come from same culture as mine, but when I speak to someone from another culture I dont see them as something different then I am...and do see the little differences later on and work on them on my own way.
But then that is me,
if we look at the roots of racism we will see something really strange and that's about 'fear of unknowing' it becomes 'hate for the different' how come anyone hate someone they do not know well to me its because they are too scared to get to know them too scared that they might like them..too scared to take a risk of trusting someone 'different' I am not talking about racism here but racism starts from this point..

so answer is no I do not find it difficult to be friends with people from different race, religion, background etc. but then I find it difficult to built a friendship with them if they have those feelings(fear, mistrust, getting all suspicious of me, not being open with me just cos the person sees me as DIFFERENT)...

.:::Niko:::.

I guess I've always tried to get along with everybody,have tried my best to establish friendships which isn't always easy to do.I know that i do everything not for myself, but for others. But how can i convey that without sounding self righteous? I can because I'm not looking for any rewards, awards, bonuses, prizes, plaques, trophies, or medals. I'm not looking for recognition or my name in the newspaper.I'm just looking for a friend.Good question btw thanx for posting.

Selena

Alana...you really got me thinking there with your great question!!!
I have lived in Europe, in North America, in South America, in the Middle East, in Asia and in Oceania. I have met many people and many cultures and had many friendships. We have to make a difference here between casual or light friendships and deep friendships. Having casual friendships has never been a problem for me, they are mainly a mutual interest in each others culture and beliefs. With the deep friendships, a lot of effort is required from both sides. A deep understanding of the culture, history and religion are necessary as well as daily interests of that particular culture. The key is respect, being open minded and unselfish.
Everyone talks about globalization nowadays but I believe it is the globalization of superficial things they are really meaning, the core of a culture will never die.
So, it may be harder to establish deep friendships with other cultures but I think the rewards are also much greater and those friendships seem to live on forever!

Crazy Turkish Guy

I live in NYC and as you may know we have races and faces of all kind here and I have no problem establishing new friendships regardless the culture,religion or race because at end of the day it all comes down to being respectful to others and their beliefs...Unfortunately though not everyone is in the same mind set as me.....I am an open minded proud TURK who welcomes different Ideas and beliefs but when my country,people or beliefs are insulted I get furious like that "UBR" guy who was questioning my country's level of technology and education when he himself is the uneducated low-life, I mean how is he spoused to grow up if he wasn't raised?.....See, when dealing with disrespectful people like that, I myself become even more disrespectful and hostile and I just let my Ottoman fist in the eye deliver the message.I have some serious anger management issues when disrespected...I have friends who are Greek,Armenian,Albanian and we all tread each other with the level of respect we deserve because we were raised right....

Ipek K

No, not at all.

I am from a multi-culture and multi religious family so I am thought to value people with their personal qualities i.e. honesty, modestly, good intentions and good moral values.

The rest are minor details for me.

It is absurd to talk about cultural differences in the 21th century where the whole world is a global village via communication systems i.e TV and Internet.
The one's who is seeing cultural difference and religion as a difficulty in making friends are the one's who are not willing to learn and appreciate other cultures - in my humble opinion :)

I am not even going into race differences issue- it is plain stupid.

Realist

No, I do not think so. When you look at friendships from these points of view then people will find it harder. I do not concern myself with a person's culture or nationality when making friends.
I guess everyone has their own criteria for making friends. My friendships are built on good morals and kindness.

Qu'est ce que tu pense?

No, I think it's easier because you will always have something interesting to talk about. It's not any fun if all of your friends were the same culture and discussed the same issues about your ethnic background. It's also nice to hear the different customs and traditions certain cultures experience. I have many friends from all over the world, such as Vietnam for example. The custom for them is to brush their teeth before eating breakfast in the morning because they don't want to eat the bacteria while they're eating. I never knew that! So it's always interesting to learn about these things.

Joannah

No, I've never found it difficult. It's easier actually because there are a lot of things you don't know about each person, facets of their culture and their religion. Deep inside every one of lies questions pertaining to one culture in some point in time and then you say, "Oh I've always wanted to know about that." ^_^

I've had so many encounters with people, even one Rwandan who was "Tutsi". Getting over introductions actually is the harder part because of what I knew about their country. Tiptoeing around issues you think are sensitive is really tough. It's difficult to ask if how things are not knowing what his situation was. I didn't dare ask him about his family because God knows if they were victims of the 1994 genocide.

One of the techniques I use, that always breaks the ice though is food. I asked, "What does Rwandan food taste like?" That got over the uneasy part for the both of us. After that I usually gauge the limits at which I can talk with great tact.

Food is almost always the solidifying factor among peoples. Everyone loves to eat. No execptions. ^_^

Suki Y

No, I was born and raised in Canada but ethnically and somewhat culturally i am japanese.
My boyfriend is from Argentina (born and raised - still there)
My best friend is Turkish (though born in Canada she's has strong Turkish values and customs)
And among my friends there are multiple religions, cultures and ethnicities.
Of course it is easy to just hang out with people with your same culture, ethnicity or religion, but how boring life would be!! I always have my mind and heart open to everyone. Despite culture, ethnicity, or religion, everyone is human, everyone laughs and cries, gets angry, gets happy, etc. Sure there is different emphasis on certain things, but as long as you are not judgmental or critical, you can see that there is so much to be learned about others and yourself. And you can see that the world is such a diverse and creative place. Acceptance and appreciation of difference, not tolerance, opens so many doors to friendship and community.

Myrina

It is interesting! It may not be so easy, especially on the subject of religion and historical background, but new points of view, interests, ways of life open up.
Just think of all the different types of food, music, songs and dancing you come to share! Not to mention that if you live around the Mediterranean Sea, you will discover a lot of similarities, too.

Undetermined Quantity

I find it easier, actually. I have always felt like an outsider in my culture, religion and race, no matter how much I have tried to play the game of 'fitting in.' When I'm myself, I find myself drawn to people for who they are, not any superficial qualities that we seem to have in common.

PIETRO

I think we should be colour-blind,religion-blind, and we shouldn't have prejudice regarding people's cultural background.
Let's just focus on people,on humans, regardless of our differences.
When someone is different, I just consider that's also very interesting because we may learn a lot from each other.
Sometimes it may be a little bit hard ,though...
But anyway that just depends on individuals, not on their origins.

ANTON CHIGURH

I don't care about these differences.
We all are human beings, that's all.

val f1 nutter

no. even if you don't speak the same language you can communicate. a smile goes a long way when breaking the ice.

Ollie

At the end of the day we are all human beings & should work out any differences.First its best to leave religion out of it
cultures can all be easily brought together.

Claudia

No,it`s not hard at all for me because my Family is International ( TÃ¼rkiye,Canada,Germany ) so I grew up with different cultures and religions.And we are all Human each one of us on this big world.

ev pandasÄ±

Of course it is harder when you compare with establishing friendships with people from your own culture. How would you feel if you were to meet "Xi" from "the god's must be crazy" for the first time. The guy is naked for gods sake. It is hard for anybody from any culture that includes getting dressed. The distance in means of cultural difference determines the hardness of making friends. But that does not mean I'd never make friends with Xi. It just takes more time.

Or let me give you another example. I've got a chinese friend, and for me it really is hard to tell if he is angry or delighted from his mimics. Because I didn't see a slant eyed face before. Sometimes it really gets hard to communicate with him. I joke about something, and he thinks I'm teasing. But those kind of misunderstandings fade away, as we learn more about eachother.

Lastly, I'd say it is harder to make friends with a "stranger" but it's never impossible.

Misviv

The ease of forming cross-cultural friendship really depends on each party's willingness to embrace the other's differences. Half of my close friends are from diverse races and cultures.

Religion rarely comes between my friendships although I must admit I tend to behave more discreetly among muslim friends, choosing my words and dressing more conservatively, knowing how strongly they feel about Islamic morality. It's not that I'm a hypocrite but that our social harmony is more important than carefree self-expression.

In the end, it's really about how much you like each other and if you have a common ground to start from.

FTL

Funny you should say that, yesterday i was out with a group of people we were mixed, Spanish, Italian, British, Scottish some Christians some atheist and this morning some were here for coffee. So no it has always been easy for me.

ipek

I dont have any problem: I have friends, Mexican,Chines Indian,Palestine and Egyptian. I forgot an American

Cutie818

As long as u respect me nd respect my culture then we got no problem :-]]

Wiss

I say yes, but my experience is only with norwegians since I have moved here. I am American, and I am used to people being very outgoing and social. You can walk in a bar and talk to random people, people are much more friendly. Since I have been here, the majority of the people I have met are very anti-social. They ignore you, have NO respect whatsoever. For example people have ran into my daughter, almost knocking her over, and there is no apology, not even a look back and that is shocking to me. Another thing is that no one really talks to you if they don't know you. There is no social interaction and it is very uncomfortable. Maybe I have just had a bad experience, but I find the people here overall rude and unwelcoming.

ilke

No, never. I found it very easy.

mete

I would guess easier as there is plenty to talk about, but I probably build closer relationships with people from the same culture, because we skip the 'get to know his/her culture' part and jump right into more personal things.

wowaweewa

No. Unless thre was a language barrier or we had very different opinions from our cultures.

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