Page 366 - Handbooks of Applied Linguistics Communication Competence Language and Communication Problems Practical Solutions

344 Ingrid Piller

This increase in cross-cultural intimate relationships is directly linked to
globalization. Globalization can be defined as “a social change, an increased
connectivity among societies and their elements […]; the explosive evolution of
transport and communication technologies to facilitate international cultural
2
and economic exchange”. Three aspects of globalization in particular can be
isolated that have facilitated cross-cultural intimate relationships: increased in-
ternational mobility; increased international data flow; and increased inter-
national cultural exchange. I will discuss each in turn.

4. Increased international mobility

Globalization is characterized by unprecedented numbers of people moving
around the world, be it for the purposes of study, employment, pleasure, or to
flee from persecution, to name but a few. Obviously each instance of inter-
national mobility increases the chances for people to meet and find a partner
from elsewhere. For instance, in my research with English-and-German-speak-
ing couples (Piller 2002), I found that the majority of participating couples had
met while one partner was abroad as an exchange student. Others met while one
or both partners were working abroad, where “work” includes military service.
Indeed, statistical evidence that the mere fact of overseas residence increases
cross-cultural relationships comes from marriages between male US citizens
and female German citizens registered in Germany (Statistisches Bundesamt
1997: 23). This is the only group of international marriages registered in Ger-
many that saw a significant decrease in the period from 1960 to 1994. In 1960,
6,062 German women married a US national (which was then by far the largest
group of foreign men to enter marriage with a German woman in Germany; the
second largest group were Italian men with 1,215 registered marriages). How-
ever, in 1994, only 1,728 German women married a US national. As it happens
this decrease – during a period where international marriages overall increased
around 2.5 times (see above) – runs parallel to the stationing and eventual draw-
down of US troops (Herget, Kremp and Rödel 1995). In another example,
Walters (1996) points out that a number of the Anglophone wives of Tunisian
men in his study first met their partner while they served as Peace Corps volun-
teers in Tunisia. Waldis’ (1998: 196) research with Swiss–Tunisian couples
where the female partner is Swiss and the male partner is Tunisian found that
there were three circumstances in which the partners had met: while the Tuni-
sian men studied overseas in Switzerland, while the Tunisian men worked over-
seas in Switzerland, while both partners studied or worked abroad in France, or
while the Swiss women holidayed in Tunisia as overseas tourists.
In addition to the fact that increased international mobility for a range of
purposes creates chances for cross-cultural intimate relationships to emerge,