Intercultural Report: Comparing Romanian and Arabian Cultural Values

This report provides a comprehensive intercultural analysis comparing Romanian and Arabian cultures. It begins with an introduction to intercultural communication, emphasizing the exchange of cultural information between individuals from different backgrounds. The main body of the report employs cultural autobiographies to identify major influences on the lives of Romanian and Arabian individuals, exploring their respective family structures, religious practices (Eastern Orthodox and Islamic), and traditions related to birth, wedding, and death rituals. The report then contrasts these two cultures, employing the Theory of Reasoned Action to highlight differences in behavior, beliefs, and values. Similarities are also explored, focusing on social interactions, esteem, love, self-actualization, and safety. The conclusion summarizes the key findings, underscoring the diversity and unique characteristics of both cultures. The report references several books and journals related to intercultural communication.

INTERCULTURAL

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
a) Using cultural autobiography, identifying the major influences on your life....................1
b) Using cultural autobiography, recognising the main influences on someone life.............1
c) Compare and contrast the two culture and explain its similarities and differences...........2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................6

INTRODUCTION
Intercultural is the exchange of culture information between two persons who belong to
different cultural groups. It is something that arises among different culture of people which
includes various religious groups or national origins. The main focus of this report is to address
two cultural values, beliefs, traditions and rituals of the Romania and Arabian persons. Also
conduct questionnaire with two different culture individual and knowing their family living,
understand their birth, death and weeding rituals (Bennett and Hammer, 2011). In this, project
also evaluate the similarities and differences between two culture autobiography with the help of
relevant theories.
MAIN BODY
a) Using cultural autobiography, identifying the major influences on your life
The culture of Romania sets itself different from others in the East European for share
certain elements with them. It is a secular state and there is no specific state religion are
followed. Romania is famous for religious country where huge majority of people belongs to
Christian. The Romania culture teach that respect and regard the older people and never
disrespect them. The popular religion of Romania country is Eastern Orthodox church which is
one of the oldest culture. As a Romanian women, there are seven member in my family including
me. My nationality is Romanian. There are various traditions which has been followed by me
and my family members as per the Eastern Orthodox religion. The daily activities of Romania
people starts with worship of god and after that they eat food. Along with this, there are some
special occasion in my religion such as birth, death and wedding traditions which have
influences on the culture. All these rituals are performed by church priests in my Eastern
orthodox religion. In the birth ceremony, my family are tied red ribbon which save baby from
evil eye (Scollon, Scollon and Jones, 2011). In my religion weeding, various rituals are perform
by bride and groom which make them happy for future life. In the death custom, body is kept in
casket and pries give the graveside funeral service along with family member.
b) Using cultural autobiography, recognising the main influences on someone life
Arabian culture is the most pure, precious, valuable religion for the Muslim population.
My friend and her family's nationality is Saudi Arabia. There are seven members including her in
the family. Their religion always says that “Allah is great”. The tradition of Islam is different
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from Romania in which birth ceremony is conducted after the seventh day of baby birth and their
Maulvi ties Taweez on child neck (Holliday, Hyde and Kullman, 2010). There are few rituals at
the time of Nikah in Islamic religion where both bride and groom are seated in separate group
and marriage is confirm after saying “Qubool Hai”. Along with this, my friend culture is totally
different in each manner. In the death custom, they are covered body with white sheet and fold it,
after that the death body is transported to “Masjid” where Maulvi pray which is known as “Salat
al-Janazah”. My friend family is follow Islamic culture which said “Belief in Allah as the one
and only god”.
c) Compare and contrast the two culture and explain its similarities and differences
These two cultures are totally different from each other and some points are similar at
certain end (Bird and et. al., 2010). Such as Romania involves Eastern Orthodox religion and
Arabian culture involves Islamic religion. There are various similarities and differences between
two culture which are described as under:
Theory of reasoned action – It is a model which identify the origin in the specific area of
social psychology. This theory is link between values, beliefs, intentions, norms and behaviour
of individual. It will help in identifying various person behaviour and attitude towards their
culture. Reasoned action of theory is used to recognised the differences among two culture
individuals (Hammer, 2011). The attitude of a person towards determining behaviour, beliefs and
values this theory used for identify differences on the basis of culture, behaviour and belief.
Differences between Romania and Arabian culture:
Basis Romania Arabian
Culture My Romania culture is Eastern
Orthodox where people pray to
god in the morning and
afternoon only. In morning,
the prayer is named as
“Vespers” and afternoon
worship is known as
“Compline”.
My friend belongs to Islamic
culture where people worship
their god for five time in a day.
Behaviour The behaviour of Romanian On the other hand, the
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people are very friendly,
caring, helpful and party lover.
Me and my family members
are very familiar and
responsible individuals which
help them in interacting with
any other person.
behaviour of Arabian people
are rude, spiritualist and
devoter of Allah. Sometime
my friend behave rude with me
and she is also very short
tempered. They only believe in
god and their life is moving
around worship of Allah.
Beliefs The Romania people believe
that all the religion are equal
and god is one which resolve
all person problems. As a
Eastern Orthodox person, my
belief is that God is single and
bible said “one in essence and
undivided”.
The Islamic belief is the
complete and worldwide
variant of primordial faith
which show some time before
prophets such as Adam, Moses
and Jesus. My friend belongs
to Arabian culture where
Quran considered as unaltered
and concluding information of
Allah. The Arabian people said
“Belief in Allah as the one and
only god”.
There are various similarities among two culture on the basis of social interactions,
esteem or status, love, self actualisation, safety and security and daily living.
Similarities between Romania and Arabian culture:
Basis Romania Arabian
Social interactions The Romanian people meet
and greet any person with full
respect, regard and positive
behaviour. My family is very
familiar and friendly behave
My friend who is Arabian
person behave good and treat
everyone as a friend in the
social program. For being
great, they maintain their
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while social interaction. reputation in the non Muslim
community. They also believe
in doing social interactions
more before entering into a
business relationship with
other individuals.
Esteem or status My Romania culture teach
people to respect other people.
They always behave good
which maintains the reputation
of their family in the society.
Also, it is considered as a
hierarchical society so respect
is gained on the basis of age
and population.
My friend belong from Islam
culture where she learn only
good things through which
they need to maintain their
dignity and also respect their
elder one in the community.
The Arabian people are
concern about their reputation
and respect as it is very
important for them.
Love and belongingness Every individual need love or
belongingness which help in
fulfilling their all
requirements. I belong to
Eastern orthodox culture of
Romania in which love or
belongingness are main part
of society people. This culture
help an individual to building
strong relationship, influences
one person towards others in
context of respect.
My friend belong to Islamic
culture which is sometime
familiar with the other
religions. Quran which is the
holy book of my Arabian
friend is teach them that every
person need to love each other
which help in easily survive in
the society. Their Islamic
family members require to
maintain trust, acceptance and
love with each other.
Self actualisation In my religion, my family is
very open minded. They gave
In Islamic culture, such person
have ability and capability so
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me the freedom to choose my
own career so I can become a
successful person and doing
job without any restrictions.
she will reach the position
where she always wanted to
reach..
Safety and security In my culture, safety and
security is one of the important
precious things which protect
me and my family with all
problems.
My friend culture also teach
that safety is essential for each
individual so through this they
feel tension free without any
fear.
Daily living My daily life starts with
worship of god before taking
breakfast. As a Romanian
women, I used to bath and
wash hand and then take food.
In afternoon, again pray to god
with the Bible Holy book.
Islam culture is very pure and
precious, so they also begin
their day with taking the name
of Allah. My friend who is
Arabian she is worship for five
times in a day before the god
with the help of Quran book.
CONCLUSION
From the above described report, it can be concluded that intercultural is something
which arise among different culture of people that includes various religious groups or national
origins. There are two culture which are used in this report such as Romania and Arabian people.
The culture of Romania sets itself contrary from others in the East European for share definite
components with them. On the other hand, Arabian culture is the most clean, valuable, priceless
faith for the Muslim group. In this, there are various rituals conducted of two culture that
includes birth, weeding and death traditions. Also these can be different from each other in every
manner.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Bennett, M.J. and Hammer, M., 2011. A developmental model of intercultural sensitivity.
Retrieved. 12. p.13.
Scollon, R., Scollon, S.W. and Jones, R.H., 2011. Intercultural communication: A discourse
approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Holliday, A., Hyde, M. and Kullman, J., 2010. Intercultural communication: An advanced
resource book for students. Routledge.
Bird, A and et. al., 2010. Defining the content domain of intercultural competence for global
leaders. Journal of Managerial Psychology. 25(8). pp.810-828.
Hammer, M.R., 2011. Additional cross-cultural validity testing of the Intercultural Development
Inventory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 35(4). pp.474-487.
Dervin, F., 2011. A plea for change in research on intercultural discourses: A ‘liquid’approach to
the study of the acculturation of Chinese students. Journal of multicultural
discourses .6(1). pp.37-52.
Olohan, M., 2017. Intercultural Faultlines: Research Models in Translation Studies: v. 1:
Textual and Cognitive Aspects. Routledge.
Gareis, E., 2012. Intercultural friendship: Effects of home and host region. Journal of
International and Intercultural Communication. 5(4). pp.309-328.
Online
Theory of Reasoned Action. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<http://recapp.etr.org/recapp/index.cfmfuseaction=pages.TheoriesDetail&PageID=517>.
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APPENDIX
Cultural autobiography1. Different culture Family structure and relationships, role of Romanian family
- Parents: Avram Anton (father's name), Isabella Anton (Mother's name)
- Grandparents: Benedikte Anton (grand father), Antanasia Anton (grand mother)
- Other family members: Cristian Anton (Elder Brother) and Daciana Anton (Younger
Sister)
2. What is the Nationality of yourself, parents and grandparents
- Yourself: Romanian
- Parents; mother: Romanian, father: Romanian
- Grandparents; grandmother: Romanian , grandfather: Romanian
3. Rituals of family life-
 What is your Daily living: My regular living rituals according to my Eastern Orthodox
religion is that getting up in the early morning and take bath. Then prayer begin which is
named as Vespers that is held in the morning before taking food. In the afternoon, I take
lunch and go for play some activities, after that in the evening I again pray to the god
which named as Compline. At night, I take dinner along with family members and go to
sleep. -Some Special occasions:
 What is the Birth rituals : In the Eastern Orthodox religion, birth was significantly
joyful occasion for every family. This is very special moment for a mother in the
life. In my culture, the name has been selected by priest.
 Birth name (who and how it is chosen): Mostly they give child name on their
grandparents. After seven day, they are giving name to the new born Baby. Firstly
parents involved in the various activities which help in protecting the baby from the
dark forces. After that, priest tied the red ribbon on the infant right arm which
prevent from evil eye. Then family members or priest give a rite which considered
as a first bath of infant.
- What is the Marriage tradition: In Eastern orthodox religion, the weeding ceremony
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is consider as full of deep symbolism and importance. The bride and groom stand in front of
priest along with a best man who named as “koumbaros”. The weeding ritual begin with
betrothal ceremony in which rings are exchanged. After that church priest gives candles to the
couple hands to pray for their good future life. Then, priest read Bible section, the bride and
groom take three sips of wine with a common cup. After that priest lead couple three times
around the table on which Bible and cross rest are placed. Lastly, all the relatives and church
father gives blessings to both bride and groom.
- What is the Death rituals in your religion: In my religion, it is necessary for priest
is to hear the final confession and handle Holy ritual to the death individual. Eastern orthodox
funeral tradition is preparing the body. Family members and friends perform rituals in the
presence of priest. They should wash the body and dressed and it is ready to placed in the
casket. After this, church father shower some holy water which pure the body. Then priest
started the prayer which name is Panikhida which is the sign to begin the wake. Then the body
is transported to the church for the other funeral rituals and coffin is opened, candle lit, pray by
family members around the casket. Lastly, the priest should performed a graveside burial
services along with family or relatives.
4. Who holds the most “status” in your family? Why?
My grandfather hold the most status position in my family because they have knowledge
and experienced so they easily deal with any complex situations. He is backbone of the
family and manage all roles and responsibilities in better way which is provided to him.5. Environment where you grew up :
-In home: In my home, there is sound environment which make me happy and feel
secure every time. My parents treat me as a friends through which I can share all my
issues or problems with them. At home, my siblings are create healthy and joyful
environment.
-In physical surroundings: The physical surroundings around my home is very
pleasant and peaceful which feel healthy and safe from various health issues. It includes
water, plants, animals, buildings and other infrastructure which provide basic needs and
chances for social development.
6. Individuals and institutions which have had a strong influence on you
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My university principle has mainly influence on my life because they teach me about
different things which can be used for future as well as present situations. With the
assistance of them, I am able to became a successful person in my life.
7. Mobility moving from country to country; moving from class to class; profession to
profession:
- Personal – After completing my schooling, I am decided to take science subject but
due to less percentage in biology, I am moving towards BCOM course.
- your family’s – Before 2 years, my father is in a government job as a assistant of court
judge and due to dissatisfaction regarding this job, he started his own new business.8. Education:
- From where have you completed your higher education ?
Schooling from Decebal High school
Graduation from Danubius University
Masters from ASEBUSS
- How long you studied ?
From 20 years
- How principal influences you towards study ?
In my school, principal influences each student by motivating them towards
achieving set goals and objectives for future life.
- What is your education or qualification?
BCOM
MBA (Masters in Business Administration)
- What is your parents education ?
Father: (LLB)
Mother: (B.Sc. in biology)
-What is your grandparents education?
Grandfather: (Business Administration in arts)
Grandmother: (Intermediate)
9. Other aspects of your life or influences upon it of importance to you
a. Is punctuality important to you? Why or why not?
Yes, punctuality is important for me because through this I can easily complete my
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work in given time. This will show an individual respect towards time or work.
b. What is the most important meal of the day?
According to me, breakfast is most important meal of the day because it consume more
calories in the morning and also maintain weight.
c. Do you eat foods that are indigenous to your culture? Why or why not? If you
answered yes, name some of the foods that you eat. If you answered no, what types
of foods do you eat?
Yes, I love to eat indigenous food that are fried eggs, fried pork, traditional sausages and
pickles.
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