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A Marriage of Cultures (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin Lowther.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm Megan Nolad. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: Many people warned me about marrying someone from another culture.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: They told me it can be very difficult. It is
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  Speaker 3: true that there are some extra problems that we have
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: had to think about, but in many ways we are
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: more prepared for this than other people who have married
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: someone from their own culture. This is because we expect
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: to have differences. Then when problems come up, we know
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: how to deal with them.
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: Said Ruth Miko. Ruth Miko is British but now lives
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: in Albania. Her husband, Marquis, is Albanian. They have been
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: married for almost three years. Their marriage has brought the
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: British and Albanian cultures together into cultural Marriages like this
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: are common all over the world. However, many people still
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: think they are unusual. In the past, some countries even
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: had laws to stop people marrying someone from a different
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: culture or race. Today's Spotlight looks at some different opinions
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: about inter cultural marriages.
• 1:55
  Speaker 2: For some people, the idea of marriages between different cultures
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  Speaker 2: or races is a difficult subject, but intercultural marriages are
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: becoming more common. As people move around the world, they
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: meet people from many other cultures and countries. Some people
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: think this has helped mixed marriages become more accepted, but
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  Speaker 2: other people think it has made what they see as
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: a problem even bigger.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: Some countries have a history of keeping different ethnic groups separate.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: These countries had laws to stop people of one race
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: marrying someone from another. For example, this was true in
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: South Africa from nineteen forty nine to nineteen eighty five.
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  Speaker 1: During this time, it was against the law for white
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  Speaker 1: and black people to marry each other. Interracial marriages like
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: this were also banned in the United States, but the
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: United las States finally changed this law in the nineteen sixties.
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Even in countries with no laws against mixed marriages, many
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: people still thought that they were wrong. This can be
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: seen in the story of a man called Serretzi Karma.
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: The year was nineteen forty eight. Serretzi Karma had just
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: been married, but not everyone was happy to hear about it.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Sirretzi Karma met his wife, Ruth Williams, in London as
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  Speaker 2: a young man. He had moved to the United Kingdom
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: to study. Saetzi and Ruth got married after getting to
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: know each other for one year, but this angered people
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: back in Saretzi's own country.
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  Speaker 1: Siretzi was a leader in a country that is now
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  Speaker 1: but Swana. He had been a leader since he was
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: four years old, but his father's brother, his uncle, ruled
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: the country. This was because Serretzi was very young when
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: he became a leader. However, his uncle was not happy
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: that he had married a white woman. The government in
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: South Africa was also not happy. This was when South
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Africa did not let black and white people marry each other.
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: They did not want a man in a mixed marriage
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: ruling a country that bordered them.
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: The South African government used its influence with the British
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  Speaker 2: against Sorretzi. The British government stopped Sorretzi from going back
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  Speaker 2: to his own country. He and Ruth were permitted to
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  Speaker 2: return only after Sarretzi gave away his right to lead
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  Speaker 2: his country.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Happily, the story did not end there. About ten years later,
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: Britain ended its control of Botswana. Sir Etzi stood for
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: election to be the new leader. He won and in
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  Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six, Siretzi became Botswana's first president. Si Etzi
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: Karma was once again the leader of his country. With
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: the help of his wife, he ruled Botswana until his
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: death in nineteen eighty. Many people now remember him as
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: a great leader who did much for his country.
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: In other parts of the world, marriages between different races
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: are normal. People in Brazil, for exact, have been marrying
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: people from different racial groups for many years. Hundreds of
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  Speaker 2: years ago, there were three main ethnic groups, Black Africans
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  Speaker 2: who were brought to the country as slaves, White Europeans
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: moved to the country to settle, and Native South Americans
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: who had lived in the country for thousands of years. Today,
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: most Brazilians have a mix of these ethnic groups in
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  Speaker 2: their family history.
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  Speaker 1: Some people think this mixing of different ethnic groups is
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  Speaker 1: a success for Brazil. Some say the mixture of races
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  Speaker 1: is what makes Brazil special. The country is not perfect
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  Speaker 1: for its equality between different racial groups, but marriages between
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  Speaker 1: different ethnic groups are still more common than in many
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  Speaker 1: other countries.
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  Speaker 2: Marriages can involve differences in home countries, culture, color of skin,
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  Speaker 2: or religion. Today, there are many different attitudes towards marrying
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  Speaker 2: someone from another race or culture.
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: Ruth Miko, whom we heard from at the beginning of
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  Speaker 1: the episode, is now expecting her first child. This child
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  Speaker 1: will experience both its parents' cultures. Ruth and her husband
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: Marquis will also teach their child both the English and
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: Albanian languages. They hope that this will help the child
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  Speaker 1: find its own special value in this mixing of cultures.
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  Speaker 3: Ruth said, for us both, it is important that our
• 7:53
  Speaker 3: child values its cultural history. Its spiritual life will also
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  Speaker 3: be important to us. This is something that as a
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  Speaker 3: family we will share together. My husband grew up in
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: an anti religious country. I grew up in a Christian country. However,
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: we have both decided to follow Jesus. We hope and
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  Speaker 3: pray that our children will also decide this for their lives.
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  Speaker 3: As the child grows, it will choose its own culture.
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  Speaker 3: This could be more of one culture than the other,
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  Speaker 3: or it could be a special mix. We will accept
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  Speaker 3: what they choose.
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  Speaker 2: How many couples do you know who have an intercultural marriage?
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  Speaker 2: Would your parents approve of it if you married someone
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  Speaker 2: from a different culture or a different reapon. What are
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: the challenges for intercultural marriages or relationships? How can couples
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: work through such differences. You can leave a comment on
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com. You
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: x You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly to
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: English app.
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: The writer of this episode was from the Spotlight team.
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  Speaker 1: The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices you heard were
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: were adapted for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: AI or artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: episodes are written, voiced, and produced by real people for
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: real people, no matter where in the world they live.
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  Speaker 1: This episode is called a Marriage of Cultures.
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  Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 10:21
  Speaker 2: Spotlight episode. Goodbye.