In this study, we investigated whether intercultural communication can be learned as effectively through desktop-based social virtual reality (social VR) as it can through online study, and if social VR improves the motivation to gain cultural intelligence in distance learning. Two groups of international students attended a seminar called "Intercultural Communication"--one online via social VR rooms and videoconferencing, and one via videoconferencing only. The students then completed an online questionnaire and qualitative interviews regarding their experiences of learning intercultural encounters and development of intercultural communication skills through social VR. Based on our findings, social VR is an engaging complement to online study for learning intercultural communication competence. However, students claimed that it could not replace online or face-to-face study, and the quality of students' experiences depended on their technical equipment. The rapid development of virtual teaching methods, virtual reality hardware, and international Internet connectivity offers the hope that learning intercultural communication via social VR will become easier in the future.