One of the factors most influential
in a student’s stay in a foreign country is their awareness
of and ability to adapt to the inevitable process of culture
shock that occurs. Culture Shock is the syndrome affecting anyone
who comes to a new country for a significant time, and it involves
symptoms as simple as feeling homesick and worn-out. In its
more serious aspects, culture shock will affect the way you
perceive your host family, the local population, and every aspect
of your stay. The more you can prepare yourself the more you
will understand why you react as you do in many situations,
and the more you understand the easier it will be to cope in
a positive way, and the sooner you will adjust to life in this
new culture.
This excerpt from a U.S. Government training guide explains
why and how culture shock occurs, and what it entails.
In an effort to get over culture shock we think there is some
value in knowing about the nature of culture and its relationship
to the individual. In addition to living in a physical environment,
every individual lives in a cultural environment consisting
of man-made physical objects, social institutions, and has the
capacity to learn and use it.
Culture shock is brought on by the anxiety that results from
losing all our familiar signs and symbols. These signs or cues
include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves
to the situation of daily life, when to shake hands and what
to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to
give orders in a restaurant, when to take statements seriously
and when not. These cues may be words, gestures, facial expressions
– all customs or norms which we acquire in the course
of growing up, and are as much a part of our culture as the
languages we speak or the beliefs we accept. Psychologists now
believe that more than fifty percent of all communication is
non-verbal. All of us depend for peace of mind and our efficiency
on these cues, most of which we are not consciously aware.
When an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of
these familiar cues are removed. No matter how intelligent,
broad-minded, or full of goodwill he or she may be, a series
of props have been knocked out from under him or her. This is
followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety. All people
react to this frustration in much the same way but in varying
degrees.
First, they reject the environment which causes the discomfort!
The ways of the host country are bad because they make us feel
badly! Another phase is regression. The home environment suddenly
assumes a tremendous importance. To a U.S. citizen, everything
from the U.S.A. becomes irrationally glorified. All the difficulties
and problems are forgotten, and only the good things back home
are remembered.
Some symptoms of culture shock are: excessive concern over cleanliness
and the feeling that what is new and strange is ‘dirty’;
a feeling of helplessness and a desire for one’s own nationality;
irritation over delays and other minor frustrations, out of
proportion to their causes; delays and outright refusal to learn
the language; excessive fear of being cheated, robbed or injured;
great concern over minor pains; and finally that terrible longing
to be back home in familiar surroundings, to talk to people
who really make sense, and to be able to use ‘real’
money!
Individuals differ greatly in the degree to which culture affects
them. Although not common, there are some individuals who cannot
live in foreign countries. Those who have observed people go
through a serious case of culture shock and on to satisfactory
adjustment, have discerned the following steps in the process.
Honeymoon phase: During the first days and weeks most individuals
are fascinated by the new. But the ‘tourist’ mentality
does not normally last and the foreign visitor has to seriously
cope with the conditions of real life.
Hostile Phase: It is then that the second stage begins, characterized
by a hostile and aggressive attitude towards the host country.
This hostility evidently grows out of the genuine difficulty
which the visitor experiences in the process of adjustment.
There is mail trouble, school trouble, language trouble, housing
trouble, transportation trouble, shopping trouble, and the fact
that people in the host country are largely indifferent to all
these troubles. They help, but they just don’t understand
your great concern over these difficulties. Therefore they must
be insensible and unsympathetic to you and your worries. The
result? ‘I just don’t like them.’ You may
become aggressive, band together and criticize the host country,
its ways and its people. This criticism is not objective, but
derogatory. Instead of trying to account for conditions and
the historical circumstances which have created them, you talk
as if the difficulties you experience are more or less created
by the people of the host country for your special discomfort.
This second state of culture shock is a crisis in the disease.
Grin and Bear It Phase: As the visitor succeeds in getting some
knowledge of the language and begins to get around by him/herself,
the beginning of his or her adjustment to the new cultural environment
is taking place. He or she may still have difficulties but takes
a ‘this is my cross, I will bear it’ attitude. Usually
in this stage the visitor begins to become interested in the
people of the host country. The sense of humour returns and
instead of criticizing, jokes about difficulties. The visitor
is now on the road to recovery!
Effective Adjustment Phase (Last Phase): In the final stage
of the adjustment, the visitor accepts the customs of the country
as just another way of living. He can operate within the new
milieu without feeling anxiety, although there are moments of
strain. Only with a complete grasp of all the cues of social
intercourse will this strain disappear. For a long time the
visitor will understand what the host nation is saying, but
is not always sure what is meant! With a complete adjustment,
he or she accepts the food, drink, habits, and customs, and
actually begins to enjoy them! When the visitor leaves the country
he or she genuinely misses it and the people. |
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