Some differences between oriental and western culture in behavior

- Bringing out the fundamental features of cultural differences between the Oriental culture and Western culture.. - Laying out some cultural differences between Oriental culture and Wes

PART A: INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale

Every individual member of any given society is bound to a certain cultural identity Individuals who belong to a certain cultural identity will embrace common characteristics such as languages, practices, customs, values and views In fact, cultural identity has significant influences towards individuals’ behavior either within the same group as well as behavior between those from different groups Therefore, individuals’ cultural identity will influence the social interactions that occur among them in which will

be reflected through their social behavior Thus, cultural identity may influence one behavior in both ways; positively and negatively Therefore, people who grasp strongly to their cultural identity may capitalize and optimize their strong values or practices while interacting within the society Equally, strongly embracing to a certain cultural identity may also draw upon some barriers in social interactions such as issues of intolerance in blending their culture with others

The most effective communication skills are the same in an intercultural setting as those we use to communicate within our own culture: listen without judging, repeat what you understand, confirm meanings, give suggestions and acknowledge a mutual understanding However, when we are communicating with a different culture, we need to add to these basic skills We need to build some understanding of how, even with the best intentions, our misperceptions can cause confusion and create misunderstanding In patient-doctor interactions, the stakes are high Confusion over which bus takes you downtown is one thing, but misunderstanding that leads to misdiagnosis is quite another

At first glance, it might make sense to learn the beliefs, customs, and

taboos of each “foreign” culture we interact with regularly But memorizing

lists of dos and don’ts is both impractical and ineffective because every situation is different It is the context of an intercultural interaction that is key

By way of example, you might be told that in Japan it is customary to bow when you are greeting someone True, but you need to understand the status relationships of the people involved to know how to bow If you don’t bow appropriately, you will surely offend someone more severely than if you don’t bow at all because a Japanese person doesn’t expect a foreigner to understand their custom In fact, many Japanese will say they prefer that foreigners not bow unless they really understand what the gesture means and the context of the interaction Obviously, it would be peculiar to bow to a Japanese patient during an office visit here It would be totally out of context

Today, visiting foreign countries to study, to travel, to entertain, or to experience new things or meet new people is popular to a lot of people It is obvious that whether living in another country, people will face to a plenty of problems due to differences in language, lifestyle, customs, behavior; therefore, it is necessary for them to adapt to new people, new environment and to change, of course Many misunderstandings may come about if they are not willing to deal with these problems

The main reason is probably culture It is the immediate cause of culture shock, cross-cultural conflict, cultural misunderstanding Culture is not bound

in language, clothes, food or customs because it refers to all fields in the life,

in both physical and mental aspects In fact, there are variety of disparities between cultures of other countries as each nation has its own identities As a result, it is important that we learn about customs, features and lifestyles of different cultures Each culture think, feel, act and behave in its own way Therefore, there is no standard to classify which culture is superior or inferior

to the others

European Americans are more likely than Asian-Americans to judge an individual's personality based on behaviors, such as presuming someone who, say, won't touch a door handle is neurotic, a new study suggests

The key is culture, according to the researchers European American culture emphasizes individual independence; meanwhile, Asian culture is more interdependent and more sensitive to social contexts This difference means European Americans are inclined to account for someone's behavior by making assumptions about their personality, while Asians are not (at least not without some context), according to the researchers

"Culture can be very important in shaping some fundamental aspects of

the human mind" says study researcher Shinobu Kitayama, a professor of

psychology at the University of Michigan "This study is one example of a

demonstration that culture can influence what appears to be a very deep part the human mind, something that happens automatically and continuously." Exploring the differences among cultural groups and societies can previse cultural relativism This does not indicate normality for a man of for a society Cultural acknowledgement can be built by discussing and exploring different cultures This helps improve awareness of communication as well as partnership in trading and business In the study, the author selects to analysis

“Some differences between Oriental and Western Culture in Behavior”

2 Aims of the study:

- Studying the relationship between culture and behavior in daily communication

- Helping people understand more deeply about the importance of culture and behavior in daily life

- Bringing out the fundamental features of cultural differences between the Oriental culture and Western culture

- Analyzing some common misunderstandings caused by cultural differences in communication

3 Scope of the study:

Culture and its importance in behavior, daily life as well as communication are very wide fields and it takes a lot of time to study The paper mainly focuses in some following aspects:

- The definition of culture and behavior as well as the relationship between them

- Laying out some cultural differences between Oriental culture and Western culture in some cases of behavior

- Analyzing some misunderstandings caused by cultural differences in the communication process

- Making some suggestions to manage and overcome the conflict caused

by cultural differences

4 Method of the study:

This graduation paper is an attempt to evaluate the cultural differences between the Oriental culture and Western culture as well as some understandings caused by culture in behavior in daily communication

All aspects of this study were obtained by:

- Collecting all the information and data from the various sources relating to the aims of the study

- Interpreting and synthesizing all the collected information and data logically

- Comparing and contrasting the two cultures representing the Western and Oriental culture

5 Design of the study:

To gain the above aims and logical systematic paper, the graduation paper is divided into three parts

Part A is the introduction consisting the background and the overview

of the study

Part B is the development

Chapter 1 is the literature review mentioning the definition of culture and behavior; the relationship between culture and behavior; the role of culture in forming behavior

Chapter 2 studies the framework of cultural differences between Oriental and Western

Chapter 3 is some different cultural behavior caused by misunderstanding between Oriental and Western, including an overview on misunderstanding and culture shock in cross-cultural communication

Part C is the conclusion

PART B: DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 1: Literature review

This chapter deals with the definition of culture and behavior; the relationship between culture and behavior; the role of culture in forming behavior

1.1 Definition of culture and behavior

1.1.1 Definition of culture

The term “culture” has been concerned with for a long time and

attracted much interest from many scientists to do thorough research Each scientist has his own definition about culture and they still argue about how culture should be defined In general, culture refers to human activity

Different definitions of culture reflect different theories for understanding, or criteria for valuing human activity Culture is traditionally the oldest human character It significantly traces separate man from the animals

Taylor (1871) and Scollon (1995) share the idea that culture is the customs, worldview, language, kinship system, social organization and it includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, customs, and many other capabilities and habits acquired by members of society

Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn (1952) compile a list of a more than 200 different definitions of culture in their book Different definitions, either simple or complex, have been provided for consideration

Jandt (1995) defines culture as all the experience that guide its individual members through life, such things as languages and gesture, personal appearance and social relationship; religion, philosophy and value; courtship, marriage and family customs; food and creation; work and

government; education and communication systems; health, transportation and government systems; and economic systems

Goethe (1997, 69) confirms that: “Culture is the actions and results of

humans in society, the way people make to the world they find” He also thinks that culture is what ordinary people do everyday, the way people behave, speak, relate and make all things exist in the life

However, culture, according to Professor Tran (1998, 17), is “the

spiritual product of people creativity and it was born with the appearance of human beings on Earth”

In contrast, Nguyen (2002) has another definition He claims that culture as a share background (eg national, ethnic, religious) resulting from a common language and communication style, customs, beliefs, attitudes and values His views have some similarities with Taylor (1871) and Scollons (1995)

To sum up, there are some typical definitions of culture It takes much time and effort to understand clearly about culture Up to this time, humankind has not still succeeded in finding a united definition of culture However, all the definitions of culture and logical and applied under the view

of each scientific branch

1.1.2 Definition of behavior:

Behavior is one the issues, which have attracted many people Each person has different views of behavior Behavior shows character, soul, religious, family, and even ethnic

First, Greetz (1973) says that behavior means manner of acting or controlling yourself Behavior is also defined as the action or reaction of something (as a machine or substance) under specified circumstances, the behavior of some particles can be studied in experiments In the terms of behavioral attributes, on the other hand, behavior is the way a person behaves

towards other people He also thinks that behavior is the aggregate of the responses or reactions or movements made by an organism in any situation

Wikipedia (2007) defines that: “Behavior refers to the actions or

reactions of an object or organism, usually in relation to the environment Behavior can be conscious or unconscious, overt or covert, and voluntary or involuntary Generally, organism with complex nervous systems have a greater capacity to learn new responses and thus adjust behavior” Human behavior by means of social control In sociology, behavior is considered having no meaning, being not directed by other people and thus is the mast basic human action

Lastly, there are some behavior quotations by some authors

“If language did not affect behavior, it could have no meaning.”

(Kenneth L.Pike, 1998,45)

“If you want to change attitudes, start with a change in behavior.”

(William Glasser, 2002,32)

“Behavior is the mirror in which every shows their image.”

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 2005,6)

In conclusion, it is very difficult to understand and define the term

“behavior” properly However, the above definitions will help us understand

the notion of behavior clearly

1.2 The relationship between culture and behavior:

Everything in the world has mutual dependence relationship and mutual supplement to exist together The relationship between culture and behavior is not out of this natural law The culture and behavior have a close relationship Culture has been addressed as an influential factor of human behavior

Chatman (2000, 94) finds that “cultural and social norms do affect ways in

which people choose to respond, are passive, or ignore behaviors”

Culture shares the meaning of people’s behavior and rules determine who is to be considered an information agent The way we handle, exchange

and use information is determined to a large extent by the culture Through living and working, people discover, shape or create information during the process of interacting with the environment or other people

Culture as a situation not only stimulates people’s information need, but also influences people’s way of seeking and using information Also, people filter information through the various components of culture

Since the society exists before the birth of each individual, the social norms and tradition normalize people’s behavior imperceptibly and form a society called a symbolic universe The symbolic universe gives people a direction and lets individual judge whether or not their behavior is legal The symbolic universe is a reference to people’s actions and provides the chance for people to share with others Each individual accepts and follows the standard of the symbolic universes and identifies himself as a belonging to one symbolic universe From the object and habitual traditions, people extract and absorb rules, which are part of their personal norms

In general, cultural and social norms rule over our behavior In fact, culture and behavior always go together If we practice the relationship properly, it is easier to create good relationships and avoid mistakes in communication

1.3 The role of culture in forming behavior

As the matter of fact, each country has its own traditional culture This traditional culture includes the concepts of human values, thinking modalities, moral standards, regions and beliefs, social rites, etc All of above factors have a contribution to create the differences between countries

As mentioned before, the culture and behavior have a close relationship Correspondingly, culture has an important part in forming behavior

According to Tracy Bowens (2000), a person’s behavior is often rooted

in his values and beliefs Therefore, to understand why people do they do It is important to understand their values and beliefs

This may seem obvious to you now, but have you ever thought about the times people in your own country have done things that made no sense to you, but seemed perfectly normal to them? These people are probably operating under a different value or belief system In their world, it is normal,

in yours, is not The same is true when you travel abroad Consider the following example:

One morning Sue, who teaches English in West Africa, was told that the father of one of her students has died The next day, one of her classes asked to be excused because of the death of the student’s father These students were not even in the student’s actual class, but this seemed to be the norm The next day, Sue was asked is she saw the funeral procession which included a large number of students wearing uniforms from her school Sue thought this was interesting and noted it in her journal because when her father died while she was in high school, her best friend was the only classmate attending his funeral

It is clear that this story makes us partly understand the role of culture

in forming behavior and you do not surprise if this thing is not ok for you but

it is ok for others Simply, they are behavioral differences

Apart from culture, there are some factors affecting human behavior such as: family, society, friends, etc However, culture is also an important factor in forming behavior

1.4 The importance of culture in daily communication

Culture is indeed an evasive and complex concept It is evasive because

we are surrounded by culture and we live deep in it, in a practical sense, culture is the air and water breath and drink day in and day out Since humans

are fundamentally social beings, individuals cannot live without the culture of their own

Traindis (1984) and Albert (1986) point out that Success and failure in interacting with others in a culture is then attributable to the types of programs contained in a person’s brain This comparison suggests that human cultures have both tangible and intangible contents Tangible ones are the hardware of a culture including buildings, gardens, roads, tools and so on Intangible, on the other hand, are the software of a culture including norms, roles, beliefs, values and so forth that we have in our culture Additionally, Glen Fisher (1999), for instance, once employs an analogy of an electronic

computer states that culture is comparable to the “programming”, a person is

then able to function appropriately and effectively in a given cultural context Often, it is less difficult for us to notice the obvious differences and similarities of the tangibles in various culture, whereas the differences and similarities of culture intangible are not as easy to discern

Scholars interested in culture and communication often tend to define

culture as a system While some believe culture is a system of “abstract,

man-made patterns ”, others hold it as “historically shared system of resource

through which we make our world meaningful” Still others argue that culture

is a negotiated set of shared symbolic systems that guide individual’s behaviors and incline them to function as a group Whether human culture is a shared system or negotiated set of shared system, in essence, its serves as a context in which we communicate Culture tells us who we are, what positions we hold in our society, with whom and in what language we communicate In this particular sense, individuals in a society are in fact cultural persons; each was born into a culture and grows up to become a cultural being

Thayer (1987, 39) calls generating process our “communication

realities ” that involved “those ideas, beliefs, preferences, qualities, evils, and

ideas which exist for us essentially because they can be and are talked about” For a human society, communication behaviors stand for social consciousness reflected in the verbal and non-verbal interactions among members

George Borden (1991), on the other hand, proposes that we understand

human communication as a system for “the sharing of information through

meaningful symbols” These meaningful symbols, of course, include both verbal and non-verbal codes utilized by a large group of people

Therefore, culture is not innate; rather, it is learned Each of us acquires our culture while growing up, and the primary means by which we are encultured is through communication By communicating with those around

us, we learn our languages, develop our worldviews, establish our values, and subscribe to different beliefs We also pass on to others our languages, worldviews, values, and beliefs In fact, communication is the sole progress

by which humans acquire and transmit their individual cultures

Thus, it is quite clear that this meaning-creating process enable us, as members of a large group in a social environment, to understand, revitalize, and regenerate our cultures The process of communicating with others, in this sense, requires the employment of culturally appropriate and effective knowledge and behaviors to accomplish our purposes in life It is important; however, to understand that, in order to be effective in realizing our intentions; our utilization of cultural knowledge and behavior is regulated by rules that are agreed upon by members in the same cultural community

1.5 Summary

This chapter has presented all the definitions of culture, behavior, relationships between culture and behavior as well as the role of culture and the importance of it All these are stated carefully and logically This chapter’s main purpose is to help readers basically understand the concepts of culture, behavior, the relationship between them, as well as the culture’s importance

Chapter 2: Differences between Oriental and Western culture

This chapter points out some differences between Oriental and Western culture and some differences between English and Vietnamese culture

2.1 The Oriental culture

The Oriental culture is the agriculture-rooted one It is a complex of the wet-rice culture with three main components: mountainous, delta and coastal culture, in which the delta culture plays the most important part although it appears lately The Oriental culture stems from many factors Each factor has

a contribution to make a complete culture First of all, in about fifth century

BC, ancient people changed tree plating into rice plating Secondly, people plant wet rice or upland rice because of the residential area The cattle, especially tamed buffaloes, are used in traction Mental, mainly iron and copper, are used to manufacture tools, weapons, or ritual tools The inhabitants are skilled in seafaring The decisive role in every activity is the women They are a miniature social community

About inhabitants’ spirit life, people still worship Genies such as the Gods of Each, Water and Rice Apart from that, Gods of Sun, Trees, Stones, Tigers, etc., are also worshipped The ancestors are reverent care of as well It should be paid attention to the concepts of the world’s dichotomy ands dimorphism, concurrently the use of the monosyllabic language capable of springing a variety of prefixation, suffixation and infixation

2.2 The Western culture

The Western culture is a nomadic one, inclining to actions Because of its inclining to actions, the Western culture has changed quickly If most of the Oriental countries are basically agriculture-geared, the Western countries moved to industry a long time ago The change from nomads into industrial life comes through commercial stage At first, the people lived in nomadic way However, while wandering from this place to another, they realized the differences in price Thus, they changed into another model combining the

nomads with commerce When goods were profuse and the people saw the trade was more beneficial than breeding, the nomaders gave up breeding, then moved to commerce In order to exchange goods and to have warehouse to store goods, the people had to live in fixed residence As a result, markets were established and developed into cities With a view to meeting the demands of cities and having goods to exchange, along with the development

of science – the product of the analysis thought, an industrial society was established

The inhabitants’ spirits life respectively the Deities are respected The image of Deities closely attached to the cattle They all ride horses and play with the cattle The standard of an aristocratic woman is to know how to ride horse

From the above traits, it is clear that Oriental culture and Western culture have some different features These different features will be mentioned in 2.3 following:

2.3 The cultural differences between England and Vietnam

Each ethnic group or a nation has its own cultural features These cultural features are specific characteristics of that nation Whenever people talk about that country, they will remember its cultural features Thus, Oriental nations have traits different from Western ones There are many differences but in this part, we will four models of cultural differences

Firstly, if Oriental nations are collectivism, then a cultural characteristic

of Western nations is individualism (the word is used here in an anthropological, not a political sense) Collectivist cultures assume that any person through birth and possible later events belongs to one or more tight “in – group”, from which he cannot detach him The “in – group” (whether extended family, clan, or organization) protects the interest of its members, but in turn expects their permanent loyalty On the other hand, individualist cultures assume that any person looks primarily after his own interest and the

interest of his family (husband, wife and children) A collectivist society is tightly integrated whereas an individualist society is loosely integrated

Another feature making Oriental culture be different from Western culture is power distance Power distance as a characteristic of a culture defines the extent to which the less powerful persons in a society accept inequality in power and consider it normal Inequality exists within any culture, but the degree of it that is tolerated varies between one culture and another

Uncertainty avoidance is also one of the differences between Oriental culture and Western culture It is a characteristic of a culture defining the extent to which people within a culture are made nervous by situations, which they perceive as unstructured, unclear, or unpredictable, situations which they therefore try to avoid by maintaining strict codes of behavior and belief in absolute truths Culture with a strong uncertainly avoidance and active, agressive, emotional, compulsive, security-seeking and intolerant And Western nations belong to this culture form Unlike Western culture, Eastern culture is the culture with a weak uncertainty avoidance which are contemplative, less aggressive, unemotional, relaxed, accepting personal risks, and relatively tolerant

The last difference is the role of sex in society: Masculinity and Femininity Oriental culture belongs to Masculinity and Femininity is Western culture’s feature The two differ in the social roles associated with the biological fact of the existence of two sexes and in particular in the social roles attributed to men The data shows that the values associated with this dimension vary considerably less across countries for women than men The fact is that the social roles of women vary less, as women in all societies are the ones who give birth to children and take care of them when they are small The men’s social role allows for more variation cross-countries than the women’s role and this is what the data on their values confirm The culture

strive for maximal distinction between men are expect men to be assertive, ambitious and competitive, to strive for material quality of life, for children and for the weak Feminine cultures, on the other hand, define relatively overlapping social roles for the sexes, in which, in particular, men need not be ambitious or competitive but may be go for a different quality of life than material success; men may respect whatever is small, weak and slow In both masculine and feminine cultures, the dominant values within political and work organizations are those of men So, in masculine cultures, these political values tress material success and assertiveness; in feminine culture, they tress other types of quality of life, interpersonal relationships, and concern for the weak

2.4 Causes of differences between Oriental culture and Western culture

Culture is an abstract concept It is difficult for everyone to clearly and

deeply understand “culture” Moreover, each country has its own cultural

features This makes us have many troubles in searching cultural differences However, in general, culture is the product of human being and nature The underlying cause of every difference in culture in culture is due to the differences in natural conditions (geography and climate), social ones (history and economy) and religious

Firstly, the environment, in which the Eastern communities lived, was very hot Therefore, it rained very much, and many big rivers with fertile delta areas were created As the result, an agriculture-originated culture was formed In contrast, the West was a cold region with dry climate in accordance with planting trees There were only boundless meadows, and the people lived on breeding They must live a nomadic life, and travel from this place to another day by day From this, a nomadic-rooted culture was formed

The agricultural culture thought of constructing a long term, fixed and not disordered life whereas the nomadic culture thought of how to travel neatly, quickly and conveniently For natural environment, two opposite

attitudes are formed If the Oriental people live on nature, then the Western look down on nature and if they realize that living in that place is not convenient, they will leave for other places easily Therefore, Western people are always thirsty for conquering and controlling nature

Every attitude has both advantages and disadvantages Respecting nature, the people can preserve natural surrounding, but they become cowards, shy and even venerate On the other hand, looking down on nature, the people courageously fact to face the nature; the science development is encouraged, but the environment will be destroyed

The two kinds of culture create two opposite thoughts Because of tree planting, especially rice planting, Eastern people depend much on nature Any natural phenomenon affects their lives Therefore, they have a synthetic thought The thing the Oriental people take care of is not the collection of every individual, but the relation between them In contrast, the Western people concentrate on the cattle, animals It is analysis thought Analysis and metaphysics are the characteristics of the Western culture thought As a result, Western people have gained many achievements in science and technology Secondly, as for community organization, the agricultural people set up the community in principle of thinking highly of emotional ties The people live in harmony with each other They consider the emotional ties are the most important Respecting the emotional ties leads up to respecting virtue, knowledge and women It is also the basic of peace-leaving, psychology, respecting and behaving equally

In the Western, the nomadic life of the ancestors acquires high organization and discipline The people respect the right, which create envy and fondness of surpassing others The power is absolutely in the hands of the rulers

Lastly, religious is an important factor in forming features of culture

As you know, there are many religious forms in Oriental countries such as

Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and so on, a belief in the inevitability of suffering caused by desire According to Buddhist doctrine, breaking the cycle of suffering can only be achieved by renouncing the objects of desire From a Western perspective, renouncement lends itself to an unequal relationship because Confucianism is main religious of most people They believe in only God who creates them and creatures in the world As a result, effort, conquest and gain are symbolic of religious in Western countries whereas Oriental religious’ symbols are salvation, imposition and obedience Those differences also affect much on the thinking, observation, communication and behavior of each person in different areas

In conclusion, culture is the system of intellectual and material values created by humankind It plays an important role in human being’s life No matter how modern the country is, it is still affected by at least three above factors

2.5 Summary

To sum up, this chapter has mentioned all differences of Oriental culture and Western culture From the above analysis, all features of two cultures were presented clearly and logically The Oriental culture and the Western culture have many differences and each culture has its own specific features Those specific features make Oriental culture and Western culture be different clearly

Chapter 3: Some misunderstandings caused by differences between Oriental and Western culture

This chapter is to point some different behavior caused by misunderstandings between Oriental and Western culture, including an overview on misunderstanding and culture shock in cross-cultural communication

3.1 What is misunderstanding?

A misunderstanding, which may be indicated by disturbances in the flow of the conversational course, by signs of incoherence, by detours or recyclings (repetitions, paraphrases, circumlocations, ‘talking down’- effects),

by unresponded repair initations, by suddenly or gradually developing traces

of verbal, nonverbal, or paralinguistic insecurity, or, simply by the indication

or registration of what Erickson and Shultz (1982) have called

“uncomfortable moments”, until one interlocutor becomes aware that some

kind of misunderstanding has occurred What may follow is the further treatment as described in misunderstanding (including their extensions) But note: the more distant the recognition of a misunderstanding, the more effort

is necessary to repair it and the less likely there will be an easy return to the status quo ante Furthermore, the more distant the recognition, the less probable is the exact localization and identification of the site of misunderstanding, particularly when the misunderstanding has built up over a whole stretch of turn-by-turn development

Misunderstanding is a central working category in Intercultural Communication studies Misunderstandings have gained the role of a raison-d’être for studying Intercultural Communication, in particular under the premise that the communication is question is between cultural others, thus transforming misunderstanding into intercultural misunderstanding In other studies, conflicts, uncomfortable moments, miscontextualization in terms of socio-cultural knowledge become indicative for Intercultual Commnication

Thus, making misunderstanding criteria for Intercultual Commnication Both positions are somehow biased and leave misunderstanding mystically under defined In order to escape such uncritical all-round function of misunderstanding, all misunderstandings should be of a comparable kind – under all premises

Misunderstanding, the American Heritage Dictionary of English

Language (2000, 31), defines it as: “an understanding of something that is not

correct or putting the wrong interpretation on something”

Overall, misunderstanding in communication is a common phenomenon in interaction process and of course I think that nobody can avoid the problem

3.2 Culture shock in cross-cultural communication

Most of the practical issues of living abroad, such as visas, health insurance and housing have already been covered Once you arrive in your destination country; however, the single biggest issue will face will be somewhat intangible: culture Culture is a set of shared, accepted behavior patterns, values, assumptions and common experiences It defines the social structure, the expectation and the norms of communication for the society

Reactions to new situations have been called culture shock Fictional as well as first person accounts have been written depicting the bewildering experiences of being foreign lands It is Oberg (1959), who first coined the

term “culture shock”, in connection of anthropologists who must learn to

manage the violation represents a challenge to their social reality implicit in alien social norms, values, and mores This violation represents a challenge to

their primary socialization Lundstedl (1963, 8) describes culture shock as “a

form of personality maladjustment, a reaction to a temporary unsuccessful attempt to adjust new surroundings and people”

In an overview of various studies of culture shock, Taft (1977) has

identified a number of common reactions, including “culture fatigue”,

manifested by irritability, insomnia, and other psychosomatic disorders; a sense of loss arising from being uprooted of a new culture; and a feeling of impotence from being unable to deal competently with the new culture unfamiliarity Others describe the reactions of people to stressful situations under more severe conditions, such as those of concentration camp inmates, hostages captured by political terrorists, and returned prisoners of war In

each case, the features associated with teh change are the “shock” effects

involving heightened emotions and intense suffering

Recently, culture shock is a part of the general transition shock, a

natural consequence of the state of a person’s inability to interact with the new and changed environment in an effective manner The cultural linguists contend that transition shock occurs in various situations, such as divorce, relocation, death of a loved one, and change of values associated with rapid social innovation, as well as the loss of a familiar frame of reference in intercultural encounters Further, the concepts culture shock and transition shock have been extended to include re-entry shock, or the emotional and physiological difficulties an individual may experience on returning home

from overseas According to “the new Lexicon Webster’s Dictionary of the

disorientation caused by a major change in milieu experienced by new inhabitants

At the heart of the “shock” phenomena is the lack of fitness between

strangers’ subjective experiences and the commonly accepted models of experience in the unfamiliar surroundings Everyone requires the ongoing validation of his or her experiences, and being unable to meet this basic human need can lead to symptoms of mental, emotional, and physical disturbance The shifting of the self-world relationship brings about heightened levels of inner conflict through an increased awareness of the split between internal, subjective experiences and external, objective

circumstances In this sense, the experiences of culture shock and related

phenomena are basically a form a so-called “self-shock”, a form of existential

dilemma in response to the painful discrepancy between what is and what should be

In conclusion, any person, including an anthropologist, who goes to live another that is culturally very different, is likely initially to develop culture shock This is a feeling of confusion, distress, and sometimes depression that can result from the psychological stress that commonly occurs during the first weeks or months Until the new culture becomes familiar and comfortable, it is common to have difficulty in communication and to make frustrating mistakes in interactions with people on the host society This is usually compounded by feelings of homesickness These feelings can be emotional However, culture shock eventually passes and productive fieldwork can begin

3.3 Some misunderstandings caused by different behaviors between Oriental and Western culture

Language is the most important vehicle to carry culture Any language

is pregnant with a culture, which has been accumulated for a long time The different cultures, on the contrary, rule over the development of the languages

of different nations Together with languages, behaviors of people are also considered as the history of cultural development

On the whole, the Vietnamese culture and English culture have many differences about behavior The Vietnamese culture belongs to Oriental one while the English culture pertains to the Western one

3.3.1 Students’ behavior at English class conducted by foreign teachers

Each nation has its culture and cultural differences between nations might affect students’ behaviors Students’ behavior to teacher as well as method of studying and reaction to teaching style are different In this part,

we can see clearly the behavioral differences between Vietnamese and

English culture in which there are three headings: students’ behavior to learning style, students’ behavior to lectures, students’ behavior to tutorials and students’ behavior to teacher

3.3.1.1 Students’ behavior to learning style

In comparing different cultures of learning, Nelson (1995,24) gives an

excellent summary of the first Confucian value cooperation: “Within the

Confucian tradition, students learn through cooperation, by working for the common good, by supporting each other and by not elevating themselves above others”

The Vietnamese culture has been influenced by different cultures throughout the history, but it must be said that the Chinese domination for more than 1,000 years in Vietnamese has had the strongest cultural influence over Vietnam Therefore, the learning styles of Vietnamese learners are similar to those Chinese learners, which based on three key Confucian values:

cooperation, the concept of “face” and self-effacement

Ballard and Clanchy (1997,4) argue that “different cultural traditions

do embody different attitudes to knowledge” and go on to emphasize the importance of awareness to those cultural differences They state that in Vietnamese culture, the “conserving” attitude to knowledge is emphasized even tertiary level This is true in the Vietnamese education system The second value, the concept of “face” – is related to the value of cooperation: in the interdependent relationship due respect is expected to be shown for age, seniority and rank, and priority must be maintained The third value, self-effacement, also stems from the Confucian principle of propriety

These cultural values, particularly the first two values, are useful on explaining the preferred learning styles of Vietnamese students Most of Vietnamese students like studying in the whole class under the guidance of the teacher or working in a small group Cooperation is valued among Vietnamese students and can be seen not only inside the classroom but also