Culture Shock Causes and Effects

Today, society is more and more modern and developed, along with the trend of globalization, people start interacting with new cultures by studying abroad, traveling abroad or even to settle in another country. They went abroad with great ambition and dreamed of a brighter future in which they will enjoy a better education, health care and social welfare as well as excellent living and working environments. However, when they were there, exposed to a new culture, people began to realize that living in new country is not simple and they have to face challenges not only in terms of material but also spiritual. They experienced a variety of emotional “ups and down” lasting from weeks to years and those people can be described by “a fish out of water”

HUE UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

 CROSS-CULTURAL

COMMUNICATION 1

Essay tittle: Culture shock: Causes and Effects

Essay questions: What causes culture shock? Does culture shock affect the

cross-cultural communication?

Student’s name : Hoang Le Phuong Dung Date of birth : July 4th, 1998

HUE, 2019

-CULTURE SHOCK: CAUSES AND EFFECTS

I INTRODUCTION

Today, society is more and more modern and developed, along with the trend of globalization, people start interacting with new cultures by studying abroad, traveling abroad or even to settle in another country They went abroad with great ambition and dreamed of a brighter future in which they will enjoy a better education, health care and social welfare as well as excellent living and working environments However, when they were there, exposed to a new culture, people began to realize that living in new country is not simple and they have to face challenges not only in terms of material but also spiritual

They experienced a variety of emotional “ups and down” lasting from weeks to years and those people can be described by “a fish out of water” This condition is often called

“culture shock” What can the term “culture shock” be defined? “Cultural shock” was first

mentioned by Kalvero Oberg in 1954: “culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that

results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse These signs or cues include the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life.” For example, when a person is abroad, culture shock, which arises from

difficulties in integrating into a new culture, is the cause of the difficulty of realizing what

is appropriate and what is not This situation often goes hand in hand with hatred (for moral

or aesthetic reasons) to certain aspects of that new and different culture After Oberg, Hofstede states that culture shock is a “state of distress following the transfer of a person

to an unfamiliar cultural environment”, which may also be accompanied by physical

symptoms (1969) These two definitions have something in common, that culture shock is considered as an unpleasant reaction when people are faced with a foreign culture In this paper, the causes and effects of culture shock will be discussed, including why it happens; the good and the bad will be also treated briefly

II DISCUSSION

1 What causes culture shock?

a Objective cause: “The difference”

The result of cultural shock seems to be a function of the difference between themselves and foreign culture in many aspects, such as climate, food, language, costumes, behavior, other values, and demographic-related differences, such as age, gender, socio-economic class, education, etc Firstly, climate is a distinctly recognizable factor and can have a good or bad impact on some newcomers Taking a Vietnamese manager coming to Ottawa (Canada) for business in winter as an example, it certainly takes a quite long time for him to adapt to the climate because in this place, the winter is very cold, even sometimes the temperature drops below -37oC Secondly, some newcomers can see that foreign foods are weird, tastes and cooking methods are different It is possible that some people cannot eat strange food, or poorly eating, affecting both health and spirit Thirdly, always listening and speaking in foreign languages makes newcomers stressful They will miss their mother language Even when they are very fluent in the foreign language of their host country, the intonation and the way of speaking of indigenous people also takes them a quite long time to be familiar Moreover, if people are accustomed to hot weather, they may

be uncomfortable when wearing heavy winter clothes, or sometimes, just because they have

a different style of dress from the host country, newcomers may find themselves different and difficult to adapt Not everyone hates how foreigners dress, but newcomers themselves

is easy to feel embarrassed when they dress differently Besides things that can be seen immediately impacted upon them when they set foot on an airport abroad, such as light, sound, smell, taste and so on, every culture has its unwritten principles, like how people

treat each other These things may be hard to spot right away, but soon or late people will have to go through and they will feel lost and disoriented Behaviors in society can make newcomers confused, surprised or offended For example, Vietnamese students studying abroad will feel that foreigners seem cold, aloof or always busy If being in the center of big cities like Paris, Sydney, London, they will feel this more strongly For instance, a Japanese manager will be uncomfortable with some Vietnamese employees when they always have a habit of being late, lack of responsibility and no sense of environmental protection Finally, although newcomers may gradually become accustomed to cultural differences in the physical world they can see such as food, clothing, behavior, but they will realize that people from different cultures have the eyes to see the world is very different from them Culture forms from the set of values, standards, preconception and beliefs Sometimes they will be surprised and disappointed because people do not have the same values as them, because we all assume that our values are the norm Since then, some newcomers can feel tired, confused and difficult to socialize

b Subjective causes

In addition to objective reasons due to differences between cultures that people cannot influence and change, there are some subjective reasons that newcomers themselves has not prepared carefully and had the necessary knowledge to adapt to the new culture These causes can be disabled if they have sufficient capacity and belief Firstly, when newcomers has not learned clearly or investigated the country, people, culture and customs of the place they are going to, they will take a long time to adapt to the new culture and even more

“shocked” Secondly, language, skills and friendliness are necessary for a newcomer when

coming to a new culture It will be difficult for them when they are not fluent in common language or native language because sometimes they cannot express their feelings properly Secondly, there is no preparation of solutions if there are difficulties In any case and every problem, research and preparation of solutions are always essential Knowing what they are missing and the difficulties that may be encountered and preparing solutions to overcome these difficulties will help newcomers avoid or quickly overcome the culture shock and

perform well their work In addition, sometimes the negative thoughts that “I cannot adapt

to this new culture” lead to cultural shock For newcomers, active and positive thinking is

extremely important because only if they have positive thoughts, they can get motivation to overcome cultural barriers Finally, another cause of culture shock is that being self-contained does not want to communicate and make friends Making friends is extremely important not only in their country but also in other countries This helps them quickly integrate with the new environment

2 Effects of culture shock: the good and the bad

a Negative effects of cultural shock

It is quite normal and usually unavoidable that you will experience a difficult time when you are in a new environment, where you are no longer in control as you were at home However, everyone may experience the negative effects of cultural shock at a different level The negative effects of cultural shock may include: frustration; feeling isolated and lonely; homesickness; idealizing the home country; unduly criticizing culture

of host country; sadness; depression; withdrawal (avoiding contact to host nationals); sleeping a lot or unable to sleep; suffering from body aches and pains; etc You may be surprised to find that you cannot operate normally in a new environment It might take 6 months to a year for you to adapt, or sometimes even longer

b Positive effects of culture shock

In fact, there are positive effects of cultural shock, but hardly anyone talks about them Firstly, the experience of living in a different country is a significant learning experience Living in a different culture will give you valuable skills to help you in many aspects of your life and have the power to support your personal journey and development You will

grow stronger and more resilient from some difficulties and seemingly unconquerable situations, which you will encounter These difficulties will force you to get out of your comfort zone and fight to them During this personal development, you will get to know yourself better Today, schools emphasize diversity and the desire to teach it in many areas You have that experience in your hand if you can embrace the diversities you experience in your new surroundings They are diversity in thinking, in ethnicity, in socio-economic status and in religious beliefs You will gain different perspectives by looking beyond stereotypes and appreciating diversity, it will open your eyes and heart for otherness Especially in this interconnected world, we need to show respect for others and understand differences Learning never ends! If you examine the new culture, reflect and compare it to your own, you will be more aware of aspects of your own culture and have the ability to examine it more objectively Secondly, developing international friendships is one of the biggest benefits of living abroad You will get to know people from your host country, like your neighbors, co-workers or other parents on the playground Of course, you will meet other foreigners that you are attracted, because you are sharing the same experience of international life Thanks to Facebook, Skype and many other social platforms, it is currently easy to keep in touch with everyone around the world Finally, to achieve full integration into new culture, learning a foreign language is extremely necessary You can

only achieve full proficiency when you immerse yourself in a language “Culture shock”

may be a very mind-expanding experience because you will learn words and concepts that not exist in your own language

III CONCLUSION

In summary, culture shock can happen to anyone No matter what cultural environment they come from, no matter how much they have experienced or they are good

at foreign languages, when they have to live and work in a completely alien culture, cultural shock is unavoidable So, does cultural shock affect the cross-cultural communication? The answer is yes Cultural shock will prevent newcomers from integrating into a new culture, make it difficult for them to communicate and interact to learn new culture values, even create a sense of fear and hostility However, culture shock

is the first step of integration You should not consider the differences in culture as the source of all problems Instead, you should consider where the problem comes from and what the difference between the two cultures is With the same event or phenomenon, the conception of the two cultures is different, so it is impossible to use the measure of this culture to apply to that culture Cultural shock is inevitable, but these shocks are an important and necessary factor for you to connect your cultural values and adjust them to

be suitable for new cultural values You can minimize the time of shock and its negative effects by preparing well the necessary knowledge of your host country’s language and culture Early preparation is never redundant for those who want to conquer tough challenges and make them be their own advantages

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