Monday, December 1st, 2008

Culture shock

Traveling far from home can jolt your system and derail your confidence, but it doesn’t have to. Just follow these steps.

By Seongbae Cheon

Thursday, November 1st, 2007

Diji Nwaneri came to the United States when he was 15 years old. When Nwaneri, Abuja, Nigeria junior, went to his junior high school for the first time, one of his classmates asked him where he came from. He answered without hesitation.

“I’m from Nigeria.”

Unfortunately, the classmate didn’t know of a country called Nigeria. Nwaneri repeated Nigeria several times, and then finally gave up. He finally just said, “I’m from Africa.” The classmate smiled and said, “No, you are lying.”

“Why? I’m really from Africa,” Nwaneri answered, confused.

“No you aren’t, because you’re wearing clothes!”

After that day, Nwaneri felt embarrassed whenever someone asked him where he was from. A few years later, even after he had made many American friends, he says he was frustrated by everything around him.

This is a typical example of culture shock. Generally speaking, culture shock occurs when someone moves from a familiar environment, says Kathy Mulinazzi, director of Small World, a non-profit organization in Lawrence that helps international women learn English and American customs.

These days, people travel to other countries for many reasons: to travel, study abroad, take business trips or to have an unforgettable honeymoon. Culture shock could ruin your new adventure, but don’t be scared; it is easily conquered as long as you know some basic tips. Here are six tips provided by various experts to help you overcome culture shock.

1. Don’t look back once you’ve jumped

The first step to overcoming culture shock is to have a firm mind and clear goals. When you leave your familiar environment, there is a natural tendency to look back if you have a hard time adjusting, Mulinazzi says. Being in a different country can be scary at times, and it’s tempting to wonder what you were thinking when you decided to go in the first place.

“If you discipline yourself to see whatever happens to you as an opportunity to learn and grow, even the so-called bad experiences turn out not to be. You actually do learn and grow,” says Ellen Fields, co-owner of www.yucatanliving.com, a Web site she and her husband developed to help immigrants adjust to the culture of the Yucatan region of Mexico.

If you go into the experience determined to adjust, you are already halfway to conquering your new world.

    2. Practice and improve your language skills

The ability to communicate with native people plays a huge role in your success in adjusting to a new culture, Mulinazzi says. Even a talkative person is silenced if he doesn’t know the language. You suddenly become speechless, and lose your self-esteem, making it easy for others to think that you are either stupid or shy. This dramatic change of personality can often lead to depression.

You also shouldn’t be overconfident about coping with the language when you get to your destination. If you think, “I will pick up the language when I go there,” or “People will understand me even if my French is bad,” you are likely to be disappointed when you find out people might not be as patient as you anticipated. Speaking a foreign language in front of native speakers is nerve-racking. Sunyao Lin, graduate student from Shanghai, China, says she felt nervous when she tried to speak English in front of native speakers. Whenever she spoke English, she felt like all the Americans listening to her were English teachers waiting for her to say a grammatically incorrect sentence and ready to take off points when she did.

“The language plays the pivotal role in the adjustment.  If one is proficient enough to speak and hold a conversation, then the adjustment is easier. Language is part of a culture and without that, a student will have more difficulty,” says Gene Lewis, director of Student Management Group, an organization that provides management assistance to foreign exchange students.

 Other than the formal

language, slang is also a vital part of foreign language acquisition, says Jared Romey, author of Speaking Boricua, which is about Puerto Rican slang. How people write and how people speak is often times very different. Romey, who has lived in four different countries, says both slang and everyday vocabulary can be different from country to country, even if the countries speak the same language. For example, when Romey started a new job in Argentina, having just moved from the bordering Spanish-speaking country Chile, he asked his assistant, in Spanish, for a stapler, some pens and pencils. She just stood there staring at him with a blank face. It quickly became obvious that she hadn’t understood a word he had said. He had to go to her desk and pick up each item he wanted and ask her how to say it in Argentina. He also says native speakers are likely to feel more comfortable around those who know their slang.

3. Don’t be afraid to be a laughingstock

Whether you like it or not, you will likely be laughed at when you go to another country. Just like Nwaneri’s experience, it will always seem like there is a person who wants to make your life harder. No matter how fluent you are in a language, it’s nearly impossible to know every little detail about the culture and language. You will say “Your mother has a green potato face” when you meant to say “You sure look nice today.” People might think you are weird or rude, but the important thing is that you always learn from your mistakes, says Fields, the co-owner of www.yucatanliving.com.

“Be willing to be foolish. If you don’t already know the language or the culture, you’re going to make a faux-pas every other day,” Fields says. “Laugh at yourself and don’t be hurt if people laugh at your mistakes.”

  4. Learn the culture and history of your new home

Rather than asking yourself, “Why don’t they do things more like my country?” accept your new environment and culture. Start looking at both sides and learn the history of your new home. It is essential to have a positive attitude about new cultures and to learn actively about local history and tradition, Mulinazzi says.

However, learning doesn’t have to be a chore—thank goodness for television. When Nick Schaffer, Oklahoma City junior, went to Japan to study abroad, he found TV incredibly useful. He says it taught him traditions and essential Japanese etiquette.

“It pretty much taught me everything I needed to learn about Japanese culture,” Schaffer says. “It’s amazing how much you learn from watching TV even if you don’t understand the language.”

5. Watch out for reverse culture shock

You’d probably expect to feel relieved and relaxed when you return home. Although hearing your native language on the street and seeing a familiar environment could make you feel comfortable, it’s common to find reverse culture shock awaiting you upon returning. When Sanae Eda, a professor of Japanese language at KU who’s also from Japan, visited Japan after 15 years of staying in the United States, she had all kinds of culture shock in her native country. She says she was especially shocked when she was interacting with Japanese people because of their tendency to care too much about details.

Dustin Luthro, Olathe junior, who studied abroad in Japan, says he had a reverse culture shock when he came back to Kansas. Having stayed in a big city, Tokyo, for only six weeks, he felt like Kansas was empty and less friendly when he returned.

6. Be open-minded

It’s inevitable that you will feel uncomfortable and depressed while you adjust to your new environment, but the difference between success and failure in adjustment comes from your point of view, Mulinazzi says.

During the first part of your stay, you will experience what is often called the “honeymoon” stage. Everything around you is new and exciting. You will probably be too busy to notice negative things about the new culture. Then, after a few months, reality kicks in. All of a sudden, making a phone call makes you nervous. You feel just like Alice in Wonderland. This can lead to a negative symptom of culture shock: stereotyping. “All Americans are lazy and arrogant.” “Every New Yorker is rude.” But we know this isn’t true. Always have open mind even if someone gives you a hard time.

“If you take a close look at culture shock, it isn’t really as negative a term as it sounds. Running into new cultures not only allows you to better enjoy the experience while you stay in a new environment. The contrasts allow you to better understand your own culture upon returning,” Romey says.

In other words, culture shock should not be feared, but enjoyed.  

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