How to Cope with Culture Shock

Finally the last stage is referred as the “acceptance stage,” according to one foreign student. After some weeks or months we are noticing improvement within ourselves after have wrestling with the emotional stages. The final stage of cultural shock doesn’t mean that the new cultures and environments are completely understood, it signifies realization that complete understanding isn’t necessary to function and thrive in new surroundings. During this stage, travelers have the familiarity and are able to draw together the resources they need to feel at ease.

Living in a foreign country is like time travel in which a person travels to the time where everything looks and feels different. For me, it was a whole different period of my life where every day was a different phase. It was both astonishing and stressful. When I emigrated from India to the USA I experienced three phases, honeymoon, distress and adjustment.

I never saw myself seeing Death Grips, a crazy experimental hip hop group from Sacramento, California last Summer. I’ve struggled with Social Anxiety for the past five years and doing something this crazy was way out of my comfort zone. I became an avid fan of this group two years ago when I discovered them through YouTube. When I first listened to them I thought they were the worst thing I had ever heard. The glitchy, distorted sounding music with screaming rap vocals just wasn’t too appealing for me. Over time, I actually started to like it while I was still dumbfounded about what I was listening to. One could associate them like passing by a car wreck: so bad but you can’t stop looking.

A sudden change in one’s surroundings can result in culture shock. Culture shock refers to the anxiety and surprise a person feels when he or she is discontented with an unfamiliar setting. The majority of practices or customs are different from what a person is used to. One may experience withdrawal, homesickness, or a desire for old friends. For example, when a person goes to live in a different place with unfamiliar surroundings, they may experience culture shock. Sometimes it is the result of losing their identity. In the article “The Phases of Culture Shock”, Pamela J. Brink and Judith Saunders describe four phases of culture shock. They are: Honeymoon Phase, Disenchantment Phase, Beginning Resolution Phase, and Effective

First, learn about the local environment, cultures are sophisticated and different people means different situation. In spite of these obstacles, learning about the new culture might facilitate the process of transition because individual knows what will face and prepares to deal with different situations. Second, learn the local language, as said above cultural shock is a communication problem and the best way to overcomes this problem is to learn how to communicate with host people either by verbal or non-verbal communication as research proved the effective of learn the host language on facilitating the process of adaption (Triandis and Tri, 1993). Third, explore the local environment, it is considered one of the most valuable way to learn more about the local culture and help to adapt, feel comfortable and gain more confidence instead of sitting at home and feeling of isolated. ‘It is very tempting to stay home watching YouTube videos rather than venturing out feeling lost when you do not know anyone and do not have a particular place to go to’ (Steers, Nardon, and Sanchez-Runde,

One day, you are playing in the backyard and having fun like any other kid would. The next thing you know you are in a different country and the life that you had in the previous country is gone. Now you are facing with culture shock and is living in a place where you don't understand what anyone is saying. Always have to fear the police because you are living in a country illegally. This may not have been a reality for everyone but this was for me and most of the refugees and immigrants. I have moved to a different country twice, once when I moved from Myanmar to Malaysia and the other, when I moved from Malaysia to the United States. I have move places multiple, even while in Malaysia and in the United States. I don't ever get used to it,

Pederson (7) explains that there are stages of culture shock, which he identifies as the honeymoon, negotiation, adjustment, and adaptation. In the honeymoon phase, a person is likely to get excited about being in a new place, meeting new people, tasting new foods, and acquiring new habits. However, as time passes by, they get into a phase of negotiation, where the differences between the culture one is used to and the one they find themselves in start to become apparent. Feelings of anxiety, anger, and frustrations start to take shape as unfavorable events perceived as strange come in the way of the person 's life, especially if a person does not feel accepted in the new culture (Mukherjee 273). Loneliness may set in, and the urge to go back to the familiar culture strongly comes into play. However, as time goes by, adjustment sets in, usually within six to twelve months, and one gets accustomed to the culture and also comes up with a routine. By this phase, one knows what is expected of them, and life once again becomes ‘normal.’

The difficulty of moving to a new culture is that a lot of people would feel fear because they are so use to their own culture, so now they leave what they are used to a new way and it will be hard for them to adapt. Some may like the new food and the pace of life, then later on in the month’s people may feel like the new life and culture is unpleasant life for instance: public hygiene, the language barriers, traffic safety, and food accessibility. Still the most part in relocating to a different culture is the communication because they might not understand the language or might say the wrong word thinking it means the same in the other countries. People adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet

Employers are increasingly searching for multilinguals in order to widen their client pool. Someone who is able to communicate through multiple languages immediately have an advantage over someone who cannot by simply having the ability to communicate with more people. As a result of

When the immigrant’s native language is not one of the general population, certain difficulties arise. For immigrants to be functional in society, it is highly important for them find a way to communicate with the culture around them. One way of doing this is learning the language of those in the surrounding culture. If immigrants decide to not go through the trouble of learning a new language, they often find that when they apply for jobs employers are, “discouraged by the fact that [they know] hardly a word of English” (Fox

What Peter Berger means by the first statement, in which he links sociological discovery to culture shock minus geographical displacement, is that sociological discoveries and realizations are very often made in one 's own society. When they are made, they might come off as shocking because they are being viewed in a different light. You can go to the nearest church or park and make new discoveries with what you observe in an open state of mind.

It is a sacrifice to move to a foreign country and have to change the principles and traditions that have been instilled in an individual since birth. For this reason, in order to adjust to a new culture immigrants not only have to be disposed to discard their original values to adapt to their new nation, but they have to deal with certain barrier in order to assimilate to their new lifestyle. Whether an immigrant is considered first or second generation, the obstacle of learning a new language or struggling with finding balance between the two distinct cultural worlds still remain a challenge.

Within ethnic communities, there are a huge number of people who face language barriers that prevents them from seeking employment outside of their ethnic community. People within these ethnic enclaves do not feel the need to learn the dominant language, because the majority of the population with their community speaks the same language as they do. Places like San Francisco’s China town has established their own enclave that includes everything from grocery shops to hospitals. This

Is challenged when we come to a new culture. My own experience as example, I went to study to Toronto, Canada to study English and I felt complete different from the other. Just thinking of making new friends with the Canadians make me felt sick, asking myself if are they going to accept me because I have an accent, and I am from Mexico. Also, it was hard to me the first moths because my English was so poor, and I felt impotence because I could not express myself. I like to talk to talk to have good communication with people en general for whatever reason, so after that I gave everything of me to learn

Finally, it is important to have a positive attitude throughout these new experiences. for one,iIt will not always be easy to get used to a new culture but it helps to be aware of that and to maintain a positive attitude regardless. According to kende,” thank u Canada we love you “(135).this shows that people have positive attitude towards to a new adopting country. People should not be afraid to make mistakes but instead learn from them. Individuals can take this as an opportunity to grow and learn as a person while at the same time remembering that there is not only one way to do something, just that this might be how it is done in