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Importance of language in communication
The effects of culture shock
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Student’s Name Subject Professor’s Name Date Cultural Shock and Coping with It. Culture shock is personal incomprehension a person may feel or experience when in an unfamiliar culture or way of life as a result of a visit to a new place or immigration, a movement amid social environments. Culture shock mostly affects individuals who have relocated to foreign environments. It is a process that an individual undergoes in experiencing a new environment; it is categorized into four phases that are honeymoon, crisis, adjustment, and recovery phases. The common problems associated with it arelanguage barrier, generation gap, homesickness, information overload, boredom, technology gap and cultural response ability among many others (Macionis 2010, 26). Cultural differences affect individuals differently. Therefore, there is no definite way of preventing culture shock. This paper’s research will be on how cultural shock affects the immigrants and the ways in which they and their next generations cope up with it. The …show more content…
The Bengali culture states that the official that is the good name of the child should be given by an older person in the family while the nickname can be given by the parents. Ashok named his son Gogol as they await a letter that had the baby’s official name given by her grandmother. The later never arrived hence the child continued using the nickname even out of home where it was to be used. Lastly, the name ends up being his official name in spite the fathers attempt to change it to Nikhil. The principle of the school rejected the name and eluded that Gogol would be used since it was the child’s preference. For the principle, he dint understand the Bengali’s culture. The effect of cultural difference depicted here by Lahiri is exactly the same as to what the immigrants face in
A. Economic success is not the only kind of success- for the purpose of this paper, prosperity is being isolated to economic success
Gogol’s name derives from his father’s near death experience in a train accident and how his parents legally named him with his pet name, a name that alienates him from the rest of his American environment. Aside from his name, Gogol is unable to connect his love life with his Bengali culture; he often finds himself being separated from his Bengali family or his Western family, and he struggles to find a middle ground to bind them together without leaving another entirely.
When one first moves to a completely new and unfamiliar cultural environment, assuredly he or she will experience cultural shock and disorientation. Culture shock can be from many different aspects, for examples, climate, foods, language, custom, social etiquette, environment and etc. Culture shock might cause depression, homesickness, confusion, sadness, frustration, in which one has to overcome when arrived in a new country. Personally, I had experienced culture shock when I first arrived in America from FuZhou, China; I felt lost and confused. Similarly, Tanya, who is from Kharkiv, Ukraine had experienced cultural shock and had felt unsuitable because of foods, school, and living habits when she came to America one and a half years ago.
It is often social norms and behaviors that are ingrained in a person. In comparison to explicit culture, tacit examples of the Narcirema culture includes how they communicate and the belief that the human body is ugly is the basis for most of their rituals and ceremonies. Most people in American culture don’t think too deeply about why they say “bless you” when someone sneezes or why it is considered polite to refer to an authority figure as Mrs. or Mr. Additionally, there are stark differences in tacit culture between people differing cultures that leads to culture shock. Culture shock is feelings of confusion and disorientation often resulting from cultural misunderstandings. For example, people in some parts of Japan consider physical touching inappropriate and may consider a U.S. citizen’s offering of a friendly handshake, instead of a bow, offensive. This simple interaction reveals their cultures differing views on personal space and what is considered friendly.
The lack of communications between parents, grandparents, and the children can cause a rift between generations. Most teenage immigrants in America goes through the culture duel, where teenagers have to battle with the culture of where they live and the culture of where their parents are from. These kids are usually stuck in between the two cultures and try to create a combination between the two so that not only their parents are happy but so are they. Some children struggle with the names given to them by their parents because they are bullied for how weird their names sound or where it comes from. It is important for children to attempt to understand their names and culture because in most cultures names have a lot of value. In the film the Namesake and the short story “Children as Enemies” you can see how the children don’t like their names and they don’t understand the importance of their names to their families. However in the film the Namesake this changes because the father revealed to his son why he named him Gogol meanwhile in the short story “Children as Enemies” by Ha Jin there is a scarcity of conversations that needed to take place between the parents,
In the book Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, the authors define what it means to be Italian and key in on details that can transform you into a pro of the Italian culture. Similar to past readings, the Italian family really defines the true nature of its people. As the author says, “The Italian family was (and to some extent still is) very close-knit, spending the weekends together and often eating its meals collectively” (39). Italian-Americans continued this trend here in the states and it has been instilled in people like me to always prioritize your family.
Pedersen (1995) describes culture shock as process of primary adjustment to unfamiliar environment, in which the adjustment process takes in its sentiment, behavior, cognitive and physical impact on individuals. (Pedersen, 1995:2-3) The term culture shock is established by Kalervo Oberg (1969) he classifying as individuals losing all familiar signs and symbols of social interactions. Personally it is unpleased feeling in living in new culture as well as arriving new
Australia is a multicultural country where immigrants from all over the world immigrate to Australia. This research is focused on Australian’s immigrants who play a big role in this society. Immigration carries significant factors that affect the process of adaptation on an immigrant. The significant factors discussed further on are social factors, economic factors and cultural factors. To understand immigration and immigrant it would be explained the meaning of it and the types of immigrants. Answering the Research question, it would also be explained what an immigrant aims to reach by explaining the factors that help to feel settled in a new country. As I’m an immigrant in Australia I personally know how factors affect directly the process of adaptation. During this research I aim to prove how these factors affect the process of adaption. It is intended to make useful recommendations to the host country and to the immigrants in order to adapt to a new country easily. It must be said that not everyone experience the same process of adaptation because everyone is exposed to different factors. Moreover, immigrants may experience more than one factor as one factor can lead to the development of other factor.
It’s now clear to me that it was very often the minor differences in culture are the ones creating the biggest culture shock. I really enjoyed my experience in Jakarta as I felt very settled and happy there with my relatives’ caring although there had been several clashes between us. Display of respect is the important magic that helps minimize conflicts. Also, to ease the stress of culture shock, it is important to maintain a very open mind so that I can always adapt to new things.
Everyone reacts differently to new environments.While some are excited others are upset to have to leave important people behind. Culture shock comes in many different forms and sizes, some may find it harder to adjust than others. The difficulties to adjusting don’t always show up right away (TeensHealth). Culture shock is experienced in many different ways some common feelings are; sadness, loneliness, anxiety, trouble concentrating, feeling left out, negative feelings towards the new culture and frustration (TeensHealth). These feelings are temporary, eventually people get used to their surroundings. Although, many have been planning on the change for a long time, many still experience the impact of culture shock (International Students and Culture Shock). A huge majority of the cultures norms are based on language.
Immigrants choose to migrate to a different country for a variety of reasons. These include inclination to unite with family members who have already moved to a different country, unstable economy, and minimal educational opportunities. Despite the fact that immigration is helpful and beneficial to the receiving country, it can also influence the immigrant’s traditions and ways of life immensely. Immigrants are constantly addressing the competing norms of the receiving country. They behave adversely after their relocation because they experience vast changes in their lifestyles. In response to these vast changes, it is typical for an immigrant to feel out of place and question their personal
The experience that I had in New York about getting lost and then having a communication barrier with a stranger was an example of culture shock.
Cultural sensitivity occurs when people recognize and are aware that each country or various ethnic groups of people have their own set of experiences, beliefs, values, and language that affect their perceptions toward life. Addressing Cultural sensitivity permits people to comprehend that there are differences between cultures. Furthermore, having awareness in the differences between cultures permits a culturally competent person to communicate effectively with others that are outside of one’s realm. Some of the differences of Cultural sensitivity can be discovered while traveling outside of the country, such as through Cross-cultural sensitivity experiences. Likewise, a culture has its own norms and beliefs to how one should dress; how one should greet others, such as by referring to a significant individual by his or her first name or surname (comprehending which name should be stated first in foreign names); and/or what foods are permitted to eat or forbidden to eat or understanding what may offend a person (e.g. not accepting a home cooked meal). There are norms, taboos, cultural cues, and cultural etiquette standards that are significant to learning about one’s culture before exploring another country or while working with people who are from your country but who are part of another racial group. It takes time and patience to build a high level of Cultural sensitivity. Educating oneself with a culture’s psychology and its norms is significant toward achieving an increasing awareness toward Cultural sensitivity.
According to Berry and Sam (1997), cross-cultural adaptation has two dimensions, including psychological adaptation and sociocultural adaptation. Psychological adaptation refers to “a set of internal psychological outcomes including a clear sense of personal and cultural identity, good mental health, and the achievement of personal satisfaction in a new cultural context” (Berry, 1997, p. 17). On the other hand, socio-cultural adaptation refers to “a set of external psychological outcomes that links individuals to their new context, including their ability to deal with daily problems, particularly in the areas of life, and work and school” (Berry, 1997, p.
Intercultural encounters are difficult to analyze as there are several factors that influence them. For instance, cultural shock can be studied by different perspectives, but it also can be explained by the cultural schema theory. That lead us to think that, in the future, this theory could be developed as a kind of cross-cultural adaptation programs which helps people while adapting in the host culture.