CULTURE SHOCK

Tri T. Nguyen Jan 2010 Nowadays, owing to their immigration, studies, business or vacation, peoples needs for moving from country to country arise considerably. Culture shock is a phenomenon all people may face when they are in touch with a different culture, which may lead to negative impacts. It is, therefore, important to understand what culture shock is, what negative effects it has and how people cope with it; besides, what some foreign people in Vietnam who have experienced cross-cultural confrontations say about it. These are the key points to be discussed in this paper. According to Dr. Kalervo Oberg (1960), a world-renowned anthropologist and an experienced globetrotter, culture shock is defined as the anxiety that results from losing all of familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. It is, in fact, the feeling of uneasiness or distress experienced by somebody suddenly encountering a completely new cultural environment, in which he or she feels lack of direction, does not know what to do or how to do things and what is appropriate or inappropriate. Oberg (1960) called culture shock a disease. He stated Like most ailments it has its own etiology, symptoms, and cure. It is not too difficult to find out the cause of the disease; it is because when you come to live in another country, the way that you lived before is not accepted or considered as normal in the new place. The differences include language, behavior, custom and belief, working style or manner, food, climate, standard of cleanliness, facilities, personal safety, etcHence, the less dissimilarity, the lower degree of shock you get. In other words, if the similarity between the host and home culture increases, your understanding of the host culture will increase and your stress in the new environment will also reduce (Gudykunst & Hammer, 1988). For instance, a Vietnamese student may be shocked less in Beijing than in London since Vietnamese culture is closer to Chinese than English. As a further example, business people usually are shocked less than international students or travelers because business people are more mature, do not stay long in a foreign country as students do, and their social interaction is larger (Furnham 1988), while international students are faced with many challenges: school trouble, transportation trouble, language trouble, climate, food But how does a person know he or she suffers from culture shock? There are some physiological symptoms such as headache, stomach upset, insomnia, desire to sleep too much or too little, allergies, etc and some emotional symptoms such as loneliness, melancholy, depression, feeling vulnerable or insecure, feeling powerless, anxiety, irritability, frustration, resentment,

unwillingness to interact with others, homesickness, etcThese adverse effects can appear at different levels and at different times. Culture shock has many stages. The length and intensity of each stage varies from person to person. When you newly arrive in a country, the first stage you will go through is the Honeymoon Stage or Euphoric Stage. In this stage you seem to idealize the host culture; you are curious and very excited because the people are nice, everything is beautiful, novel and attractive; you therefore desire to look around, to experiment things, to discover the new environment. If minor problems arise, you will overlook all and look forward to learning new things. This period lasts a certain amount of time, possibly a few days, weeks, several months or even a year, depending on your capability to adjust to new culture. Then comes the second stage: the Crisis Period or Hostile Stage, where culture shock comes into play. Problems start to be overwhelming because there are more and more differences that occur in daily life. For example, you are not understood when you speak; you are asked too many personal questions; you are fed up with the strange food; the transportation is always confusing; you are worried that the native people want to cheat or rob you and think they are not really kind as they used to be. As a result, you begin to feel disappointed, bored, anxious or depressed and have the impression that you are isolated and not accepted in this country any more. You grow sad, lonely, frustrated and begin to complain or criticize the strange country and make stereotypes of the people from that culture. Many a visitor to Russia, for example, feels uncomfortable and thinks Russians are deeply gloomy and depressed because they rarely smile, but the visitors do not realize that a smile for Russians is something very intimate and a sign that a person likes to see another person, usually a close and a well known one, such as a friend or a relative. Therefore, this second stage sees your emptiness and need for support; you are very nostalgic and try to be connected as much as possible with anything that reminds you of the motherland, such as talking with your countrymen, listening to music, reading books and magazines, watching TV. If you are adaptable and persistent enough, you will think twice and get yourself through a new circumstance: the Adjustment Stage, where you learn to accept the differences around and to change your negative attitude to a positive one. In this phase, you strive to integrate into the new culture by learning language and making more friends. Some occasional obstacles may tease you but you can even laugh at them, for you are now more self-confident, relaxed and empathic with the people. It depends how adaptable you are that it takes you some time until you feel yourself at home and become involved in activities and interested in the new customs.

As mentioned above, there is an awaited answer for how to lessen culture shock and recover from it. First, before the journey, it is advisable that you equip yourself some knowledge about the target country through TV, magazine or the Internet. Language is the key to access to the target people and culture, so it is vital to get it as much as possible, or at least some survival language. Also, you can consult some acquaintances that used to live or are living overseas about their experiences. If possible, you can find a place to try some kinds of food of the intended country. However, culture shock, to some people, is something inevitable; no matter how well they prepare, it will affect them to some degree, so why not learn to accept and cope with it when it comes? It is important to perceive that there is no culture that is similar to or better than another one, for people in different countries have different thoughts, beliefs and customs. That is why you as a new arrival must carefully observe your new surrounding world: your residence, school or working placeto learn the rules of living to understand how and why the local people act the way they do. It helps if you get to know local people and make more friends, some of whom can help you overcome cultural differences and understand their cultural norms and expectations. Next, you get involved in some aspect of the new culture; in other words, you develop a hobby, such as a form of physical activity in your routine: doing exercise, swimming, taking an aerobics class, or traveling to explore the countrys sights both to improve your health and to release stress or ignore the sadness and loneliness. One significant thing is taking time to continue learning language because it will make your life much easier if you understand as much as possible of what people say and they, of course, will appreciate your effort to communicate with them in their language. Besides, it will be smart of you to get experience from the past problems and to be constructive: if you encounter an unfavorable situation, do not put yourself in that position again. Patience, persistence, relaxation and control of yourself are also some important contributors to your quick recovery from culture shock. Finally, do not forget to maintain and develop relationships with your acquaintances and friends, and contact with family back home because they are those who help you out of emptiness and loneliness. By the way, no matter how successfully you can acculturate into the new culture, you are expected not to forget the good things you already have, not to forget who you are and where you are from. In order to record some cross-cultural confrontations experienced by a few foreigners in Vietnam, who are living, studying or working here and to contribute to this research paper, I made a questionnaire (enclosed below) to interview them, and now I am ready to give you this interesting information. Generally, the majority of them have experienced mostly the same problems and feelings, so I am telling you about the two most outstanding cases.

The first destination is University of Social Sciences and Humanities Ho Chi Minh City, where there are a lot of foreign students from many different countries studying at Faculty of Vietnamese Studies. The first subject I interviewed for half an hour is Jane, a middle-aged American woman, who has been on vacation and teaching English in Saigon for five months. She told Vietnam was thought of as a fragile and conflict-affected country due to protracted wars and that it has many beauty spots and the people are friendly. Really, most of her expectations met during her first a few weeks when she was excited and attracted to the new life here. She enjoys a variety of food, a simple life and she believes Vietnam is a good place for retirement. Although she had some difficulties with hot climate and air pollution, she was in general happy about life. However, Sitting in a taxi from the airport, I was completely overwhelmed by so many motorbikes moving complicatedly said she about her feeling when she took the first steps in the city. Actually, Janes first feeling foresees a trouble from which she will have to suffer. She said, So far it seems that I can hardly get over the fear of crossing the streets so crowded with people and motorbikes. As we see, Janes honeymoon stage came to an end when she went out alone the other day. In the rainy days many streets in Ho Chi Minh City are in flood. Once she was terrified when she walked across a street full of dirty water and the surrounding people were moving dangerously as if they saw nothing ahead. Moreover, she could not stand constant traffic jams and the scenes where people struggle to thread their way through the construction sites crowded with vehicles. Since then, a feeling of disappointment and fear became clearer and she had antipathy toward Vietnamese people; she thought they drove dangerously and did not fear death. I find the traffic hazardous, stressful and compelling me to make great effort she added. Three months went by and then Jane soon realized it was necessary to get used to the traffic environment in the city to escape from her crisis period and feel more comfortable. She consulted some people in her guesthouse, spent a little time observing people moving on streets and went to her school, where she has been teaching English, by xe-om instead of bus so that she would not have to cross the streets by herself. In addition, she goes to the university to study Vietnamese language and culture. She believes it is the best way to adapt herself to this new environment and it is helpful to her English teaching though sometimes she finds Vietnamese language too challenging. Jane feels much better now, for she can walk across the street alone with a little endeavor, and has a more open-minded view about things. She thinks people in different countries have their own traffic culture due to their different traffic conditions and laws, and that Vietnamese people are easygoing because of the renovating traffic system. She enjoyed the Christmas time in Saigon very much and is eager for the coming Vietnamese Tet holiday. Jane concluded that foreigners may find living in Vietnam easier and interesting if they can get accustomed to the traffic,

speak a little Vietnamese language, and try doing as the Vietnamese do. The second subject is Amans Alain, a retired French man at his 60s, who has been in Vietnam for two years. I found him with a Vietnamese friend of him by chance at a caf on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street. In order not to miss the opportunity, I wasted no time in getting to know them. We began the talk in Vietnamese, for Alain can speak some, and he showed his interest when I sometimes spoke a little French to him. Thanks to it, our conversation was more open and detailed. Before his arrival, Alain had no ideas about Vietnam, nothing special said he. But he was, like Jane, really astounded by so many motorbikes in the city. Alain experienced the same shock stages as Jane did. First he was curious and absorbed in the new culture. At the Hostile stage, he often could not sleep well at night because he could not help thinking about many troubles he had been suffering from: it is too hot; the Vietnamese are weird, curious and asking too many questions; there is no subway while buses are low-quality and low-service and do not stop where he needs; xe-om drivers overcharge foreigners and the most terrible is crossing the street. Thus, many negative feelings continuously came into him: irritation, discomfort, feeling of insecure, boredom... and he started to compare Vietnam with his home country and have criticisms of Vietnamese people. For instance, many Vietnamese people are lazy and much freer than they should be, for they can be seen drinking coffee and chatting at any time at any places while Western people have little time to do so in their countries and they save more time; besides, Vietnamese people do not care and give their way to other people, especially pedestrians; one more, they do not keep the environment well and make the city air badly polluted. A few months later, Alain finally realized that he liked the country very much but there existed some problems preventing him from enjoying life here, and that he needed to change himself to assimilate into this quite new environment. He spent more time walking into backstreets and alleys to explore the peoples daily life though he found this a little bit dangerous. He tried to observe and understand local people. He found it necessary to make more Vietnamese friends and crucial to learn and practice Vietnamese language as much as he could. The forty-five-minute conversation showed Alans great interest in the new culture of this country and that life is much easier for him now, it is very easy to live in Saigon and I enjoy most experiences here said he. Alain is now at the post-adjustment stage but up till now he still feels strange about some Vietnamese values and customs. He discovered that, unlike the Westerners, Vietnamese people much more respect the familial hierarchy, parents have a tendency to oppress children in their choices, such as marriage, career or hobby Next, Alain thinks the Vietnamese pay much attention to addressing other people according to their age, gender or relationships such as ng, b, anh, ch, c, ch, ti and sometimes it makes him confused. Besides, it still has come as a big surprise to Alain that Vietnam, a

Republic Socialist country, does not offer its people free education from elementary to secondary or higher, and that the school fees are much more expensive than in France. Again, I do not forget to emphasize that culture shock is the feeling of confusion and anxiety that comes from a lack of understanding another culture. It is not a fatal disease, but it can cause some serious problems if you do not take a few precautions and follow certain proper procedures to fight with it; therefore, it must be acutely watched. On the other hand, I suppose that culture shock, if treated successfully, may help us identify ourselves and make some necessary changes, contributing to coloring our lives.

REFERENCES Kalervo Oberg (1960). Culture Shock & The Problem Of Adjustment To New Cultural Environments. Furnham, A. & Bochner, S. (1986). Culture shock psychological reactions to unfamiliar environments. Gudykunst, W.B. & Hammer, M.R. (1988). Strangers and hosts An uncertainty education based theory of intercultural adaptation. In Young Yun Kim & William B. Gudykunst (Eds.), Cross-cultural adaptation Current approaches. Capt J.N.D. Blackburn (2008). Understanding culture shock to better lessen the impact Alex Na (2009). Culture Shock.