Stages of culture shock Ⅰ. Introduction to Culture Sh

Stages of culture shock
  Good morning. Today, I’d like to discuss with you the issue of culture shock. My lecture will focus on two aspects. One is the definition and the other is the four stages of culture shock.
  Culture shock is a type of homesickness. When people leave home and travel or work abroad, they encounter many new and confusing situations. These situations naturally create stress; the reaction to this stress is called "culture shock". The term, "culture shock" , then refers to the anxiety produced when a person moves to a com pletely new place, the stresses and strains accumulated from being forced to meet in unfamiliar ways one’s everyday needs such as language, climate, food, cleanliness, and companionship, and the feeling of not knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate in a new environment. Although one can experience real pain from culture shock, it is an opportunity for redefining one’s life objectives. It is also a great opportunity for learning and acquiring new perspectives of life.
  Culture shock is produced by the anxiety that results from losing all familiar signs and symbols of social inter course. These signs are the numerous ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give advice, when to accept and when to refuse invitations. These cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, or customs, are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up. When people enter a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. Therefore they experience culture shock.
  People react to culture shock in much the same way. First they reject the environment which causes the discomfort. When these people who are in a strange land get together to complain about the host country and its people, you can be sure they are suffering from culture shock. Another stage of culture shock is regression. The home environment suddenly becomes tremendously important; everything is irrationally glorified. All difficulties and problems are forgotten and only the good things at back home are remembered. Individuals differ greatly in the degree in which culture shock affects them. Generally speaking, there are four stages of culture shock and each stage can be ongoing and appear at a certain time.
  The first stage occurs during the first few weeks in a new land when most individuals are fascinated by the new. They stay in hotels and associate with nationals who speak their language and are polite to people in the host country. They may feel pleased by all of the new things. This time is called the "honeymoon" stage, as everything encountered is new and exciting. This honeymoon stage may last from a few days or weeks to six months depending on circumstances.
  But his type of mentality does not normally last if they remain abroad and have to seriously cope with real conditions of life. It is then that the second stage begins, characterized by a hostile and aggressive attitude towards the host country. This hostility evidently grows out of the genuine difficulty that they experience in the process of adjustment. There are all kinds of troubles. Therefore, they become aggressive, they band together with their fellow countrymen and criticize the host country, its way and its people. This criticism is not an objective appraisal but a negative one. Instead of trying to make an honest analysis of the actual conditions and the historical circumstances that have created them, they talk as if the difficulties they experience are more or less created by the people of the host country for their special discomfort.
  Culture shock is lessened at the third stage, as the "foreigners" succeed in getting some knowledge of the language and begin to get around. This is the beginning of their adjustment to the new cultural environment, which is characterized by gaining some understanding of the new culture. They may start to feel a certain psychological balance. They may not feel as lost and start to have a feeling of direction, getting more familiar with the new environment and wanting to belong to it. Usually at this stage they take a superior attitude toward people of the host country. Instead of criticizing they make jokes about the people. They are now on the way to recovery.
In the fourth stage, the final adjustment stage, they realize that the new culture has good and bad things to offer and begin to accept the customs of the country as just another way of living. They can operate within the new environment without a feeling of anxiety although there are moments of strain. Only with a complete grasp of all the cues of social intercourse will this strain disappear. This stage can be one of double integration or triple integration depending on the number of cultures that they have to process. This integration is accompanied by a more solid feeling of belonging. They start to redefine themselves and establish new goals for living.
  These stages are present at different times and each person has one’s own way of reacting to the stages of culture shock. As a consequence, some stages will be longer and more difficult than others. Many factors contribute to the duration and effects of culture shock. For example, the individual’s stage of mental health, type of personality, previous experiences, familiarity with the language, family and social support systems and level of education.