Intercultural Adaptation

Culture shock is the trauma you experience when you move into a culture different from your home culture. Some persons who sojourn in a foreign country adapt well to the new culture, while others find it a nightmare. One of the main reasons we may find is that the symbols most familiar to us in our daily lives have changed suddenly in the strange culture. Thus, such a change causes us discomfort, frustration, fear and even “illness” promoting our withdrawal from the culture. What is the nature of culture shock? How does it happen to us? Can culture shock be avoided?  If not, what should be done to cope with it?

Read the following Scenario ---Cultural Barriers in Overseas Study:

Ms. Kong was an outstanding junior college student, who was eager to study abroad to experiencelife in another country. In 2017, she went to a university in the UK for one year as an exchange student.

She arrived at her university two weeks before the new term began. For the first few weeks in the UK, she was busy attending an orientation program and various activities oncampus, going to different places like shopping malls and downtown, meeting new friends and classmates. Though she had a tight schedule, she enjoyed everything she experienced after her arrival.

After about one month, when the initial excitement subsided and her life and study became more normal, she was not as busy as before. At that point, she was alone most of the time as few people invited her to go out in the evening or on the weekend, although she would have enjoyed socializing. Sometimes when she asked her new friends for help, they seemed not as warm and enthusiastic as before. All of a sudden, she was aware that her life changed overnight, but she had no idea what would become of her later. Since then she has been overwhelmed with stress, anxiety and depression. She began to feel uncomfortable, worried and impatient all day long and so made phone calls to her family in China everyweek to share her feelings with her mom. What was worse, she couldn’t sleep well most nights and would feel dizzy throughout the day.

In order to help her to overcome depression, her mother came to her university to keep her company and stayed with her for a month. Though her suffering was alleviated a bit, the symptoms reappeared when her mother went back to China. She tried everything she could think about to feel less depressed and lonely, but nothing worked. Finally, she decided to return to China after finishing one semester in the UK.

When she returned home, all the symptoms she had developed disappeared almost immediately. However, from then on, when speaking of her overseas life and study, she became fearful.

Do you know what happened to Ms. Kong? Check your comprehension by choosing A, B, C, and / or D. You can choose more than one option for your answer.

Let's start the new journey of Intercultural Communication in this Module.

Kim (1988) defines intercultural adaptation as the process of increasing the level of fitness to meet the demands of a new cultural environment. In other words, intercultural adaptation is a process of dealing with maladjustment within a host culture. Entrance into a new culture is generally accompanied by culture shock.

Read the Journal Reading recommended below and learn about the external and internal adjustment process of culture shock.

Homework:

Why is it easier to communicate with individuals who are similar to you than with people who are different?