Please explain "culture shock" in detail.

Robert Coles, an expert in cross-cultural studies, defines cultural shock as:

When people go to a place different from the original culture, most people will experience a kind of psychological confusion, which is cultural shock. This comes from the experience you encounter that is different from the way you do things, organize, perceive or evaluate things, and these different ways threaten the most basic belief in your subconscious, that is, the customs, assumptions, evaluations and behaviors in your culture are always "correct".

In other words, everything you are familiar with-from daily affairs, modes of transportation, food and language to values and belief systems-is gone. You will feel as if someone suddenly took the mat under your ass. It's like the shadow of your original culture suddenly disappeared, suddenly disappeared without a trace. Maybe you act like an adult, but you always feel like a helpless child. You live in obscurity and ignorance and are constantly asked about your values and beliefs. Finally, you become fragile, depressed, irritable, impatient, even sad and resentful, and you may feel homesick and depressed.

A woman who was transferred to work abroad, after her family moved from California to Mexico, for a while, she was tired of listening to people speak a different language, unable to see the same familiar things, going to the grocery store to learn the labels of every food, and even more tired of waiting in line to buy milk. So, she began to experience cultural shock.

The integration of cultural shock and the change of integration degree depend on the following conditions:

* How long will you stay?

* The purpose of your visit (as a tourist or business trip, a temporary stay in this country is different from living in this country).

* exposure to local culture or "new" culture.

:: The number and types of cultural differences

* Choice of funds and housing (whether to live with other expatriates or in a "new" cultural circle)

Cultural shock process

honeymoon

When you are ready to leave, you may feel the initial cultural shock. When you arrive in a new country, this feeling may be replaced by the honeymoon period. At this moment, in fact, the impact of cultural shock is still very limited. What you see, hear, smell and taste in a new country seems so exciting, even romantic. It can also be called ecstasy.

Anne Greene is the marketing manager of an international food company. She not only knows some Japanese, but also went to Japan before she was appointed. Even so, she was very depressed because she couldn't drive out to do business. "I walk around because I don't have a car, and I don't even know where to buy a wastebasket." She recalled that she didn't know a word of Japanese, which meant that Anne could hardly use any electrical appliances at home. She smiled and said, "Think about it. Everything in Japan-even making phone calls-has millions of buttons, but you can't read them. Even going to the toilet has five different expression modes.

reality

After a few weeks or months in office, the real cultural shock has just begun. Life in the new cultural circle seems even more depressing. You may complain about everything around you, you may not find the house number, you may get lost, you may not speak the local language, you may panic, and you will blame yourself when you realize that you can't take care of yourself like this. Sometimes it's just a moment, sometimes it's just a few minutes, and sometimes it becomes a persistent situation, which eventually leads to your depression.

As a lady said, "You are completely buried in your daily life and need to dig out from it constantly. You are exhausted and have no idea.

Signs of cultural shock

You can observe the following signals to judge whether you have been hit by culture:

* Become confused, depressed, bored, emotional, uneasy and unfulfilled. You feel isolated.

* Your own problems seem to be bigger than life problems. For example, you failed to complete a seemingly simple task, and you almost exploded.

* You find your life extremely unbearable: you stay away from the crowd, you make a hullabaloo about and you get angry; You are sleepy during the day, but you can't sleep at night, and so on.

Cultural conflicts can also affect your career:

You have lost contact with your colleagues at home and abroad.

* You begin to make inappropriate decisions or unfair judgments.

* You can't finish the work in time and effectively.

If you can't actively deal with the culture shock, it may cause friction, thus destroying your most important business relationship. In some cases, cultural shock can lead to serious depression and personal problems.

How to deal with cultural shock

In the end, as a means of self-protection or survival, you have to start a long learning process to deal with this culture. You will realize that you can never change the local culture, even if it seems absurd, illogical and even dangerous. So you must begin to realize some aspects of this culture that you can appreciate or at least you must participate in. This is the beginning of your acceptance of this culture.

In order to help you gradually accept foreign culture, you need to find some personal and professional friends, from whom you can get a lot of support, and you can even ask the company for help.

Find out who can help you.

It is important to find someone who can give you moral support and help you in your daily work and talk to him. Green met a lady through her daughter's school, and the lady took her to the store to buy daily necessities. One of her son's teachers lives near them and showed her around several different shops nearby. Boss Green's secretary visited her on a Sunday and taught her how to use all kinds of electrical appliances. Green also joined a professional group called "Foreign Female Directors", abbreviated as "Minority". There are 200 women like her in this group.

Overcome communication barriers

Overcoming language barriers and communication difficulties can also help you relieve loneliness. For you and your family, fluent language teaching is the key factor to improve your self-satisfaction at home and at work. Even if North American women come to an English-speaking country, they will encounter many difficulties because of different vocabulary and communication methods. For example, British etiquette stipulates that whether you like it or not, you should not be too enthusiastic in unfamiliar places. Australians and Irish people are used to using communication to stabilize their working relationship. Although you may think that they waste precious time chatting, they are actually strengthening their loyalty and exchanging useful information with each other. Women in North America need to learn and adapt to the communication style and etiquette of their country very carefully, so as to enter the local social "circle" and relieve their sense of alienation and isolation.

In many countries, women need to actively communicate with others and establish social life in shopping malls. Don't wait for things to come to you. From the perspective of doing business, you should get used to being a good communicator by telephone, fax machine and email. An international executive insisted: "When you leave a place in the world and come to another strange place, you must want to communicate with people very much. If you want to do your job well, you must feel very comfortable."

Get the support of the company

In terms of culture shock, your company should also give the following help:

* By e-mail, fax and office network mail, you can easily understand the domestic situation.

:: Further education and support should be provided for cultural shock.

* Provide language guidance for you and your family.

* Give you enough time to adapt to the new culture.

* Don't expect you to travel around the world just because of a cultural shock.

* Help you solve problems on a positive psychological basis.

Introduce you to a good host or tutor in a new country.

* Tell you about some social organizations and immigrant groups you may join, so as to lay a good foundation for future socialization and integration into the local society.

Take care of yourself.

Take time out to relax and do physical exercise. Eat healthy food. It is also good for you to write down your feelings and experiences every day. We should allocate time for social activities and leisure. Also realize that you may make mistakes or look stupid. In this case, you usually have two choices: get angry or laugh at yourself. Which way will feel better? You'd better try your best to keep your sense of humor.

Adapting to cultural shock is a growing process.

If you overcome the culture shock, you will learn many new skills. Your perception of things will also change. These changes may include:

* Become more independent, flexible and adaptable.

* Very satisfied with the new experience.

* Take more responsibility for your own adaptation.

* Know your own style and what others think of you.

* Learned new cultural knowledge.

* Abandoned the judgment and intolerant behavior of people.

* More mature.

* Decision-making ability has been further improved.

* Achieved the set goals.

* Improve organizational and communication skills.

* Learned new language skills.

After the culture shock, you will find that your vision is broader-from politics to food, from culture to body language, from work habits to communication with people. You have confidence again. You will learn more new knowledge and experience more new experiences. You will be eager to return to your motherland and share everything you have learned with your friends, family and colleagues.