《新编跨文化交际英语教程》复习资料u

Unit 9 Intercultural Adaptation Some Ideas Related to Culture Shock and Adaptation Strategies

1. Culture Shock

What is culture shock Culture shock is a common experience of people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad. It refers to phenomena ranging from mild irritability to deep psychological panic and crisis. It is associated with feelings in the person of estrangement (being unfriendly or hostile to others; alienation), anger, hostility, indecision, frustration, unhappiness, sadness, loneliness, homesickness, and even physical illness. The person undergoing culture shock views his new world out of resentment, and alternates between being angry at others for not understanding him and being filled with self-pity.

Culture shock is caused by the anxiety that results from losing all our familiar signs and symbols or social contact. Those cues or sighs include various ways in which we adapt ourselves to the situation of daily life: When to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to buy things, when to accept and when to refuse invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not. These cues, which may be words, gestures, facial expressions, or customs, are acquired by all of us in the course of growing up and are as much a part of our culture as the

language we speak or the beliefs we accept. All of us depend for our peace of mind and our efficiency on hundreds of these cues, most of which we do not carry on the level of conscious awareness.

Now when an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. He or she is like fish out of water. Edward Hall describes a hypothetical example of an American living abroad for the first time — at first, things in the cities look pretty much alike. There are taxis, hotels with hot and cold running water, theatres, neon lights, even tall buildings with elevators and a few people who can speak English. But pretty soon the American discovers that underneath the familiar exterior there are vast differences. When someone says “yes” it often doesn’t mean yes at all, and when people smile it doesn’t always mean they are pleased.

When the American visitor makes a helpful gesture he may be rebuffed; when he tries to be friendly nothing happens. People tell him that they will do things and don’t. The longer he stays, the more enigmatic (puzzling) the new country looks.

2. Possible signs of culture shock

The following sentences describe different stages of culture shock.

a. The person holds a hostile and aggressive attitude toward the