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Cultural Shock - Avoid it!

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New in Kiel? Do you want to have a good experience? So, pay attention!

 

According to the website internations Cultural Shock is a phenomenon that all types of expatriates experience, no matter if they work abroad for the first time or if they are veterans in the field of expat assignments. Often, it is the deeper cultural differences in mindset, customs and interpersonal interaction that trigger this phenomenon and turn cultural transition into a struggle.

 

The first step towards overcoming this inevitable phenomenon is to ask yourself “what is culture shock?” and try to understand it. Most experts define it as a curve-like process while many people who have experienced it first-hand say that it manifests itself in a series of waves. Positive and negative feelings often take turns and make expats feel like they are on an emotional rollercoaster ride.

 

More details here.

 

According to another website (hziegler), Culture shock has three to five phases:

 

• The Honeymoon Phase: This is a fun time. Everything is great, exciting, and new. You love the differences, meeting new people, tasting new foods, seeing different architecture, doing new things, working in your new job. This phase can last days, weeks, or months.

 

• The Honeymoon is Over Phase: During this phase, you're noticing differences, even slight differences, and typically not in a good way. You don't like people's attitudes, you have had enough of the food and just want mom's cooking, you miss your TV program at such-and-such a time, you don't like the water, it's too hot/cold, life is too fast/slow, things are so much "better" at home, they celebrate the wrong holidays, and so forth. There's no set time when this begins — with some people, it can be within days, with others, months. During this phase, a person often feels anxious, angry, frustrated, sad, and/or irritable. A person may withdraw and have difficulty concentrating at their new activities.

 

• The Negotiation Phase: As above, there is no set time in which this begins. Essentially, during this phase you decide whether you will succumb to negativity or negotiate past it to make the most of your experience. If you're successful, you regain your sense of perspective, balance, and humour, and move on to the next phase.

 

• The All's Well, or Everything is OK Phase: Those who arrive at this phase feel more at home with the differences in the new culture. Depending on how big a change a person has experienced, the person may feel as if the culture isn't in fact new, but that they belong, or the person may not exactly feel part of the culture, but they're comfortable enough with it to enjoy the differences and challenges. Negative feelings are minimized. The person doesn't have to be in love with the new country (as in the honeymoon phase), but they can navigate it without unwarranted anxiety, negativity, and criticism.

 

• The Reverse Culture Shock Phase: Sure enough, this can happen! Once a person has become accustomed to the way things are done in a different country, that person can go through the same series of culture shock phases when they return home.

 

More details here.

 

How to avoid it??

 

According to the website wikihow, you can avoid Cultural Shock in 7 steps:

1. Keep an open mind. Do not automatically perceive anything that is different to be "wrong". Withholding judgment will allow you to be an objective observer and will facilitate the process of cross-cultural understanding. Also, if you are going to a country with which you know close to nothing about, do a little background information. As you learn about the country in which you are going to, keeping an open mind is necessary, and, who knows, you may find the reason for something you may not understand.

2. Make an effort to learn the local language. This increases your communication skills and it helps you to integrate with the local community. It also demonstrates your interest in the new country.

3. Get acquainted with the social conduct of your new environment. Do not assume or interpret behavior from your own cultural perspective or "filter". Behavior is not data.

4. Do not take cultural familiarity or knowledge at face-value. Be careful not to attribute an explanation or rationale to what you now believe you know. A little bit of knowledge can be misleading. Psychologist Geert Hofstede wrote that 'culture' is like an onion that can be peeled, layer by layer, to reveal the content.[1] It takes a long time to really understand a culture in its social and historical context.

5. Make sure you get to know people in your new environment. Respectfully ask questions, read newspapers, and attend a variety of festivals and events.

6. Try to achieve a sense of stability in your life. Establishing a routine will give you a feeling of safety.

7. Most importantly, maintain a sense of humor! Don't be too hard on yourself if you make a cultural gaffe or don't know what to do in a social situation. Laugh at yourself and others will laugh with you. Most individuals will admire your tenacity and effort to understand their ways, especially if you are devoid of judgment and cultural comparisons that subtly and perhaps unconsciously convey a veil of superiority.

 

More details here.

 

 

Here you can find some opinions about cultural shock in Germany:

 

Third year abroad

 

Expat arrivals

 

Trading travelers