Culture shock and suggestions to overcome it

Thông báo Khoa học và Công nghệ * Số 1-2014 125 
CULTURE SHOCK AND SUGGESTIONS TO OVERCOME IT 
Master My Tra Hoang 
Informatics - Languages Center, Central University of Construction 
Abstract: Due to the trend of globalization, more and more people are 
experiencing culture shock when living and working or studying overseas. This 
writing is to help these people to understand more about culture shock by 
examining some issues such as culture shock stages, suggestions to overcome it 
and its benefits. 
Keywords: culture shock, culture shock’s stages, suggestions to overcome 
culture shock, benefits from culture shock 
1. Definitions of Culture Shock 
Due to the rapid globalization of 
world economies, the need for 
understanding cultural diversity is 
becoming more and more inevitable and 
this makes cross - cultural 
communication become a global issue. 
As a result, individual ability to adjust to 
a new culture is being paid increased 
attention (Ferraro, 2006). In this process 
of adjusting to a new environment, 
newcomers have to face with various 
obstacles which are called culture shock. 
According to Oxford Dictionary, culture 
shock is “disorientation experienced 
when suddenly subjected to an 
unfamiliar culture or way of life.” 
Sharing the same point of view, Oberg 
describes culture shock as psychological 
disorientation experienced by people 
who suddenly enter radically different 
cultural environments to live and work 
(cite in Eschbach et al, 2001). Culture 
shock is related to the feelings in the 
hearers or speakers of “estrangement, 
anger, hostility indecision, frustration, 
unhappiness, sadness, loneliness, 
homesickness and even physical illness” 
(Valdes, 1995: 35). It can be seen that 
culture shock is a natural phenomenon 
happening to people who are in unusual 
or unexpected circumstances. These 
circumstances are popular when they are 
in a foreign country or in a different 
place they are not familiar. 
2. Stages of Culture Shock 
There are some different ideas 
among experts about culture shock 
stages. Although some experts divide 
culture shock into five stages, some 
others divide it into six stages; most of 
experts agree that people experiencing 
culture shock have to go through four 
fundamental stages including 
Fascination, Disenchantment, Gradual 
Adjustment and Achievement or 
Independence. 
The first stage is often described as 
the Fascination or Honeymoon Period, 
everything you feel in the new country is 
exciting and positive. You are excited 
about new things, new people and new 
opportunities here. At this stage, most 
people enjoy new surroundings with 
fascination. You are happy and satisfied 
with your decision to come there. This 
Thông báo Khoa học và Công nghệ * Số 1-2014 126 
period is exhilarating, full of 
observation and discoveries; 
unfortunately, it only lasts a few day or 
weeks to a few months. 
When you set out to study, to work 
or to live in the real environment, you 
begin to face with various difficulties 
and the culture shock begins to affect 
your life. At this time, you have entered 
the second stage, the Disenchantment 
or the Distress Stage. The difficulties 
you encounter in this stage often make 
you angry, uncomfortable, confused, 
frustrated or irritable and lose your 
senses of humor. You tend to spend 
excessive amounts of time alone for 
sleeping or thinking about your old life 
in your own country. You may waste 
much of time thinking about the decision 
of coming and living in the host country, 
you may even think about returning your 
own country. Normally, you spend more 
time calling and chatting with your 
family or your friends at home, but you 
tend to avoid contacting with the local 
people. You feel isolated as a fish out of 
water and everything is foreign to you. 
Gradually, you develop negative 
feelings about the people and culture of 
the host country. There are lots of 
reasons to create these feelings to you 
such as the absence of the immediate 
encourages or supports from family or 
friends, the realization of the differences 
and the high expectations set during the 
Honeymoon Period. At the end of this 
stage, your feelings become worse and 
worse, and then reach the extreme 
letdown with various feelings such as 
anxiety, sadness, homesickness, and 
anger. In a consequence, you may 
change your behaviors such as 
inappropriate anger, disordered sleep 
patterns, compulsive eating and 
drinking, irritability, poor concentration, 
and unexplainable crying. In conclusion, 
in the second stage, your feelings change 
a lot, from realizing the differences and 
difficulties to coming to the top of 
letdown at which all your feelings seem 
to be overwhelming. 
Enduring all these feelings is too 
difficult for you, you may think about 
returning your home; however it is 
unable because you have set your life 
here and everything just starts, you 
cannot give it up. As a result, you tend 
to change yourself to adapt and adopt 
the new culture. At this time, you come 
to the third stage, Gradual Adjustment 
or Adaptation. In this stage, you have 
tried to discover the differences and the 
similarities and then you try to behave in 
the same way as people in the host 
country or at least, to accept all the rules 
of behaviors and the values in the new 
surrounding. You also try to 
communicate well in the target language 
and try to be familiar with the climate 
and food in the host country. Gradually, 
you begin to understand the 
surroundings better, and find ways to 
comfortably interact and work in the 
new environment. Often, in this stage, 
you adopt a humorous and ironic 
outlook on the differences between your 
culture and that of your host country. 
Then, you realize that the people and the 
culture in the host country are not as bad 
as you thought. You enjoy your new life 
in various activities with the natives and 
no longer feel alone or isolated. 
Thông báo Khoa học và Công nghệ * Số 1-2014 127 
After the process of adjustment 
and adaptation finishes, you enter the 
last stage, the stage of Achievement or 
Independence. At this stage, you can 
enjoy yourself in the new environment 
and are able to communicate 
comfortably with the natives. You are 
familiar with weather and food here, 
you have some new close friends, your 
study or work is improving and your 
relations are broadened. You 
understand people and cultures in the 
host country as your own country. You 
start to feel at home with the comfort, 
confidence and relaxation. If you visit 
your home, you will miss your friends 
and your life here. At this stage, the 
new country has become your second 
hometown. 
3. Suggestions for Overcoming 
Culture Shock 
It is not easy for you to overcome 
all the difficulties at the second stage of 
culture shock. You may have to bear the 
negative feelings for a long time if you 
do not try to get out of them. Although a 
lot of suggestions for those who are 
suffering culture shock are offered by 
experts or people ever experiencing it, 
only practical and useful ones are stated 
and discussed in this small writing. 
Firstly, the most practical advice to 
avoid culture shock is to learn and 
master the target language because 
language is the key for you to discover 
culture in the host country. Learning 
language should be started right at the 
time you give the decision to move or 
before entering new cultural 
environment. By speaking only some 
simple sentences, you may feel more 
confident to go out and to maintain your 
daily life. Your language skills can be 
improved gradually by taking part in 
activities such as working, learning or 
playing with the natives. 
Secondly, mastering the target 
language does not mean communicating. 
Although you can speak or listen the 
target language, you may still meet a lot 
of difficulties in communicating with the 
natives due to the lack of cultural 
understanding. For this reason, it is 
necessary for you to do a research of 
the place you are going to come to build 
up knowledge and collect information 
related. It is advisable for you to look 
into the customs and traditions in their 
culture and make notes of anything that 
is absolutely taboo and try to remember 
them. The research can be done through 
some ways such as asking people ever 
experiencing culture shock, reading 
books or watching films or programs 
related to the host country. However, the 
fastest and most useful way of 
researching about one country is through 
the Internet. Thanks to the Internet, you 
can find any necessary materials such as 
books, articles, videos, etc. Furthermore, 
you also can enter some forums or chat 
rooms to contact with people ever living 
in the country you want to come and 
receive their sharing. 
Thirdly, learning the language and 
doing the research can be done before 
you enter the new surrounding, however, 
when you really step your feet into the 
new land, it is important for you to 
adjust yourself as quickly as possible. 
You have to realize that you have left 
your own land and are in a new and 
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strange place with new customs, 
traditions, norms and rules of 
behaviours, etc. Only by realizing these, 
you are able to pay attention to the 
similarities and the differences between 
your country and the new one and then 
change your way of thinking and way of 
life to be familiar with the new one. 
Fourthly, it is better for you to be 
confident, active, and healthy in the 
new surrounding. In fact, it is not easy 
for you to have fully confidence, 
activeness and especially health during 
four stages of culture shock. Generally, 
when you are healthy, you are confident 
to do anything, however, when you are 
sick or ill, you cannot maintain your 
daily life normally and you tend to be 
lonely, sad and depressed due to the lack 
of constant caring and love from your 
family. These feelings, to some extent, 
affect negatively to your new life. You 
can avoid this situation by maintaining a 
balance life. Your eating, sleeping and 
working or learning habit should be 
scheduled and followed strictly. 
Furthermore, to be confident and active, 
you advised to join in some sport 
activities such as swimming, jogging, 
tennis, golf, etc or register for an art or 
music class in the evening or at the 
weekend. Being engaged in 
productive, social and funny activities 
not only keeps you healthy but also 
makes you more sociable, and you 
also have more chances to learn 
language and culture here. 
Fifthly, making friends with 
native speakers or with international 
people helps you to overcome cultural 
differences and understand the country 
more. Local people will generally be 
pleased to introduce you to their culture 
and willing to answer any questions. If 
you have some local friends, you have 
more chances to enjoy social activities 
and tend to shorten your time of culture 
shock. Local friends are regarded as a 
bridge to connect you to their world and 
turn you into one part of their society. It 
is also advisable for you to make friends 
with people from your own country or 
from other countries in the world living 
around you. Those people not only help 
you to know more about culture but also 
share with your difficulties because they 
understand the feelings you have 
experienced. Whenever you feel isolated 
or homesick, contacting them is a good 
choice because they can tell exactly 
what are happening in your mind and 
find the right way to help you to 
overcome these feelings. It is good for 
you to join a group of people coming 
from your own country once or twice a 
week in some activities. Thanks to them, 
you love yourself and your life more. 
Sixthly, keeping in touch with 
your family and your friends from 
your country is very necessary. When 
you are away from home for some 
weeks or some months, you are certain 
to feel homesick. Contacting with them 
frequently can help you to feel like at 
home. You no longer feel lonely or sad 
because your family and your friends are 
always beside you. Furthermore, 
sometimes you just need to talk to 
someone who fully understands you. In 
this case, local or international friends 
seem to be strange to you; you should 
contact with one of your best friends in 
Thông báo Khoa học và Công nghệ * Số 1-2014 129 
your home country. In terms of the 
means of connection, each person often 
chooses their own ways to contact with 
their family and friends. Some people 
use phone calls and letters, however, 
calling is rather expensive while letters 
take too much time. For these reasons, 
many people choose the Internet as the 
main way of connection. Thanks to it, 
you can maintain contact easily by 
making voice calls, sharing news, 
information and photos of your new life. 
Your friends can follow you in every 
action or feeling by connecting to 
Facebook and you are the same. 
Although keeping contact with your 
home is very essential, it becomes bad if 
you contact them too often. Maintaining 
very regular contact with home can 
actually make the process of settling in 
the new country more difficult and 
longer. When you take your time in 
relationships with old friends, you lack 
time for new friends and activities in the 
host country. As a result, you have to 
spend more time and energy in adjusting 
yourself in the new environment. In 
short, you should keep balance between 
contacting with local or international 
friends and your family or old friends. 
Lastly, maintaining a positive 
attitude always helps you to succeed. It 
is very common for you to be tired, 
disappointed or stressful when dealing 
with culture shock. If you become 
depressed and waste your time of 
drinking, sleeping and staying alone, the 
process of adaptation and adjustment 
will take you much of time or you never 
reach this stage. You fail in adjusting 
yourself and be bored and isolated 
during the whole time being abroad. On 
the other hand, with a positive attitude, 
all the difficulties will pass away quickly 
and you are easy to make friends or take 
part in activities with the natives. You 
are soon to enjoy the achievement and 
independence in the new country and 
consider it your home one day. 
4. Benefits from Culture Shock 
It is important to stress that culture 
shock is entirely normal, usually 
unavoidable and not a sign that you 
have made a mistake or that you won’t 
manage. In fact, there are many positive 
aspects of culture shock. After 
recovering from culture shock, you 
certainly gain a lot of benefits in terms 
of understanding new culture in 
comparison with your own one, being 
more adaptable and open-minded, 
developing your communication skill 
and broadening your view of world. 
Firstly, to adjust to the new 
environment successfully, you have to 
acquire wide knowledge of culture in the 
new country; the knowledge is perceived 
in comparison with the basic 
understanding of your own culture. In 
the other word, after the process of 
adjusting to the new environment, you 
have understood various traditions, 
customs, rules of behaviours and values 
there. Furthermore, by comparing all 
knowledge of culture you gain with one 
in your own country, you can distinguish 
the differences and find out the 
similarities which are very useful for 
you in the process of working or 
learning in the future. 
Secondly, you are certain to be 
more adaptable and open-minded after 
Thông báo Khoa học và Công nghệ * Số 1-2014 130 
the process of adapting and adjusting to 
the new country. It is undeniable that you 
have tried your best to adjust yourself to 
be more and more familiar with life there. 
You change your eating habit, your 
fashion, your hobbies, your way of 
communicating and establishing many 
new relationships with various people. 
Although you life changes considerably, 
you still enjoy it so much. To obtain 
these changes, you must be an open-
minded person. In the beginning, you 
may be a close-minded person or at least 
are not tolerable of other cultures right 
away, then, you are made to change your 
points of view and your ways of living. 
Without these changes, you are not able 
to live and work in the new country 
happily. All the difficulties in your new 
life such as the barriers of language, the 
lack of cultural knowledge and the effects 
of negative feelings help you to become 
an open-minded person and enjoy your 
life more. 
Lastly, your views of the world 
and people have been broadened. From 
all difficulties you have overcome and 
from all cultural knowledge you have 
gained, your points of view about the 
world and people are better. You know 
more about the customs, rules of 
behaviours, values and traditions of the 
host country and of other countries in 
the world through communicating with 
international people in comparison with 
the ones in your own country. This 
helps you to improve the critical 
thinking. The way you look the world is 
more optimistic. More importantly, the 
way you communicate and treat people 
is also improved. You have realized that 
different people have different ways of 
thinking and ways of living mainly 
because of the influence of their culture. 
Their behaviours are not true or false; 
they are different because these people 
grow up in different countries and 
inheriting different values, customs and 
traditions. Thanks to these changes in 
the view of the world and people, you 
can improve communication skills and 
establish important relationships with 
various kinds of people. These skills 
and relationships are very useful for 
you to become successful in work and 
life in the future. 
In summary, when you have 
overcome culture shock, you become 
an experienced person. All the 
experiences and knowledge you gain 
will become beneficial to you sooner 
or later. In your work, in your life or 
even in your family, these experiences 
may help you to be successful and 
maintain an enjoying life. 
6. Conclusion 
Culture shock is not good or bad, 
it is a natural process, affecting anyone 
living, working or studying oversea. It 
may be challenging for you to 
overcome the second and the third 
stage of culture shock, but when you 
succeed you will enjoy your life much 
in the last stage; when you fail, you 
have to suffer negative feelings for all 
the time abroad. Culture shock is 
unavoidable but it can be dealt with in 
a short or long time depending on each 
individual. If you are suffering from 
culture shock, you should not stay at 
home and keep annoying feelings, you 
had better find ways to get out of this 
Thông báo Khoa học và Công nghệ * Số 1-2014 131 
situation by consulting advices and 
experiences from others. Although 
culture shock may challenge you at 
first, it, after that, becomes one of 
your best experiences in your life. 
After recovering from culture shock, 
you can learn and gain a lot of 
benefits which are very useful for your 
future work and life. Thanks to culture 
shock, many people have changed 
their minds positively and obtained a 
lot of achievement in their life. 
REFERENCES 
[1] Eschbach, D. M., Parker, G. E., & Stoeberl, P. A. 2001. American repatriate 
employees’ retrospective assessments of the effects of cross-cultural training on their 
adaptation to international assignments, International Journal of Human Resource 
Management, 2-270; 
[2] Ferraro, G. P. 2006. The