Culture shock is a condition that affects people who travel to a country different from their own. The term describes a travelers feelings of bewilderment1 when the environment and culture change from the one that he or she is familiar with. The unfamiliar surroundings, foreign language and strange habits of a new country can all contribute to culture shock.

Culture shock is not just suffered by those who travel and live abroad. Any change in surroundings can bring about the feeling of culture shock. If a person leaves home for the first time and goes to college, then the new environment and new experiences may be a shock to the system2.

Actually it is a malady which afflicts most of us to some degree.3 We might almost call culture shock an occupational disease of many people who have been suddenly transplanted abroad.4 Culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse.5 These signs are the thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of daily life: when to shake hands and what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how to make purchases, 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, customs, or norms 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.6 When an individual enters a strange culture, all or most of these familiar cues are removed. He or she is like a fish out of water; no matter how broad-minded or full of good will he may be.

This is followed by a feeling of frustration and anxiety. People react to the frustration in much the same way. First they reject the environment which causes the discomfort: “the ways of the host country7 are bad because they make us feel bad.”

For example Americans who are in a strange land get together to grouse about8 the host country and its people, you can be sure they are suffering from culture shock. The “dollar grasping American” and the “indolent Latin American” are samples of mild forms of stereotypes.9 The use of stereotypes may salve the ego of someone with a severe case of culture shock but it certainly does not lead to any genuine understanding of the host country and its people.10

In the course of time, an individual makes this adjustment. You do what is essential about water, food, and the other minutiae11 of daily life. In short, the environment does not change. What has changed is your attitude towards it. Somehow it no longer troubles you; you no longer project12 your discomforts onto the people of the host country and their ways. You get along under a new set of living conditions.

In an effort to get over culture shock, there is value in knowing something about the nature of culture and its relationship to the individual. In addition to living in a physical environment, an individual lives in a cultural environment consisting of manmade physical objects, social institutions, and ideas and beliefs.

An individual is not born with culture but only with the capacity to learn it and use it. There is nothing in a new born child which dictates13 that it should eventually speak Portuguese, English, or French, nor that he eat with a fork in his left hand rather than in the right, or use chop sticks. All these things the child has to learn. The culture of any people is the product of history and is built up over time largely through processes which are, as far as the individual is concerned, beyond his awareness. It is by means of

culture that the young learn to adapt themselves to the physical environment and to the people with whom they associate.

But once learned, culture becomes a way of life, the sure, familiar, largely automatic way of getting what you want from your environment and as such it also becomes a value.

People have a way of accepting their culture as both the best and the only way of doing things. This is perfectly normal and understandable. To this attitude we give the name ethnocentrism14, a belief that not only the culture but the race and nation form the center of the world.

Individuals identify themselves with their own group and its ways to the extent that any critical comment is taken as an affront15 to the individual as well as to the group. If you criticize my country, you are criticizing me. If you criticize me, you are criticizing my country.

Along with this attitude goes the tendency to attribute all individual peculiarities as national characteristics. For instance, if an American does something odd or anti-social in a foreign country which back home would be considered a purely individual act, it is now considered a national trait. Instead of being censured16 as an individual, his country is censured. It is best to recognize that ethnocentrism is a characteristic of national groups. If a national criticizes some aspect of his own culture, the foreigner should listen but not enter into the criticism.

Another important point worth considering is the attitude of others to a person suffering from culture shock. If you are frustrated and have an aggressive attitude to the people of the host country, they will sense this hostility and in many cases respond in either a hostile manner or try to avoid you.

Culture shock is lessened as the visitor succeeds in getting some knowledge of the language and begins to get around by himself. This is the beginning of his adjustment to the new cultural environment. The visitor still has difficulties but he takes a “this is my cross17 and I have to bear it” attitude. Usually in this stage the visitor takes a superior attitude toward people of the host country. His sense of humor begins to exert itself.18 Instead of criticizing he makes jokes about the people and even cracks jokes19 about his or her own difficulties. He or she is now on the way to recovery. And there is still the poor devil who is worse off than yourself whom you can help, which in turn gives you confidence in your ability to speak and get around.

Once you realize that your trouble is due to your own lack of understanding of other peoples cultural background and your own lack of the means of communication rather than the hostility of an alien20 environment, you also realize that you yourself can gain this understanding and these means of communication. And the sooner you do this; the sooner culture shock will disappear.

1. bewilderment: 困惑。

2. system:此处指人的身心。

3. malady: 病，疾病（尤指慢性病），此处喻指“社会或心理层面的顽疾”；afflict:使苦恼，折磨。

4. occupational: 职业引起的；transplant: 使迁移，使移居。

5. precipitate:（突如其来地）使发生，促成；social intercourse: 社交。

6. cue: 暗示，信号；norm: 规范，准则。

7. host country: 东道国，这里指与祖国相对的你所去的国家。

8. grouse about:〈口〉抱怨，发牢骚。

9.“紧抓着美元不放的老美”和“懒洋洋的拉美人”这类说法都是表达偏见的温和实例。

10. salve: 宽慰，安慰；ego: 自我。

11. minutiae: 为minutia的复数形式，指“琐事，小事”。

12. project: 【心】把（自己的感情等）投射给（别人）。

13. dictate: 发号施令地规定，专横地强加（规则、条款等）。

14. ethnocentrism: 种族（或民族）中心主义。

15. affront: 公开侮辱，有意冒犯。

16. censure: 指摘，责备。

17. cross: 磨难，苦难。

18. 他的幽默感开始发挥作用。

19. crack joke: 说笑话。

20. alien: 陌生的。

阅读感评

一位曾在香港工作和生活了多年的加拿大心理学家Michael Bond在其著作《难以捉摸的中国人》（1993）中说：“我来香港已过第15个年头了，但我仍然感到像一个初来乍到、被中国人所包围的外国人。日常社交活动中，有许多出乎我意料的事，就连在此的老年同行也还时而吃惊，时而高兴，时而愤怒，时而感到困惑。”香港自鸦片战争［1840—1842］后逐步被英国侵占，受其殖民统治达一个半世纪，其实还算是比较西化的，在此生活的西方人尚且有如此感受，内地对他们的冲击就更可想而知了。其实，在香港感觉不适应的不仅是西方人，有时即便是内地人去了也未必就能感觉自在。笔者曾在香港与台湾因访学各呆过一两个月，发现两地确有一些方面是我们刚开始时很难适应的。例如，在那边乘公交地铁，即便候车的仅两三人，也总要排队上车。……