Culture, culture shock, honeymoon, crisis, recovery, stable state

1. Cultural shock
Martina Brtnická
Essay
2011

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Contents
Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... 3
1. Culture.................................................................................................................................... 4
1.1 Definition of culture ......................................................................................................... 4
2. Acculturation.......................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 Definition of acculturation................................................................................................ 4
2.2 Acculturation curve .......................................................................................................... 4
3. Cultural shock ........................................................................................................................ 6
4. Multicultural working environment ....................................................................................... 7
4.1 Working abroad ................................................................................................................ 8
4.2 Osland´s model of working abroad .................................................................................. 8
Conclusion................................................................................................................................ 10
Literature .................................................................................................................................. 11

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Abstract
In these days I find myself on an island in the heart of the Mediterranean. Malta is
very small island, about 15 kilometres wide and 27 kilometres long. I am sure that some
people would find these facts very frustrating, being on such a small piece of earth from
which you can get away only by plain or on a boat.
Nowadays I am here on an Erasmus traineeship programme, but it is not the first time
I am in Malta. In september 2007 I signed for a 6 months language course as a result for not
being accepted to the university. It was the first time I stayed all alone abroad without my
parents, relatives or friends. The first few weeks were quite hard, but being 19 years old I was
not so homesick. I liked it here a lot and I had nice classmates with who I spend most of my
time. After three months I went back home for two weeks to celebrate Christmas with my
family. The fact that I was going home on a certain date probably helped that the cultural
shock was not so bad.
This essay is about culture, acculturation and cultural shock. It is more theoretical then
practical but sometimes I was trying to add some of my personal experience. I find this essay
very useful as I can understand more my feelings and make my stay abroad more valuable and
enjoyable.

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1. Culture
1.1 Definition of culture
Definite culture is very complicated, as there is no such thing as a pure culture.
Culture is an amorphous entity, neither static nor unidimensional. We can name some
components of culture – gender roles, food, behaviour, language, music, customs, beliefs,
values, believes etc. – but they are not definable as concrete entities which would help to
definite differences between cultures. Culture is a complex concept, much like personality and
intelligence, difficult to define yet clearly important. Like construct of intelligence, the
construct of acculturation is formed by numerous factors, in which people demonstrate
varying degrees of capabilities, abilities, strengths and weaknesses. Cognitions, emotions and
behaviours play very important role in the process of acculturation. (CBMCS, 2008, s. 120 –
121).
Let present at least one definition of culture proposed by Linton: “learned behaviour
passed on from one generation to the next.” (CBMCS, 2008, s. 120 – 121).
2. Acculturation
2.1 Definition of acculturation
Acculturation is “the process of adjusting and adapting to a new and different
culture.” (Chaney, 2007, s. 8).
2.2 Acculturation curve
People who went abroad for a longer period of time for study, work or leisure
purposes often experience an acculturation curve or cultural shock in another words. The
diagram shows the stages of
cultural shock in a shape of “U”
curve where horizontal axis shows
the feelings and the vertical one
time. I will present two opinions
about cultural shock from authors
Hofstede and Hall.
The acculturation curve has
four stages, the first one known as
honeymoon, which is probably the happiest one of them all as euphoria is experienced from
Obrázek 1 Hofstede, 2003, s. 210

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the new places, people, food, habits.. The person mostly sees everything in pink colours,
differences are exciting and everything looks nice, better than at home, travelling is thrilling
and we are very happy for going abroad.
Then, after certain period of time, the second stage occurs, known as cultural shock,
when the differences between cultures are getting annoying, people are disturbed, in bad
mood all the time, blaming the local people for their unhappiness and feel sorry for leaving
their lovely home. This is the worse period when lot of the people give up and return back to
their country.
The third phase is called acculturation when the person settles in the new country and
manages to deal with the cultural differences, getting comfortable, feeling more self
confident, adopts some of the local values, becomes integrated into a new social network and
starts enjoying the stay again. The last period of acculturation is known as the stable state. It
can be both negative (compared to home) and positive, when the visitor feels adapted and
belonged. (Hofstede, 2003, s. 209 – 211).
Hall in his book Among cultures names the single stages differently – honeymoon,
crises, recovery and adjustment. The phases are about the same, just Hall describes them in
more detailed and add practical examples as well. The honeymoon stage refers to the initial
exhilaration associated with the trip abroad. People are excited about going to another country
and see it as a big adventure. There might be some concerns at the beginning, but the
enthusiasm tends to outweigh any initial concerns.
Crisis occurs after the first excitement wears off. Things that perceived as comical or
interesting now seem to be annoying. This stage called crisis or cultural shock is a feeling of
discouragement and disorientation. It is a period of frustration, mental exhaustion, tiredness
and feeling sick from the uncomfortable situation caused by not understanding the local
culture. People are also very negative towards the members of the other culture. This is the
time when most of the international students, businesspeople and other travellers cut their stay
and return home.
If visitors “survive” the previous stage and decide to fight it, then they will come to a
recovery phase, when they try to operate in the new culture. People start to see positive sides
about the local people and the community. This is the stage when they get to understand

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emotionally and intellectually that people are different, but it does not mean that they are bad
or worse than them.
The last, final, stage of the acculturation process is adjustment, when people are finally
adjusted to life in the new culture. People have back their normal moods (not so pessimistic as
back to the crises period), they cope with life the same way they did at home. There are still
little differences to be found uncomfortable, but there is much more understanding for the
host culture and ability to help others with the adjustment process. (Hall, 2005, s. 271 – 274).
As it was said above, acculturation curve has four stages, but it does not mean that
every person goes through every each of them and for the same period of time. Sometimes it
takes few weeks or months to get to the next stage. Some people go through each stage and
then they just stay in the last, adjustment, stage, others experience them more than once. It has
a lot to do with the frequency of going back home for a visit and so on. It can take over a year
to go through all the stages before the person get comfortable in the new culture, but this
process is very individual.
3. Cultural shock
The phrase “culture shock” was popularized by Kalvero Ober referring to the “anxiety
that results from losing all of our familiar signs and symptoms of social intercourse.”
(Bennett, 1998, s. 215). Culture shock, also written as cultural shock is the trauma that is
experienced when one moves into a culture different from his/her home culture. It is mostly a
communication problem that involves the frustration of not understanding verbal and
nonverbal communication (basic differences between yes and no, gestures that in once
country means perfect in another is offensive etc.), customs (Maltese people mostly do not
have the custom of taking off their shoes when they are come home or while visiting others),
value systems, different standards of cleanliness (mostly in the Czech republic the standard of
public toilets or the once in shopping centres is higher quality) and fear of personal safety ( I
have to say that in Malta I feel much safer than in the Czech republic, it might be the area
where I live, as its quite busy and touristic, and crime rate is not so high here, but once again
we have to consider the size of both countries). (Chaney, 2007, s. 73).
Another dimension of cultural shock is disruption of people´s routines, which range
from getting up (in Malta is quite late since mostly working hours start at 9pm), eating
breakfast (Mostly tea or coffee only – in my opinion is Italian influence, but they say to be a
result of the modern lifestyle – no time for breakfast. Very common is to drink tea and eat one

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or two “pastizzi” baked but very only fatty puff pastry filled either with local cheese or peas)
as being middle European I like rich breakfast, warm lunch (again they do not consider lunch
as a main dish and eat something light for example a sandwich) and just small dinner, mostly
cold, around 6 to 7 pm (here dinner is the main dish and having most of the year hot weather
local people eat quite late, when the temperature cools down and everyone is home, back from
work. It might cause eating problems and few kilos up as it is not very healthy to eat late in
the evening, dinner time is mostly about 7 to 9 pm), all this and much more other differences
in the routine cause a high degree of uncertainty that is very stressful.
People like predictability, security of knowing that in a stationary to buy these goods,
in a supermarket they find their favourite tea etc., we like to feel comfortable and be familiar
with our surroundings. For example I find very stressful the fact that there are not so many
supermarkets like in the Czech republic, where you can find everything in one place,
including free parking (few years ago Lidl opened its chain stores here), or that stationary is
mostly selling newspapers, food or drinks and its range of stationary products is quite poor
and its very disturbing not to be able to find what you looking for. (Chaney, 2007, s. 73).
Other types of cultural shock include attitudes towards women, clothing dress, family
and marriage practises (until 2011 it was not allowed to get divorced in Malta, the marriage
could had been only annulled mostly because one of the partners was not aware of some very
important facts – for example if they do not have children, one can say that he/she never
wanted them and annul their marriage, or one states that he/she was under the effect of drugs
when getting married and so on), educational system, ethical standards etc. (Chaney, 2007, s.
74).
4. Multicultural working environment
Mobility of people is continuously increasing, so it is getting more and more common
that especially international companies have multicultural workers. It can create a bit of
trouble and misunderstanding having to work with different nationalities as they might have
unlike working routine (in Czech republic, from my experience, we start much earlier at work,
6 – 8 am, in Malta we start working at 9 am, which is quite late for me), the opening hours of
most of the local shops are different, they mostly open at 9 to 10 am, then they have siesta,
when they close, mostly from 1pm to 4pm and then mostly at about 7ish, 8ish in the evening.
This fact might be quite confusing or disturbing for foreign shop assistants who are not use to

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it, or for office workers who start working earlier, that they cannot buy their food as the shops
are still closed and have to go later.
International companies need a manager who is able to handle problem caused by
multicultural staff. The differences are not to be suppressed but instead manage to maximize
the group´s understanding, productivity and creativity. As motivation aspect might differ from
one country to another so for the corporation to get maximum out of their people they need to
manage to work effectively with cultural groups. People who learn more than one culture are
multicultural and can move between two cultures very comfortably (a child whose parents
were raised in different cultures, got education in dissimilar countries and educational
systems), be familiar with more than one cultural could be very useful for easier travelling or
working abroad. (Chaney, 2007, s. 8 - 9).
4.1 Working abroad
Cultural shock might be very costly for a company if the employees send to work
abroad return earlier than expected. It does not necessary have to be the employee´s fault for
his premature return, but if he goes abroad for a longer period he moves there with his family
and that might be the result for the unsuccessful mission. The children don’t have to get use to
the educational system or it could be very difficult during their teenage, when they start
socialising with the opposite sex and get disturbed with different matters or the wife has
problems getting herself familiar with the surroundings or finding new friends.
4.2 Osland´s model of working abroad
The author of this model is Joyce Osland who was unsatisfied with the description of
this matter in academic writings so she designed her own model, that might happen to the
once who decide to work abroad. She describes it as a six-part journey: the call to the
adventure, the belly of the whale, the magical friend, the road of trials, the ultimate boon and
the return. (Hall, 2005, s. 275).
The call to the adventure is the opportunity to go abroad and experience a new way of
living in another culture. Most of the people are eager to go to the other country. They see it
as a great opportunity and something that they always wanted to do. In the belly of the whale
means entering into unknown culture. It is challenging stepping into the unknown, but it
doesn’t mean that everything will go smoothly and people manage to handle everything
competently. The magical friend is someone who helps the visitors to get through, as he
travelled a similar path in the past. Mostly is the member of the new culture, who helps with

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the language concerns, accommodation, social contacts and advices for greater work
effectiveness. In this stage is important not to complain about the new culture. The road of
trials (paradoxes) is the part when the visitor has to get on his feet and go down his way
without his “magical friend”. That is the time when people see the validity of the general
stereotype about the local culture and also finding many exception that do not fit in.
Developing the ability to feel at home in a variety of places yet the person still might not be
accepted as local. A person send abroad on an organisational assignment might caught
himself between contradictory demands – home company asking to make things in certain
way and time which might be impossible in the foreign conditions. Giving up some of their
home cultural ideas or behaviour in order to be accepted and successful in the foreign country.
The ultimate boon the visitor learned to sacrifice for the good of others, developed inner
power and accomplishment of seemingly impossible tasks. The return back home might be
harder than one thinks as wanting it or not people abroad change, mostly they recalculate their
opinions, believes or values, other people are not really interested in their stories etc. So the
return home should get as much attention as preparation for the trip abroad. (Hall, 2005, s.
275 - 278).

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Conclusion
Cultural shock is kind of shock that should not be overlooked as something pity. Most
of the people are going through the acculturation process not even knowing about it and
unable to explain their behaviour, feelings and moods. With today´s high rate of mobility
people should get familiar with this as it will make their life easier and keep them mentally
healthy. Get prepared before going abroad, get familiar with the local language, read about the
culture they going to spend a lot of time in, preferably meet someone who has already
experienced the trip to give them tips and advices which are not written in any guide, for
example customs, habits, aspects of nonverbal communications, standard of life style and
everything else what might be helpful to get adjusted as quickly as possible.
Understanding the acculturation and cultural shock will help to get the best out of the
stay abroad and work as efficiently as possible to reach the company expectation when send
on a firm assignment. If moving abroad with the whole family, get your wife and children
informed as much as possible, for example study the educational system or find out about the
opinions towards women. As your family might experience bigger cultural shock than you as
you will be busy and occupied at work and have higher opportunity to find friends.
Thank you this essay I got quite familiar with the topic “cultural shock” as to be
honest I did not know anything about it before. It helped me to realise that I might be
experiencing cultural shock several times over as I have been coming and going for a number
of years now, but every time I find it hard to adjust with the locals as I compare it to the
situation at home, that we have supermarkets, cheaper doctors, better roads, tastier food,
healthy routine, etc. But I have started working on my “recovery stage” from the cultural
shock and finding some activities where I can socialise with other people if I am not at work
(Erasmus work placement) or at home writing my essays within my individual study plan.

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Literature
BENNETT, Milton J. Basic concepts of intercultural communication. Yarmouth: Me:
Intercultural Press, 1998. ISBN 1-877864-62-5.
GAMST, Glenn, Aghop DER-KARABETIAN a Dana RICHARD H. CBMCS
multicultural reader. Los Angeles: Sage Publications, 2008. ISBN 978-1-4129-5946-9.
HALL, Bradford J. Among cultures: the challenge of communication. 2nd ed. Belmont, CA:
Thomson Wadsworth, 2005, 378 s. ISBN 05-346-4248-9.
HOFSTEDE, Geert. Cultures and organizations: software of the mind: intercultural
cooperation and its importance for survival. London: Profile Books, 2003. ISBN 1-86197-
543-0
CHANEY, Lillian H. Intercultural business communication. 4th ed. Upper saddle River,
N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007. ISBN 0-13-186009-7