Culture Shock Or Smooth Sailing?

Posted on 11. Sep, 2009 by Emmanuelle Archer in Blog, Expat Life, Relocation
9 comments

Culture shock. We’ve all heard about it, and chances are, we’ve all experienced it to some degree during our expat adventures.

On her Swedish Blog, Anna recently questioned whether Westerners could get culture shock when relocating to Sweden.

I can see her point. After all, if you’re moving from one developed country to another, how big could the difference be, right?

However, back when I was in Sweden some 15 years ago (yikes!), I saw enough fellow French and British students suffer from full-blown culture shock to know that things are not that simple.

I don’t believe that culture shock has much to do with the objective differences between two countries. It all happens on the emotional level.

You’re headed for culture shock when you:

- Feel like a fish out of water

- Realise that you’ve become the “other”. The foreigner. The outsider

- Feel incompetent and unsure of yourself, because you don’t know how things work

- Feel emotionally overwhelmed by all these lifestyle changes

Of course, you’re much more likely to have all these “symptoms” in a country where the lifestyle is very different, where you stick out like a sore thumb and where you don’t understand a word of the language.

But each and every country is different from the others – so don’t ever think that something is wrong with you if you suffer from culture shock. It’s to be expected, and it’s perfectly legitimate.

Yes, even if your host country seems very similar to your own.

Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!

Oh and by the way, Anna, I share your dislike of the term “culture shock”. Does anyone have a better word for it? I think we should have a renaming contest!

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Emmanuelle

Image by -zeeny-, via Flickr Creative Commons

9 Comments »

I read your comment on Anna’s blog and agree.

Many years ago I emigrated to Canada from the UK, not a big step culturally you would think, but it was surprising how different I found it. I remember bank tellers brightly asking me “how are you today?” and me thinking suspiciously “who is this person, do they know me?” – me at that time coming from a much less outgoing culture.

I’ve come across a few British immigrants who haven’t adapated well to life in Canada, many returning after a short while. For the most part they came expecting Canada to be the UK but with different geography and weather and pined constantly for British food, pubs, sports, etc. Those who settled, embraced the fact that they were moving to a new environment and expected things to be done differently.

I’ve noticed the same in expat life. Those who are determined to live in a “bubble” and on each vacation return with suitcases full of supplies from home are least likely to enjoy their life overseas. While there’s no need to totally “go native” those who venture out, make local friends and experience local life are much more likely to have a positive experience.

As for the term Culture Shock, I don’t mind it, but I understand it not so much as being shocked by the local culture, but being shocked at my own reaction to it.

Comment by Judy — September 11, 2009 @ 1:32 pm
I have lived in UK, US, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, Australia. The biggest culture shock I suffered was returning to the UK after many years away and expecting everything to be the same and me to be the same, and of course I was wrong on both counts. Equally, moving to Australia, a place I thought I knew and I thought would be similar to living in the UK, I also had some problems adapting because of my expectations. In my experience trying to keep an open mind, ready to adapt to new and different ways of doing things is the key. Easy to say, not always easy to put into practice!

Comment by hp88 — September 11, 2009 @ 10:27 pm
A very thoughtful peice. However I think the term “culture shock” is a perfect one, because that is what being thrown into new waters feels like: It’s a shock to the body and spirit on a cultural level. Why is it you don’t like the term?

Comment by Sezin — September 12, 2009 @ 1:48 am
Thank you very much for your insightful comments, everyone! I really appreciate your sharing your thoughts and personal experiences.

@Judy: I agree, embracing change and venturing out are very important. You have to be willing to stretch your limits a little. And I love the twist you put on the usual understanding of Culture Shock! I hadn’t thought of it that way and I really like it…

@hp88: You perfectly summed it up: managing expectations is a key skill for expats – especially the expectation that things ~should~ be easy because we already know the place, or because we’ve lived abroad before, etc. It takes work, and you go through the whole adjustment process every time you relocate, no matter how much of a veteran expat you are!

@Sezin: Thank you for the kind words! My problem with the term “culture shock” is that it sounds… I don’t know, big and dramatic. Like it should only apply to major, obvious cultural differences. I’ve worked with expats who thought they didn’t deserve to call what they were experiencing Culture Shock, because they lived in Italy or Belgium, not rural China or Namibia.

Sure, when you move to a country similar to yours, the process is less intense, it almost sneaks up on you – unfortunately, that doesn’t make it easier. Even though on the surface the culture seems similar to yours, it’s still different and adjusting is still painful at times.

So I really wish we could find a term that all expats would feel comfortable using, without feeling like wimps or crybabies, regardless of how “foreign” their host country may or may not seem at first.

Comment by Emmanuelle Archer — September 12, 2009 @ 11:55 am
“So I really wish we could find a term that all expats would feel comfortable using, without feeling like wimps or crybabies, regardless of how “foreign” their host country may or may not seem at first.”

I think that exactly why coaches like yourself need to warn expats that culture shock happens no matter where you move to. As you say, we all expect it when we move to a culture very different from our own, but it’s when you move to a place where you don’t expect it to be all that different that the culture shock is truly “shocking” and can in fact be more difficult to handle.

And I agree with hp88 – repatriation is the worse culture shock of all!

Interesting discussion. I love it when there’s real dialogue in the comments section of a blog

Comment by Judy — September 12, 2009 @ 12:45 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Emmanuelle Archer, HelenP and Linda Beltran. Linda Beltran said: RT @dosankodebbie: RT @emmanuelle_a: Can you get culture shock if you move 2 a country similar 2 yours? http://tinyurl.com/mk23zm: POssibly? [...]

Pingback by Tweets that mention Culture Shock Or Smooth Sailing? « Expat Tips and Resources -- Topsy.com — September 12, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
@Judy: Exactly – I know several French couples who emigrated to Quebec, expecting the transition to be easy because they spoke the language and thought the culture would be similar to that of Paris… They ended up having a much harder time with culture shock than I did here on the West Coast.
I believe that moving to an English-speaking province ultimately made my life easier, as the language acted as a constant reminder that I was not in France anymore, and that I had to adapt to the local culture. It may sound counterintuitive, but it made a real difference in my case.

Repatriation is a very tough transition indeed. Expectations are often unreasonably high: “everything will go back to normal now that we’re home again”, “we’ll readjust in no time at all”, etc. Returning expats have to rebuild their identity and their relationships almost from scratch. Every single expat I have assisted through repatriation found it a harder transition than even the toughest international assignment they had been on.

And I agree, it’s wonderful when a stimulating conversation gets started through the comment section! Many thanks once again to every reader who commented here, you have inspired me to write more on the subject of culture shock. I look forward to our next discussion

Comment by Emmanuelle Archer — September 14, 2009 @ 9:20 pm
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Pingback by Culture Shock Doesn’t Discriminate « Expat Tips and Resources — September 14, 2009 @ 9:52 pm
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Pingback by Why I Hate The Term “Culture Shock” « Expat Tips and Resources — September 16, 2009 @ 12:30 pm