After watching Culture Shock, I was struck by some very pertinent issues relevant to incoming international students. First of all, internationals coming into the United States may at first experience the euphoria of being in a new place with new customs and experiences, but after time, they come to experience a disillusionment or feeling of exclusion in a different culture. Exoticism leads to culture shock, which leads to tentative recovery, which leads to a form of assimilation or adaptation (or both).
To truly understand a language and a culture, sometimes you have to understand pop culture, and lacking knowledge of a famous movie or song could put you at in a position of confusion in a conversation. In addition, speaking in a language that is not your first tongue can be draining and difficult, because you are constantly translating from your native tongue to the target language, while you are attempting to listen to the other person and form your response. This can contribute to a hesitancy when speaking or an appearance of shyness in interpersonal conversation that is not truly characteristic of one's personality. It was interesting as well to hear the discussion in Culture Shock about how Americans are very friendly initially, but this tampers off to indifference as the friendship develops. This is characteristic of our culture, and may disturb internationals who make friends much more slowly and intentionally. For example, the common, "Hey, how are you?" is more of a script one says when greeting than a real concern about how the other person is. It is good for me to be aware of these differences, so that when I interact with others from another culture, I do not let me words seem different than my true feelings.
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