I think cultural shock is a very essential issue to deal with if people are learning another language and want to live in another country. Actually, I believe that cultural shock is everywhere. It does not necessarily have to be among different countries. Within a country, different cities and districts might have totally different cultural environment. Cultural shock can be reflected on many small things in daily life. For example, I visited Chengdu and Guangzhou in the past summer. These two cities’ contrasting styles surprised me a lot. In Chengdu, people love relaxing, shopping, eating and partying. In Guangzhou, people seem to be busy all the time: They walk fast, eat fast, and do things very efficiently. Also, these two cities all have their dialects that only local people can understand. When I went to these two cities, my local friends took me around. I cannot understand most of their words, and I feel worried that if I come by myself, I might feel hard and awkward to live.
I grew up in China for seventeen years and I was totally immerged in Chinese culture. However, when I was 14 years old, I decided to study abroad for college. Therefore, I went to an international high school. I had all my classes in English and watched a lot of American movies. Still, when I first came to the US, things did not go along perfectly with my expectations. I used about two months to accept various cultural shocks. The way I became more engaged in this culture is that I joined many university programs and volunteer groups. Slowly, I became more acknowledged about this campus and local community.
In order to avoid cultural shock, I think the first top is not to worry much about it. Keep in mind that cultural shock is coming and prepare for it. For example, we can do some research online about the local culture, read others’ traveling blogs, and ask friends who have been there.
In addition to culture shock, I think the reverse cultural shock is very intriguing as well. There are things that you don’t really realize if you are living there for a whole life. However, after living in a totally different culture environment and go back, you may found the old culture very strange. Every time I go back to China, I would experience this reverse culture shock. Because I am already used to communicate with people in a direct and straightforward way, I found Chinese people talk too indirect and “polite” to be effective.
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