#Culture Shock

[callimara]

Imagining a Sundanese guest experiencing Ancient Greek hospitality rules is the funniest thing because the hospitality wars would’ve gone crazy.

Every nice thing their Greek hosts would try to do for them, they’d need to insist on because the Sundanese guest would insist on not troubling them and then proceed to match—if not double—the favor, creating an endless cycle of hospitality that would send Zeus into a state of overdose.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Writing Notes: Culture Shock

As part of the acculturation process individuals may experience culture shock. 

It occurs when individuals move to a cultural environment which is different from their own.

It can also describe the disorientation we feel when:

exposed to an unfamiliar way of life due to immigration to a new country,

a visit to a new country,

move between social environments (e.g., moving away for college),

or transitioning to another type of life (e.g, dating after divorce).

Common issues associated with culture shock:

loss of status (e.g., provider to unemployed),

unfamiliar social systems and social norms (e.g., agencies rather than extended kin networks),

distance from family and friends,

information overload,

language barriers,

generation gap, and

possible technology gap.

There is no way to prevent culture shock because everyone experiences and reacts to the contrasts between cultures differently.

Culture shock consists of at least one of 4 distinct phases:

HONEYMOON

During this period, the differences between the old and new culture are seen in a romantic light.

For example, after moving to a new country, an individual might love the new food, the pace of life, and the locals’ habits.

During the first few weeks, most people are fascinated by the new culture.

They associate with individuals who speak their language and who are polite to the foreigners.

Like most honeymoon periods, this stage eventually ends.

NEGOTIATION

After some time (usually around three months depending on the individual), differences between the old and new culture become more apparent and may create anxiety or distress.

Excitement may eventually give way to irritation, frustration and anger as one continues to experience unpleasant events that are strange and offensive to one’s own cultural attitude.

The following may heighten the feelings of disconnection from the surroundings:

Language barriers,

stark differences in public hygiene,

traffic safety,

food accessibility and

quality.

Living in a different environment can have a negative, although usually short term, effect on our health.

While negotiating culture shock we may have insomnia because of circadian rhythm disruption, problems with digestion because of gut flora due to different bacteria levels and concentrations in food and water, and difficulty in accessing healthcare or treatment (e.g., medicines with different names or active ingredients).

During the negotiation phase, people adjusting to a new culture often feel lonely and homesick because they are not yet used to the new environment and encounter unfamiliar people, customs and norms every day.

The language barrier may become a major obstacle in creating new relationships.

Some individuals find that they must pay special attention to culturally specific body language (e.g., arms crossed, smiling), conversation tone, and linguistic nuances and customs (e.g, handshake, turn taking, ending a conversation).

Example: International students often feel anxious and feel more pressure while adjusting to new cultures because there is special emphasis on their reading and writing skills.

ADJUSTMENT

As more time passes (usually 6 to 12 months) individuals generally grow accustomed to the new culture and develop routines.

The host country no longer feels new and life becomes “normal”.

Problem-solving skills for dealing with the culture have developed and most individuals accept the new culture with a positive attitude.

The culture begins to make sense, and negative reactions and responses to the culture have decreased.

ADAPTATION

In the adaptation stage individuals are able to participate fully and comfortably in the host culture but this does not mean total conversion or assimilation.

People often keep many traits from their native culture, such as accents, language and values.

This stage is often referred to as the bicultural stage.

Source ⚜ Writing Notes & References Culture ⚜ Ethnocentrism & Cultural Relativism ⚜ Animal Culture

[spongebobproductionart]

SpongeBob animation cel from Culture Shock.

[gameo-archive]

"FINALLY I CAN WATCH THIS NON STOP 😭❤️❤️❤️#SaveDeadBoyDetectives #OuchMyGhostSkin #GeorgeandJaydenCameo"

Hi boys. Thank you for these cameos. Just to have fun, Jayden, imaging being Charles and having to explain to a fresh out of hell Edwin what a punk is. In general, how big was the culture shock when Edwin escaped Hell?

Featuring George regretting not stealing MORE props.

[inazumaeleven-headcanon-space]

I need to get something off my chest.

FFI arc in inazuma eleven isn't my favorite season in the franchise. But there is one thing that is hilarious too me for no reason.

That thing is..

The fact that everyone is from other countries, which means that

A LOT OF THE PLAYERS WOULD EXPIRIENCE CULTURE SHOCK. Maybe not big time, but it would still be there.

Imagine the European players talking with Asian players about like core childhood memories and the European players are like

What the fuck...

And I'm so sad that people don't talk about it.

Or they do, and I'm just stupid as fuck.

[rareblackcat]

Once you realize that majority of the things that society considers "proper" or "normal" are actually based in eurocentrism and founded on racism and the dehumanization of non white cultures it will all start to fall apart. Eventually a lot of the social normes start to not matter to you. Who cares if someone eats with their hands? Or if a man wears a skirt? Or if a man has long hair? Or if women work? Or if someone shows a lot of skin? Or if somone has a gender outside of man and woman? A lot of this is done by different non-white cultures. The idea of what is proper and how gender is expressed is different around all different cultures (especially before colonization.)

Once I realized this I stoped giving a fuck about what people do. The world is far to diverse for there to be a normal.

[rosegoldthorns]

I just love the miscommunication circumstances with Damian and the Batfam -NOT bc he grew up in a cult- but bc he grew up in wide range of cultures that did not include the USA.

Like when he first joined the family, he refused to eat any of Alfred's cooking because it was "poisioned". In factuality it tasted bad to him because it was bland and English but since he had probably not cooked before damian could not articulate that it was just not spicy. Instead because it tasted weird he decided that it was poisoned and it went as well as one can expect.

It wasn't until he watched Alfred make it that he released it was just unseasoned and most defintely not poisoned, it was in fact so lacking of powers that Damain concluded that there is no way he could be poisoned accidentally even.

Just like stuff like that. Please give me multicultural shenanigans that confused the hell out of everyone.

[dark-dragon-8]

I honestly don't see Sam and Dean kissing as necessarily incest.

Like, I come from a country/culture where it's normal (sometimes even customary) to kiss your family members pretty much everywhere on the face (and sometimes on the hand, arm, shoulder and side of the neck, usually during hugs, too).

I've been kissing my parents on the mouth since before I could remember.

And before someone tells me this is wrong/there's something wrong with my family. There are celebrities here who say on live TV how they greet their kids by kissing them on the mouth, and no one bats an eye. That's just a societal norm around here, it's honestly more weird if you're not comfortable kissing family members on at least the cheek.

That being said I can understand why two family members kissing could make people uncomfortable, I grew up with enough foreign media to know this isn't a commonality around the world.

However that doesn't change the fact that I will see people writing/drawing Sam and Dean kissing and others be like "ew, that's incest"

Meanwhile I'm out here thinking this is completely normal considering how close and codependent they are, meaning they probably weren't as opposed to it growing up as most siblings are once they go through the whole "I hate my siblings" phase.

I get legitimately confused sometimes when people say it's incest because that's just a regular show of affection??? Isn't it??? It is here.

Anyway, yeah, if Sam and Dean were (lip) kissing (not French/tongue) in my country and told people they're siblings, people would most likely just accept it and go on with their day. I mean, they'd probably find it a little weird, since, like I said, most siblings don't do that once they're old enough to understand what others might think/go through their hate phase. But they still wouldn't care (I assume), because that's just physical affection, nothing more, nothing less. Just because I don't kiss my siblings on the mouth doesn't make it incestuous, it just means these guys are closer (in whatever way you want to believe, I honestly don't care).

P.S. I'm not saying IRL incest is okay, I'm just pointing out something from my culture and general culture shock when it comes to this kind of writing. Please don't use this to justify the whole "Wincesties condone this IRL" No, it's not like that I'm just pointing out a cultural difference and how these types of things can seem different to people from different parts of the world.

[i-was-today-years-old-when]

i learned about the culture shock when entering the United States.

"I wasn’t the one that was shocked, but rather my mom was.

When she first came to America back in 1999 with her mom, she was unprepared.

They had come from a country in the Middle East, which was pretty conservative at the time.

When arriving at the airport, they were in shock.

See, they had came in July, which can be the hottest month of the year. When they had landed, my grandma literally screamed.

Women were wearing tank tops, ripped jeans, and even the dreaded, unholy…

Short shorts.

This was unacceptable back home, and they never even imagined there was such clothing.

My mom had to cover my grandma’s eyes and hold her hand to comfort her from this unusual attire.

One part that I’ll always find funny is when my mom was in the security line, wearing her Abaya (long garment). The lady in front of her, though, was wearing some sort of oversized shirt.

My mom was…inspecting the lady’s outfit, but when looking down, she almost passed out.

“I thought she was wearing no pants! NO PANTS! I wanted to run back to the plane and go home”, she tells me.

In fact, the lady was wearing a bottom; she was wearing shorts, but the shirt was covering it.

“I would have never came if I knew it was like this, but what’s done was done. I was stuck here”.

The clothing choices was the biggest cultural shock to my mom, and though she’s gotten used to it, there are a few cases which still shock her.

Cough-cough-leggings alone-cough.

“It’s supposed to go under a skirt or dress! Under! Why would you wear it alone?”.

[mint-mumbles]

Watching Detective Conan and caught up to the episode where an American teacher is introduced. However, the directors didn’t get a native English speaker (or someone who could imitate any American accent) so it leads to stuff like this:

The episode is FILLED with stuff like this. The American character randomly says English words, but they have a Japanese accent (not complaining about the accent, I just don’t know the point of why she’s just randomly saying English words as she sounds more fluent in Japanese than English 😭).

The fact that she also corrected a Japanese character with an accent who said the word “policeman” CORRECTLY the first time and then tried to tell him that the “right way” to say it is “POOR-IS-MAN” just had me laughing. Poor Megure is being lectured for literally nothing 😭

They really didn’t do any research for this episode. And I’m not saying that just because of the English, I’m saying that because THE PREMISE OF THE CASE OF THIS EPISODE IS THAT A GUY DIED WHILE PLAYING A FIGHTING GAME THAT PHYSICALLY HARMS YOU IF YOU GET HIT! HUH?! HOW DOES THAT MAKE SENSE?!?! 😭

Also, in order to establish that this woman is American, they lean heavy into stereotypes: fair skin, blonde, blue eyes, revealing clothing, adult who enjoys video games (which I think was still taboo for adults in Japan to openly enjoy when this episode aired). But the best thing is, in her introduction outside of the flashback, she (I shit you not) plays a SHOOTING game and GETS A PERFECT SCORE WHILE DOING JUMP SPINS!!!

I would also like to say that this episode also provided us with this wonderful image:

NOW YOU TOP!

[monoukotori]

Funny cultural shocks: someone once told me that when she was little she thought people in the united states were inherently incestuous, because both the wife and the husband had the same last name so that must mean they are related!

[robotmechagirl]

Sweetie, hun, honey, dear, sug, etc…

Still getting used to being called these things by women, mostly older, and older men. How come it feels infantilizing when old men say it to me? Like… When a fem or non-binary says it I feel wholesome about it, but something feels off when old men say it.

Thinking about this and about how an old man saying I had a good chin and jaw line left me feeling all sorts of fuckery. For one I’m hella insecure about my face with that being one of the biggest insecurities. For two he just vaguely motioned to it, making me think I had something on my face, before adding context that he thought it was good. For three the way he said sweetie, and dear felt like he was addressing a child but I don’t know if I’m overreacting.

I like compliments about stuff I had input in such as: hair, outfit, makeup

I don’t like compliments about body parts that I have no control over. Except my eyes because they’re fuckin’ pretty as hell and posses two forms of heterochromia.

I don’t know. I’m wondering if I’m making a mountain out of an anthill. It’s just hard to get used to because before it was like: boss, sir, dude, bro. Like… being called sweetie by an older lady feels like they genuinely mean that I’m sweet. Being called boss feels like there’s an acknowledgement of power. Being called sweetie by an older dude felt like they viewed me as someone still in need of parenting.

I kinda wish I could form this thought more coherently and concisely. Not sure where to pinpoint the feeling though.

[monsteracademy]

sonic dream team looks cool (i cant play it)

[pollswithnogoals]

Culture shock refers to feelings of uncertainty, confusion, or anxiety that people may experience when moving to a new country or experiencing a new culture or surroundings.

[air3d3lalm3na]

It’s really scaring me, the way that people out here, in much much higher numbers AND amounts in one person, seem to have not just like. Literacy issues, but even BASIC COMPREHENSION issues when speaking and listening (barely) to you.

At work I ask a simple either/or question all day every day. Would you like to (x) or (y). I get told “No” almost every time. Because all that they listened to were the first few words, IF that.

One coworker of mine among a sea of WASPs is a black fella and he asked how I was today. I started out by mentioning having trouble adjusting since moving— then I told him straight up and mentioned my family and cultural differences being an issue since moving out here. And was like “Idk how you do it out here man.” He just said (paraphrasing but barely) that his daughter is real crazy and different like that and he could understand… …… ……………. ………………………. I didn’t say *I* was different, my personality (though it is). I was talking about much bigger factors here

I get that people avoid direct conversation but it legit felt like every other convo I have out here. With anyone of any background

Like listening is NOT happening and people lack even a basic vocabulary to boot…? Like I truly don’t know how I can speak (or write) so plainly and simply and still run into this again and again and again and again. This has never happened anywhere else I have lived.

I am not remotely using my full vocabulary or anything. And this still happens. It’s like they just give up. Seconds in. Or… Before even starting.

Every single time

I am only like half an hour outside of the city, living here. A pretty similar/nearly the same amount with other places, before, too, though…so….

What the fuck gives

Like new levels of denseness and even like. Uncuriosity. Lack of desire to even HAVE the conversation that we are having.

Not to even get into the people I live with….

I’m losing it man. WTF.

[1-800-moatinyghase]

Hey guys! I have to work on building an audience for my YouTube channel for a class!

I would really appreciate if you checked out my channel and subscribed to it🥹 making YouTube videos is really nerve wracking for me right now as creativity has been a bit of a difficult feat but I’m working on it :)

I put a lot of tags but everything in the tags is what I have already posted or plan to post.

I will be talking about how I study Korean and other languages in the long form videos and just general talk about what I did during study abroad and being a black woman in east Asia.