Track 17

Unit 2A.

Anthropology.

Culture shock.

Pages 24 and 25.

Listen for main ideas and listen for details.

Today we’re going to discuss what it’s like to live in a new culture, new society. Now as you may know the study of culture and society is called anthropology. Well I became interested in anthropology when I was 19 and travelled to the country of Albania. It was my first time living away from home and it really changed my view of the world and of myself.

So what happened to me when I was in this new culture can you guess?

I experienced culture shock, now have you heard of culture shock?

No? Well some of you may have it right now.

Okay don’t worry it’s not an illness, it’s the shock or the surprising feelings you have when you enter another culture.

Culture shock often happens to people when they leave their home culture and go to live in a different culture which we call the host culture culture shock is a process that is research shows that culture shock has four stages. So let’s look at these four stages of adjustment or getting used to a new culture.

The first stage is called the excitement stage, now this stage usually starts before you even leave your home culture also called your native culture, now before I left home I was certain that my life was going to be completely wonderful when I finally reached Albania.

Have any of you had similar experiences?

so you can understand why this first stage is called the excitement stage and this excitement continues until after you enter the host culture. All the new sights and sounds and smells and tastes are very interesting when you first arrive and in fact this stage may last anywhere from a few days to six months.

Well, after some weeks your feelings change. Oh yes, you begin to have very different feelings you move from the excitement stage to the second stage of culture shock called the rejection stage.

Why is it called that?

Well because you reject or push away the host culture. The main symptom is that you don’t feel like participating in this new culture. In my case I realized I was very different from the people around me and I felt unhappy that I couldn’t fit in. I wanted to go home immediately right away and this feeling is normal. When you’re living in another culture the language is difficult and people’s behaviors you know how they act they can seem strange.

For example, I came to class on time every day but some students came in 15 even 30 minutes late and the teacher never seemed to mind. I couldn’t understand this.

There are other symptoms of the rejection stage you might feel tired or anxious. Things that felt simple to do back home now in this new environment feel like a lot of work like answering the phone or shopping and and then there’s loneliness.

Me, I really missed my family especially my mom’s peach pie. Anyway so that’s the rejection stage and how long it lasts varies from one to six months.

Well fortunately most people move on from the rejection stage and they enter the third stage the acceptance stage.

So what do you think happens in this stage?

Right of course you begin to accept some of the behaviors and the beliefs of the host culture life becomes easier, your language skills get better, and you understand the behaviors and the customs around you.

For example I learned to understand my teachers way of thinking and stop caring when other students were late for class this is normal in the acceptance stage, you learn that the host culture isn’t better or worse than your home culture just different.

And that brings us to the fourth and final stage of cultural adjustment acculturation and that’s A C C U L T U R A T I O N.

Now to become acculturated means to become adjusted to the culture and this happens after living in a place for several years in this stage you enjoy many of the customs in the beliefs of the host culture but you still keep your home culture.

OK times almost up so let’s review. Today we talked about the four stages of cultural shock, excitement, rejection, acceptance and acculturation. And we covered some of the characteristics of each now for next time be ready to discuss any experiences you may have had with these stages of cultural adjustment.