THE COMPARATIVE STUDY: GENERAL CULTURE SHOCK VS. REVERSE CULTURE SHOCK

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Leaving home and travelling to live in a new country can be a stressful experience. Even though it may be something you have planned and prepared for, the extent of the change and the effects it has on you may take you by surprise. If you find that the effects of the change surprise you, it might be helpful to realize that your experience is quite normal. This applies whatever country you come from, and wherever you are going to live, even though some cultures are more similar than others because of geographic, historic, demographic and other connections.

Symptoms of culture Shock At first, you will be excited by the challenge of living in a new culture.  It will seem like you are on vacation.  As time goes by, however, you slowly realize you are not on vacation; you live here now.  You may become depressed; you may not sleep well. You may have trouble concentrating.  You may eat poorly.  You think that no one understands how you feel. Moreover, you will want very badly to go home.  These symptoms reinforce each other.  Poor eating and sleeping habits will make you feel tired, and your depression will deepen.  You may do poorly in classes, which will lower your self-esteem.  All of these can contribute to your sense of loneliness.  Do not let these feelings control you.

In the other side, Reverse culture Shock is a term used to describe the feelings (of surprise, disorientation, confusion, etc.) experienced when people return to their home country and find they do not fit in as they used to.  This may be due to a change in perspective, a decrease in excitement, an appreciation for and of different customs, or because during the travels the home country was idealized. People who have lived abroad often find the adjustment to returning home is more difficult than their adjustment to the foreign culture. This occurs due to a difference in expectations.  We expect to have some difficulty when we go to a new place, but not when we are returning to a place we already know.

 You may not realize how much you have changed. In adjusting to life in a new culture, your perceptions, habits, and maybe even values have changed, perhaps without your awareness, to fit in with the cultural context of your host country. At the same time, you have carried around in your head a wonderful mental picture of your home environment. All of a sudden, when you return home, reality just does not measure up to that picture.

Based on those reverse things; general culture shock and reverse culture shock, the writer is challenged to compare the differences and the similarities of these cases. The writer will compare those cases using the writer’s own knowledge and helped by some articles about culture shock, and take the title for this paper: “The Comparative Study: General Culture Shock vs. Reverse Culture Shock”.

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