culture shock in term of communication

1. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
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Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale
In recent decades, the peoples of the world are becoming closer and closer as a result
of fast development of technology in transportation and communication (Junzi Xia, 2009).
Nowadays, we are in the trend of the globalization of world economies. Accordingly,
communication, especially intercultural communication has a very important role to play in
developing the economy of each country. Under this circumstance, people are becoming
extremely concerned about intercultural communication. People realize that in
communicating with interlocutors from other countries, they get a lot of difficulties in
understanding their interlocutors. Moreover, they often feel shocked when conversing with
foreigners with unfamiliar cultures. In other word, people from different countries will
experience culture shock in communication.
According to Oberg (1954), ‘culture shock is precipitated by the anxiety that results
from losing all our familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse. These signs or cues
include thousand and one ways in which we orient ourselves to the situations of our daily
life: when to shake hands, what to say when we meet people, when and how to give tips, how
to give orders to servants, how to make purchases, when to accept and when to refuse
invitations, when to take statements seriously and when not’ (p.1).
Thus, it can be drawn that lack of cultural knowledge may result in culture shock and even
communication break down. Yuxiang Li (2005) points out that in intercultural
communication, although linguistic knowledge may be the result of many communication
problems, lack of cultural knowledge may mostly bring about communication break down.
Therefore, it’s necessary for cross-cultural communicators to find out useful strategies which
help them adapt culture shock in communication.
When intercultural communication is becoming a global issue, many researchers such
as Junzi Xia (2009), Yuxiang Li (2005), Oberg (1954), Juffer (1983), Hertz (2007) and so on
have conducted studies relating to culture shock with the hope that they can provide people
with useful strategies to adapt culture shock occurring in communication. However, no study
into culture shock in term of communication has been carried out so far. Therefore, the
researchers decide to conduct the study ‘how do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in

2. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
term of communication in their work place’ based on aforementioned practical and theoretical
foundation.
2. Purpose of the study
In this paper, the researchers try to:
- Find out causes leading to cross-culture communication break down,
- Find out common types of culture shock foreigners often experience and their
ways of dealing culture shock in communication, and
- Recommend some useful strategies to help foreigners adapt culture shock.
3. Objectives of the study
The study is conducted to investigate what strategies foreigners learn to adapt culture shock
in term of communication in their work place, language centers in Ho Chi Minh City.
4. Significance of the study
a. To the foreigners themselves
The paper helps foreigners to be more successful in intercultural communication. That is,
they can reduce negative effects of culture shock, or even avoid culture shock in making
conversation with people from alien cultures.
b. To the language teachers and learners
The study helps teachers and learners to be aware of the important role of culture in
cross-cultural communication, and hence in teaching and learning, culture is implicitly
or explicitly dealt with. Also, the study helps both teachers and learners to realize bad
effects of culture shock and then know how to adapt culture shock.
c.To the foreign language centers
The study helps language center managers to realize culture should be included in the
teaching-learning process because of its important role in intercultural communication.
Accordingly, managers of the center try to offer teachers the best context in which
teachers can teach foreign language and its culture simultaneously.
5. Limitations of the study: because this is a mini project, we decided to carry on an
informal interview with the hope of getting deeper understanding through the
interviewees. However, under the time pressure, we only conduct with five foreigners
working at Australian International English School from different countries.
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6. Research questions
a, What factors cause culture shock to foreigners in cross-cultural communication?

3. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
b, What common types of culture shock do foreigners experience in their workplace
in HCMC and what strategies they use to adapt culture shock?
c, What are some suggestions for adapting culture shock to help foreigners overcome
this trauma?
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Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
1. What factors cause culture shock to foreigners in cross-cultural communication?
1.1 Definition:
Before curing some certain malady, a doctor must find out the origin of the disease in order to
attain the best treatment. So must we. If we would like to give some suggestions for adapting
culture shock to help foreigners overcome the trauma, we must well-aware of the causality of
culture shock. It is no doubt we have to understand in advance its definition as well as stages
of that phenomenon. More and more researchers, until now, have still been jumping on this
issue from which some selective definition is herein extracted. According to Kalvero Oberg
(1950s), culture shock can be described as “the phenomena people might experience after
moving to a new environment, the feeling of disorientation experienced by a person suddenly
subjected to an unfamiliar culture or way of life. Culture shock is difficult to identify. It does
not appear suddenly. It rather builds up slowly and is often a series of small events. Culture
shock can be brief and hardly noticeable for some people while it can bring intense physical
and emotional discomfort for others”. As the website of Rotary YE further claims: “It is the
loss of emotional equilibrium that a person suffers when he moves from a familiar
environment where he has learned to function easily and successfully to one where he has
not” while, as per wikipedia’s definition, “Culture shock is the difficulty people have
adjusting to a new culture that differs markedly from their own”.
1.2 Four Stages:
Understanding of the four phases of culture shock, from the perspective of CCSE website -
International Journal of Psychological Studies, can be considered as an indispensable
element in providing large help for all people who are prepared against psychological stress
caused by culture shock. Most people feel enthusiastic, excited, fascinated, and energetic in
the first stage or “the honeymoon”. The differences between the old and new culture are seen
romantically, wonderfully and in novelty during this period. An individual, for example,
might love the new food, the pace of life, the people’s habits, the building, and the like while
moving to a new country. This period, being described by Wikipedia, is full of observations

4. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
and new discoveries. During the second stage or “the crisis”, lots of people are certainly in
depressed, frustrated, confused, angry and sick mood. They criticize the host culture through
looking for compatriots to discuss their symptoms and beginning to be negative. This can be
regarded as the critical stage of culture shock. Once they begin to understand some of the
cultural cues and more of the language, and start to feel less isolated, they are therefore in the
third stage or “recovery stage”. It seems that they start to come to life, reflect on the past
couple of weeks and laugh at their own mistakes. The fourth stage or “the adjustment”, last
but not least, is to regain their motivation. They begin to accept things they cannot change
and step into exploration. They are in the process of adaptation and assimilation to the
changes.
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1.3 Factors:
Here do we come to the most important part which is ceaselessly urging us to discover what
causes culture shock. From the website of CCSE; again, culture is known as a vague concept.
It includes extensive content such as sight, smell, sound, value, tradition, custom, behavior
and the way of thinking. It may be vary from one country to another with regard to all these
elements. People obviously have to come into contact with many new values, new practices
and ways of living once they are away from home and enter a new environment. It is apparent
that people will get shock when they are unable to use the language, clash many changes in
routine as well as relationships and lose their understanding. They can not stay away from
emotional and evaluative disorientation such as strange music, food, traffic, sense of time,
use of money, differences in values and customs, and the like. Lastly, culture shock is of very
natural occurrence when traveling to a new culture. Keeping an open mind and being flexible,
as per some advice, will help you adapt gradually or quickly thanks to the will of each single
individual.
2. What strategies foreigners use to adapt culture shock?
Predeparture preparation.
Before going to a foreign country, people need to aware of necessary changes and the problems
inevitably encountered in living there. It is necessary to recognize that problems that occur in cross-cultural
contact involve cultural shock and assessment of one’s ability to adapt to a new culture is a
good first step ( Harris Moran,1987).

5. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
The process of successfully adjusting to a new culture should be supported by cross-cultural training,
because it broadly facilitates adjustment, skills development, performance, and effectiveness in a new
culture (Black Mendenhall,1990). Black and Mendenhall concluded that cross-cultural training
allows the individual to learn skills and cultural knowledge that reduce misunderstandings and
provide the knowledge basis for appropriate behavior.One must also be prepared to deal with personal
rejection, prejudice, and discrimination.
Transition adjustments.
Because ambiguity is a major source of stress, its reduction through understanding the cross- cultural
adaption process, and learning how to tolerate ambiguity fosters adaption
(Walton,1990).Effectiveness in dealing with stress requires that one recognize and understand general
and cultural specific forms of stress and identify lifestyle activities that help reduce stress.
Ongoing activities that maintain one’s sense of identity and activities that reestablish the aspects of
one’s self are necessary for stress management and maintaining one’s personal well-being in
conditions of cultural immersion (Wengle,1988).
Personal and social relations.
Dealing with cultural shock requires that one should maintain or reestablish primary relations-family
or friends- who supply positive interpersonal relations for self-esteem and for fulfilling personal and
emotional needs.
Social support networks make a variety of stressors less severe (Cohen Syme,1985) and have a
direct application to the resolution of cultural shock and cross-cultural adaptation through provision of
important and noticeable assistance; validation of self- worth through affirmation, acceptance, and
assurance; and opportunities for venting emotions leading to understanding of stressful situations
(Adelman,1988).
Cultural and social interaction rules.
Besides language skills, it’s necessary to learn a wide range of nonverbal communication patterns,
including paralinguistic conventions; social interaction patterns; kinesics and proxemics; behavioral
communication including gestures, gaze, and postures; interpersonal behavior patterns and rules; and
patterns of social reasoning. Successful adaptation requires leaning the host culture’s styles of
relating, communicating, managing, and negotiating (Harris Moran, 1987; Samovar Porter,1991)
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Chapter 3: Methodology:

6. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
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1. Research questions:
a, What factors cause culture shock to foreigners in cross-cultural communication?
b, What common types of culture shock do foreigners experience in their workplace
in HCMC and what strategies they use to adapt culture shock?
c, What are some suggestions for adapting culture shock to help foreigners overcome
this trauma?
2. Research population:
The population in this study consists of 21 foreign teachers of Australia International
Language School who come from different nations: Australia, America, England, Turkey,…
3. Research sample:
The sample of this study includes 5 out of 21 foreign teachers of the population. There are 2
foreign teacher come from America, one from France, one from Turkey and one from
Philippines. Only one of them from America has been living in Vietnam for more than
fifteen years while the others have been living and working in Vietnam less than 5 years.
4. Data collection instrument:
In this study, qualitative method or formal interviews are applied to collect the data. Formal
interviews are organized in order fro the interviewees to express deeply their feelings as well
as their view towards the culture shock aspect when they are in Vietnam. Thanks to this, the
researcher would have more evidences to support the findings.
The formal interviews consist of two parts. The first part is related to respondents’ personal
information. The second part has five questions for them to answer. All of the questions aim
at culture shock situations these foreign teachers met in Vietnam. In addition, the factors and
their strategies to cope with these culture shocks are investigated as well.
Details of the interview’ questions:
¾ Question 1 aims at the first impression of these foreign teacher when they came
Vietnam.
¾ Questions 2 and 3 focus on the culture dilemmas they dealt with when they contact
with Vietnamese people.
¾ Lastly, the factors cause these culture shocks are mentions in questions 4 and 5.
Chapter 4: DATA ANALYSIS FINDINGS
With the effort to know not only what they faced but also how they coped with the
difference between cultures, an informal interview is carried out in Australian International

7. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
Language School supported by some foreign teacher. The questions are generated from the
title in order to find out the answer for the query.
In the first question, “How did you feel when you first arrived in Vietnam?” This
question is quite general and broad. However, most of them still tried to retrieve their
memories on the first impression they had when arriving in Vietnam.
The majority complained about the weather and traffic. Mr. Brian from America answered
with a bit thoughtful look “It is in 1994 when I first arrived in Noi Bai Airport, the weather
was too hot, there are old buses on the street, etc. It’s totally different, I felt a bit stuffy.” Mr.
Kelly from America also gave his idea about this. He said “the very first time I arrived was
6 years ago, I got angry?” he added “I saw motorbikes everywhere. There is too much
traffic.” The third one from Turkey, Mr. Murat stated that “my first impression was not
quite good.” Don’t let me wonder so long, he explained “right the time I just stepped out
from the airport, someone stole my phone” The next one is from Philippines; Mr. Arnold
first arrived in Vietnam in 2008. He expressed “how did I feel when I first arrived in
Vietnam? I felt like a fish out of the water. I have no relatives, no friends, I didn’t know
where to go, I couldn’t speak Vietnamese, and…and so on” The last one is Mr. Charles from
France, the first arrival is in December 2009, then he got back to Europe. The second arrival
is in April 2010. Being asked the first question, he replied “I felt the weather was ‘very
warm’ ….busy street, lot of traffic, people ate and drank everywhere on the pavement…”
In the second question “Have you met any situation in which you and Vietnamese people
misunderstood?” Four out of five said “yes”. Mr. Arnold stated that he tried to speak
Vietnamese, but then he spoke in wrong pronunciation, he put the wrong stress. Luckily, that
was not a serious misunderstanding. Mr. Charles said he faced this problems so many times.
He added “One day, I asked for the direction, people tried to avoid me, shaking their heads
and walking away.”
In question number three, “What are the things that extremely shock you in term of
communication?” The majority, three of them said that they didn’t quite understand the way
Vietnamese laugh. They interpreted in different ways, he said “Sometimes, I feel that they
laugh because they have fun, but sometimes it sounds like they are making fun at me. That’s
just my feeling!” Four of them admitted the most annoying thing is that they try to hide their
feeling and understanding. Mr. Kelly stated that “they laugh all the time, even they don’t
understand. They don’t understand they don’t let you know and usually keep quite.
Sometimes, they just want to say their ideas and don’t want to listen or just pretend to listen.
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8. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
It’s different totally from America, we don’t understand, we ask to clarify and to learn” Mr.
Brian added more, “it’s common that Vietnamese people often say ‘yes’ and ‘OK’ even
though they don’t quite understand. They said OK and then did the opposite” Mr. Charles
expressed his annoyance, “the salespeople usually discriminate or judge people by their
looks. It’s OK for me because I am a white, blonde hair person. For those who have dark
skin, they gave a little effort to understand or sometimes they just tried to ignore them. I think
it’s not good!” About the way people look at them, there are two same answers; they feel that
people look at them in the way that they look at “circus animals”. They stated that “I had the
feeling that they were looking at a circus animal or an animal in the zoo. They looked at me
from head to toe!”
Because we want to know the ways that they can deal with the problems, so we decided to
ask “How can you adapt these problems?” Three said that they should be open-minded,
friendly. Mr. Charles asserted more “I try to make people comfortable.” “How can?” I asked.
He explained “I try to look friendlier, smiling for example.” Four out of five had the same
thought they want to make friends. Mr. Brain said “It was hard to make friends at that time.
People scared to talk with foreigners. They were afraid of what is so-called ‘harmful
culture’” Mr. Arnold and Mr. Charles had the same idea that they’d better be patient, accept
and be aware of the difference. Some of them added that they are trying to learn Vietnamese
in order to communicate with people here. Most of them did agree that body language play a
very important role in communication.
In question “what causes these problems?” Mr. Brian, Mr. Murat and Mr. Charles
expressed the same idea, “I think they use not much body language.” Mr. Kelly added more
“I think the people I met had just a little communication skill. Sometimes, I used my gesture a
lot to get their understanding, even used visual objects; they still didn’t understand”
In last question “what are the differences between the two cultures in term of
communication?” Mr. Brian said that “the American use a lot of polite words which actually
not what they really mean, while Vietnamese are more honest, they usually keep quiet” Mr.
Kelly supported more “We often ask for clarification if there is any ambiguous, Vietnamese
don’t, they usually keep quiet. They don’t try to ask and learn!” Two of them said that the
way they use body language, there are some differences. Mr. Arnold demonstrated the way
Vietnamese people say “come here” is “go away” in his country (Philippines). Mr. Charles
did agree with Mr. Arnold. Then he gave one more difference, the way Vietnamese say “no”
is “crazy” in his beloved country (France). Mr. Charles continued one of the very big
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9. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
differences is the way people express their politeness. In Europe, he said people usually say
“thank you” and “welcome” while Vietnamese often keep quiet, smile (sometimes not) or
nod their head. Five out of five said that Vietnamese people are shy in communication. While
they were trying to make friends make conversation or dialogue, Vietnamese people just
looked at them and kept quiet, sometimes looked down on the floor or somewhere else.
Chapter 5: RECOMMENDATIONS
The research found some common culture shocks as well as their causes through
interviews and questionnaire with foreigners at English center in HCM City. Base on
its estimated findings, we would like to give some suggestions for readers to learn,
know and avoid these shocks when they communicate with foreigners or vice versa.
With the hope of helping learners, teachers and foreigners overcome many difficulties
in English teaching and learning as well as communicating. These suggestions should
be considered carefully and then applied to get mutual understandings between
foreigners and Vietnamese teachers and students at English centers in English learning
and teaching process so that students can improving their output to prepare for culture
shocks with foreigners. We hereby give some recommendations for teachers, students
and foreigners.
• adaptation in personality functioning in the context of socialization,
resocialization, and individual group relations
• Awareness of the experience, a cognitive orientation that directs one
toward successful adaptation, and the development of behavioral skills
that lessen or resolve cultural shock.
• Preparing for problems and using resources that will promote coping
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and adjustment.
• Getting cross-cultural training.
• Willingness to change to adapt to new situations to get adjustment,
adaptation, and effectiveness.
• learning how to tolerate ambiguity fosters adaptation
• Using and understanding of common nonverbal communication.
These requirements supply knowledge about cultural shocks and resolutions to avoid
them. We should combine with knowledge about the cultural values and social
relations, particularly those areas in which one will most likely experience the greatest
difficulties. Learning culturally appropriate behaviors and implementing problem-

10. How do foreigners learn to adapt culture shock in term of communication in workplace at
Australian International Language School, District 9?
resolution procedures help us to overcome language barriers and provides base of
adaptation.
Chapter 6: CONCLUSION
Through the study’s findings and examining theories about culture shock, its causes
and resolution, we found out that culture is universal and specific, so cultural shocks
hardly can be avoided. We should be always willing to deal with and overcome it. We
hereby want to emphasize the importance of helping our students to get knowledge
about causes of cultural shocks as well as helping foreigner to overcome and adapt
quickly in their teaching environment.
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