... Welcome to the " Culture literacy course " blog...
The idea of this blog was intiated by Dr.Taiba Sadiq for the "Cultural litracy " course given in the college of basic education (Kuwait) , through this blog students of this course will be able to discuss different topics related to culture , comment , argue and share their ideas .
this blog started on October 2009.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Culture Shock .. ( week's discussion )
What is culture shock ? how does it affects a person ? have you ever been in a situation that involves culture shock ?
Culture shock is more about surprise, Confusion, and lose confidence. So it is more psychological thing that happened to people who wanted to live with culture which is %100 different from his/her culture. some of people go through this shock and pass it so fast, although, others can not even stay for several time in another country, for example, my cousin is studying in Ireland, and until now he can not adapted with that different culture at lest for these couple years. in another way, I think that it happens to us although in the same society with a different social groups like in some occasions, when we feel confused by what we supposed to do or how shall we act with them.
Inculturation is more about how can you deal in one culture and at the same time deal different with another according to what it's appropriate to that culture. One of my friends told me about her experience when she was about 9 years old. While she was visiting her relatives in KSA and in purpose to greet the elders she showed her hand as asking for shaking hers with their hand, but unfortunately the man didn't reply back just glimmering at her with a strange look telling her obviously that what se was doing was totally wrong. She felt sorry and embarrassed, frustrated and then wished to disappear.
As you know most people in KSA are great district Muslims, so it's forbidden to shake hands between two foreign genders. This may tell us how far people can go in some areas about their religions.
"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc [English Socialism], but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought--that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc--should be literally unthinkable, at least as far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect method. This was done partly by the invention of new words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever...A person growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would no more know that ‘equal' had once had the secondary meaning of "politically equal," or that ‘free' had once meant "intellectually free," than, for instance, a person who had never heard of chess would be aware of the secondary meanings attaching to ‘queen' or ‘rook.' There would be many crimes and errors which it would be beyond his power to commit, simply because they were nameless and therefore unimaginable."
Culture shock is a term used to describe the anxiety produced when we face situations where the cultural norms in our culture or society no longer apply. It grows out of the difficulties in assimilating the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not. According to our discussion with Dr.Taiba, in Japan for example; it is the custom to bow or nod head when greeting. When meeting someone very important, they should bow lower than them and pause for a moment with their head down to show respect. For us it is a strange habit so probably, the best thing to do to avoid culture shock is to be open to differences and flexible to change. I believe that accepting the fact that people do things differently is the first step to understanding culture shock. By doing this, we'll be able to adapt any new environment.
Culture shock is not aclinical term or medical condition.It‘s simply a commaon way to describe the confusing and nervos feeling a person may have after leaving a familiar culture. When you move to a new place,you‘re bound to face a lot of changes. That can be exciting and stimulating,but it can also be overwhelming.You may feel sad,anxious,frustrated,and home sick.It is natural to have difficulty adjusting to a new culture.But the good news is that culture shock is temporary. Nabaa.s
Culture shock is more about surprise,
ReplyDeleteConfusion, and lose confidence. So it is more psychological thing that happened to people who wanted to live with culture which is %100 different from his/her culture. some of people go through this shock and pass it so fast, although, others can not even stay for several time in another country, for example, my cousin is studying in Ireland, and until now he can not adapted with that different culture at lest for these couple years.
in another way, I think that it happens to us although in the same society with a different social groups like in some occasions, when we feel confused by what we supposed to do or how shall we act with them.
Culture shock can be embarrassing!!
ReplyDeleteInculturation is more about how can you deal in one culture and at the same time deal different with another according to what it's appropriate to that culture. One of my friends told me about her experience when she was about 9 years old. While she was visiting her relatives in KSA and in purpose to greet the elders she showed her hand as asking for shaking hers with their hand, but unfortunately the man didn't reply back just glimmering at her with a strange look telling her obviously that what se was doing was totally wrong. She felt sorry and embarrassed, frustrated and then wished to disappear.
As you know most people in KSA are great district Muslims, so it's forbidden to shake hands between two foreign genders. This may tell us how far people can go in some areas about their religions.
The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
ReplyDelete"The purpose of Newspeak was not only to provide a medium of expression for the world-view and mental habits proper to the devotees of Ingsoc [English Socialism], but to make all other modes of thought impossible. It was intended that when Newspeak had been adopted once and for all and Oldspeak forgotten, a heretical thought--that is, a thought diverging from the principles of Ingsoc--should be literally unthinkable, at least as far as thought is dependent on words. Its vocabulary was so constructed as to give exact and often very subtle expression to every meaning that a Party member could properly wish to express, while excluding all other meanings and also the possibility of arriving at them by indirect method. This was done partly by the invention of new words and by stripping such words as remained of unorthodox meanings, and so far as possible of all secondary meanings whatever...A person growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would no more know that ‘equal' had once had the secondary meaning of "politically equal," or that ‘free' had once meant "intellectually free," than, for instance, a person who had never heard of chess would be aware of the secondary meanings attaching to ‘queen' or ‘rook.' There would be many crimes and errors which it would be beyond his power to commit, simply because they were nameless and therefore unimaginable."
Culture shock is a term used to describe the anxiety produced when we face situations where the cultural norms in our culture or society no longer apply. It grows out of the difficulties in assimilating the new culture, causing difficulty in knowing what is appropriate and what is not. According to our discussion with Dr.Taiba, in Japan for example; it is the custom to bow or nod head when greeting. When meeting someone very important, they should bow lower than them and pause for a moment with their head down to show respect. For us it is a strange habit so probably, the best thing to do to avoid culture shock is to be open to differences and flexible to change. I believe that accepting the fact that people do things differently is the first step to understanding culture shock. By doing this, we'll be able to adapt any new environment.
ReplyDeleteCulture shock is not aclinical term or medical condition.It‘s simply a commaon way to describe the confusing and nervos feeling a person may have after leaving a familiar culture. When you move to a new place,you‘re bound to face a lot of changes. That can be exciting and stimulating,but it can also be overwhelming.You may feel sad,anxious,frustrated,and home sick.It is natural to have difficulty adjusting to a new culture.But the good news is that culture shock is temporary.
ReplyDeleteNabaa.s