SAE RELOCATION

How to Deal with Reverse Culture Shock

2016年3月9日
admin

For our second installment in Culture Shock, we discuss Reverse Culture Shock. You are probably telling yourself that Reverse Culture Shock, may be no big deal and you probably told yourself this about “regular” Culture Shock. In reality, Reverse Culture Shock is a very real thing and may be more difficult to deal with that the initial onset of culture shock.

What is Reverse Culture Shock?
Sometimes referred to as “re-entry shock” reverse culture shock is just like culture shock that the repatriated person has to yet again get used to their surroundings. Sounds simple right? Well, with reverse culture shock the difficulty lies in the fact that our return home now feels awkward. It’s easier to cope with the fact that moving to another country will present some or many differences in culture and customs. With Reverse Culture shock you have to yet again adapt to your society, a place that feels like home but different than you remember it being and severity depends on length of time spent away and how well you acclimated to China’s culture differences.

What does Reverse Culture Shock feel like?
Reverse Culture shock can bring up many emotions but here is a list of common feelings felt while experiencing culture shock in your home country.

Feeling Alienated
Since you have spent quite bit of time in China, once you get back to your home country, it is easy to feel alienated. Most likely many things have changed since you were gone and there were many cultural events that you most likely missed out on. It will make it difficult for people to communicate with you on the same level.

Misunderstandings
Since you have lived in China, you have learned to live a particular way that makes it easier for you to live there. You adapted. Some of these behaviors initially might be carried over back to your home country and because of that people may misunderstand your intentions or meaning.

Inability to Explain
Let’s face it there are some things that are hard to explain to those who haven’t experienced the same environments as you have. There will be cases where you will have the inability to explain why you feel a particular way, which will lead to frustration. For example, there appears to be no English word that truly encapsulates the meaning of “mafan”(麻烦). A word that if you use currently in China, you may find yourself saying it back in your home country. If you do, look forward to blank stares.

Boredom
This likely a big part of culture shock for some expats. Living in a large city like Shanghai with people crowding subways or various events constantly going on, it may be difficult to get used to a slower pace. In some cases, the boredom may make you miss China no matter how chaotic or “mafan” living there may be.

How to Deal?
Now that you know what to expect, what should you do to overcome the effects of reverse culture shock? Not surprisingly, both forms of culture shock share the same methods to help you overcome.

Share
Get out there and share your experiences to anyone willing to listen. Share your experiences and differences that you notice about your home country since you’ve returned. Sometimes just getting it off your chest can help a lot in your recovery.

Be Yourself
Pretty straightforward here. Remain your international self. Do not change yourself back to your “original” self. It would be a shame to lose all those experiences and the growth that you made as a person. Instead of trying to shed the experiences, try to share your knowledge with others. Tread lightly because at the same time you don’t want to seem like you reject certain cultural aspects of home, which may insult those who have not been through what you have been through.

Help Others
Try to help and communicate with others who have been in your situation. Finding like minds can help ease the transition.