Reflective diary Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 2

Reflective diary - Essay Example From this lesson, I managed to learn on the meaning of culture shock. It refers to a personal disorientation that an individual may feel, when he or she is experiencing a way of life that is unfamiliar, that is brought about due to his or her immigration status, or the visitation of a new country (French, 2010). It is also possible to refer to culture shock as a movement that an individual experiences when he or she is between social movements, or as a new type of living. The definition of culture shock was very similar to the definition that I had, concerning culture shock. This is because, as I understood it, culture shock was a situation whereby an individual was experiencing some new cultural values, and he or she could not fit into these new cultural values. From the lessons, I learnt that this aspect of culture shock has six major components, and they are, a strain that emanates because of the desire on an individual to adapt to a particular culture, a sense of the loss of professionalism, and status, feelings of rejection by members of the new culture, confusion in values, roles and self-identity, disgust, anxiety and anger in regard to particular practices, and a sense of helplessness (Hofstede, 2005). These components of culture shock are very familiar to me. This is because it reminds me of a time when I had gone to visit some relatives in Brazil. The dominant language spoken is Portuguese, and I was unable to fit in within the society. This is because I could not understand the language; hence I was confined in the house, on most of the occasions. I felt rejected, mostly because nobody was willing to listen to me, mainly because I could not speak Portuguese in a fluent manner. My socialization was only limited to my relatives. Furthermore, I was confused, and I had a feeling of helplessness. The situation that I was passing through is an example of a culture shock, and it meets all the conditions identified by Kalervo Oberg,