Familiarity in the Unfamiliar. Friendship as the Key to Cultural Adaptation

Familiarity in the Unfamiliar.

Friendship as the key to Cultural Adaptation

Living abroad for a time has come to be an accepted, if not expected, part of the life of the modern enlightened person. The reasons for such a journey are as varied as the people themselves. Although the difficulties they inevitably face, and the underlying reasons for them, show remarkable similarity.

The difficulties associated with living abroad partially to do with a change in the physical environment, but most of the problems that sojourners face are related to a change in society and culture (Brein & David 1971). These problems are often described as culture shock.

"Hall (1959) Defined culture shock as "a removal or distortion of many of the familiar cues one encounters at home and the substitution for them of other cues which are strange"

(Brein & David 1971)

This paper discusses the experiences of two students who lived abroad for a time. One went to Germany for 9 months to learn the language the other was in Finland for 6 months leading conversation classes, but with no intention of improving his grasp on the language.

It also covers the experiences of a missionary couple who spent over 20 years (five lots of four years) in the Philippines, though for comparative reasons I will only cover the first four year stay.

Hypothesis

Many factors effect the adaptation process: differences in culture, quality of life, language proficiency, technical competence, pre-emptive training, support abroad, daily activities, and personality (Mendenhall and Oddou 1985, Brein & David 1971)

These factors play a role in cultural adaptation and well-being.