Nearly every traveller must have experienced culture shock at some time or other. Like jet lag, it is an aspect of travel that is both negative and difficult to define. But what precisely is it? When and why does it occur? And, more importantly, how can we prevent it - or at least cope with it?

Although the experience of culture shock has no doubt been around for centuries, it was only 25 years ago that an anthropologist called Oberg coined the term. Others have attempted to improve upon and extend the concept and have come up with alternative jargon, such as 'culture fatigue', 'role shock' and 'pervasive ambiguity'.

Strain

From the writings of travellers and interviews with tourists, foreign students, migrants and refugees, psychologists have attempted to specify the exact nature of this unpleasant experience. It seems that the syndrome has six facets. Firstly, there is strain caused by the effort of making necessary psychological adaptations - speaking another language, coping with the currency, driving on the other side of the road, etc. Secondly, there is often a sense of loss and a feeling of deprivation with regard to friends, possessions and status. If you are in a place where nobody knows, loves, respects and confides in you, you may feel anonymous and deprived of your status and role in society, as well as bereft of familiar and useful objects. Thirdly, there is often a feeling of rejection - your rejection of the natives and their rejection of you. Travellers stand out by virtue of their skin, clothes and language. Depending on the experience of the natives, they may be seen as unwanted intruders, an easy rip-off or friends.

A fourth symptom of culture shock is confusion. Travellers can become unsure about their roles, their values, their feelings and sometimes about who they are. When a people lives by a different moral and social code from your own, interaction for even a comparatively short period can be very confusing. Once one becomes more aware of cultural differences, typical reactions of surprise, anxiety, even disgust and indignation occur. The way foreigners treat their animals, eat food, worship their god or perform their toilettes often cause amazement and horror to naive travellers. Finally, culture shock often involves feelings of impotence, due to an inability to cope with the new environment.

Little England

Observers of sojourners and long-term travellers have noted that there are usually two extreme reactions to culture shock: those who act as if they 'never left home' and those who immediately 'go native'. The former chauvinists create 'little Englands' in foreign fields, refusing to compromise their diet or dress and, like the proverbial mad dogs, insisting on going out in the midday sun. The latter reject all aspects of their own culture and enthusiastically do in Rome as the Romans do.

Most travellers, however, experience less dramatic but equally uncomfortable reactions to culture shock. These may include excessive concern over drinking water, food, dishes and bedding; fits of anger over delays and other minor frustrations; excessive fear of being cheated, robbed or injured; great concern over minor pains and interruptions; and a longing to be back at the idealised home, "where you can get a good cup of tea and talk to sensible people."

But, as any seasoned traveller will know, often one begins to get used to, and even learns to like, the new culture. In fact writers have suggested that people go through a number of phases when living in a new culture. Oberg, in his original writings, listed five stages. First, the 'honeymoon', which is characterised by enchantment, fascination, enthusiasm and admiration for the new culture, as well as the formation of cordial (but superficial) relationships. In this stage, people are generally intrigued and euphoric. Many tourists never stay long enough to move out of the honeymoon period. The second phase heralds crisis and disintegration. It is now that the traveller feels loss, isolation, loneliness and inadequacy, and tends to become depressed and withdrawn. This happens most often after two to six months of living in the new culture.

The third phase is the most problematic and involves reintegration. At this point people tend to reject the host culture, becoming opinionated and negative, partly as a means of showing their self-assertion and growing self-esteem. The fourth stage of 'autonomy' finds the traveller assured, relaxed, warm and empathic because he or she is socially and linguistically capable of negotiating most new and different social situations in the culture.

And finally the 'independent' phase is achieved, characterised by trust, humour and the acceptance and enjoyment of social, psychological and cultural differences.

U-curve

For obvious reasons, this independent phase is called the 'U-curve' hypothesis. If you plot satisfaction and adaptation (x axis) over time (y axis), you see a high point at the beginning, followed by a steep decline, a period at the bottom, but then a steady climb back up. More interestingly, some researchers have shown evidence not of a U-curve but a W-curve, i.e. once travellers return to their home country, they often undergo a similar re- acculturation, again in the shape of a U. Hence a double- U- or W-curve.

Other research has shown similar intriguing findings. Imagine, for instance, that you are going to Morocco for the first time. You are asked to describe or rate both the average Briton and the average Moroccan in terms of their humour, wealth, trustworthiness, etc., both before you go and after you return. Frequently, it has been found that people change their opinions of their own countrymen and women more than that of the foreigners. In other words, travel makes you look much more critically at yourself and your culture than most people think. And this self-criticism may itself be rather unhelpful.

The trouble with these stage theories is that not everyone goes through the stages. Not everyone feels like Nancy Mitford did when she wrote: 'I loathe abroad, nothing would induce me to live there... and, as for foreigners, they are all the same and make me sick.' But I suspect that Robert Morley was not far from the truth when he remarked: "The British tourist is always happy abroad, so long as the natives are waiters."

Then there is also the shock of being visited. Anyone who lives in a popular tourist town soon becomes aware that it is not only the tourist but also the native who experiences culture shock. Of course, the amount and type of shock that tourists can impart to local people is an indication of a number of things, such as the relative proportion of tourists to natives, the duration of their stay, the comparative wealth and development of the two groups and the racial and ethnic prejudices of both.

Of course not everybody will experience culture shock. Older, better-educated, confident and skilful adults (particularly those who speak the language) tend to adapt best. Yet there is considerable evidence that sojourners, such as foreign students, voluntary workers, businessmen, diplomats and even military people, become so confused and depressed that they have to be sent home at great expense. That is why many organisations attempt to lessen culture shock by a number of training techniques. The Foreign Office, the British Council and many multinational companies do this for good reason, having learned from bitter experience.

Training

For a number of reasons, information and advice in the form of lectures and pamphlets, etc., is very popular but not always very useful. The 'facts' that are given are often too general to have any clear, specific application in particular circumstances. Facts emphasise the exotic and ignore the mundane (how to hail a taxi, for example). This technique also gives the impression that the culture can be easily understood; and even if facts are retained, they do not necessarily lead to accommodating behaviour.

A second technique is 'isomorphic training'. This is based on the theory that a major cause of cross-cultural communication problems comes from the fact that most people tend to offer different explanations for each other's behaviour. This technique introduces various episodes that end in embarrassment, misunderstanding or hostility between people from two different cultures. The trainee is then presented with four or five alternative explanations of what went wrong, all of which correspond to different attributions of the observed behaviour. Only one is correct from the perspective of the culture being learned. This is an interesting and useful technique, but depends for much of its success on the relevance of the various episodes chosen.

Perhaps the most successful method is 'skills training'. It has been pointed out that socially inadequate or inept individuals have not mastered the social conventions of their own society. Either they are unaware of the rules and processes of everyday behaviour or, if aware of the rules, they are unable or unwilling to abide by them. They are therefore like strangers in their own land. People newly arrived in an alien culture will be in a similar position and may benefit from simple skills training.

This involves analysing everyday encounters such as buying and selling, introductions and refusal of requests. You will also observe successful culture models engaging in these acts and will practice yourself, helped in the learning process by a video tape of your efforts. This may all sound very clinical, but can be great fun and very informative.

Practical advice

Many travellers, unless on business and with considerable company resources behind them, do not have the time or money to go on courses that prevent or minimise culture shock. They have to leap in at the deep end and hope that they can swim. But there are some simple things they can do that may well prevent the shock and improve communications.

Before departure it is important to learn as much as possible about the society you are visiting. Areas of great importance include:

Once you have arrived, there are a few simple steps that you can take to help reduce perplexity and understand the natives:

When you return home, the benefits of foreign travel and the prevention of the W-curve may be helped by the following: