An Indonesian Student’s Experience of Cultural Adjustment to the Germans Culture and of Cultural Re-entry Adjustment
By Yuni Safitri (0606306)
Abstract: Cultural differences between each country may cause someone who living in a new country to experience cultural shock on the early time and undertake reverse cultural shock when he or she comes back to his or her native country. This journal describes a cultural adjustment and re-entry adjustment experienced by a female Indonesian student who had been studied in Germany for one year. The purpose of this study was to investigate the way she adjusted to the Germans culture and re-adjusted to her native culture. The information was gathered through an unstructured interview. The result shows that though the Germany culture is totally different from Indonesia which caused her to experience cultural shock for more than a month, she could successfully adjust to the Germans culture and she also could deal with the re-entry adjustment when she came back to Indonesia.
1. Introduction
Living in a new country with a different culture is not as easy as blinking our eyes. “A fish out of water” is an expression that has been used to describe someone who is living in a new culture (Levine and Adelman, 1982: 37). There must be a cross-cultural conflict between the person’s native culture and the new culture where the person is going to live in, which forced him or her to adapt to the new culture in order to survive and live successfully in the new country. One of the examples of people who will experience the cultural adjustment process is a group or individual students who continued their study in other region or country.
To study abroad may become a desire of many students in Indonesia, because they can obtain the new experiences that not all students can experienced. They go abroad with a high expectation to live in the new country. But then, as mentioned above, they have to deal with what is called cultural adjustment process which includes the honeymoon period, culture shock, initial adjustment, mental isolation, acceptance and integration (Levine and Adelman, 1982: 42-43). Some of the students may fail in adjusting process, but some others may adjust successfully. And when they come back to Indonesia, the have to deal with the re-entry adjustment which includes acceptance and integration in foreign culture, return anxiety in foreign culture, return honeymoon in native country, re-entry shock in the native country, and re-integration in the native country (Levine and Adelman, 1982: 56-57).
For that reason, the researcher was interested in observing a female Indonesian student who had finished her study in Germany for one year and successfully adjusted to the Germans culture. As we know that the culture between Indonesia and Germany are very different. The purpose of this study were to investigate the adjustment process that she experienced along her stay in Germany, what factors that contributed to her culture shock feeling, how she could successfully adapt to Germans culture and also the re-entry adjustment process that she experienced when she went back to Indonesia.
2. Review on related literature
People adjust to a new culture differ from one to another. In the book entitled “Beyond Language” by Deena R Levine and Mara B Adelman, they explained the W-pattern adjustment includes (1982: 42-43):
· Honeymoon period: the newcomer is elated to be experiencing a new culture. This level of stage may not be reached again.
· Culture shock: mental fatigue results from continuously straining to understand to a new language and culture.
· Initial adjustment: everyday activities are no longer become major problems, they also can express their basic ideas and feeling.
· Mental isolation: frustration and sometimes loss of self-confidence result because they may feel lonely since they have been away from their family and good friends for a long time.
· Acceptance and integration: a routine has been established. The newcomers have become accustomed with the habit and culture of the new country, and feel comfortable with it.
But they also added that some people never experience a “honeymoon” period and can accelerate or skip some of the more difficult stages of adjustment. It depends on such factors as the newcomer’s personality, age, language and cultural competence, support from family and friends, financial situation, and motivation for being in the new country (Levine and Adelman, 1982: 43-44)
While Christine Eickelmann, in her article (www.intstudy.com) describes the cultural adjustment in V-pattern:
· At first the newcomers are excited by the new environment and a few frustrations do not spoil their enthusiasm.
· Then follows a period in which cultural differences in behavior and values become more obvious. What previously seemed exciting, new and challenging is now merely frustrating. They may feel isolated and become withdrawn from life around them.
· In the next stage they may reject what is around them, perhaps becoming opinionated and negative. They may feel that everyone is against them and that nobody understands them. However, they are beginning to re-assert themselves.
· Based on their successes in negotiating a variety of social situations and, maybe, increased language skill, their self-esteem grows. They can accept the negative differences and tolerate them and may even feel a sense of belonging.
Sometimes newcomers prefer to give up their own culture or in other word “going native”. Others are clinging more strongly to their own culture. Both are extreme behavior, because the studies suggest that maintaining a balance between two cultures can be helpful in the long term. The newcomers do not need to be a “carbon copy” in order to be part of the society. They only should aware of differences and make some change, so that the feeling like a fish out of water won’t last forever (Levine and Adelman, 1982: 46).
For the re-entry adjustment pattern, Levine and Adelman (1982: 56-57) also described the adjustment in W-pattern:
· Acceptance and integration: A routine has been established in the new culture. The foreigner has accepted and is comfortable with cultural differences.
· Return anxiety: There may be confusion and emotional pain about leaving because friendships will have to be disrupted. Many people realize how much they have changed because of their experiences and may be nervous about going home.
· Return honeymoon: Immediately upon arrival in the person's home country, there is generally a great deal of excitement. There are parties to welcome back the visitor, and friendships are renewed.
· Re-entry shock: Family and friends may not understand or appreciate what the traveler has experienced. The native country or city may have changed in the eyes of the traveler.
· Reintegration: The former traveler becomes fully involved with friends, family, and activities, and once again feels integrated in the society. At this stage many people realize the positive and negative aspects of both countries, and have a more balanced perspective about their experiences.
They also explained that the stages of re-adjustment process are usually shorter and less intense than those of adjustment to a new culture. While based on another research, reverse culture shock can be even more difficult to return because the old settings in which you used to live may seem unfamiliar and foreign to you (www.nataviguides.com). The best defense against reverse culture shock is to prepare your return home before you leave (www.women-on-the-road.com).
3. Methodology
The form of data would be about the experience of an Indonesian student living in new country. Therefore the form of this journal is a case study journal in which a qualitative approach was conducted.
3.1 Data Collection
In collecting the data, the researcher used an unstructured interview as the instrument. The sample of the research was a female Indonesian student, named Indah Rahayu who obtained a scholarship from Padjajaran University, place where she studied about Germany Literature, and from the government to study about Germans culture in Völkschuele Librar, Germany from 2005 to 2006. The interview was conducted at the respondent’s house in Antapani, Bandung, on Thursday, December 31, 2009. The questions used in the interview were made based on the theory about cross-cultural conflict and adjustment in chapter 2 of the book entitled “Beyond Language” by Deena R Levine and Mara B Adelman.
3.2 Data Analysis
There were two steps used by the researcher in analyzing the data. First, the data that were still in the form of respondent’s answers to the researcher’s questions in an oral interview were transcribed to ease the researcher in arranging the data. Afterwards, the data was then arranged into a narrative text, in order to make it easier to be discussed.
4. Findings and Discussions
4.1 Findings
Indah Rahayu was an Indonesian student who had been finished her studied in Germany for one year from 2005 to 2006. As long as she was in Germany, she lived with a German family at Köln village in Lechenich, one of the cities in Germany.
Based on her story, when she just arrived in Germany, she felt so nervous rather than excited of being in a foreign country. She explained that it happened because she realized that her main purpose to come to Germany was for studying not for having fun, she felt that she had a big responsibility to her university and to Indonesian government which had give her the opportunity to study there. She also feared that she could not adapt well with the culture of the people there.
In the first one and a half month, she told that she experienced the feeling of bewildered and puzzled by the condition of the Germany. Though she was able to speak German, she felt afraid to express her feeling for about two weeks. Based on her story, besides the language, there were other factors that caused her to experience those feelings: food, climate, the different time zone and the life style of the Germans.
She ate smashed or fried potato more often than rice, because rice was a kind of food that rarely found in Germany. The four seasons that the Germany has also made her hard to adapt especially in the winter season. The different time zone also caused her to feel that there was something wrong with the sleeping and waking time, which caused her to feel tired. And the lifestyle of the Germans people was the biggest factor that caused her experienced the culture shock.
According to her answer, Germans people have a very high discipline, especially discipline in time and rules. They were always set a schedule for their everyday activities. Every night, they organized a schedule for tomorrow. They always walked such in a hurry because they did not want to ruin the schedule that they have arranged. They never let any guest visiting their house if there was no appointment before, because it also can ruin their schedule. Still based on her answer, Germans people also appreciated to both written and unwritten rules, for example, if in the public places they cannot find any trashcan, they will keep the trash until they find the trashcan.
She acknowledged that those habits were totally different from hers. But, as the time went by, she could get accustomed to the new culture by following the way of life of the Germans. She learned to set a schedule for her everyday activities and never let anything ruined her schedule. She did not feel frustrated or depressed because the family members where she lived with always helped and supported her in adjusting to their culture. She felt comfortable with her German friends who could understand their differences in culture and even in religion. She also mentioned that not only the friendly people there, but also the sophisticated technology of the Germany, for instance the CCTV camera that were patched almost in every public places made her felt saver rather than in Indonesia. But still, she often felt homesick because she missed her family in Indonesia.
Thus, when it came the time for her to leave Germany and back to Indonesia, she was so happy instead of nervous about going home. She could not wait to see her family and friends in Indonesia. But her enthusiast feeling about meeting her family and friends was just last in a short-term; because she felt that nothing was as the same as at the time she left them. Nothing felt all right, the food, transportation, habit, and the like. She said that she needed about one month to get accustomed to the society. But still there were some of her habit in Germany which remained until now.
4.2 Discussions
From the findings above, the adjustment pattern of the respondent was different to the both W-pattern and V-pattern adjustment. The respondent did not feel kind of excitement when she first arrived in Germany. She felt kind of fear instead of enthusiasm. In other word, it can be said that the honeymoon period did not experienced by the respondent. According to Levine and Adelman (1982: 43), some people never experience a “honeymoon” period because the circumstances of their coming to a new country may have been too painful. But in this case, it happened because the respondent was aware of her responsibility to the Indonesian government who had sent her to study about the Germans culture deeply.
Some feelings experienced by the respondent in the first and a half month that were the lack of confidence to express her feeling directly although she was able to speak German, the feeling of dazed by the different time zone between Germany and Indonesia, or in other word it is called as jet lag, physical changes as a result of taking a long flight and traveling through a number of time zones (Bill Hoffa, www.studyabroad.com), and the feeling of bewildered and puzzled by the condition of the Germany such us by food, climate and lifestyle, were clearly the symptoms of culture shock. According to Levine and Adelman (1982: 45), all of these reactions are normal and it can be said that the respondent passed a healthy adjustment because her culture shock feelings only last not in a long term.
After experiencing the culture shock, the respondent attitudes showed her effort to adapt to the new culture, or in another word she started to step the next stage of adjustment process, that is the initial adjustment. She tried to follow the culture of the Germans by following their daily habit, that was to set an everyday schedule and always tried not to let anything ruin the schedule and she also had a bravery to speak in German in order to express her feeling and point of view.
From the findings above, the respondent could accelerate the most difficult stage of adjustment process of W-pattern which is the mental isolation stage. She could manage her daily routine and started to feel comfortable with the habits, customs, and people around her. Or it can be said that she had achieved the last stage of W-pattern adjustment, which is the acceptance and integration. There were some factors that made her successfully attained the integration stage, that were the support given by the members of the family where she lived with, her German friends who could understand their differences in culture and also in religion, other friendly people and the sophisticated technology of Germany that always made her feel safe and comfortable.
But the most important factor was her awareness of cultural differences and her willing to adapt to the new culture and left some of Indonesian culture which could not work in Germany without changing her personality. That said, the more you adapt to the local way of life, the more you'll enjoy your experience (www.nataviguides.com).
One year passed with the success adjustment to the Germans culture, and then it came the time for her to go back to Indonesia. Based on the W-pattern of the re-entry adjustment, after achieving the acceptance and integration in new culture, people will feel such an anxiety about going back home. But not with the respondent, her painful feeling about leaving her friends and the family where she lived with was defeated by her enthusiasm feeling to meet her family and friends in Indonesia. Or it can be said that the respondent did not pass the return anxiety stage and jumped into the return honeymoon stage.
But then, when she felt nothing was right, and everything was different from the time she left her family and friends, it was clear that she experienced the culture shock of own country because she had get accustomed to and felt comfortable with the Germans culture which are so different to Indonesia. Though finally, she could reintegrate in the society, some of her habits in Germany still influenced her daily activities in Indonesia. Because at this stage many people will realize the positive and negative aspects of both countries, and have more balanced perspective about their experiences (Levine and Adelman, 1982: 57).
5. Conclusions
From the result of discussion above, it can be concluded that the patterns of cultural adjustment and re-entry adjustment process are not standard and awkward patterns. In which some of the stages inside can be skipped or passed over. But still it depends on the internal factors, such as the personality and external factors, such as the support given by family and friends that the newcomer has. In addition, this study provides evidence of those phenomena and also provides a brief description about the Germans culture through the experience of a female Indonesian student. Thus, it might be useful for those who want to go to Germany so that it can help them to prepare themselves before going to Germany.
6. Acknowledgements
The researcher thanks Ms. Indah Rahayu for her willingness to become the subject of this study.
7. References
Eickelmann, Christine. (n.d). Studying abroad and culture shock. Retrieved January 9, 2010 from http://www.intstudy.com/f_learn.htm
Hoffa, Bill. (n.d). Your guide to study abroad. Retrieved January 9, 2010 from http://www.studyabroad.com/guides/handbook
Jenkins, Sue. (1995). How to write a paper for a scientific journal. Retrieved December 19, 2009 from http://www.gs.howard.edu/sbe/text/sci_paper_guidelines.doc
Levine, Deena R. and Adelman, Mara B. (1982). Beyond Language: Cross-Cultural Communication. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Regents.
Natavi Guides. (2003). Beating Reverse Culture Shock. Retrieved January 9, 2010 from http://www.nataviguides.com/studyabroad_revcultshock.html
Natavi Guides. (2003). Dealing with Culture Shock. Retrieved January 9, 2010 from http://www.nataviguides.com/studyabroad_cultshock.html
Women on the road. (n.d). Reverse Culture Shock: When Home Feels Like a Foreign Country. Retrieved January 9, 2010 from http://www.woman-on-the-road.com/solo-travel.html
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