How can you deal with culture shock? First,you need to real-ize that every newcomer suffers some culture shock.You're not the only case. Second,remember that culture shock is curable. The process of recovery will start as you begin to make the adjustment to the new culture. Of course,learning the language will help re-movie the obsracles to communication and will ease the job of making friends with people.Recognizing and learning the new cul-tural rules of behavior,however,may be just as important.You'll still have emotional reactions to unfamiliar situations,but you'll find yourself making jokes about them rather than condemning the entire society as"stupid"The jokes are good sign:they show that you are recovering.

 Culture shock is caused ,therefore,by a lack of familiarity whith the system of rules that the new society uses for everyday living. Language is an obvious example of one type of these rules If your level of linguistic knowledge is low, even the simplest task can suddenly become immensely difficult for you and cause you to feel inadequate.However,Knowledge of the language does not make you immune to the effects of culture shock,as many Britons in the United statues and many Americans in Britain will confirm.Most people are unware that each culture has its own rules for social behavior ;they take it for granted that polite,civilized people behave the same way in all cultures.This mistaken belief will cause you to behave and to judge the behavior of others according to the rules you automatically learned as a member of your own culture.If the rules are different ,then people will misinterpret you behavior, and you will misinterpret theirs.

If you ever find yourself behaving in ways similar to these,you are probably suffering from culture shock.Culture shock is a Psychological condition that sometimes has physical effects.It affects people who have moved away from an environment where they know how to live into a new enviroment where much is unfamiliar to them-the food ,the weather,the language,and especially the unwritten rules for social behavior that few people are consciously a ware of.

You feel generally depressed and unable to concertrate.Your pattern of daily activity may change: you find yourself awake and active in the middle of the night ;you sleep late into the day,when most others are working.You stay in you room and have little contact with people except with those who speak your language. In your mind,you criticize the people around you -they are rude, loud,unfriendly,uninformed,concerned with insignificant things,even stupid;you complain about them to any friends you have. You become frustrated when you can't go into a restaurant and order the type of food you really like;you get angry when the TV news contains mostly U.S. news and very little about events that are important to you. You are constantly making comparisons between life here and the perfect life back home.Above all,you are homesick almost all the time.