Fuehrer- CAPS #4

Have you ever seen something on TV or read something about people from another culture and thought to yourself, "Man, those people are weird." or, "What is wrong with them?" I'm sure most of us have. I catch myself thinking those exact thoughts when I see or read something about another culture, but the biggest shock comes when you actually experience those cultures. After high school I went to Europe, our first stop was London. I had thought that most people in England were uptight and polite, maybe even a little snooty, so I was shocked when an elderly gentleman called me and some friends "rude Americans" for holding the door for him and his wife. Culture shock happens to almost everyone who is facing an intercultural transition. Culture shock is a relatively short-term feeling of disorientation and discomfort due to the lack of familiar cues in the environment. Just look at the picture, to the two ladies they are "normal" while the other is a I guess you could say "victim" of a "cruel male dominated culture!"
For all three of the guys in the articles and their families they say the hardest part of coming to the United States was learning the language, and being integrated into our society. The language barrier would make the feelings of disorientation and discomfort more heightened, because even if someone is trying to help you fit into your new home, what good is it going to do if you don't understand them. Just as we see them and their culture as backwards or weird, so do they see us in the same light. All three of the men and their families mention spending some amount of time in another country before arriving in the United States, talk about double culture shock. I can't even imagine how they felt moving from one culture to another and then yet another. I think that the biggest culture shock was for  Khu Say when he entered the American School system. Not only did he have to learn English to understand what the teachers were saying but he probably either had to do some extra to catch up or was left wondering why he was relearning material he already knew.
In order to make the transition smoother for refugees, there need to be programs that start to teach them English right away. There also needs to be programs to teach them some of the basics of living in America and how that might be different from where they are from. I am a firm believer that we need to help people like this understand the cultural difference and help find middle ground on those differences so that they can begin an new life. Communicating with new immigrants and refugees is critical both for them and for us. Without communication we can not help them understand us and us understand them. 

References:
Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T. K. (2012). Intercultural communication in contexts (6th ed.). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill

http://journalstar.com/news/local/lincoln-refugee-finds-empathy-as-strife-hits-congo/article_6f011d2a-fe13-5d11-bbee-b5de6f5aba59.html

http://journalstar.com/lifestyles/family/lincoln-s-refugee-students-find-language-barriers-when-doing-homework/article_4fbd65f1-c12e-5702-90cd-1321dfda5257.html

http://www.newsnetnebraska.org/news/lincoln-community-home-to-refugees-from-around-the-world/