6.6. Cultural Shock and Consumerism

Specialists in intercultural studies say that it is not easy to get used to life in a new culture. They call the feelings which people experience when they come to a new life – “culture shock”.

There are 3 stages of culture shock:

1. the newcomers like their new life;

2. the newness wears off and they begin to hate the city, the people and everything else in the new culture;

3. the newcomers began to get used to their new life.

The people with the worst culture shock are those who never had any difficulties in their own country, they were active and successful. People begin suffering homesickness; they do not have the same hobbies and positions.

Some of the factors in cultural shock are obvious: the weather is unpleasant; the customs are different; the public service systems (telephone, post office, transport) are difficult to understand; the food is strange for you; you feel everybody looks at you etc. Only familiarity and experience are solutions of cultural shock.

Popular culture is linked to the growth of consumerism, the repeated acquisition of an increasing variety of goods and services. The American life style is often associated with clothing, houses, electronic gadgets and leisure time. Advertising stimulates the desire for update and improved products; people equate their well-being with owning certain things of the latest model.

The standard of success in American society is products consumed and owned rather than professionalism or personal ideals. The media exemplify this success with the most glamorous models of consumption: Hollywood actors, sportsmen, music celebrities.

This dependence on products and on constant consumption defines modern consumer society everywhere. Consumption has been extensively criticized because it seems to erode older values of personal tastes and economy.

Answer the questions:

1. What stages of culture shock do specialists in intercultural studies single out?

2. Enumerate the factors in cultural shock which are obvious. What can you advise

to people to overcome these difficulties?

3. What is the American life style often associated with?

3. Task 1. Give your point of view on the growth of consumerism and modern consumer

society.

7. Languages in the usa

7.1. The American Indian Languages

The American Indian languages were spoken by the original inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere and are spoken by their modern descendants. In America north of Mexico, where the Indian population was thinly spread, there were a number of language groups – e.g. the Eskimo-Aleut, Algonquian, Athabaskan, and Siouan – each of which covered large territories and included some 20 idioms (dialects). In California, for example, more than 20 distinct language groups were represented. America north of Mexico had about 300 distinct languages.

The American Indian languages do not form a single historically interrelated stock (as do the Indo-European languages), nor are there any structural features (in phonetics, grammar, or vocabulary) whereby American Indian languages can be distinguished as a whole from languages spoken elsewhere.

Answer the questions:

1. What Indian language groups do you know

2. In what places of America were they represented?

3. What distinguishes the American Indian languages?