Reporter _ Joe Editor _ Peng Xingyue
This article was originally published in the 64th issue of Study Abroad.
Studying abroad is an important choice in life. When foreign students begin their trip with great expectation, can they actively adapt to the local environment, thus smoothly integrate into foreign life and maximize the value of studying abroad? This largely depends on whether international students have cross-cultural awareness.
The lingering shadow of "depression"
Fan (pseudonym) is a graduate student at Shanghai University of Technology. In the second year, she went to the University of Sydney, Australia to study, but in less than a year, she was originally cheerful and lively and actually suffered from depression.
"When I first arrived in Australia, I saw foreigners at the airport and heard foreign words around me, and my heart was empty." Because of his poor language, Fan couldn't leave with his classmates, so he had to go to Australia to study the language alone. "Later, I went to the language school, and there were no China people in my class. I cook and wash clothes by myself, and I have to deal with endless quizzes and compositions. Not many friends, not much communication. I thought to myself: maybe I won't make it to graduation at all, and that kind of loneliness is too uncomfortable. " Fan Xiao said with emotion. Later, she began to give up on herself, locked herself in her room, played games and watched movies, and got some comfort from it. However, her grades plummeted and the red lights kept on, which made Fan Xiao completely collapse. "
Fan Xiao, who had been deeply lonely, lost her only proud capital. She began to feel anxiety, insomnia and headache until she was diagnosed with depression. The long-awaited trip to study in Australia turned into a nightmare of depression, which Fan Xiao could not accept. Facing the future, she said that she was very confused and hoped that she could recover first and then consider whether to continue studying abroad.
"Stress" has become the main negative emotion of studying abroad.
Fan's experience is not uncommon among international students. There are more and more cases of mental illness caused by depression, which interrupted his studies and even ended his life. Li Runing, a "post-90 s" China student studying at Madrid Polytechnic University, committed suicide by taking poison for depression; Lee Yang Kai, an international student from Johns Hoops University in China, committed suicide by jumping off a building due to depression; Xu Lin, a student at California State University, jumped to her death due to depression. These international students suffered from depression abroad and finally chose to bid farewell to this world in an extreme way.
These cases and data reveal the fact that the psychological problems of overseas students caused by depression have threatened their life safety and should be paid enough attention. When foreign students begin to travel abroad happily, the road to study abroad is not successful because of the lack of attention and prevention to mental health.
In studying abroad, "cross-cultural" consciousness plays a vital role. Unfortunately, this role is often ignored. 2015101,Kai Tak Education Group released the Report on Cross-cultural Adaptation of China Students in Beijing, inviting 122 1 China students studying in the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, Europe and Asia. The results show that in all dimensions of social and cultural adaptation, China students get the highest score in daily life and the lowest score in interpersonal communication. The data shows that the most negative emotion experienced by foreign students is "stress", with 5 being a perfect score, and the "stress value" of the survey sample reaches 3.9.
Avoid studying abroad:
"Honeymoon" comes first, and "culture shock" comes later.
In view of the above phenomenon, Professor Zhuang Enping, director of China Intercultural Center, pointed out in an interview with Studying Abroad that international students will face four stages in the process of studying abroad, namely, honeymoon period, depression period (shock period), adaptation period and stable period. When foreign students arrive in a foreign country for the first time, their living habits, architectural style, interpersonal relationship and value orientation are different from their own. This cultural difference will stimulate their senses, thus generating excitement, curiosity and great enthusiasm for their new life. This stage is usually called "honeymoon period".
Students in the "honeymoon period" have a higher degree of psychological adaptation. However, this cultural stimulus will not last long, often ranging from a few days to several months, and the longest will not exceed half a year. With the extension of study abroad, when deep interpersonal relationships are established with classmates, friends and teachers around, anxiety caused by various reasons will occur, which will lead to psychological impact and then fall into the trough of "cultural imbalance".
Cultural conflict is also called "cultural shock". When a person enters a different culture for the first time, the excitement brought by cultural stimulation will gradually weaken with the passage of time, and the negative influence of cultural differences on psychology will appear. The sharp changes caused by internal cultural accumulation and external cultural migration often have an impact and shock on people's psychology, making people feel uncomfortable both physically and psychologically. At this stage, the psychological reaction of foreign students due to cultural shock and inadaptability to the new culture is often manifested in deep feelings such as disappointment, loneliness, homesickness, depression, incompetence, insecurity and lack of self-worth, as well as external emotions and behaviors such as anxiety, irritability, depression and self-isolation, such as confusion, fear, disgust, panic and resistance.
This stage is the most critical period for studying abroad. If we can enter the stable period through active adjustment, we can regain the passion of "honeymoon period"; On the contrary, if left unchecked, there will be many unnecessary tragedies.
"Support from non-China friends"
It can help international students adapt to the local culture.
According to the survey data, among the four sources of social support most frequently contacted by international students, the main source of support comes from family, followed by friends from China and faculty, and there is little interpersonal interaction with non-China friends. Most international students are still in the "separation mode" stage. Every circle of study, life and daily entertainment is full of China compatriots with the same background. They have not integrated into the local mainstream cultural circle, even if they disdain some excellent parts of foreign cultural systems, they lose or even refuse the opportunity to learn, discover and absorb the essence of foreign excellent cultures. Judging from the value of studying abroad, I also lost the fundamental intention of spending a lot of money to go abroad for further study, far from my parents and relatives and not far from Wan Li.
Zhuang Enping believes that "the support of non-China friends" can positively influence the social and cultural adaptation of international students compared with "the support of China friends". Local friends are more familiar with the mainstream cultural values, codes of conduct and moral standards of their countries. They can provide immediate and effective cross-cultural knowledge and information for international students and have the basic ability to provide practical help. Therefore, learning and improving the cross-cultural communicative competence and adaptation strategies of China international students have an important influence on them.
Li Yuhan is a graduate student at Northeastern University. Her life in America is very exciting. In the interview, she put forward her own suggestions on how to avoid cultural shock. "Work is a good way to relieve stress. When I first arrived in the United States, I had little knowledge in class and didn't want to go shopping with my classmates after class. I often go to the cafe next to my school to study reading alone. Just when I thought I was going to be depressed, I heard the news that the cafe was short of people, so I volunteered. Later, I became good friends with other shop assistants and met many overseas students from China who came to buy coffee. The study abroad life in the United States has also become rich and colorful. "
This adjustment method has been recognized by Zhuang Enping, who also gave valuable advice to international students: "Take part in local sports activities, travel with local friends and taste local food, so that you will have more talk with local people." . During the study period, we should also actively seek internship opportunities and participate in activities organized by social workers. In this way, we can form a broader interpersonal network and gain a deeper understanding of overseas mainstream cultural values, legal norms, moral standards and living customs. After graduation, these gains will be very helpful whether you return to China for employment or look for a job locally. "