1 THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Ignatius Bias Galih Prasadhya 112007049
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SATYAWACANACHRISTIANUNIVERSITY
2
An Analysis of Culture Shock Faced by 60
th-61
thPIBBI Students
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Ignatius Bias Galih Prasadhya 112007049
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE SATYAWACANACHRISTIANUNIVERSITY
4
This thesis contains no such material as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no material previously published or written by any other person except where due reference is made in the text.
Copyright@ 2012. Ignatius Bias Galih Prasadhya and Martha Nandari
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As a member of the (SWCU) Satya Wacana Christian University academic community, I verify that:
Name: Ignatius Bias Galih Prasadhya
Student ID Number: 112007049
Study Program: English Education Faculty: Language and Literature Kind of Work: Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide SWCU with a non-exclusive royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
An Analysis of Culture Shock Faced by 60th-61th PIBBI Students `
along with any pertinent equipment.
With this non-exclusive royalty free right, SWCU maintains the right to copy, reproduce, print, publish, post, display, incorporate, store in or scan into a retrieval system or database, transmit, broadcast, barter or sell my intellectual property, in whole or in part without my express written permission, as long as my name is still included as the writer.
This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in : Salatiga
6 ABSTRACT
This study attempts to discover the culture shock encountered by PIBBI 60th and 61th students in Language Training Centre, Satya Wacana Christian University. It would focus on the culture shock problems they get, and the way of adjusting various conflicts. In collecting data, the writer used open-ended questionnaire to acquire the information. The participants of this research were 14 foreign students, 8 males and 6 females, from Australia, Japan, America whose age ranges from 18 to 32. The result of this study shows that the PIBBI students experienced culture shock. Foreigner students would face problem related to food, transportation, values, language, environment condition, pollution, people and climate. These problems would be solved when they got used to the new cultural ways of the natives.
Key words : culture shock, foreign students, strategies
INTRODUCTION
In the globalization era, people have the tendency become mobile since there seem to be
less boundaries between one place to another. One of the reasons why they move to another
place was to pursue further study outside hometown or overseas. Indonesia is one of destination
countries for those who want to study about Indonesian culture, and language.
However, living in the new country can be difficult but also worthwhile experience. It
can be difficult because they might face difficulties to adjust in differences for example, food
language, values, transportation. The problem comes when they still behave with their own
culture. According to Brender (2006), people want to uphold their own culture although they are
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culture is important because people can show to other people that we also have a culture that to
be proud of. But if we visit a different place for a long time, we have to respect and follow the
new culture without forgetting our own culture. Therefore, Foreigner Students who comes to
Indonesia have to adapt and learn with Indonesian language and cultures too. As Gudykunst and
Kim (1995) say, “we communicate the way we do because we are raised in a particular culture
and learn its language, rules and norms”. On the other hand, those problems can also worthwhile
experience, if they could be more patient enough when faced to other people with a different
culture and enjoy the diversity.
In fact, not all people can adjust easily with new culture. Almost people who enter to a
new place often get shocked. According to Hoftstede (1991, p.97), culture shock occurs when
people visit a foreign country with a culture that differs from their own culture, for example; the
way people talk, the climate, the public facilities, the value that people respect and anything else
around them are different from ones in their place of origin. When people are not ready to face
these differences they can suffer from serious stress. If this stress becomes more and more
serious, the result can be strong, and it is called culture shock. (Guanipa,2000)
Thus, this research idea came from the writer’s experience himself when he found it was
difficult for foreigners(PIBBI Participants) to adjust with new surroundings. (When he was
working as LTC friends). LTC friends is Indonesian students who accompany PIBBI Participant
during the program, he/ she has a duty to help participants to practice their language skill in real
life contexts. The writer interested in culture shock to be his topic because it was never ending
experience for many people, we cannot understand culture shock deeply until we are involved in
learning other culture. Therefore, in this study the writer try to explore the culture shock
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Program Intensive Bahasa dan Budaya Indonesia or PIBBI (Intensive Course on
Indonesian language and culture) is held in Language Training Centre, Satya Wacana Christian
University. It is a language program that enables the foreigners from any countries to study
Bahasa Indonesia in a certain period of time. By taking this course, foreigners will experience
not only learning Indonesian language but also the Indonesian Culture. This research is aimed to
find out and provide some information about culture shock experienced by foreigners who are
taking the intensive course of Indonesia language and culture (PIBBI) at Language Training
Center, Satya Wacana Christian University.
In this study, the writer was interested in analyzing the foreigner feelings, the problems
they face, and how they deal with the problems. For that reason, the study is aimed to answer the
research questions “What are the kinds of problem related to culture shock faced by 60th - 61th
PIBBI students in Salatiga? How did the 60th - 61th PIBBI students overcome the problems?
What kind of culture shock symptoms were experienced by the 60th - 61th PIBBI students?
The result of the study is expected to prepare foreigners who want to study the Indonesia
language and culture with the information about culture shock and the strategies to deal with
cultural differences problem, so that the readers especially foreigner can better prepare
themselves for such an experience. Besides, the findings of the study can enrich the reader’ cross
cultural understanding.
Theoretical/Conceptual framework
Adaption
According to Fahmy (1982) adaptation is an ability to satisfy a relationship between an
individual and his/her surroundings. In other words, adaptation is a result of individual
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others. In this situation, people would find some difficulties when they come to the new culture
that completely differs with their own culture. Surely they must adapt with their new
environment, including friends, teacher and also the process of teaching learning. The adaptation
in here have purpose to make them feel easier to survive in the new environment. Therefore, the
adaptation is useful when they faced culture shock problem.
Strategy
. It also has been stated that “the key to effective cross culture is knowledge (Gudykust
& Kim, 1995, p.158). Knowledge itself also means strategies. Knowledge is needed when we
want to learn new culture. Everything about new culture can be learned and can be found in
many books, journal, etc. To cope with the problems regarding culture shock, people need to
enrich their knowledge about new culture and use some strategies or important way to deal it.
Culture shock definitions
Nowadays, there are many related definitions of culture shock but they nearly convey a
similar meaning. Culture shock was introduced in 1958. The term was first named by Kalervo
Oberg in 1960 who described it as ‘precipitated by the anxiety that results from losing all our
familiar signs and symbols of social intercourse’ (1960:177). According to Furnham (2010)
Culture shock is kind of ‘disorientation’, ‘anxious confusion’, ‘disease’ or ‘mental shock’ or
‘transition shock’. So he defines that culture shock is a disorientating experience of suddenly
finding that the perspectives, behavior and experience of an individual or group, or whole society
are not shared by others. Culture shock is a sense of confusion and uncertainty sometimes with
feelings of anxiety that may affect people exposed to an alien culture or environment without
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occurs because we have to go through a period of adjustment when we move from a familiar
environment to an unfamiliar one. We are starting to know an unfamiliar sign, sound, smell,
gesture, rules, demands and expectations. All these elements may be different from one country
to another. Take the differences between high-context and low-context cultures as an example. In
the later, such as the United States and Britain, more attention is paid to the content of talk, and
people often feel a strong need to explain their opinions in detail. Verbal language plays the most
important role in communication, while nonverbal language such as body language and facial
expression are secondary. However, high-context cultures are opposite. In most areas of Latin
America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa, people usually focus less on what is being said, and
nonverbal cues are significant methods of communication (Mitchell, 2000).
Greggs(1985) states that gesture as well as other kinds of non verbal behavior vary from
one culture to another. Gesture conveys different meanings for each culture, for example in the
western culture, showing middle finger has an insulting meaning, but In Indonesian is
meaningless. And then change of those things may cause newcomers get stressed.
Stages of culture shock
Oberg (1960) was one of the first who described stages of culture shock. Since then many
researchers have proposed stage theories of crossing cultures, the most popular being the
U-curve by Oberg(1960) and W U-curve by Adler(1975) and other researchers. Oberg distinguishes
four stages of culture shock—honeymoon, crisis, recovery, adjustment. The first stage is the
honeymoon, which can last a few days or up to several months. At this stage, everything is new,
exciting, and fascinating. The ‘natives’ are polite, gracious, and most welcoming. And the
second stage is called by crises which are initial differences in language, concepts, values,
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the crisis is resolved by a number of methods such that the person ends up learning the language
and the culture of the new environment. And the last stage is adjustment. In this stage,
Newcomer begins to work in and enjoy new culture. Though there may be occasional instances
of anxiety and strain.
Adler (1975) expanded on the concept about stages of culture shock, opening it into more
stages, as discussed in Furnham and Bochner (1986:130-31). He said that there are five stages in
the adjustment process. Each stage can be ongoing or appear only at certain times. Traveler who
comes to another culture for a short time doesn’t have the same experience as those who stay
longer do. Usually a short term adjustment for one year stay in a new culture could be
represented by the following W-shaped diagram( Kameo R, Cross Cultural Understanding
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1. Honeymoon Period: “Everything is wonderful:” in this stage the new arrival feels
excited, happy, and proud of experiencing new culture. This period of feeling good
normally last from one to four weeks. This level of happiness may not be reached again.
2. Culture shock: “Everything is terrible:“ after the first happy feeling. The crisis stage
usually begins. Communication difficulties may occur, and the newcomer begins to feel
angry, sad, and dissatisfied.
3. Initial adjustment : “ Things are tolerable now: “ In this stage the newcomer becomes
understand of the new culture, they start to feel comfortable, balanced, more familiar with
the new surrounding and feel less isolated. A sense of humor returns, and situation does
not seem so hopeless after all.
4. Depression: “I feel so isolated:“ In this stage the newcomer experiences significant
mental isolation, being far away from their family and he/she feels lonely. Usually some
newcomers feel that way, particularly when they haven’t been able to find meaningful
work and activity.
5. Acceptance and integration: “ Going all the way culturally:” The newcomer realizes that
new culture has a good and bad thing. He/she has become accustomed to the habit,
customs, food, and characteristic of the new people in the new culture, feel comfortable
with friends in the new environment and be able to use the second language and able to
handle social situations.
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When people encounter a new culture and experience culture shock, change and
unfamiliarity influences their own psychological adjustment and participation in a cultural
environment. This psychological confusion and emotional discomfort usually causes a
remarkable amount of psychological stress (Eschbach et al, 2001). The negative impact of
culture shock on individual psychology often includes a large and diverse set of symptoms.
Although not everyone will experience all the symptoms, almost all people will experience
some parts. The major symptoms may be described as depression, anxiety and feelings of
helplessness (Mio, 1999). If the major symptoms become deeper and deeper, people may have
difficulties in paying attention to the learning of new cultures. Moreover, psychological
disorientation may influence people’s abilities to solve problems and to make decisions. This
decreases the motivation for adapting to the new conditions. Most important is that when people
fail to defeat the symptoms of culture shock, they are likely to become hostile to the new
country that they live, which may lead to a handicap of interpersonal relationship
(Ferraro,2006). Therefore it appears that dealing with psychological stress caused by culture
shock such as depression, anxiety and feelings of helplessness is significant for those people
who come into contact with a new culture.
Coping with Culture shock
The effect of culture shock could be stressful to the visitors. They have to find some ways
out to minimize their problems so that they can live normally.
Schneider (1997) suggests to reading more about the country and its culture before you
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On the other hand, Jinha (2008) said that “ try to meet the local people to talk about
anything related to the new place to increase the knowledge about the new place .“
Different with the two researchers above, Jacob (2003) adds two more things that also
can help the visitor in their culture shock effects. She suggests that they have to learn their new
language well. By learning the language well, it can make the visitors feel more comfortable.
The second is maintaining a sense of humor and perspective. When dealing with culture shock,
people prefer crying to laughing. According to Jacob, rather than wasting the visitor’s time to
cry it, it will be better for them to laugh. This attitude can transform the situation from annoying
to hilarious.
THE STUDY
This research was conducted in order to find out the kinds of culture shock problems that
experienced by PIBBI Participants who come from Australia, Japan, America. The type of this
study is a descriptive study, using primary data since the writer obtained the data directly from
the subjects. The data are analyzed qualitatively since the data reflect to their background and
also based on the fact. Neuman (2000) said that qualitative data is analyzed by developing the
explanations of emerging theme as grounded in the concrete data. The goals of this research
were to know what kinds of culture shock faced by 60th - 61th PIBBI students and how they
solved them. The study is concerned with some of participants of the 60th - 61th PIBBI student’s
who have felt culture shock during their stay In Indonesia, especially in Salatiga. The
participants of this research were 14 foreign students, 8 males and 6 females, from Australia,
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To gain the data for this research, the writer used questionnaire. The writer used
ended questionnaire to acquire the information. The ended questionnaire consists of
open-ended responses. According to Jack & Norman (2008), open-open-ended allow more freedom of
responses and easier to construct. The question were about the subject’s opinions about the
ethnicity they found, the environment they were in, the people they met, the problem that they
faced and the way to solve the problem which were related to the culture shock.
For the research procedure to collect the data, there were some steps done by the writer.
First, the writer visited Language Training Center and asked permission to the Head Of
Language Training Center for gathering data from some of PIBBI 60th - 61th students. Then, the
writer met the subjects, be friends with them and finally asked them to participate in this study.
To analyze the data, the writer used “Categorical Content” (Lieblich,1998) by focusing
on the content or themes across the participant. Then data can be interpreted and finally drew
conclusion.
Discussion and Interpretation
A. Problem caused by culture shock
After that data had been collected from the questionnaire, they were classified into
several categories i.e food, people and language, value, transportation and pollution, climate and
environment condition. Based on the data, it was found that all of the participants experiences
16 A. Food/Cuisine
Surely, people need food to survive and live. However the problem comes when we travel to
different countries. There may be some problem related to food because food is mostly different
from one to another. Since all the participants came to Indonesia, they had to adapt with all of
Indonesian food. On this research, most of respondents had a problem concerning with food.
Respondent B and E said that Indonesian foods were too spicy, and make them had sore
stomach. “ it just took a little getting used to all the Cabe (Chili)” said participant E. It means
that they need a little time to adapt with the spicy food.
These explanation above does suit with this theory, “ Different cuisine or food can cause
stress reaction to people” ( www.studentservices.utoronto.ca/resources/cultural.aspx’s).
Winkelmen (2003) said that stress reaction then brings psychological reaction related to the
nervous system and increased susceptibility to all diseases. The two respondents above
experienced stress reaction that brought them to the illness.
While student A added that Some Indonesian food were less hygienic when he ate in the
Warung (a small restaurant, usually less clean and cheaper, sometimes there are many flies
around there). Certainly this condition really makes the Respondent annoyed and disgusted when
eating in place like that.
In addition, there was one interesting thing that makes one of the respondents surprised. It
happened when she and her friends were eating in the one of the restaurants in Salatiga. She saw
people eating their food with hands not with fork and spoon. For her, it’s something unique¸
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that there was no problem with the Indonesian food. Basically they like Indonesian food,
although sometimes they miss western food.
b. People
Most respondents agreed that Indonesian people are very nice and friendly. Respondent
A said that Indonesian people are friendly, you can see everywhere you go sometimes they greet
you with “Hi” or “Selamat Pagi” (“Good Morning”) which simply function as courtesy. Also,
Indonesian people care about neighborhood. Moreover, their principle is what we call
”collectivism” which is associated with dependence on others. People who belong to this value
usually focus more on togetherness .According to Roqib and Wachid (2007) the relationship
between each other is the important theme in Javanese culture. Therefore, most Javanese people
said that “ Mangan ora mangan asal kumpul” which means that having food or not they are still
solid and keep sharing their problem each other. So it’s very different from most westerners.
Respondent E said that in his origin country if he greets someone he doesn’t know, people will
think that he is crazy. Moreover collectivism isn’t strong enough in western countries. Most
western people tend to be individualist rather than sharing in a group like what Indonesian
people do.
On the other hand, it was also found regarding to the statement by Respondent D and L
who had a problem concerning Indonesian people. Respondent D stated “Sometimes it’s a little
bit annoying when the Indonesian guys say “hey mister or bule”…. (‘Bule’ slang word used by
Indonesian people for white people, the foreigner argued that this kind of word is sarcasm or
racism). I’m already well aware of the color of my skin… It’s like people can’t get past the fact
our skin color is different. I hate racism problem.. Most time I ignored it, but sometimes it does
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he felt annoyed when people would stare at him or when a group of young people would yell at
him.
It was also found regarding to statement Respondent J who had a problem concerning
communication style with Javanese people, “It’s hard for me that Javanese people do not tell you
the truth, they just tell you what they think you want to hear.. So sometimes it is hard to know
what people are really feeling/ thinking. I like honesty…” Seelye (1995) stated that people who
are from the high involvement society (western) tend to talk more, interrupt more, expect to be
interrupted, talk quicker than those who are from high considerateness. Whereas, people who are
from the high considerateness (eastern/ in here Javanese people) tend to speak one time, use
polite listening sound, avoid interrupting, give plenty of positive and respectful words to respond
to their conversational partner. Therefore, people from high involvement countries (western)
regard that showing their ideas is preferable. They must express what they think and feel so that
the others can explicitly know their opinion without thinking that their directness is offending
other because the most important thing is to tell the truth.
c. Language
The next category is language. Language is the way to communicate with people.
Therefore, language may become one of common problem encountered by foreigners who come
to another country. Based on the data, all of respondents have much difficulty on the language.
They mentioned that it was really difficult to understand the Indonesia language at the first time
and they got misunderstanding while having conversation with local people. Respondent G said
that it was uncomfortable when he wanted to say something and he did not know how to say it in
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Respondent A added that Indonesians talk too fast or use colloquial and sometimes mix with
Javanese language, while the others stated that they have poor vocabulary. Another common
problem in the case of language faced by foreigners is there are lot of Indonesian words using
“ng” sound, like “sangat”(extremely) ,“menyengat” (sting) that are difficult to pronounce by
foreigners.
d. Values
There are many kinds of values in this world, and most of values are different between
each of country. Like just as in Indonesia, what is right Indonesia culture could be wrong for
other culture. Certainly, each country has a different perception about values. According to Kohl
(1979) each culture has different assumption of value.
Respondent E said that it was difficult for a person who was not religious to live in
Indonesia. Actually he claimed that he isn’t religious but spiritual. Here, In Indonesia, religion is
something very important of course. He said again that when you found someone that has no
religion or Atheist, Indonesian people would think that the person was so bad.
The different idea of privacy is another problematic area of culture shock. The foreigner
does not like to share their privacy to other. They would get angry if someone broke their
privacy. But Indonesian people like to share their privacy to others, for instance family. It is
common for mother to talk about her husband job, how many children they have, and other
private things. However, foreigners would think that it is uncommon and rude if they talk about
things like that, said by respondent D.
Another thing that frustrated one of the respondents was “Jam karet” (literally “rubber
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come late on attending seminar or other occasions. Someday, he experienced Indonesian “jam
karet” people in a meeting and he was very upset about it.
Adelman (1988) says that people might experience personal shocks, which include a loss
of personal intimacy when people faced values differences. He said again that values are a vital
enough for a culture, so that values differences can make people frustrated. This theory does suit
with the respondents experience above.
e. Transportation
Most of the Respondents used to live in the advance countries where the transportation is
neatly arranged. But when they came to Indonesia everything was different. They got shocked
enough and experienced culture shock. Here they were scared seeing how Indonesian people
drove on the road. The Student A and C said that the transportation in Salatiga is little bit
dangerous at night and the way they drive are careless. Also, student D added that sometimes
they didn’t wear helmet while riding motorcycle. It can lead to the bad impact when they got
accident.
“In Indonesia when you want to cross the street, you just look for space, pray and run,
but in Australia, you don’t need to do like that when you cross the street.” said
Respondent F.
He argued that living in his origin country, Australia is safer rather than In Indonesia, where the
traffic is neatly arranged, the Pedestrian is being respected by others. So he got panic firstly
when faced situation on the road like that.
Another problem in Salatiga is the transportation called “Angkota” (Minibus). The
respondent F, G, N said that Angkota is unusual transportation, because Angkota doesn’t always
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added that Angkota’s are very slow and have to stop frequently because they need to wait the
passengers. Therefore it’s not effective and efficient enough to go out by Angkota.
f. Pollution
The following category is pollution. Sometimes the air that they breathe in here is more
polluted that in their origin country. It’s stated by respondent G and E “the air was polluted here,
because there were lot of smog which caused by Vehicle, Factory, burning trash”. Moreover
Respondent F added “Sometimes in the village, I see smog from burning trashes that contributed
air pollution.”Therefore, respondent G suggests wearing mask for protecting our body from air
pollution. So, all of statements by Respondent above were described about bad condition related
with Air Pollution in Indonesia generally.
On the other hand, the questionnaire reports also indicate that the respondents
encountered problem concerning nonverbal communication as well. As stated by Kloph (1998)
that environmental factors (in this case is noise pollution) is included into one aspect of
nonverbal communication. Here, the writer found that respondent A has a problem with Noise
pollution like the sound from Mosques, while he rarely found in his origin country. The noise
woke him up in the early morning for the first week of his arrival, before finally he got used to
the noise.
g. Climate
Many Foreigners were certain on an opinion that weather in Salatiga was fresh, since
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But, sometimes they have a problem with Rain. Respondent A complained. “ A lot of rain
in the rainy season makes me stuck in my room…“ So it means that he couldn’t stand of the rain,
because he couldn’t go everywhere they like in a situation like that.
h. Environment condition
In addition, Environment Condition also becomes a main problem in Indonesia. You can
see a lot of rubbish everywhere or some rivers which are contaminated. The phenomenon like
that makes Foreigners frustrated and irritated. One of respondent stated “ Before I came to
Indonesia, everything look so nice, I read lot of books about Indonesia, It’s clear stated that
Indonesian scenery is so beautiful, there are many rice fields, mountains, beach there. But In
contrast, he was a little bit distracted when he saw a lot of rubbish everywhere in there. In line
with this, respondent A added that “ Not enough rubbish bins or recycling in this country,“
Meanwhile, Respondent F also added that “I often saw Indonesian people throwing rubbist in
the street.”
B. Culture shock symptoms experienced by PIBBI Students
Although not everyone will experience all the symptoms, almost all people will experience
some parts. The major symptoms maybe described as depression, anxiety and feelings of
helplessness (Mio, 1999). Moreover, Guanipa (2006) also stated that there are several symptoms
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- Sadness and loneliness (because they feel alone and still find difficulties of making
friends in the new environment).
- Too concerned with all the time, aches, minor pains, allergies and skin rashes.
- Insomnia, desire to sleep too much or little.
- Changes in temperamental, depression, anxiety, anger
- Identifying with the old culture or idealizing the old country
- Unable to solve the problems
- Lack of confidence
Here are the culture shock symptoms by respondents. The writer classifies some of
symptoms into two of categories i.e feeling, health.
b.1 The Feelings
1. Sadness, loneliness, depression.
Here, the writer found out the symptom of culture shock faced by PIBBI students. Most
of respondents got different problems related the feeling.
As stated by Respondent C who is American “ I felt annoyed about everything, I
wanted to see my boy friend, my friends, wanted western food too”.
Respondent D said that “Sometimes loneliness- Mostly when I feel like the only
stranger or foreign person.” Certainly, living with family is more comfortable for her
than living in a new place alone or with new friends of whom she did not know well
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Meanwhile, respondent E said that “ Maybe some sadness from missing my
family and friends”. Here the respondent really missed her family and wanted to go
home. She found that it was hard to cope with her homesickness problem.
Similar with Respondent E, Respondent f and H also stated about their sadness.
They felt sad because they have difficulties in communication with Indonesian people.
B.2 Health
In regard to the health, some of participants felt what is called Insomnia and
allergies, aches. Respondent A felt insomnia. He could not sleep well. The sound from
Mosque, while he rarely found in his origin country woke up him late night. The findings
support Guanipa (1997) claim that moving to a new place may affect their sleep because
sleeping is also determined by several factors such as bedroom condition, weather, or
environment.
Different from respondent A, respondent D and F felt Allergy. As stated by
respondent D, he said that he had allergy about food. And respondent F felt allergy with
weather.
On the other hand, Respondent B and E had stomachaches. Because they ate spicy
food and they had not used to eat this kind of food before in their origin countries.
Coping with culture shock
As a fish lives in the water, it must be aware of the water and also forced naturally
to adapt to its environment in order to survive its life. In the same way people must adjust
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Here, Most of the respondents faced the culture shock during their adaptation
period in the Salatiga. The kind of culture shock can be different from one to another.
However, they had similar solution in dealing with culture shock. In this research, the
writer found out many similarities between what is stated by Researchers and the
Respondents.
According to Jinha ( 2008) there are some points to deal with culture shock such
as :
- Try to meet local people to talk about anything related to the new place to interest the knowledge about the new place.
- Don’t take anything seriously ; just be open minded because it is good start to have great experience.
- Don’t be nervous; come along to learn as much as possible to enjoy the
experiences.
In line with this, Respondent A and B solved their problem by trying to open their
understanding about a different culture and learning as much as they could about Indonesia
Culture with friends and family.
Meanwhile, respondent C agreed that having friends who has ever experienced culture
shock could give better solution in dealing with culture shock itself. He hoped that those friends
could give best motivation and suggestion for him. As stated by Furnham (2001) who suggested
that finding someone who has experience with culture shock-maybe an older relative who moved
to area before you did.
Another suggestion is to keep contact with your ethnic group. As stated by Schneider,
26
from home could be a good solution to reduce culture shock too.” Here Respondent F also said
similar that sometimes she needs a leisure time to hang out with her Japanese friends.
Since all of participants joined an intensive course on Indonesian Language and Culture,
in Language Training Center, Satya Wacana Christian University, they agreed one thing that this
program really helped them to interact with Indonesian people by understanding their language
and culture.
Conclusion
This study was to investigate problems that may arose in cross cultural communication
and the strategies which people used to cope with the problems that happened in the PIBBI
Program 60th and 61th.
In relation to research question 1: What are the kinds of problem related to culture shock
faced by 60th - 61th PIBBI students in Salatiga? The result of the study showed that there were
eight problems experienced by respondents during their stay in Salatiga.
Food is the biggest problem encountered by the foreigners. Eight of fourteen Respondents
faced this problem. The different characteristic of food make the subject got shock and sick.
Most of them adapted so hard with this kind of food. Moreover, other respondents could not
stand in some of places like Warung that have less sanitation.
Language was on the second stage the problems. Seven of fourteen Respondents
mentioned that it was really difficult to understand the Indonesian language at the first. This
difficulty can lead to misunderstanding and miscommunication between them.
The third problems were Pollution and environment condition. Foreigners experienced that
27
factors. Regarding the Environment Condition, they felt irritated when they saw a lot of rubbish
everywhere or some rivers which were contaminated.
The next problems were Transportation and Climate. Five of fourteen Respondents
experienced both of those problems. Regarding the Transportation, most of them stated that they
felt annoyed with the way of Indonesian people drove on the road, and felt frustrated with the
limited transport in Salatiga. Beside, they also had a problem with Climate especially in Rainy
season. Because they couldn’t go everywhere they liked to go in a situation like that.
The last problems were people and values. Four of fourteen respondents had problems
concerning people and values. Sometimes, the way of local people greet, talks, and act brings
to misperception and misunderstanding between each other. There was also a different idea
about value. The values of privacy, religiosity and communication style is very different
between western and eastern. Therefore, it brings a problem if they don’t understand well each
other.
In relation to Reseach Question 2 : what kind of culture shock symptoms experienced
by PIBBI students? Here, the writer found out the symptom of culture shock that were faced
by PIBBI students. Most of respondents got different problems related the feeling. Sadness,
loneliness, depression were the most common problem faced by the respondents. On the other
hand, insomnia, allergies, and stomachache also arose a problem regarding to health.
In relation to Research Question 3 : How did the PIBBI students overcome the
problems? The result of study showed that there were four ways to overcome their problem
related to culture shock. Most of the respondents solved their problem by trying to open their
understanding about the different culture and learning as much as they could about Indonesia
28
tried to accept the differences. Hanging out with their ethnic group could be a good solution to
reduce stress. They could get support and reduce the loneliness. Moreover, by trying to accept
the differences, they could realize that difference did not mean so wrong, therefore they
should not be afraid of being different. At last, having friends who has ever experienced
culture shock could give better solution in dealing with culture shock.
Recommendation
The writer would like to suggest that foreigners should prepare themselves well before
visiting a new country. They could refer to any sources, like the embassy, read books or
browsing on the internet to get as much information as well. By learning the new culture, they
are expected to be able to figure out the cultural aspect and what the problem they get. To help
someone overcome culture shock, the PIBBI program has created some activities which
involved the foreigners in to the real life situation. As the writer said, the PIBBI program was a
good course to introduce the Indonesian culture and language since it helps foreigners to adapt
to the culture and alleviate culture shock. It is hoped that in the future, the readers can get
valuable lessons based on the experience of PIBBI participants.
The writer believes that there are many things that the writer failed to spot on this thesis.
For the next research, the writer suggests doing research with other foreigners who live in
Salatiga such as Native teachers, Students exchange or Missionaries. The researcher can take
10-15 subjects and use qualitative and quantitative methods in order to get accurate
information. Moreover, the next thesis writer should do the interview by recording it, since this
29
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Finishing my thesis in English Department is my greatest work I have ever done.
Definitely, I have to express my gratitude to everyone who supports and helps me in finishing
this thesis:
All the highest praises and worship for my Lord Allah SWT for His blessings throughout
my life, my study, and my thesis-making process.
I would like to give a deepest gratitude to my supervisor Dra. Martha Nandari, M.A for
her help, support, and advice. To my thesis examiner Christian Rudi, M.Apling thanks for his
advice and suggestion on the development of my thesis. To all my participants, thanks for the
pleasure time to share in the interview. And also to LTC Staff (Bu Dian, Mbak Anis, Bu
Yona,Mas Indra, Cheppy). Moreover, this degree is dedicated to my mother (Rita Kumandani)
and my father (Joko Sudibyo). Thanks for being patience and giving lovely advice. Special,
thank you to my best friends, Venda Vistha, Kiki, Tiara Osa, Mutiara, Vivi, Gading, Putra,
Kukuh, Sendi, Alpha, Anhar, Deily Alfina ,Vera, thank you for the prayers and care. And also
thesis partners(Awan Giri, Luksi, Adam). To my friends: ED 2007ers,0298 Crew, Manggis Crew
30
REFERENCES
Brender, J (2006). Beyond Culture Shock : the meaning effect and motion in international educational experience. St. Louis : University of Missouri.
Brno (2007). Culture Shock. Faculty of Education Department of English Language and Literature, Masaryk University, Retrieved December 17, 2012, from http://is.muni.cz/th/84121/pedf_m/CULTURE_SHOCK.pdf
Cultural Competency Online Course. 2009. Retrieved December 18, 2012, from http://www.griffith.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0004/154318/cultural-competency-online.pdf
Ellis. G (1995). How culturally appropriate is the communicative approach?ELT Journal Vol. 50 (3) July 1996 . Oxford University Press.
Furnham, A. (2010). Culture Shock: Literature Review,personal statement and relevance for the south pasific. Journal On Pasific Rim. Vol. 4 (2), pp. 87–94
Guanipa. C (1998). Culture Shock. Retrieved December 13, 2012, fromDept. of Counseling and
School Psychology, San Diego State University, website :
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/cguanipa/cultshok.htm
Holloway, L. &Brown L. (2008). The initial stage of the international sojourn: excitement or culture shock? British Journal of Guidance & Counselling .
Irwin, R. (2007). Culture shock: negotiating feelings in the field. Anthropology Matters Journal, Vol 9 (1) .
Jack, R.F & Norman, E.W, (2008). How to design and evaluate research in Education(7th ed.). New York : Mc Graw- Hill.
Kameo, R.M Cross Cultural Understanding Handout. Salatiga: for internal use at satya wacana cristian university.
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary . Retrieved December 13 ,2012, from www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/culture%20shock
Oberg, L. (n.d.). Culture Shock & The Problem Of Adjustment To New Cultural Environments.
Consortium for International Education & Multicultural Studies. Retrieved April 1, 2011, from http://www.worldwide.edu/travel_planner/culture_shock.html
Pantelidou, S and Craig. J.K.T (2006) Culture shock and social support :A survey in Greek migrant students. Soc Psychiatry Psychiatry Epidemiol.
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Intercultural Communication, Vitus Bering Denmark University College. Retrieved December 13, 2012, from http://www.iu.dk/nyheder/artikler/redskaber-til-et-bedre-internationalt-undervisningsmiljoe/finalRapport.pdf
Xia, J. (2009). Analysis of Impact of Culture Shock on Individual Psychology. International journal pf phsycologies studies .
Xiaoqiong, H. (2008). The Culture Shock that Asian Students Experience in Immersion Education. Changing English . Routledge
32 Appendix
Questionnaire
Dear PIBBI Students,
I am interested in researching about culture shock. I would be very grateful if you would kindly answer this questionnaire. Your participation will help me complete my thesis at the English Department, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. Thank you for your cooperation.
Personal data
6.Why did you want to come to Indonesia?
7.What did you think about Indonesia? (before coming to Indonesia)
8.What did you expect about the journey in Indonesia? Did you meet your expectation after coming to Indonesia?
9. When did you arrive in Salatiga ? 10. With whom did you come here? 11. What are you doing in Salatiga? 12. Who are you staying with in Salatiga? 13. Is this your first visit to Salatiga?
14. Are there foreigners in your neighborhood?
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17. Do you have a problem in communicating with Indonesians? a. How often?( once a week, twice a week, everyday)
b. How much can you understand?( I have almost no difficulty, I have a little difficulty ,I have much difficulty)
18. Do you feel homesick?
19. What problems do you have during your stay in Salatiga?
Answer the questions above by filling in the table below
Problem Solution
20. After a few days in Salatiga how do you feel?
21. Did you experience culture shock in Indonesia? How long and in what ways? 22. What kind of culture shock symptoms that you experienced? (health/
insomnia/sadness/loneliness) Explain briefly! 23. Could you overcome it? what did you do? 24. Is it difficult to adapt the new culture? 25. How did you adjust to the new culture?
