Cultural Shock

Cultural shock can be defined from Anthropology as the impact that any person or social group may suffer when they visit a new place. This can happen because there are different cultural elements that cause a “shock” on the natural ways that people have to relate with other people. For example if I visit a country located in Eastern Asia like China or Japan, there are a lot of cultural codes that for us may be quite strange. One situation can be that if you are invited to a dinner in a house, you don’t have to accept more food if they offer you after you finished your meal. That's a clear sign of disrespect for the host, because they think that what they offered you was not enough.

But cultural shocks also may happen in your own country. And what a better country like Chile to exemplify this. If someone who lives in Santiago travels to the south of Chile and he/she visits any rural place, probably he/she will not understand kindness of rural people. That’s natural for them.

Sometimes I have suffered cultural shocks. For example I lived around 14 years in Iquique (I am from Rancagua) and when I returned, I had a lot of problems when using some specific words. One time I was playing with my little cousin and I told them “Subete a Tota” (It means like climb up to my shoulders) and they didn’t understand what I said. And if you use the word “tirar” in Santiago or any other southern place they will understand that you had sex with another person, while if you use the same word in Iquique, it has a different meaning.

I have never suffered any other cultural shocks because I have not visited any other country. That’s all. Have a nice week.