Cultural Schock
Sabrina Monforte
Essay 2
Critical analysis
‘To what extend are you convinced by Tange’s (2005) position regarding cultural adaptation?’
Regarding the topic of cultural adaptation there are many theories. This essay,
essentially, will analyse in depth the opinion of a Professor in the Department
of Language and Business communication - Hanne Tange - , whos major is inside the
field of Intercultural communication, in opposite cultural and shock adaptation proposed by
Sverre Lysgaard in 1995.
At first, Tange illustrates in her article ‘In a cultural No Man’s Land – or, how long does
culture shock last?’ the meaning of sojourn, a key word in her study, to understand
that it represents a short stay in another country, usually between a couple of months and
a few years, to conduct an international project or a general work in order to
expanded the company’s view over the world, in order to gain a greater successful income
for it. However, cultural shock has not been analysed from both sides, Tange’s and
Lysgaard, because of the fact that Tange’s has been too subjective by taking in
consideration this theme. So that, I can not be extended to one of those theories.
Anyway, let’s introduce the argument by saying that cultural adaptation is relevant to
employees to gain the maximum result from their tasks. During their stay, in the
host country, so that they can acquire international competence to benefit their
enterprises.
According to Tange, to gain the best from a sojourn it is important that also the company
should be involved in all the process of adaptation, by following the sojourn, and not to
leave the employee on his own. So that the gain of high international qualified skills,
can be elaborated as resources for international business. But Tangle introduces the
definition of another author by saying that, ‘the process of acculturation rarely moves
beyond the level of
Essay 2
Critical analysis
‘To what extend are you convinced by Tange’s (2005) position regarding cultural adaptation?’
Regarding the topic of cultural adaptation there are many theories. This essay,
essentially, will analyse in depth the opinion of a Professor in the Department
of Language and Business communication - Hanne Tange - , whos major is inside the
field of Intercultural communication, in opposite cultural and shock adaptation proposed by
Sverre Lysgaard in 1995.
At first, Tange illustrates in her article ‘In a cultural No Man’s Land – or, how long does
culture shock last?’ the meaning of sojourn, a key word in her study, to understand
that it represents a short stay in another country, usually between a couple of months and
a few years, to conduct an international project or a general work in order to
expanded the company’s view over the world, in order to gain a greater successful income
for it. However, cultural shock has not been analysed from both sides, Tange’s and
Lysgaard, because of the fact that Tange’s has been too subjective by taking in
consideration this theme. So that, I can not be extended to one of those theories.
Anyway, let’s introduce the argument by saying that cultural adaptation is relevant to
employees to gain the maximum result from their tasks. During their stay, in the
host country, so that they can acquire international competence to benefit their
enterprises.
According to Tange, to gain the best from a sojourn it is important that also the company
should be involved in all the process of adaptation, by following the sojourn, and not to
leave the employee on his own. So that the gain of high international qualified skills,
can be elaborated as resources for international business. But Tangle introduces the
definition of another author by saying that, ‘the process of acculturation rarely moves
beyond the level of
References: Lysgaard S., 1995. “ Adjustment in a foreign society: Norwegian Fulbright Grantees Visiting The United States” in International Social Science Bulletin 7: 45-51. Tange H., 2005, ‘In a cultural No Man’s Land – or, how long does culture shock last?’, Journal of Intercultural Communication, issue 10. Ting-Tomey S., 1999. Communication Across Cultures. New York: The Guliford Press. Varner, I. and L. Beamer, 2005. Intercultural Communication in the Global Workplace. 3rd ed. Boston: McGraw-Hill.