culture shock

English

Wikivoyage

Etymology

From the earlier form cultural shock.

Pronunciation

• (General American) enPR: IPA^(key): /ˈkʰʌlt͡ʃʰɚ ʃɑːk/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

culture shock (countable and uncountable, plural culture shocks)

1. (anthropology, sociology) A state of anxious confusion experienced by someone exposed to an alien or unfamiliar environment.

   Having grown up in rural Arkansas, I experienced tremendous culture shock on moving to Harlem.

   • 1982 December 4, Ilana Weinstock, “Letters From My Aunt”, in Gay Community News, volume 10, number 20, page 4:

     I went through another, reverse culture shock when I got back to Israel and the efort ^[sic] required to change from cherished and catered-to visitor to an ordinary working woman kept me away from my typewriter jor ^[sic] months.

Translations

state of anxious confusion — see also cultural shock

• Afrikaans: kultuurskok
• Arabic: صَدْمَة ثَقَافِيَّة f (ṣadma ṯaqāfiyya)
• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bulgarian: култу́рен шо́к m (kultúren šók)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 文化衝擊 / 文化冲击 (zh) (wénhuà chōngjí), 文化震驚 / 文化震惊 (wénhuà zhènjīng), 文化休克 (wénhuà xiūkè), 文化震撼 (wénhuà zhènhàn), 文化衝突 / 文化冲突 (wénhuà chōngtū)

• Czech: kulturní šok m
• Danish: kulturchok
• Dutch: cultuurschok (nl) m
• Esperanto: kultura ŝoko
• Finnish: kulttuurishokki (fi)
• French: choc des cultures (fr) m, choc culturel (fr) m
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: Kulturschock (de) m
• Hebrew: הלם תרבות (he) m (hélem tarbút)
• Hungarian: kulturális sokk, kultúrsokk (hu)
• Italian: choc culturale (it)
• Japanese: カルチャーショック (ja) (karuchāshokku)
• Khmer: please add this translation if you can
• Korean: 문화 충격(文化衝擊) (munhwa chunggyeok)
• Malay: kejutan budaya
• Mongolian: соёлын шок (sojolyn šok)
• Polish: szok kulturowy m
• Portuguese: choque cultural (pt) m
• Romanian: șoc cultural n
• Russian: культу́рный шок (ru) m (kulʹtúrnyj šok)
• Scottish Gaelic: buille chultarail f
• Spanish: shock / choque de culturas m
• Swedish: kulturchock c
• Thai: please add this translation if you can
• Turkish: kültür şoku, kültür bunalımı
• Ukrainian: культу́рний шок (kulʹtúrnyj šok)
• Vietnamese: sốc văn hoá