2.6 Culture shock in British environment

When moving from one culture to another one may suffer from a culture shock, and

the ability to adjust to this shock may be seen as one of the most vital skills. It seems that the

bigger the gap between the source culture and the target culture, the more likely a culture

shock is to appear. Therefore the chances that a culture shock is suffered by a Pole who settles

in Britain seem to be bigger than the chances for the similar shock suffered by a Pole coming

to live in Germany. Firstly, Germany is a neighbour country to Poland and the two cultures

may be seen as similar. Secondly, Britain is located on an island, in some distance from the

rest of the European mainland, and may be perceived as significantly different from the

majority of the continental Europe countries.

There are certain aspects of British culture that may appear especially bothering and

problematic for a Polish immigrant. These include the following areas: (1) Language. The

necessity to learn a new language may be seen as stressful for the newcomers. However, as

noticed by UKCISA (Internet source: 22), using the language other than the mother tongue on

everyday terms may bear significant distress even for the most fluent users of English,

especially if they are faced with strange accents or business jargons that they have been

unfamiliar with. While living in London, for example, understanding the Londoners who

speak the dialect known as cockney may become a serious obstacle to cultural adjustment

even for those who are proficient in English. (2) Food. The food usually consumed in Poland

differs considerably from the food defined as British. Besides, many sojourners or

immigrants may suffer from the need of switching from homemade food to fast food offered

by commercial outlets as they have no time to cook their own food. Such a switch makes

them even more vulnerable to the shock caused by the exposure to unfamiliar food. This

inconvenience may be counter-measured, at least to some extent, by finding a Polish shop that

supplies Polish traditional food ingredients, or a Polish cuisine restaurant that serves familiar

dishes. (3) Climate. Even though the climate between Poland and Britain may not be different

at the first glance as the two countries share a similar geographical latitude, after some time

every Pole living in Britain discovers that the weather is generally significantly wetter than in

Poland. It is due to the fact that Poland is located in the middle area of a large continent, while

Britain is an island on the Atlantic Ocean. (4) Social behavior. The patterns of behavior

displayed by the British may appear disturbingly different from the ones that occur in Poland.

What may be perceived as striking by many Poles, the British seem to be more distant or even

cold in their social relationships (UKCISA, 2008). (5) Customs or unwritten rules of social

behavior. As observed by UKCISA (2008), "every culture has unspoken rules which affect

the way people treat each other", and British culture is no exception to this rule. Many of

British customs are similar to those observed in Poland, some of them, however, may differ

considerably. It is vital to recognize the differences and to take them into account during

social contacts. (6) Set of accepted values. Again, the system of values recognized by the

British is similar to the Polish one but by no means the same. The values may include beliefs,

assumptions, norms, or stereotypes observed by people. A good example of a difference in the

assumptions would be the stereotype of the Polish among the British versus the way the

Polish people view themselves. The system of values influences all spheres of one's life, from

the areas such as work or religion, to the way people cut their hair or dress. Among the most

important values that are accepted by the British and may be hard to accept by some Polish

people are the following: (1) The acceptance of otherness. As Keith Best, the head of the

British Immigration Advisory Service, observes (cited in Onet, 2011, Internet source: 23),

much in contrast to the British one, the Polish society is far from being multicultural and

multiethnic, which makes it difficult for some Poles to treat with respect other language or

ethnic minorities, for example the new immigrants from Romania. Poles who live in Britain

must, therefore, adjust and learn to treat other with respect, and use what is referred to as

political correctness in their relationships with others. (2) The respect for law. According to

Best, the Polish nation has a long tradition of living under foreign rule; the Polish developed a

disrespectful attitude towards the legal regulations that used to be thrown upon them by force

in the past and therefore find it hard to strictly follow legal regulation also at present. The

British, on the other hand, have a long tradition of abiding the law (Internet source: 23).

All of these factors may increase the culture shock suffered by Polish immigrants in

Britain. There are, however, many ways of coping with the unwanted effects of the change of

cultural environment. Perhaps the two most effective countermeasures are the following: (1)

to become aware of all the aspects that may cause the distress in those who struggle to adapt

themselves to the new setting; and (2) not to isolate oneself, on the contrary, to make new

friends and especially to "find someone to talk to who will listen uncritically and with

understanding" (UKCISA, 2008). It is also vital to remember that all immigrants may sooner

or later suffer from culture shock. In other words, culture shock is a normal phenomenon and

one must accept it as an unavoidable stage in one's career or life (Coles and Swami 2012, 87).

One may also see it as the opportunity to enrich one's personality and to develop what is

known in modern social sciences as cultural intelligence ( Earley and Ang 2003, 209).