The process of cultural adaptation of foreigners to Czech culture

Content

LITERATURE REVIEW        2

SUMMARY OF THE MAIN FINDINGS        6

INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT        8

The process of cultural adaptation of foreigners to Czech culture.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Like many other Eastern European countries, the Czech Republic has transformed in the last 15 years from a land of emigration to one of transit and immigration. Nowadays, foreigners constitute about 4,5% of Czech Republic population. By the end of 2017 the highest number of immigrants was registered (527 th. people). The majority of them are Ukrainians and Slovaks (22%), they are followed by Vietnamese (12%), Russians (7%) and German (4%). Together they represent 77% of all foreigners in Czech Republic. (https://www.vinegret.cz/208550/chislennost-inostrantsev-v-chekhii-dostigla-istoricheskogo-maksimuma/)

We can distinguish between 2 types of foreigners living here: expatriates and immigrants. According to Wikipedia, “an expatriate (often shortened to expat) is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than their native country. In common usage, the term often refers to professionals, skilled workers, or artists taking positions outside their home country, either independently or sent abroad by their employers, who can be companies, universities, governments, or non-governmental organizations”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expatriate) According to another dictionary, “an immigrant is someone who has moved from their country of origin (their homeland) to another country, to become a citizen of that country. Just visiting a country, even to work for a few months, does not make you an immigrant. Immigrants are people who live permanently somewhere other than their homeland.” (http://www.newyouth.ca/immigration/newcomers/immigrant-vs-refugee-vs-newcomer-vs-undocumented)

No matter what their status is, all the people coming to Czech Republic go through the process of cultural adaptation.

Cross-cultural adaptation is one of the most extensively investigated fields of study with many varied perspectives and conceptions. This phenomenon has been investigated across social science disciplines continuously since the early 20th century in the United States, a nation that has dealt with a large and continuous influx of immigrants, while more recently, other Western European countries and beyond have been experiencing a significant increase in migration population. (Kim, 2017)

There are 4 steps of adaptation process:

STAGE 1: “The Honeymoon”—Initial Euphoria/Excitement

This stage includes excitement with new sounds, sights, smells; intrigue with both similarities and differences between the new culture and your home culture, etc.

STAGE 2: “Culture Shock”—Irritation/Hostility

At this stage the novelty of the new culture has worn off, and you now focus primarily on the differences between the new culture and your home culture, You are homesick. You miss your friends and family.

STAGE 3: Gradual Adjustment, Humor, and Perspective

You are becoming more familiar with the new culture and its “logic” and values. Cultural cues become easier to read, you feel like “As long as I am here, I should make the most of it.”

STAGE 4: “Feeling at Home”—Adaptation and Biculturalism

The “new” culture is no longer new; instead, the “foreign” country you live in now feels like another home. (https://www.princeton.edu/oip/practical-matters/Cultural-Adjustment.pdf)

There are 4 directions in which the level of cultural adaptation can be measured: “These include (a) socioeconomic status (SES), defined as educational attainment, occupational specialization, and parity in earnings; (b) spatial concentration, defined in terms of dissimilarity in spatial distribution and of suburbanization; (c) language assimilation, defined in terms of <…> language ability and loss of mother tongue; and (d ) intermarriage, defined  <…> only occasionally by ethnicity and generation.” (Waters, Jimenez)

There are several problems every foreigner gets through while integrating in local culture. No matter where you are, in Europe, Asia or America, one of the most important ones is that immigrants and expatriates don’t have access to health care not being citizens of the country, that’s why they have to buy costly insurances which still don’t cover all kinds of treatments and medical services. (Klein, von dem Knesebeck) Language barrier is also a challenge for some people, as part of immigrants move without knowing local language. Another problem in China, for example, is that many people, especially children at the age 5-16, are at higher risk of developing mental health problems. Not only have they to acclimate in new changed environment, but also have to learn key skills such as communication or emotional resilience to integrate in the society. At this time they need the greatest support from family, the government and the community itself. (Zhang) Apart from differences in home and local cultures, one more problem is differences in lifestyles and at workplaces. These all can lead the foreigners to stress. (Doki, Sasahara, Matsuzaki)

 With raising migration, many countries nowadays have adaptation programs for foreigners offered for free, but still common European policy concerning this issue is missing,  that’s why foreigners  try to deal with it themselves or with the help of their close people.

 As for the Czech Republic, the main problem is in adult immigrants’ and their children's lack of knowledge of the Czech language, which can make it almost impossible for them to integrate into the Czech society. (Macáková, 2013)

Many expats and immigrants don’t learn the Czech language. Below are some reasons why:

• Czech language is considered as one of the most difficult in the world, and foreigner just don’t have so much free time to learn it;

• the majority of them work in international  companies where the main language is English;

• foreigners cooperate and make friends with people from their own or English- speaking countries;

• Czech classes are pricey and good teachers scarce;
• bad Czech confuses people, so it’s better to say nothing than to say with mistakes;

• Czechs want to speak English when they get to know you are not local;

• it’s useless outside of the Czech Republic. (https://news.expats.cz/czech-language/10-reasons-expats-dont-speak-czech/)

But the government tries to increase the number of foreigners speaking Czech. Facilitating the study of children of immigrants is undoubtedly very important, not only in relation to their successful integration into society, but also because it is a form of investment that can be returned in adulthood, if they continue to work in the country. And there was done a research which showed that the immigrant generation makes some progress but remains dominant in their native tongue, the second generation is bilingual, and the third generation speaks state language only.