Cultural Adaptation in Singapore

It can be exhilarating to live, study or work abroad in the new environment, however foreigners often experience cultural shock when first entering the new countries. These differences from their home countries could result in unnecessary negative impacts on their lives. This essay will first cover the importance of cultural adaptations. Then various aspects where I encountered difficulties when adjusting to Singapore will be discussed, such as food, language, cultural diversity and sensitivity, expectations and laws.

Cultural adaptations are important for foreigners to adjust themselves so as to minimize the negative effects of cultural shock, including frustration, homesickness, feeling isolated and lonely, depression, bad sleeping and any physical body pain (Heike, 2014). All these impacts could affect the productivity of their study and work. Cultural adaptations can help foreigners to develop the respect to the local customs, religions and laws. With such respect, foreigners can understand the dos and don’ts in the new environment. The frictions due to cultural differences can be reduced among people with such understanding, and people could make friends from different backgrounds more easily. Foreigners can better settle down with cultural adaptations so as to focus on their main purpose for being overseas, such as further studies and overseas working assignment.

With understanding the importance of the cultural adaptation, the following paragraphs will discuss difficulties I encountered and overcame when adjusting myself to Singapore.

First challenge is food. There is a variety of food choices in Singapore. Different kinds of food are served in the restaurant and food court, such as Malay food, Western food, Indian food, Japanese food, Korean food and Chinese food. It is a challenge for me to try other countries’ food if there is no Chinese food served. I have to try the food that looks not so attractive and tasty to me, such as Malay food and Indian food. However, I feel they are special and surprisingly delicious after trying out. Now I can accept most of the food in Singapore.

Language is the second challenge to me. English is mostly used and accepted here as working language. There are different accents here when different people speaking English, such as Singlish (Singapore accent), Indian accent, Chinese accent and Japanese accent. It took a long time for me to adjust to understand these different accents. Now I am not only understand Singlish when listening, but can also speak a few words of Singlish. Chinese is also used by many Singaporeans here, however most of them speak dialects, for example, Hokkien and Cantonese. Those are the Chinese languages I never heard before when I was in China, as mandarin is widely used in China now. It is now common for me to talk to a Singaporean Chinese in English as I cannot understand the dialect and he/she also cannot speak mandarin.

There is also an amazing cultural diversity in Singapore. The migrants from different countries, including China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Middle East and Europe brought their cultures, languages, customs, festivals and religions to Singapore (Wang, 2014). It is common to see people wearing different cultural dresses in the street. There are public holidays to celebrate New Year for different races as well. This cultural also reflects in terms of languages and food.

Furthermore, cultural sensitivity is very important to be understood when adjusting myself into the new environment, especially in Singapore with such cultural diversity. I need to respect friends who believe in different religions, such as Christianity, Buddhism and Islam. I have to take note that most of the Malay friends do not eat pork and Indian friends do not eat beef when I book a restaurant for gathering. I should never shake left hand with an Indian friend. Politics and history issues are not good topics to start a conversation here, such as the wars between China and Vietnam, wars between China and India before, and the controversial issues of the islands between China and Malaysia. Extra cares shall be taken for cultural sensitivity.

Expectations need to be managed as well when adjusting myself in overseas environment. Singapore is expected to be a safe place, while there is still poster boards of shop thieves and Wechat scams. Then I learnt low crime did not mean no crime and care should be taken to protect myself. I expected to practise and improve my English to communicate with local people here. However, it turned out that few of them understood my English due to accent and sometimes they just gave up and talked to me in simple Chinese. I have to be brave and continue to practise my English, and probably I should talk more to Vietnamese, American and Indian friends.  Sometimes I missed my hometown food and try the Chinese food in the school canteen. However, they were not as good as expected, but more sweet and light in taste. From these small things, I found the gaps between reality and expectation. These difficulties need to be overcome so I can adjust myself well to the new environment.

Finally, laws are stricter in Singapore than China. People can be fined for eating and drinking in the train, smoking inside the shopping centre, littering on the street and painting on the public wall. I have to note all of these and obey the local laws. These laws seem to be too strict, but they are meant for the bigger benefits of the whole society. They are not difficult to follow, however I need to be reminded to behave well in all occasions.

With the importance of cultural adaptations and different difficulties encountered explained above, I feel excited when exploring various cultures in Singapore. I have also made friends from all kinds of cultural backgrounds. The impacts from initial cultural shock have been minimized and I feel more comfortable living and studying here.

References

Heike. (2014). Effects of culture shock – the good and the bad. Retrieved from Refreshed Perspectives: http://www.refreshedperspectives.com/effects-of-culture-shock/

Wang, G. (2014, January 25). The power of local culture. Retrieved from The Straitstimes: http://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/the-power-of-local-culture