After your overseas study stint and you’ve clicked your heels and returned to ‘Kansas’, you’ll experience culture shock when you return home, perhaps not immediately but eventually. The reaction is different for each person. Universally everything will look and even feel different. Like astronauts living for weeks in zero gravity, your linguistic immersion will occasionally result in being tongue tied in conversations that go beyond day-to-day greetings. You’ll unconsciously slip into the foreign language phraseology and sometimes even pause to find the English word that the foreign language word would explain better. You’ll been rewired linguistically and psychologically. You’re like Neo in The Matrix whose mind, like yours, has been freed and you can never go back to who you were before. As Morpheus inquired, “Would you want to?”

On the linguistic level, fluency, however one defines it, is grossly over-rated. This so-called failure of fluency is often used as an insidious verbal knife by envious counterparts (and you’ll be stunned who tells you) to discourage you from pursuing your goals. Your immediate objective is to be understood - American accent, imperfect grammar and all. Even with Herculean efforts and a Zen monk approach, you will be laughed at by many because we all stumble when learning anything. But keep in mind that we’re stumbling forward (aka learning from our mistakes), perhaps falling down and then getting up continuing our journey. Eventually you’ll improve your proficiency. If you keep at it, believe you me, you’ll surprise yourself.

Because of your newly acquired skill which cannot be bought and few achieve, expect friends and family members to passively even actively degrade your accomplishments or subvert your future efforts. You may even rise to the ‘exalted’ level of pariah in some circles because of your newly acquired skills and even encounter outright hostility. Remember that their reactions reveal everything about themselves, not about you.

Additionally, you’ll realize that you’ve developed a certain class of ‘street smarts’ and survival instincts enabling you to better think on your feet – in a another language to boot! Additionally, there’s another unique experience. If you physically resemble the general foreign population, it gives you the experience of blending in almost seamlessly as long as your clothing and body language match everyone else’s. The downside (there’s always a downside) it is assumed that you know the ins and outs of the culture so a faux pas are not as forgivable. On the other hand if you look quite different from the population, you get the experience of someone in the minority population of a foreign country who frequently do not have the legal protections we take for granted in the US. And for your own protection, you must determine whether this minority with whom you resemble is one which is welcomed, ignored or persecuted.

Residency overseas as a college student has tremendous benefits because learning about a foreign culture is your full-time assignment. As part of your coming-of-age, it’s an experience that will leave an indelible impression. And don’t worry whether a business will put you on the ‘short list’ to hire you because you’ve added unique experiences or added skills. Sometimes they don’t because now you’re a threat. Just move on and find someplace that will. Unique skill sets always come with a price that I’d pay for anytime.

Copyright Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC 2014. All rights reserved.

Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC is a NYC-based global advisory service and think tank with connections at the highest levels. International business is increasingly complex featuring a highly mobile professional class in all corners of the globe. We provide you the tools to successfully negotiate cross-culturally in your global business endeavors. Tell us about your challenges. We'll help you get on the "Short List".

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