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Intercultural Encounters 385

FIGURE 11.1 The Acculturation Curve

Positive
+

c

Feelings b
a

Negative
–
Phase 1 2 3 4
Euphoria Culture Acculturation Stable state
shock
Time

becomes integrated into a new social network. Phase 4 is the stable state
of mind eventually reached. It may remain negative compared with home
(4a)—for example, if the visitor continues to feel alienated and discrimi-
nated against. It may be just as good as before (4b), in which case the visi-
tor can be considered to be biculturally adapted, or it may even be better
(4c). In the last case the visitor has “gone native”—becoming more Roman
than the Romans.
The length of the time scale in Figure 11.1 is variable; it seems to

adapt to the length of the expatriation period. People on short assignments
of up to three months have reported euphoria, culture shock, and accul-
turation phases within this period, perhaps bolstered by the expectation of
being able to go home soon; people on long assignments of several years
have reported culture shock phases of a year or more before acculturation
set in.
Culture shocks and the corresponding physical symptoms may be so
severe that assignments have to be terminated prematurely. Most inter-
national business companies have experiences of this kind with some of
their expatriates. There have been cases of expatriate employees’ suicides.