# culture shock



## seitt

Greetings

Please, how can I translate the term ‘culture shock’?

My sentence for translation: “When he left India for another country he suffered terribly from culture shock.”

Every blessing,

Simon


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## cougr

_πολιτισμικό σοκ_


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## Timothy1987

Right, can we get a better word than 'sock' please?


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## Eltheza

How about _ταραχή_? Or perhaps a noun from the verb _συγκλονίζω_, which I'm not sure exists?

(You *do* make me laugh, Timothy - your post was worth getting up at 5 am for! What have you got against Modern Greek "as she is spoke", may I ask?)


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## Timothy1987

I mean seriously, σοκ, can we not do better than that with the plethora (oooh Greek word) of nouns in the language?

(Always happy to brighten the day . My issues stem from national indolence regarding the language and the stupid look and usage of foreign words. If this continues 'as she is spoke' then the problem is only widening.)

Edit: For reference, ήταν πολύ σόκιγκ...! (Oh wait, it's now σόκινγκ because people apparently can't comprehend different sounds and spellings.)


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## Eltheza

Good morning, Timothy (well, it's _starting_ to be morning here, anyway)!

Yes, I do 'see where you're coming from'! I'm British; I taught English to lovely young Greek students in Athens for 18 years. I studied Greek. However, whilst I was learning this language with such an illustrious history, the younger generation of Greek people seemed to be intent on populating it with a never-ending influx of foreign/loan words. 

Some things really annoyed me e.g. _ένα_ _πάρκινγκ_ for a car park! Blame the French for that (as for many other horrors!) "No, no, no", I would cry (beats breast and bashes head against wall) - "_Parking_ is the action; NOT the place"! 

However, do we need to get our knickers in a twist about all this? Language evolves, develops and changes and nobody can stop it. Look at all the words from a plethora D!) of languages that English has adopted. People have been whingeing about falling standards in language since time immemorial; should we still be speaking Anglo-Saxon?

(We've gone seriously 'off-topic': expect slap on the wrist and deleted posts!! You did, indeed, brighten the day! Hope you have a good one!)


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## ireney

All languages take words from other languages. It's one thing to propose a native word instead of a new term and see which one catches on and quite another to dismiss established loan words. That would only serve to make a language poorer. Σοκ is an established word and the phrase "πολιτισμικό σοκ" is by now standard. For other uses of the word there are indeed a few synonyms with "κλονισμός" being the closest. If, for instance, we were talking about a psychological shock the best way to put it would be "ψυχολογικός/ψυχικός κλονισμός". "Ψυχολογικό σοκ" is a valid alternative as is, in a more slangy way of speaking, "ψυχολογικό τραλαλά" . 
"Cultural shock" however is always referred to as "πολιτισμικό σοκ".


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## Ancolie

Blame the French for that (as for many other horrors!) 

Merci beaucoup, Eltheza!


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## Eltheza

Τίποτα! Mon plaisir!

(You _know_ I love your native language, Ancolie. I spent my entire youth embracing it!)

I am not a linguistic conservative and language evolves. However, le camping and le parking etc., which Greek has adopted, stick in my throat! They are the activity NOT the place. PLEASE RESPECT OUR GERUNDS!


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## Ancolie

PLEASE RESPECT OUR GERUNDS!

But what about "painting", "cooking",  which must have been gerunds and are no more ?


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