Comparisons of the short-term and long-term migrants‟

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realistic about different cultural features. The following chapter tells about the process of adaptation. It is a combination of features from the long-term immigrants‟ interviews.

“The process of adaptation is different across people. I think that when you adapt you understand the rules so well that you don’t’ need to remind yourself about them. You can choose what to do. You don’t necessarily need to act the way you see people acting around you but you have to respect them. You repeat certain behavioural practices all the time. They are daily routines and you feel normal about them. You don’t think about them any more. There are always lots of small nuances which you do not recognise straight away because they are more hidden. In the process you learn all the time. I would say that you are adapted when new things are no more a threat and you feel comfortable and safe. How you feel is the key thing. You can take best part of your own culture and of a new culture. You cannot only stick to your own cultural patterns. You have to belong to society, being part of it but not completely. Learning the language is always a challenge but it is a very important part of intercultural adaptation because through language you can follow the media, create relationships and enhance your understanding.

Through language you can express your personal feelings and thoughts.”

The short-term interviewees, and especially the interviewees who were adapting to a new culture for the first time in their lives, emphasized more their own efforts in the adaptation process and concentrated on various skills. They listed what they should know and what kinds of skills they should have and what they should think about the “new” culture to adapt better.

The long-term interviewees who had been living in Finland more than five years had similar comments about the adaptation process to the short-term interviewees.

However, for them the adaptation process was more about belonging somewhere and about being respected. The long-term interviewees mentioned factors which connected to their own attitudes and skills but they talked more often about the need to understand and respect the “new” culture and to be understood and respected by the people around them. Most of the long-term interviewees emphasized mutual respect in the adaptation process. Table 27 includes comments about important aspects of adaptability mentioned in the interviews of the present research.

175 Table 27. Important aspects of adaptability

Short-term sojourners Long-term immigrants

be willing to learn new things be aware that learning takes place in interaction

be able to speak the host language try to learn the language as soon as possible

accept “strange things” respect different ways of doing things be able to manage the daily routines be sensitive to see what is similar and what

is different

learn the traditions join the culture

be interested understand the culture

be curious be open and accepting

know the nonverbal signs to be able to be silent, be patient with pauses

be willing to state own views be tough sometimes

be willing to interact, be willing to ask questions

be able to learn from others learn together

be able to do things in many ways be flexible

feel comfortable in different situations think that the place is your home be aware that adaptation is a process be aware that adaptation is a process

be aware of everything do not try to be perfect

see yourself through other people people need not to assimilate keep you own identity

The long-term interviewees noted that both parties should learn from each other but it did not seem to happen easily. They had felt that society did not adapt to them at all or adapted only a little. They mentioned that it had been very important for them to feel accepted and equal in society. They wanted to be “taken as a person”

not as a “foreigner” and in most cases this had happened. They stressed that nobody wants to be in an inferior position. Some interviewees commented that they often felt a little rootless.

“I have been accepted and I have had friends all the time. It has been very important in my adaptation.” (L4/m/NO)

“Adaptation is like skating on the ice. One cannot get through the ice. They do not let you grow roots. You feel like at home but you always miss something.”

(L8/f/RU)

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The short-term interviewees did not comment about their cultural identity in the adaptation process. On the other hand, the long-term interviewees mentioned identity management in the process of adaptation. They knew that a strong sense of their own identity had been an important factor how they felt in a new culture. They wanted to belong somewhere but they had to modify themselves in the adaptation process so that people accepted them but without losing their own identity. They had realised that people who adapt to a new culture should have a strong sense of their own identity and it should be taken care of all the time. They noticed that they had had quite different phases in their adaptation processes.

The following section presents the interviewees‟ visualized processes of intercultural adaptation in Finland.