By Ir. Fong Tian Yong
I
was first introduced to the term
“third culture generation” by
the Vice President of ShangriLa Hotel of Beijing, Christopher
Chia, a Malaysian expatriate
while I was attending the APEC
CEO Summit 2014 in Beijing.
The subject came about when he
described to me about a number
of Malaysian expatriates working
with Shangri-La hotel chains in
China, transferred within China
for years and the corresponding
impact on their children’s culture
identity and sense of belonging.
He then mentioned this term
‘ third culture gener ation’
which is new to me although
it is a common term among
expatriates. You may call them
the creatures of globalisation
whereby the mobility of natural
persons becomes common
place.
Third culture generation or
third culture kid (TCK) is a new
term to describe children who
were raised in a culture outside
of their parents’ culture
for a signif icant par t of
their development years. The
definition is not limited to
describing only children, but can
also be used to describe adults
who have had this experience
of being a TCK. The experience
of being a TCK is unique in that
these individuals are moving
between cultures before they
have had the opportunity to
Vice President Shangri-La Hotel
Beijing, Christopher Chia posing
with BEM editor.
fully develop their personal and
cultural identity.
The first culture of children
refers to the culture of the
country from which the parents
originated, the second culture
refers to the culture in which
the family currently resides,
and the third culture refers to
the amalgamation of these
two cultures. The third culture
is further reinforced with the
interaction of the third culture
individual with the expatriate
community that currently resides
in the host country.
Today, the number of
TCKs, also referred to as third
culture individuals (TCI) is
increasing with globalisation,
more opportunities for jobs and
work overseas, international
education being
more
accessible, and various other
f ac tor s. N owad ays, more
children are bilingual or multilingual as parents are more
exposed to the global business
world. TCIs are often exposed to
a second (or third, fourth, etc.)
language while living in their
host culture. This means that
TCIs are often bilingual, and
sometimes even multilingual.
Most TCKs suf fer less
cultural shock when they move
from city to city. However,
when they return to a culture
of homogeneity in their belief
system, it can be challenging
for them as the expanded
worldview they often practice
may be perceived as offensive.
Nevertheless, they are generally
more adaptable to changes
culturally and socially.
Taking on from here, it is no
wonder that when expatriates
visit their potential employment
office overseas, the first thing
that comes to their mind is to
assess whether their wives and
children are happy with the new
place of residence in the foreign
land.
With the impending
liberalisation of market entry
for professional engineers,
movement of natural persons
is expected to increase in
the big ASEAN market of 610
million population as well as
opportunities in other global
region. TCK will then be a
common term where concerns
on education, culture, social
lifestyle and identity will have to
be addressed.
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SPECIAL REPORT
Third Culture Generation
– Product of Globalisation