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First and Second-Generation Immigrant Relations

sibyline, beating Qalyn to a Q

14:59 / 23.03.06

I'm a first-generation Filipino immigrant to the U.S. and I've been thinking a lot recently about first-generation / second generation immigrant relations.

I moved at 15, so I find myself looking at the issue from both sides, both within my family and externally. I argue with my paretns over what I deem to be outdated values and their inability to socialize outside of the Filipino community, but I also argue with my younger sisters about losing touch of their culture.

Outside my family, I'm generally perceived as American-born until I let people know that I'm not. I often make internal judgments about how uncool FOB's are, but am also liable to get annoyed with second-generation immigrants who know nothing about their parents' cultures.

Any interesting stories about relating to people on the other side of this particular generational divide? Any reference sources about this that people can point me to?

Jack Fear

15:10 / 23.03.06

FOB = Fresh Off the Boat, yeah?

03:14 / 24.03.06

This is interesting, but I'm afraid I don't have any direct experience or any references. Maybe someone will turn something up, and then I can add something to the discussion.

Er... fred? Weren't we having a conversation about this a couple weeks ago?

grant

17:51 / 24.03.06

In South Florida, where I'm from, this is generally a divide that comes out in *language*.

(I'm an immigrant kid, too, but not from the dominant immigrant culture here.)

It's kind of a known thing (assumed truth, accepted reality, whatever) that among the Latin community, the first generation doesn't speak English very well, the second generation is bilingual but speaks English as much as possible at home, so the third generation winds up trying to learn Spanish in school.

I don't speak any of my parents' non-English languages, but I know a little bit of Spanish.

sibyline, beating Qalyn to a Q

18:02 / 27.03.06

i agree that language plays a big role... i still understand and speak tagalog reasonably well, but my younger sisters don't. my parents would prefer to speak tagalog unless forced. so at home, i tend to speak tagalog to my parents and english to my siblings. it's an odd divide.

Not in the Face

09:58 / 29.03.06

As part of my work I help people set up community organisations and working in an inner London borough a great many of those community groups revolve around the various ethnic groupings that live in the borough.

One of the most common reasons given for wanting to set up a commuity group is educating children within that community in the language of the community - language is seen as an almost physical bridge to the culture and origins of the community and a way of preventing children from losing contact with their families and 'going off the rails'.

Mirror

13:45 / 29.03.06

I'm a second-gen immigrant, and one of my great regrets is that I don't have a better sense of my cultural heritage. My mother emigrated from Italy to Australia when she was in her teens, but I don't speak the language or anything (when I was young, my father was out of town most of the time, and my mother was concerned that if she spoke to me in Italian, I'd have a harder time relating to my dad, an American, when he was around.)

At this point, the amount of additional effort required to "get in touch" with my heritage seems to outweigh the potential benefits. Even if I were to learn the language and whatnot, I'm not sure I could ever really integrate with Italian culture because I've had so little contact with it. Still, it does feel like I'm missing something.

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