Traveling to your "Roots"

I was just wondering if my experience was unique. I'm a second gen Japanese-American, and when I went to Japan, I definitely felt a connection with the place that I never have with other locales. It seemed like I actually "fit in" and was a "native" of the place even though I had never stepped foot on the country before.

Anyone else have similar (or strikingly different) experiences? Did you feel a pull to travel to the country of your ancestry?

I guess this applies more to second gen and third gen immigrants who strongly identify themselves with the country they are born in (in my case, America) and the country their ancestry is from (in my case, Japan)...I know a lot of people who are pretty ambivalent about their roots (for example, many Caucasian Americans say that they are American, rather than German-American, French-American, etc.) and therefore don't have the same pull towards "going back" Reply to this

It seemed like I actually "fit in" and was a "native"

Wonder if my daugher will have that experience.

People sometimes critisise me for taking her to live in a country where we 'dont really belong' and will never fit in like the natives do. Even the school psychologist tells me that foreign kids have a hard time in these situations, even though we have been living here in Germany since she was 1 year old. I didnt think moving from Ireland to here would create distress for a kid. It is still Europe afterall, and not a vastly different culture where people dont even look like we do. Kinda distressing for me to hear this as a parent, when I want my daugter to be happy and have all opportunities I can provide. I thought making her trilingual by living here is the best I can provide, but now not sure. Maybe a feeling of truely belonging in a place is what is important for a kid. Reply to this

Thanks Jo. 😊 I think of it as an amazing opportunity too. Wish I could speak German, Dutch and English the way she can. I think of having 3 native languages as a professional qualification and a bonus even if it never used professionally. I suppose parenting is such a massive responsibility anyway, that nobody can get it 100%!p(MISSING)erfect.

How did you feel as a kid Gen? Did you wish you were living in Japan where everybody looked like you do, and where there were family members nearby that were there for several generations? Did you wish your parents spoke more like and behaved more like the neighbours, instead of having a bicultural mixiture? We celebrate Irish holidays, Dutch holidays and German holidays and pick and choose traditions from them too so we are very different from the people around us. And then there is the travelling where I picked up all kinds of things like international cooking, so we dont even eat the same as other people here. Or did you like being so mixed and see the advantages of being so, when you were a kid? Reply to this

I went to Punjab, India when I was 9yrs(only was there for a month or so) old and I don't remember much from back then. Just last year my first cousin was getting married so I decided this is a good of a chance as any to go back and visit. With in moments of entering my dads village an elderly man calls out too me and my brother your Shinda's kids aren't you? Must say that I felt a real big connection to that place. It really did feel like home. Sort of...

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To go to Japan and hope to assimilate without knowing a word is impossible

I definitely agree with you there. :-)
I live in a reasonably rural area, so most people around here know me (the foreigner sticks out like a sore thumb) and know I speak Japanese.
If I go to a main city even though I speak to them in Japanese they seem to assume I won't understand their reply.....or maybe they just want to practise English.

I'm assuming your parents still speak Japanese - do they use it at home. That's a great opportunity for you if they do. Reply to this

I am a first-gen Filipino-Australian and always feel an overwhelming excitement everytime I go back to my country of birth. I now lived in Australia for 19 years (longer than I lived in my own homeland). I am now finding it hard to speak in my own native tongue without lacing it with English. My kids can't speak Tagalog ( Philippines national language) because we speak English at home. However, I still get to practice speaking Kapampangan (dialect we speak in our province) with my sister and my mother. My younger brother can't speak Kapampangan anymore so we ony speak Tag-lish (Tagalog-English) to him.....yeah I know it's quite confusing. 😊

I took my eldest son to the Philippines with me 2 years ago to know about his Filipino heritage and ancestral roots. He felt uncomfortable witnessing the poverty in my homeland but learned to embrace it at the end. He enjoyed playing with the local kids and island hopping around the country. I am very pleased that he felt a strong connection to his ancestral roots and wants to go back there whenever possible. Reply to this

Actually Jo, my parents try not to speak Japanese at home...all the Japanese I learned in foreign language classes at high school and university.

Well, not to sound offensive, but many Japanese people I know say that even if a foreigner speaks perfect English, their accent makes it impossible to hear so they quickly switch to English...which is funny, because now the Japanese person has the accent in the conversation. Reply to this

....but I don't speak Swiss German so I can't communicate with them very easily.

Did your parents speak Swiss German?

I myself sometimes feel a bit left out her in Germany, because I dont speak German as well as some people think I should be able to. I am making progress with my German, but they have such strong accent and dialect here in the South of Germany..... And when they hear my foreign accent they immediately brush me off as not being able to speak German. I had it a bit easier when we lived in N. Germany. As well as being more foreigner friendly, they spoke much more clearly in German. But, I suppose I dont feel as weird about it as you would, because neither of my parents are German. Reply to this

Being a Malaysian Chindian (Chinese Indian), born in Singapore and brought up in England, for a long time I was somewhat unsure of where I belonged (not something my brother experienced though, he considers himself British through and through). People would often ask me where I'm from, a question that confused me somewhat. Whenever I answer 'England', I'm normally asked - because I of course don't look English - where my ethnic roots are from. To answer Malaysia would not be entirely correct, because although both my parents were born and brought up in Malaysia and hold Malaysian passports, they are not ethnically Malay, my father is Indian and my mother Chinese. And when people then ask where I was born, as if this would help clarify things... answering 'Singapore' just confuses matters even more!

I was lucky enough to go to Malaysia on family holidays every 2 years or so when I was younger, but I always felt a little out of place. I don't look anything like my Chinese relatiaves, nor do I look much like my Indian side (I actually somewhat Malay looking) and not speaking the languages of my family (which is a point of distress between myself and my parents since for their own reasons decided not to teach myself and my brother their languages) meant I was left out of many conversations and didn't really get to know them. However, over the past 4 years or so, I've visited Malaysia and my relatives there once, sometimes twice a year and as I get older I feel more of a connection with Malaysia and my ancestry than I ever did before when I was growing up.

Now I've come to relish in the fact that I'm so different to my peers, coming from such a diverse background only enhances my life now, not complicating it like it seemed to when I was growing up. I feel lucky to belong to 2 totally different countries, I'm slowly learning the languages of my heritage and when I do eventually have children I'll make sure that they too can converse in more than just English.
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I'm a first generation Dutch-Canadian. Both my parents were actually born in The Netherlands though they met in Canada and I was born in Canada.
We had a lot of Dutch culture growing up - foods, phrases, decorations in the home, etc. Even in the area I grew up there were a lot of Dutch immigrants with thick Dutch accents.

So I definitely identify with being Dutch as much as being a Canadian and whenever I travel to The Netherlands I feel like I'm at home! I feel like I'm just in Canada because my parents happened to move there but life as I know it makes more sense in Holland because I see the roots of it there. I feel more "normal" - because I'm over 6' tall which makes me a giant here but in Holland that's very common!

Just wish I could speak Dutch better - wish my parents had taught us more while we were young. It would make traveling there, conversing with my older relatives, and being able to fit in much easier. I would encourage anyone who can speak a language other than English to teach it to their children at home. Reply to this