It is different for everybody. Most people I have met here, the US of A, from Mexican parents claim to be Mexican. They feel Mexican. But they can't eat any type of hot pepper. What's up with that? And yes, most of them were first generation.

I do have met a few that consider themselves fully Americans. These people usually feel embarrassed of their heritage. I don't judge. If they feel that way so be it. This doesn't help at all in what you asked but I just wanted to throw it in.

Anyway, back to the topic, I assume the person would have to know something about his/her parents' country before considering himself from that country. But it is not the case.

People embrace the culture they live in. It's natural. By embracing that culture from an early age you would expect them to claim to be from that country.

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Originally posted by ierxium Most people I have met here, the US of A, from Mexican parents claim to be Mexican. They feel Mexican. But they can't eat any type of hot pepper. What's up with that?

post of the day.

Questions of nationality are pretty black and white; its a legal issue and an application of the facts to the law. Your question tho is more cultural/psychological.

Its possible that a person not born in their parent's country, feels a greater attachment or allegiance to the country of their parent's birth. It happens all the time. Also common is that people form a greater attachment or allegiance to an adopted country, and not their country of birth.

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I only know one case related with that. I have one friend who was born in Spain but his parents are both portuguese... He loves Portugal, knows how to talk perfect portuguese and adores its culture but he feels Spanish and he wants to stay here

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Originally posted by Jayx1 eg) Both parents are Italian but kid was born in Argentina. Would that kid claim to be argentine or italian?

Did he grow up in Argentina as well? If so, definitely Argentinian, without any reasons to claim Italian nationality - at least that's how it works in Brazil.

edit: If he grew up in Australia, he would be considered Australian. Place of birth plays no important role. Heritage plays a minimal role. Place of living would be the most important factor.

"I just don't get it. People come up to me and ask me where I'm from and it's such a loaded question. And I'll say 'I'm from San Francisco,' and they lean in and whisper 'No, I mean where are you REALLY from?' And then I have to say 'Well, my parents are originally from Korea.' And then I have to listen to stories about all of the Korean people they know, or some Korean food they ate once, or how they're not sure they're pronouncing a Korean word right. And it's like...I don't care. I don't get it! I never walk up to white people and say, like, 'Oh my God, are you from France? No, not recently, I mean like a couple thousand years ago? Oh my God I totally knew it! I love your fries!" - Margaret Cho

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Last edited by Lira on Mar-01-2005 at 03:02

In Canada even people who are born here claim different nationality. Thats why i ask

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Originally posted by jester Everything in this country is illegal.

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Originally posted by Jayx1 In Canada even people who are born here claim different nationality. Thats why i ask

nationality is a black and white legal issue. some people may be dual nationals.

those people you refer to are confused about the meaning of words they use.

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quote:

Originally posted by ierxium It is different for everybody. Most people I have met here, the US of A, from Mexican parents claim to be Mexican. They feel Mexican. But they can't eat any type of hot pepper. What's up with that? And yes, most of them were first generation. I do have met a few that consider themselves fully Americans. These people usually feel embarrassed of their heritage. I don't judge. If they feel that way so be it. This doesn't help at all in what you asked but I just wanted to throw it in.

Let me remind you that "AMERICAN" is a term that is very wrongly used to describe people from the United States of America. "AMERICAN" is a term that describes every single person from the American CONTINENT.

Well, in my case, I was born in Switzerland, my father's Spanish, my mom Venezuelan. I have 3 nationalities but when ppl ask me where I'm from I say Spanish (as from Spain), even though I've never lived in Spain. I just identify with Spanish ppl way better than with Swiss and Venezuelan (even though I do feel like I'm partly Swiss and partly Venezuelan).

It all depends on the person, where they grew and on their family. I for example feel more European than Latin bc my friends have always been European and I always went to a German speaking school, even when I lived in Venezuela...

here in spain, if u born here and ur parents have other nationallity u cant be spanish, until some years, at least one of em have to be spanish or have the spanish nationallity if u want to be spanish from the 1st day.

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Originally posted by Jayx1 In Canada even people who are born here claim different nationality. Thats why i ask

And that's the main problem with nationalities - it's got a legal value but, in most other cases, it's a completely null and void concept.

Nationality is, in English usage, a legal relationship existing between a person and a state. The person becomes subject to the state's jurisdiction, even while not on the state's territory; in exchange the subject becomes entitled to the state's protection, and to other rights as well.

This quote from wikipedia is all there is to nationalities in theory (other than an alternative usage that is subject of flaws). And what exactly is the problems extending it's meaning?

Simply put, people are too complex to be labelled. A person is able to belong to a group only to a certain degree, as individuals, since they're bound to see the world and deal with the world in an unique way. Although my actions are to be judged by the Brazilian jurisdiction in case I break one of the laws, it's impossible to "act Brazilian" as this sort of stereotype is innacurate and product of misleading generalisations.

However, an alternative sense of nationality (the other usage) can be seen in the new world (America as a continent) after the European invasion. Despite of the somewhat recent creation of European states, some of the cultures are a couple of millenia old (e.g. think of the Greeks). In a couple of centuries you could find in these places, thousands of people from many different parts of the world. This sort of human interaction has a few problems, the language being the main one. We can't know much of a person unless we speak a language in common. Slowly, the majority of people established the lingua franca, but the trauma of the first impact was not vanished because of a contradiction - if we were all to become the same, who would we be? We would look back to our ancestors and adopt a "nationality" that no longer can be applied to us, since we're naturally different from them (the Mexicans that can't eat hot pepper was a funny example) since, like I said, there's no such thing as "acting Mexican". For example:

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Originally posted by DarkFall01 Well, in my case, I was born in Switzerland, my father's Spanish, my mom Venezuelan. I have 3 nationalities but when ppl ask me where I'm from I say Spanish (as from Spain), even though I've never lived in Spain. I just identify with Spanish ppl way better than with Swiss and Venezuelan (even though I do feel like I'm partly Swiss and partly Venezuelan).

The Spanish feeling would come from a probable affinity with his father, even though he's never been to Spain in his whole life, so he would be bound to have a cultural shock if he went to Spain. A similar example is when people of Asian or African ancestry, who live in America, go to their homeland. Loads of things become strange to them, as their world is different. Once again, the feeling that the others are different arise, as in the beginning of the colonisation of America.

Having these cultural shocks is not compulsory though. Thanks to mass communication, I find many North American costumes natural (such as Halloween), although I may have cultural shocks in my own land (I actually had when I went to the Northeast).

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Originally posted by DarkFall01 I for example feel more European than Latin bc my friends have always been European and I always went to a German speaking school, even when I lived in Venezuela...

This weird distinction of "Latin" as an exclusive term if compared to "European" is a reverse example. What would Latin be? A layman would say that it's someone from Latin America, ignoring the massive presence of Latin languages (and culture) in Europe, and favouring cultural differences that might have appeared in every different country. Let's face it - it's virtually impossible to create, in a logical sense, an umbrella term as "Latin" to describe the cultures from the Southern side of Rio Grande and be strict not to add the main culture in their development. This happens though either for economical prejudice or geographical convinience.

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Originally posted by Samu_Mad here in spain, if u born here and ur parents have other nationallity u cant be spanish, until some years, at least one of em have to be spanish or have the spanish nationallity if u want to be spanish from the 1st day.

This happens exclusively because it's a country of the old world, otherwise there would be no need to take the parents' nationality in consideration. Like ierxium said: People embrace the culture they live in. It's natural. By embracing that culture from an early age you would expect them to claim to be from that country. , so if he grew up in Spain, he should be seen as "Spanish", as any other Spaniard.

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quote:

Originally posted by Lira ...

Well, I guess I am pretty close to my dad. Even though I've never lived in Spain, I've been there once a year since I was a kid, same with Venezuela. I did live in Venezuela for 6 years when I was a child, the feeling of belonging to one place came later though (around 13 maybe). The interesting thing is, my sister has been through the same, except she was born in Venezuela and moved to Switzerland when she was 8 months old, she feels more Venezuelan than anything else. Her use of words in Spanish are more "Venezuelan" than anything else, while mine are more "Spanish". I don't know why this is the case, I guess bc I want to be more like my dad, while my sister more like my mom...