I’m new to the discussion boards but I’ve been reading all of the posts with great interest. I’ve really enjoyed the intelligent arguments you have set forth, and because of this I’d like to ask this question:
What am I?
My parents both immigrated here from China in college. My siblings were all born here. Does that make us first-generation Americans? My sister believes so, and quotes the Cambridge Dictionary:
If someone is a first/second/third/etc. generation nationality, they are a member of the first/second/third/etc. group of people of the same age in the family to have been born in that country.
She’s a second generation American (=her parents were American, although their parents were not).
Many people that we have talked to agree with her. However, I believe that we are considered second-generation, and that our parents were considered first-generation once they became naturalized citizens. I back up my claim with the following arguments: 1. The use of the word in sociological books that describe the immigrant experience. Virtually all of the ones that I have found referred to immigrants as first-generation Americans. 2. My sociology professor referred to immigrants as first-generation throughout my race relations course last semester. 3. The Japanese words Issei and Nissei, denoting a Japanese person immigrated here and a person who was born here, respectively. 4. I e-mailed the Straight Dope, and one of the staff members said that in common use, I am correct. I have other arguments, but I won’t bore you with them. To complicate matters, the Wordsmyth dictionary gives both definitions for the word:
First-generation - 1. Denoting a person who is a naturalized citizen of a nation, having immigrated from another country.
2. Sometimes, denoting such a person’s offspring born in the new country.
What do you guys think? Strictly speaking, am I wrong or is my sister wrong?
First of all, I think it should be first generation United Statesians.
I’d say you are a first generation American (FGA). You and your siblings are the first offspring to be born in America. That makes you part of the first generation to be born in this great country, thus FGA. Look at that, I created an acronym (And before anyone jumps on my case, I know that a true acronym is initials that make a word like MADD, Mothers Against Dumb Dopers).
As you see the real world doesn’t often conform to neat definitions and this one isn’t particularly neat. Say you’re a one and a halfth generation native American and leave it at that.
For those still impaired by PC, the more correct term for what was once called an American Indian, would be aboriginal American.
Thanks for the replies… I’m just wondering though, what do you base your replies on? The definition in the dictionary? Do you believe that the Japanese refer to themselves wrong, and/or sociologists are incorrectly identifying immigrants and their children as first and second generation Americans (respectively)?
This is just IMO and what I’ve heard, but I’d say people not born in the US but who become citizens are first generation Americans. People born in the US of first generation Americans are second generation Americans. And so forth and so on. I personally think the terms aren’t all that useful in most cases, because after second generation, does it matter? And what if you have parents or grandparents at different numbers, are you a 3.5 generation American or whatever?
Er…I have a counter opinion. Maybe someone will check the Oxford English Dictionary for us, but ‘first generation’ is commonly understood as ‘the first generation of a family born in (America, China, the moon, wherever.)’ The logic of this is fairly simple. Your parents were not born in America. They were born in China. You and your siblings are the first generation of your family to be American citizens by birth.
There are a lot of assumptions when you start talking about “first generation-second generation” etc etc. Primary among them is that parents are of the same immigration generation (is that a term?). Sometimes, tho, they’re not.
For example, my mom was born in China, and came to the US when she was about two years old. On the other hand, her parents had already lived in the US, started a family, then took the whole lot of them back to China for a few years (when my mom was born) then they all came BACK to the US, this time for good. Mom is one of 9 kids, where the first and 8th were born in China, everybody else in the US. So which generation is what?
Example 2: My father’s father was born in Japan. My father’s mother was born in Los Angeles. Dad was born in LA. What generation is he?
When I was growing up, the Asian crowd I ran with called the immigrant generations ‘FOB’, for ‘fresh off the boat’. Their kids were ‘ABC’, or ‘American-born Chinese.’
To complicate matters, the Wordsmyth dictionary gives both definitions for the word: