People with multiple nationalities, how do you present yourself?

36 comments

  1. I have dual nationality solely for Brexit related purposes. I am British/English unless I am presented with French bureaucracy in which case I am German. I don’t feel even remotely German though.

  4. as a person with serbian and croatian citizenship, i always present myself as a serbian, but once i move out, probably to the eu, i’ll use my croatian citizenship and its benefits.

    but in irl interactions its a different story though, im a rusyn first and foremost and every one of my friends addresses me as a rusyn. i’d even say that i dont feel that serbian or croatian at all

  5. I have swiss and Portuguese nationality, I feel Portuguese since I ve lived here almost all my life, however seems like I don’t fit in with the culture.

  6. I have an EU citizenship due to ancestry, but I haven’t lived in that country for a long period nor do I speak its language adequately. So, Israeli it is.

  7. My national identities can be interesting and… politically charged, so I tend to adapt them to the specific situation

    With Russians – Russian in Canada

    With Ukrainians – Ukrainian in Canada

    With Canadians – Canadian who also speaks Russian; makes me seem cooler than I really am

    With Europeans – Canadian, but from Europe

    Eastern and Northern Europeans – Canadian, but if I have to pick one more nationality, it’s Ukrainian

    Eurovision season – Ukrainian; Verka Serduchka is my idol, sorry Trudeau

    In conclusion, I play all sides so that I always come out on top B)

  8. I have British, Irish and French citizenship, however I always say I’m British because that is where I have lived for 3/4 of my life

  9. I’m Swiss and Greek. Unfortunately, I do not speak any Greek because my father did not teach it to me. Now, this is extremely frustrating but everyone on this planet seems to equate language ability with whether or not someone is “truly” from that country. For example my Greek citizenship is completely legitimate, there’s nothing wrong with it. My dad is Greek and my grandma is Greek. I’ve got Greek relatives who live in Greece. Despite my lack of language skills, I have grown up with a good portion of Greek culture and mentality. I was raised on a lot of Greek food, my dad acts Greek etc.

    Despite all of this, every conversation where I mention my Greek nationality goes exactly like this:

    Other person: So I heard you’re also a dual citizen?? What’s your other nationality??

    Me: I’m also Greek.

    Other person: Oh wow! That’s so cool! Tell me something in Greek!

    Me: Sorry, I don’t speak any Greek.

    Other person: What?? But you said…? Uhm okay, so you’re not a real Greek!

    I’ve heard this sooooo many times and it’s incredibly annoying. Sometimes I mention that I’m Greek and people laugh in this sarcastic tone and say: “Pfffft but your surname doesn’t sound very Greek!” (implying that I’m a liar). I then try to explain to them that my grandpa is Swiss and it’s his surname but my dad has grown up in Greece and my grandma comes from there etc. but by this time, no one is listening anymore.

    Even when I go to Greece, people act this way. One time I showed my Greek passport at the airport security check in Athens. The guy asked me in English (in a very suspicious tone): “Why do you have a Greek passport if you don’t speak Greek???”

    I feel like everywhere I go, I’m getting harrassed by people who want to 1) tell me I’m not a “real Greek” and 2) demand an apology for me not speaking Greek when I claim to be Greek. Eventually, this became so exhausting that I’ve stopped talking about the Greek side of my identity. I now exclusively present myself as Swiss and even when I travel to Greece, I use my Swiss passport. It makes me sad but it’s just so much easier.

  10. It depends.

    Here in Sweden sometimes I’ll just say Norwegian as it cuts conversations short and explains why I have this accent when speaking Swedish. My primary goal is to cut conversations and move on with my day.

    If I’m checking into hotels and such or if I’m in a proper conversation I say I’m Norwegian Italian. Sometimes I’ll have to explain how this works which I don’t really mind.

  11. I’m born in Yugoslavia (now Bosnia and Herzegovina), but currently live in Sweden and have been living here for a couple of decades. That’s kind of what I usually say.

  12. I’m American and Israeli, and technically also Canadian. I am born and raised in the US (southern California), but my parents and whole family is Israeli and I was raised with Israeli culture and language—so I was always a bit different in the US. I’ve lived in Israel for the past 6.5 years so my US and Israeli identities at this point are equally strong. As for the Canadian, my dad lived in Canada from age 10-17, and passed on the citizenship to me. He’s Canadian but I was never raised as Canadian, I’ve rarely even been to Canada.

    Since my identities are politically charged, I won’t always say that I’m Israeli. Americans are more accepted but not always, however I’ve never called myself Canadian because it would feel like a lie to me. When traveling, I NEVER say I’m Israeli because people can be very hostile and it can even get dangerous.

    In the US, I’m American-Israeli.
    In Israel, people will refer to me as American, but they also never question my Israeliness.

    I’m doing a student exchange soon, and I genuinely have no idea how I’ll present myself. I think I’ll say “I’m from the US and Israel”. In the past, I might have waited to reveal that I’m from Israel, but recent events have made me more defiant.

  14. I will generally introduce myself by village/region to other Germans, and only explain my background if it comes up or is necessary. To Americans, I’m an American living in Germany.

    To anyone else… well I haven’t really encountered this yet, but I think I would say I’m from Germany but was born in the US. Even though I lived there until I was a teenager, Germany feels like “where I’m from” now.

  15. I present myself as Hungarian to random people and to those I will probably talk in the future too, I explain that I was born in Romania

  16. I have British and Irish citizenship being from Northern Ireland.

    On official forms and stuff I’m both, but mostly I just say I’m Irish, even though my experience of stuff like health system, education system, etc. is all primarily British. Culturally and politically I lean more towards preferring a united Ireland. Plus living in England now means that people don’t see me as British anyway, even if I did.

  17. I am French and Turkish, my mother is French and my dad is Turkish. I present myself as French as this is where I was born, have lived for the majority of my life and currently do live. I do identify with Turkey somewhat though (but not nearly as much as France), I struggle with the language at times but overall I am fluent and I have a good relationship with my dad’s family over there.

    Other people with dual nationalities have said they had suffered from an identity crisis of sorts, but I have never had such an issue, maybe because I’m not ‘mixed-race’ since my Turkish family is quite pale of skin.

  18. I’m belgian and German. I do mention that I’m both a lot, because I did spend a lot of my summer holidays with my aunt in Köln and can speak the language fluently. I think my sister identifies with her german side a bit less because she misses the lingual connection.

    When I’m in Germany I’ll excuse my grammar by saying I grew up in Flanders though.
    In Ireland I’m just both.

  19. I have German 🇩🇪 citizenship and lived my whole live in Germany, but my mother was born in Ukraine 🇺🇦but is Jewish 🇮🇱and my father belongs to the Hungarian 🇭🇺 minority in romania 🇷🇴 and moved to Germany when he was young.

    Most people say I am Russian since I speak russian and when people in Germany ask me what is my nationality I mostly reply with Jewish and they are confused cause they always think of Judaism as a religion and not of a nationality.

    Btw I think i would be eligible for Ukrainian and Israeli citizenship

  20. I’m French and Greek and grew up in Greece but I always say I’m both. I very rarely just mention only one of my nationalities

  21. Portuguese-British here. Fater is Portuguese, mother is Scottish. Used to present as both, but somewhere along the line I got tired of that and just say I’m Portuguese. I’ll only mention having British nationality if its relevant. I consider myself more Portuguese as I was raised and spent the majority of my life in Portugal, but I’m also familiar with a lot of things British, like pop culture for instance.

  22. I’m Canadian. I was born there, and grew up there. I’m culturally Canadian – Toronto, if you want to be specific.

    As far as the Belgian authorities know, I’m British. I registered with my UK passport.

    When the paperwork comes through end of next year, I’ll be Belgian.

    I don’t know exactly how I’ll refer to myself ^^ – I know one or two people who grew up as non-Belgians and who are fine with identifying as Belgian, but they grew up *here* and not in their country of citizenship (the US and UK), whereas I didn’t. So yeah, not quite sure how comfortable I’ll feel saying “I’m Belgian.”

  24. Italian, generally. When I’m in Brazil I do say I’m Brazilian living abroad with Italian citizenship too

  25. I’m like 2nd generation born in Scotland. My dad’s side is all Italian, my mum’s mum side is Italian, her dad’s side is all Scottish.

    I’m Scottish as fuck. I’m happy to obviously admit to my Italian heritage too though and deep down I love telling myself that I’m Italian lol. But I don’t wanna sound like a typical American so I keep a lid on it lol. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🇮🇹

  26. My boyfriend is a Northern Irish man from a Catholic background. He holds Irish and British citizenship but is only Irish, never British. He only has British citizenship for the convenience of it.

  27. My name is fully german. My nationalities are De and Ro. I present myself most of the times as a Romanian but then I always get ready for questions. I take time and explain and thats it. Ofc in De I am by default German so nobody knows I am half Ro till they notice the way I speak. I don’t have a super funny accent but I do make a shitton of mistakes.

  28. Irish and Scottish, I have a British passport but can’t say I feel much of a British identity tbh. Just for convenience.

  29. English born and raised but now living in Ireland from a mostly Irish family – can and do identify with both/either. Culturally more English for obvious reasons of being raised and educated there but always had a strong loyalty/affinity to Ireland growing up because of my family, feel very at home here despite being English ♥️🇮🇪

  30. I’m originally from England. Moved and raised to the US as a kid. So I consider myself American. Kinda funny, a lot of Americans consider themselves “Italian” or “Irish” because their great-grandparents came from European or something. But here I am, a person who was actually born in Europe and has UK citizenship, but I just consider myself American because I was raised here.

  31. With the Italian one, cause I was raised in Italy and I culturally feel more Italian than Peruvian. It also gives me more benefits when traveling, less papers to worry about

  32. When I meet new people – Russian, as that’s my native language and my parent’s nationality.

    For documents/travel etc – Lithuanian, as I only have one passport and it’s EU.

  33. I’m Swedish, currently live in Germany and have Indian parents.

    I always present myself as Swedish, which sometimes takes people by surprise.

  34. Okay- I’m 100 Percent US, but I had to jump in to this because my SO changes nationalities based upon what’s going on with FOOTBALL (not American). It drives me nuts. He’s Argentinian by birth, Croatian by ethnic origin, and US by immigration.

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