@itvnews What’s it like growing up as a second-generation immigrant in Germany? Watch ‘Young, German and voting far-right’ on ITVX and YouTube now #itvnews ♬ original sound - itvnews

🎶 A Soundtrack of the In-Between: Solitude & Strength

As you breathe in these stories of dual identity and quiet resilience, let the song “Solidão” by Sara Correia and António Zambujo drift alongside you. A modern fado ballad from Correia’s 2020 album Do Coração, it carries the ache of unspoken longing and the weight of selfhood lived in silence.

Born and raised in Lisbon’s Mouraria district—fado’s soulful cradle—Sara Correia channels the old traditions of saudade through her velvet voice and contemporary spirit. In “Solidão”, she sings of not knowing how to live alone, even when pretending otherwise:

“Já não sei viver sozinha / Por mais que diga que sim” I no longer know how to live alone / Even if I say I do

It’s a line that could echo through Diego’s early mornings, Yusuf’s late-night poems, or Sara’s incense-lit kitchen. The emotional landscape she crafts—a blend of strength, solitude, and tender contradiction—mirrors what it means to grow up carrying two worlds in one heart.

🎶 🪴⛩️✈️🕌🧳🗽🪄🌊💬 🔊 “Solidão” by Sara Correia

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To live between two cultures is to carry more than one name, more than one home, and often—more than one burden.

This collection of voices offers a window into the everyday realities of second-generation immigrants: the silent translations, the code-switching, the pride, the pressure, and the poetry of growing up in-between.

These stories aren’t headlines. They’re heartbeats. 💬❤️

1. Diego – Between Tacos and Textbooks (USA 🇺🇸 / Mexico 🇲🇽)

🌅 Diego’s days begin at 5:30 a.m. He gets his siblings dressed, makes breakfast, and walks them to school. His parents leave earlier—his father to lay tile, his mother to clean suburban kitchens.

📄 At 16, he’s already the family’s translator—handling doctor visits, school forms, and utility bills. At school, he’s a straight-A student. But he hides his Spanish, avoids bringing his mom’s tamales, and laughs off jokes that sting.

“At school, I was Diego. At home, I was mijo. I had to switch masks every day.”

🥙 He skipped prom to babysit, worked at a taquería to pay for textbooks, and felt guilt instead of celebration when he got a college scholarship. He’s now studying civil engineering and still sends money home weekly.

“I’m building bridges for a living. Maybe one day I’ll build one between who I am and where I come from.”

🔗 Read more on the Mexican-American second generation

2. Anushka – Indian-Irish and In Between (Ireland 🇮🇪 / India 🇮🇳)

🪔 Her mornings begin with chai and prayers in Sanskrit. By mid-morning, she’s at her Dublin college, surrounded by peers who love yoga but mispronounce her name.

🍛 Growing up, classmates wrinkled their noses at her daal and roti. Now, she brings extra and shares it proudly. Her wardrobe includes both wool sweaters and embroidered kurtas.

📖 She writes poetry that blends Irish folklore with Indian rhythm—Lugh meets Lakshmi, Brigid dances through monsoon rain.

“I’m not half anything—I’m whole in two languages.”

🔗 Her real story in SpunOut.ie

3. Yusuf – Between Berlin and Bethlehem (Germany 🇩🇪 / Palestine 🇵🇸)

🧾 Yusuf translates for his parents—at pharmacies, clinics, and immigration offices. He’s 17, but has known how to decode bureaucracy since he was 11.

📚 At school, he’s quiet. Speaking Arabic in public gets him stares. He writes poetry late at night, in both German and Arabic, about borders and olive trees he’s only seen in family stories.

🗝️ At home, he’s reminded of a homeland he’s never touched. His grandmother’s voice on WhatsApp feels both familiar and foreign.

“I’m the adult in German. I’m the child in Arabic.”

🔗 Explore the Palestinian diaspora in Germany

4. Sara – Khmer Roots, French Reality (France 🇫🇷 / Cambodia 🇰🇭)

🕯️ Sara lights incense for her ancestors before class. Her home smells of lemongrass and steamed rice. At lycée, no one knows what Cambodia is—except from history textbooks, which don’t mention her mother’s nightmares.

📷 Her parents ran from war. Now she battles panic attacks in silence. Therapy was taboo, so she turned to journaling, then photography.

🎓 She’s studying psychology and creating a photo project titled Ghosts in the Kitchen—about refugee mothers and the things they carry.

“They survived genocide. I’m still learning how to survive myself.”

🔗 Read about Cambodian-French invisibility

5. Kenji – Tokyo-Born, Manila-Bound (Japan 🇯🇵 / Philippines 🇵🇭)

🛒 Kenji stocks shelves at his family’s Tokyo konbini after school, blending in but never fully belonging. He FaceTimes cousins in Quezon City and gets teased there for being “too Japanese.”

🎭 He’s fluent in Japanese, Tagalog, and English—but feels like he’s constantly code-switching just to fit. He failed a school entrance interview once because his name didn’t “match his appearance.”

👥 He’s now co-leading a mentorship group for mixed-heritage teens.

“I’m not half. I’m both. And that’s more.”

🔗 Learn about Japanese-Filipino mixed heritage

6. Lina – Somali-British and Seen Too Much (UK 🇬🇧 / Somalia 🇸🇴)

🩺 Lina wears a hijab and a lab coat. She’s finishing her third year of medical school in Birmingham. She learned CPR before learning to ride a bike—her youngest brother has asthma and her mother doesn’t speak English fluently.

👩‍👧 She’s often mistaken for a nurse, despite correcting professors repeatedly. At night, she helps her siblings with homework, recites the Quran with her grandmother, and journals about opening a refugee women’s health clinic someday.

“I’m not your stereotype. I’m your surgeon.”

🔗 Explore Somali-British identity and resilience

7. Mateo – Colombian-Swedish and Caught in the Middle (Sweden 🇸🇪 / Colombia 🇨🇴)

❄️ His mornings in Malmö are quiet and cold. His home is loud and warm—Marc Anthony plays while his mother teaches his sisters salsa between breakfast and homework.

⛪ At school, classmates joke about Catholicism while he silently crosses himself before tests. He’s expected to be grateful. He is. But he also misses Bogotá sunsets he’s only seen in postcards.

🧠 He studies psychology to understand why he often feels like he belongs nowhere, and why that's okay.

“I dream in Spanish. I apologize in Swedish.”

🔗 Read about second-gen identity in Sweden

💡 What These Stories Hold

These aren’t just biographies—they’re blueprints of double lives, of identities forged in kitchen tables, doctor’s offices, prayer rooms, and public buses. These young people are not "torn" between cultures—they are stitching them together. Every day. Quietly. Brilliantly.

They carry the weight of two worlds—and the wisdom of both. 🌍💫

#TwoWorldsOneSelf 🌍🧠 #SilentStrength 💬🪨 #BilingualSouls 🗣️💞 #CulturalBridges 🌉🤝 #HomeIsLayered 🏠🧳🇪