The Netherlands is a multicultural country. There are different types of people from different countries living in the Netherlands. Different people with different cultures, norms and values and ways of thinking must live together. This requires flexibility and understanding from people. It is good for the different target groups in the Netherlands to take an interest in other groups in order to understand how these people think and act. By doing this it is possible to empathize with this target group, which makes living together easier.
Immigrant/native
The word immigrant comes from Ancient Greek and stands for people who come from another country or area. In contrast, you have the word autochtoon, which stands for people from the same country or area. So there are different types of immigrants in the Netherlands. For example, you have: Turks, Moroccans, Surinamese, Antilleans, Iraqis, Chinese, Iranians, etc. Each of these types of immigrants has their own norms and values and cultures. These groups often have difficulty adapting to the country, because they find it difficult to let go of their own culture.
Culture
In Western cultures there is a family culture. In the Netherlands there is a culture in which the individual often comes first. Western foreigners in the Netherlands often have difficulty with this and have problems adapting to it. Parents and family come first for this target group and only then do their own interests come into play. Yet it is possible to see that more and more second generation immigrants are adapting to this Dutch culture. The first generation has more difficulty with this. Below, first, more about these two generations of immigrants.
First generation
This generation of immigrants were born abroad and have at least one parent living abroad. This person often came to the Netherlands as a guest worker, with the aim of working here and earning money. Ultimately, the goal was to return to the country of origin. But many of this target group have eventually become so accustomed to the country that they have not returned to their country of origin. They had children and a wife, who lived and grew up in the Netherlands. The fact that they have started to adapt to the country has made it impossible for them to return to their own country. These first generation immigrants are often poorly educated. This target group has gone abroad in the past to take advantage of the opportunity to work hard abroad and earn a lot of money and go back. They therefore mainly worked in the Netherlands and did not study. In the long run, they ended up stuck in the Netherlands and still do not speak the language sufficiently. As they have children and they grow older, this target group becomes very dependent on their children. More about this at a later stage.
Second generation
The second generation immigrant was born in the Netherlands and has at least one foreign-born parent. These immigrants were born in the Netherlands and often have little knowledge about the country of their parents. They grew up in the Netherlands and have a good command of the language and have absorbed the norms and values of the country well. This target group often experiences a conflict between the country where they live and the country of their parents. The first generation, the parents, hold on to their own culture and try to pass this on to their children. This is often difficult for children to understand and see, because they are not used to this and learn very differently at school.
The second generation of immigrants enjoy an education in the Netherlands and often speak the language better than their parents. The first generation of immigrants increasingly have difficulty with technology and language, which causes them to face problems. Nowadays many actions are done digitally and by telephone. If this generation does not master the language well, they become dependent on their children. This gives a certain power to the children, making them freer in their actions. Due to these shortcomings of the first generation, it is no longer the case that parents tell children what to do, which is common in these groups. The saying: knowledge is power is clearly true here. The second generation of immigrants will eventually be able to say and do more, and the elders of these children will respond to this due to the various deficiencies.
Native
It is also sometimes difficult for native elderly people to adapt to changes in technology. Just like immigrant elderly people, they too become more dependent on their children, who have to help them with these types of issues. But the difference with immigrant seniors is that the lack of language skills plays an important role among immigrants and causes uncertainty among this target group. This is not the case for immigrants, which means they can cope better.