The term Secondo ''(sg. m.) (Seconda (sg. f.))'' is an

umbrella term Hypernymy and hyponymy are the wikt:Wiktionary:Semantic relations, semantic relations between a generic term (''hypernym'') and a more specific term (''hyponym''). The hypernym is also called a ''supertype'', ''umbrella term'', or ''blanket term ...

which has particularly been used in Switzerland. ''Secondo/Seconda'' is the Italian word for ''second'' and has been used to refer to people who are children of

immigrants Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not usual residents or where they do not possess nationality in order to settle as permanent residents. Commuters, tourists, and other short- ...

, were born in Switzerland and have been living in Switzerland for many years and might also be

naturalised Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-national of a country acquires the nationality of that country after birth. The definition of naturalization by the International Organization for Migration of the ...

. The plural of the word ''Secondos'' is a mixture of the Italian singular ''secondo'' and the Spanish plural ending ''-s''. This term is mostly used for the children of Italian and Spanish immigrants who migrated to Switzerland in the 1960s and 70s. Another term which is used by other countries to refer to the second generation of immigrants is second-generation. It is mostly considered as a positive term and is used by the people themselves too.

Italians in Switzerland

The Italian population in Switzerland has been making up the biggest part of the country's group of foreign citizens that has migrated to the country seeking work and better income. The number of

Italians Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

living in Switzerland has declined from 550,000 people in the year 1960 to 275,000 people 2013. The Italian community has coined the

culture of Switzerland Switzerland lies at the crossroads of several major European cultures. Three of the continent's major languages, German, French and Italian, are national languages of Switzerland, along with Romansh, spoken by a small minority. Therefore ...

substantially and has become a big part of the country's economy and society. Germany has been offering a special course for Secondos at the

University of Regensburg The University of Regensburg () is a public research university located in the city of Regensburg, Germany. The university was founded on 18 July 1962 by the Landtag of Bavaria as the fourth full-fledged university in Bavaria. Following groundbr ...

since 2009. The goal of this course is to have the attendants reconnect with their country of origin, its culture and language.

Immigration history and composition

The Swiss foreign population used to be very homogeneous, especially in the 1970s. It consisted mostly of people form southern European countries with 75% from neighbouring countries. Swiss companies were lacking employees and started to recruit people from countries surrounding Switzerland. These people were called

guest workers Foreign workers or guest workers are people who work in a country other than one of which they are a citizen. Some foreign workers use a guest worker program in a country with more preferred job prospects than in their home country. Guest worke ...

. The idea of this sort of employment was that guest workers were supposed to return to their country of origin after a certain period of time. Today, the composition is very different. People from the

Balkan countries The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and especially the former countries of

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

are making up big parts of the Swiss population. Additionally, about 23% of foreigners were born in Switzerland and are therefore by definition Secondos/Secondas.

Criticism of the term

Critics decline the term. The term Secondo has suffered after they have been accused of the riots and lootings on the

International Workers' Day International Workers' Day, also called Labour Day in some countries and often referred to as May Day, is a celebration of Wage labour, labourers and the working classes that is promoted by the international labour movement and occurs every yea ...

in Switzerland in the year 2002 where 14 people have been hurt and about 100 people were arrested. Police stated that many of the arrested were immigrants from the second and third generation. Critics say that the term excludes the persons concerned and forces their parents' migration history on them. Alternatives for the term are: *

children of immigrants A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''child ...

second generation immigrant The second (symbol: s) is a unit of Time in physics, time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the Internati ...

*teenagers with foreign origin

References

{{reflist Culture of Switzerland Immigration to Switzerland