A qualitative study on the bicultural experience of second-generation Korean immigrants in Germany

This research focuses on second-generation Korean immigrants and the strategies they used to combine two different cultures – parents' and resident cultures – in their everyday lives. Using a case to reconstruct the meaning behind the strategies employed, this study aims to identify factors that influence immigrants' development when exposed to two different cultures. To investigate this development, an autobiographical interview was conducted on a second-generation Korean immigrant in Germany. The interview was analyzed through objective hermeneutics. The findings of the case study reveal how Ji-Hye Song (interviewee) was able to blend into both Korean and Germany societies, similar to a chameleon. The interviewee developed the ability to combine and control the influences of two cultures in a ‘Korean island’ located in Germany.