Japanese equivalent of "I identify as X"

Question

I'm looking for a way to express the feeling that sometimes comes up when the way you feel about yourself contrasts with surface-level observations about you. In English we have the "identify as" construct e.g.

"I was born in France, but I identify as American."

You can replace "I identify as X" above with "In my heart, I am X". The closest thing I could find in Jisho was:

「自分が別人になった感じだ。」

Using that I did my best to translate the sentence above as:

「私はフランスで生まれだけど、自分がアメリカ人感じだ。」

"I was born in France, but I myself feel like an American."

Is this accurate, and if not, what would be the best way to express this type of sentence in Japanese?

Answer 1

Here are two possible expressions you can use (After the "I was born in France" part):

(私は)もうすっかりアメリカ人になっています。

(私は）自分の事をアメリカ人だと思っています。

I think if you modified your above attempt to say "自分がアメリカ人みたいな感じ", it would be a little more natural.

Answer 2

Here's some other variants:

フランス生まれだけど、心は日本人。 I was born in France, but my heart is Japanese.

カナダ人ですけど、考え方はフランス人。 I am Canadian but I think like a French person.

マレーシア生まれの中国人ですけど、長い間ドイツで仕事したので、感覚はドイツ人かもしれないです。 I am a Malaysian-born Chinese but because I have worked in Germany for a long time, my sense (way of thinking) is likely German.

アメリカで生まれたが、カナダの価値観を持ってます。 I was born in America, but I have Canadian values.

Answer 3

You can say 「私はフランス生まれだけど、」 ("Though I am French-born," ) or 「私はフランスで生まれたけど、」("Though I was born in France,") but not 「私はフランスで生まれだけど、」 ("Though I'm in France born,"(?)).

Tweaking your translation (minimally), we may come up with:

私は[フランス生まれだ/フランスで生まれた]けど、自分がアメリカ人[のような/みたいな]感じだ。

Or you could say something like:

(私は)生まれはフランス人ですが、心はアメリカ人です。 (I am a Frenchman/Frenchwoman by birth but an American at heart.)

There are myriad ways to express it, really, especially the latter half.

Answer 4

I think the most widely applicable phrase might be:

自分のことを X だと考えている

• 自分のことを日本人だと考えています
  I identify as Japanese （国籍）
• 自分のことをプログラマーだと考えています
  I identify as a programmer （職業）
• 自分のことを阪神のファンだと考えています
  I identify as a Hanshin fan （団体所属）

This is very similar to saying "I think of myself as X", which I think is basically equivalent to "I identify as X".

In contrast to fact:

私はフランス生まれですが、自分のことをアメリカ人だと考えています。
私はフランス生まれですが、自分のことをアメリカ人だと感じています。

• Using 考える as above sounds like perceive yourself as American rather than French
• Using 感じる as above sounds like you realize that you are French, but you feel American