The neo-immigrant population in my neck of the woods includes strong Francophone, Vietnamese, Filipino, Somali and Caribbean representation. As mainstream as I might be (in North American standards), as an 18-35 year old white Anglophone male, I think where I live is a multicultural, multilingual city trying hard to shake the lengthy racist, colonial North American hangover and move forward for the benefit of all citizens, no matter how they might identify.
It was an interest in diversity and a curiosity about the translation market in Europe that brought me over here to France for a mandatory practicum in translation as part of my program in North America (where I live collectively with great people in a crooked Chinatown duplex).
Having travelled and lived in France before now, but only ever passed through Paris to catch planes or trains, I considered myself lucky to land at LinguaSpirit, a small agency in the city that was actually at the top of my list. Those previous short trips in the capital consisted mainly of time spent wandering aimlessly for 12 or 16-hour sessions without a clue as to neighbourhood history or ethnic makeup.
Friends, past colleagues, really anyone with a bit of ‘been there, done that’ in them had offered me opinions on the city ranging anywhere from “Paris is France” to “Paris is very different from anywhere else in the country.” When I finally ended up in the city, in my apartment in the 5ième and ready for my first week on the job, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I got there; probably not the predominantly Anglophone/Francophone/Spanish speaking mélange that is the majority population of translators ‘back home’.
A handful of metro stops later and a week-long to meet all of my co-workers painted a picture about the people I work with and where we are:
Maylis, a Parisian with Martiniquais ancestry;
Marième, Senegalese, lived in Saudi Arabia and has been in France since her early teens;
Ignacio, from the Autonomous Community of Aragon, with an extensive Hispanic social circle;
Nils, a French/Swedish Parisian de banlieue;
Sylvia, Sardinian with Italian ancestry;
Kamilla, from the Russian Republic of Dagestan; and
Agata, Polish with a history here in France.
And we all work in a diverse, multicultural neighbourhood just south of the péripherique.
Chinatown residential it isn’t. What is it then? It’s a slice of Paris. What is Paris? Paris is Paris; and it’s all just what I was looking for.
Tell us about your workplace…
It was an interest in diversity and a curiosity about the translation market in Europe that brought me over here to France for a mandatory practicum in translation as part of my program in North America (where I live collectively with great people in a crooked Chinatown duplex).
Having travelled and lived in France before now, but only ever passed through Paris to catch planes or trains, I considered myself lucky to land at LinguaSpirit, a small agency in the city that was actually at the top of my list. Those previous short trips in the capital consisted mainly of time spent wandering aimlessly for 12 or 16-hour sessions without a clue as to neighbourhood history or ethnic makeup.
Friends, past colleagues, really anyone with a bit of ‘been there, done that’ in them had offered me opinions on the city ranging anywhere from “Paris is France” to “Paris is very different from anywhere else in the country.” When I finally ended up in the city, in my apartment in the 5ième and ready for my first week on the job, I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I got there; probably not the predominantly Anglophone/Francophone/Spanish speaking mélange that is the majority population of translators ‘back home’.
A handful of metro stops later and a week-long to meet all of my co-workers painted a picture about the people I work with and where we are:
Maylis, a Parisian with Martiniquais ancestry;
Marième, Senegalese, lived in Saudi Arabia and has been in France since her early teens;
Ignacio, from the Autonomous Community of Aragon, with an extensive Hispanic social circle;
Nils, a French/Swedish Parisian de banlieue;
Sylvia, Sardinian with Italian ancestry;
Kamilla, from the Russian Republic of Dagestan; and
Agata, Polish with a history here in France.
And we all work in a diverse, multicultural neighbourhood just south of the péripherique.
Chinatown residential it isn’t. What is it then? It’s a slice of Paris. What is Paris? Paris is Paris; and it’s all just what I was looking for.
Tell us about your workplace…
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