Transcultural Devon interview with Florian 2025

So, good afternoon Florian

Thank you for participating in my
interview

Could you please start by introducing
yourself and telling us a bit about you

Yes, I am Florian, I am 33 years old

I have been in England for 6 years now

I grew up in the South of France
with my Mum and Dad who were fishmongers

Up until 19 I was working with my Dad
then I left France

I left to go and work in Australia

and then Australia is where I met my
wife, well who is now my wife

an we decided to move to the UK
7 years ago now

and yeah, now it's been 5 years since we
opened our restaurant

That's great, and why did you decide
to move to Devon?

Because my wife is very close to her
family

and she didn't want to go further than
England

and for me it's because I know how to
speak English

my wife knows how to speak English

and Australia is harder to immigrate to

so we chose England

And did you have any knowledge of
English before arriving to England

or did you learn it when you arrived here

No, I learnt English when I arrived in
Australia

when I was 19/20 I left for Australia and
my English was really bad

It's still not very good if I'm being
honest

I still have a quite French accent

but I learnt it in Australia when I was
20

so when I arrived in the UK, I already
spoke English

Ok, and did you notice that English
language in Australia

is a bit different to the English here
in the UK

maybe in terms of slang and expressions
and things like that

Yes, the expressions, yes exactly

then there were people from the outback
or rural areas

and you know the rural people,

sometimes they were really hard to
understand

but they didn't understand me either

so we didn't understand each other

it was a bit like that

but I think the English are bit easier
to understand than the Australians

their a bit lazy the Australians

and how was settling in here?

Did you feel welcomed, or were there
moments you felt like an outsider?

maybe in comparison to Australia,
for example

No not at all

I think the English like the French a lot

I think we've have always been
good neighbours

so no I've never felt any discrimination

there are some people who often don't
make the effort to understand me maybe

but that happens everywhere

it's because it's England

for example, if I'm on the phone and I
I make an order

things like that

sometimes I have to repeat myself 5, 6
times

but that is also down to me,
because my accent is terrible

but apart from that, no

everything is going well

and have you met other French people
in the Devon area?

is there a noticeable French community
here?

because I don't know myself

well I have a restaurant

and I have a few French people
that come in who are...

how do you say

regulars

I've forgotten the word in French

who are, well yeah regulars

but otherwise yeah there are some French

but I wouldn't say its a big big community

but yes yes a few of them yeah

and so with your wife

and maybe in your restaurant as well

what is the main language that you speak

always in English

always in English

with my wife she wants me to speak
more in French with her

to learn French

but it's hard because when we work
together,

when we have to do things together

it's a bit hard to always speak in French

it's easier to work in English

so no it's english, exclusively English

and would you say that it was more your
wife who helped you learn English

when you arrived in Australia

yes, it was my wife