So, you live here in Fort Collins and you do what?
I am a a father and a homeowner and I work at Cafe Richesse as a warehouse manager.
We bring coffee from Brazil, from our farm, or my boss owns the farm in Brazil, and we...
yeah, we bring the coffee green here, and we roast it, and we grind it, we package it, and we sell it to, you know, to restaurants and coffee shops and such.
...and we roast it, and we grind it, we package it, and we sell it to, you know, to restaurants and coffee shops and such.
I've been in the United States since the beginning of 1994, so 'bout 23 years. I've been in Fort Collins...
like, the first time I came to Fort, I came to Fort Collins was in '97, and then I left and came back multiple times, and then in '99 I actually moved into Fort Collins.
When did you learn English, and how?
I went to a, this small town in Illinois called Rockford. And I went to a, an exchange program where I, you know, had English classes all day long from 9am to 3pm
I had classes, you know. And Iived in the dorms and so basically I spoke in English all day long, every day.
I hadn't, there's no, there was no Brazilian people there. There was maybe like one or two other Brazilian students, you know, but...
I skipped a lot of classes, but I hung out with my American friends.
My accent fluctuates. If I spend time speaking English, you know, like with my daughter at home, and you know, here in Fort Collins, you know,
and I'm not working so much, my, my accent like gets a lot close to being.. dis.. almost disappearing.
When I go to Brazil.. if I go to Brazil and spend a week in Brazil, when I come back here...
if you talk to me the first couple days that I'm back, you'd be like, "Whoa! What happened to your accent?"
Because it gets a lot stronger depending on who you're hanging out with. It gets stronger or weaker.
So I don't notice my accent, but people do. Like my daughter will.. my daughter makes fun of me to this day.
...my daughter makes fun of me to this day. You know, like I'll...
- How old is she? - She's sixteen. You know, like and I'll say some things and she'll just be like, she'll just be copying me and stuff, and laughing, you know?
So as soon as.. I mean and then I talk to my folks on the phone, you know, and my coworker's also from Rio, so...
we do have, you know, like.. we don't.. I forget words, but I don't have an accent when I speak Portuguese.
- And how 'bout your daughter? - Oh she doesn't, she doesn't speak Portuguese.
- Does that bother you? - It does, yeah.
I mean it's my fault, my responsibility, you know, like I mean I tried when she was young, and she would complain oftentimes.
She'd be like, "I have a headache Dad! Please stop!"
And so I never insisted, and yeah. I mean she can understand a lot, but she doesn't speak it.
- Okay. - Yeah.
Okay, Number One: my mother's American. I've been speaking English all my life to my mom and, you know, to my dad too. He speaks English very well.
Number Two: I went to the Pan American School of Bahia. Go Panthers! Back from 1983 to 1992, so I've spoken English, you know, in a, in a school setting all my life.
- Okay, and so you were born in Salvador? - I was born in Salvador. Well, you know what they say in Bahia:
- Okay! - They say in, in Bahia you're not born, you come onto the scene.
- And you lived there until when? - Until age sixteen. It was just three weeks literally after my sixteenth birthday, the family moved to the United States.
- I was really surprised when you told me you were Brazilian, because you have, like, no accent at all, which I find to be almost impossible.
- Everyone has an accent when you learn a language unless you try really hard, spend a lot of money with, like, a phonologist or something like that.
- I mean you have the advantage of your, your mom being a native speaker, I guess. - Sure enough.
- How often do you travel back to Brazil, and do you get the reverse, you know, where people are shocked to hear you speak Portuguese so well, and then you're like...
- Oh yeah. Aw hell yeah, hell yeah!
- Oh yeah. Aw hell yeah, hell yeah! And I, I have a lot of fun with that.
When I go to Bahia, I always like to buy acarajé, which is typical Bahian food.
And I just go there and I look clueless. I, I deliberately make myself look like a clueless gringo.
- Well and you got the blue eyes too, so... - And I got the blue eyes, I, I just, I just kinda look silly. I look out of place.
And I just go there and I look clueless. I, I deliberately make myself look like a clueless gringo.
- Well and you got the blue eyes too, so... - And I got the blue eyes, I, I just, I just kinda look silly. I look out of place.
Well, that's the story of my childhood there. I looked out of place all my life, so being out of place is comfortable for me.
But anyway, I come.. I finally reach the beginning of the line:
I've made.. I've made people laugh like that sometimes, just, just to, just for the heck of it, just 'cuz I enjoy it.
- Wow, I'm really envious that you are able to do that. - Oh, I can do accents too.
- Let's hear 'em. - I can do Bill Clinton:
Haha, I tell you, Hillary's Secretary of State... haha I'm gonna jump the fence so much I'm gonna make JFK look like a dead Pope man!
- I can do Lula: - Let's hear it.
I love doing accents. I love studying language. I, I love it all.
Thank you.
- Hey we just, we just heard your story. Can, can I talk to you real quickly? - Sure!
- Let's do it! Remind me of your name again? - Paulo.
- Paulo. Gavin. - Gavin.
- I was born in Salvador. - When?
- 1945. - So you were on the beginning wave of people learning English and traveling.
I was. I had an inner desire to speak English. Well, to speak different languages. God gave me the ability to have a good ear.
He made me small, weak, bald, old, and fat, but... he gave me the ability to.. to speak different languages and to have a good ear!
We lived in a port city, so whenever an American or an English ship.. well, it doesn't matter. Any foreign ships that would come that had visitations, I would go, and I would get on with the sailors,
Any foreign ships that would come that had visitations, I would go, and I would get on with the sailors,
and invite them to come to our house, invite them for lunch, and so in '66 I came to CSU [Colorado State University].
- That was over fifty years ago. - It's over fifty years ago.
- Can you believe it's been that long? - Yes. I can.
- Did you do any consciously to train your accent or anything? - I let go.
You just.. it's very difficult, but it's not something that you do consciously. I don't think in Portuguese if I'm speaking English, so I don't construct sentences in Portuguese.
Just let go. Be illiterate. I mean, how does a child learn a language? It's a process in the head. And you let go, you don't force it.
- What do you miss most about Brazil? - The beach... and my friends. People.. I miss people.
- The last question...