English Culture and Language — Interview with Sarah, a Brazilian Living in England

Check out this amazing interview with Sarah, a Brazilian who has been living in England for 15 years! In this talk, we are going to ask Sarah everything, from language learning to English culture and customs. Let’s go for it!

Welcome, Sarah. Welcome, everyone. Guys, I’m very, very excited for today’s talk. I’m very glad that Sarah accepted this invitation to join us. So, Sarah, how are you feeling in relation to this conversation that we are about to have?

I feel great. Thank you very much for inviting me. I’m not used to being interviewed, but I’m feeling good. I think it’s going to be a good talk, and I’m excited about it.

Oh my God, I feel so thrilled because this is the first time ever that I’m hearing Sarah speaking in English. We have always spoken in Portuguese, and you sound beautifully. Just to understand what this is about: we have many questions for Sarah because mainly she was born in Brazil, and, very young, she moved out to live in England. So, we are going to ask her about the language, the culture, and this process of moving out, adapting, learning English. But let’s begin with some introductions, right? Tell us a little bit about who you are, Sarah.

Okay, so my name is Sarah. I’m from Campeche, in the south of Florianópolis, and I currently live in the north of England. For a living, I currently work for a UK gym company in the customer service side. At the beginning, when I first moved to England, I lived in the southwest, in a very small city. It’s a city because it has a cathedral. England has some weird rules like that. So if it didn’t have a cathedral, it would be a town. So, because it’s really small, it’s a beautiful little town, but it’s a city because it has a cathedral.

What’s the name of the city again?

Salisbury. You pronounce it like “sólsburi”. When I first read the name, I pronounced it as “sélisburi”. And to be honest, when I tell people in the north of England that I’m from there, without saying it, they also pronounce it like that because it’s a weird pronunciation.

But nowadays, you don’t live there anymore. You live in the North, right?

I started my journey in England in the southwest in Salisbury, and now I live in the North East of England. I went North because of the university. You have to pick five universities, including your top one and your insurance, so in case you don’t get into your top one, you can hopefully get to your insurance. I wanted to go to London, but I didn’t quite get the grades for the course I wanted at King’s College London. So I went to Leeds, which was my insurance. it’s a great university town, with a great nightlife and lots to do. And where I live in Leeds, I’m 10 minutes by car from the city, and I’m also very close to the countryside, so I can go on lovely walks. It’s a great place to live.

And Sarah, we have some interesting questions to start to know about your linguistic skills. So, do you speak any other languages besides Brazilian Portuguese and English?

Yes, I speak some Spanish. That’s my third, and to be honest, my weakest language of the three. In that you really must engage in the language often so that you don’t lose it and keep in contact in various different contexts, like news, documentaries, even a kids’ book sometimes, anything really. I used to work in a Spanish-speaking country for a bit, so I got better there. But yeah, that’s all I speak. And if I were to learn a fourth one, I think I love the way French sounds. I lived with lots of French people in the past, and it sounds great. I would also like to learn more about some local indigenous languages. I’ve looked into trying to learn Tupi, but it’s hard to find vocab and courses. Duolingo actually has a limited course for Tupi. I think it’ll be really cool because when you learn a language, you learn so much about the culture.

Yeah, that’s really interesting. And, I heard from Sarah that there’s a friend that prefers the way she speaks in English. Is that right?

No, in Spanish. Isn’t that strange? I think I’m nice in both languages, but she didn’t seem to agree. Her name is Charlotte, she’s from Holland. We used to live together, and we met in Spanish and that’s how we became friends. A few years later she visited me in Leeds, and she said “hey, my Spanish is not so good anymore, I feel like I’m more comfortable speaking English, so do you mind if that’s the language we’re speaking?” And I was like “okay, no problem”, and we started speaking in English. And not too long into the conversation she goes, “no, I really don’t like how you are in English, I feel like you’re not as nice, can we go back to Spanish even though my Spanish is not so good?” And I did it, but I kept thinking to myself like “how mean am I in English?” But I have read before that you adopt different personalities in different languages. I didn’t know it was that drastic, but it’s noticeable, you have different vocab and you kind of mold to the way of being and the culture of the language you’re speaking.

And, do you miss anything more specific in relation to Floripa, your hometown, or Brazil as a country?

Not being able to see the ocean. Also, rice and beans. I started to cook more for myself because my granddad taught me how to make it, because I’m like, why just wait until I’m home to have rice and beans? I don’t come very often, sadly, and so I’ve definitely been incorporating that more.

But you know, the way we are when we interact socially? I don’t know, I feel like we are a lot… physical. We hug a lot and we kiss… What do you think about this?

I think we’re just very friendly. Sometimes Brazilian people can be a lot, I recognize that we’re too much sometimes, but I do like how touchy-feely we can be with one another. Obviously now it may be different because people have different ways that they feel comfortable, especially coming out of the pandemic. But I feel like you can meet somebody once, and now you’re getting invited to their cousin’s birthday party. One time, I got invited by somebody I didn’t know for somebody’s birthday, who I also didn’t know. And in England, they’re more reserved, and that’s okay, that’s just the way that they are. But it definitely means that sometimes I feel like it’s not as easy to make friends as I would in Brazil.

But have you got any Brazilian friends living in England or…?

No, I mean, I know a couple of Brazilian people. And the population of Brazilians in the UK is definitely on the rise, mainly concentrated in London. But now in my city, there are maybe four different Brazilian restaurants, which is crazy to me because when I first moved here, you would really struggle to find one. I know a couple in the north of England. Just the coolest Brazilians. But no, I don’t have that many. I have some Latino friends, but not strictly Brazilian.

Yeah, and about cooking rice and beans for them, have you tried actually?

Well, over the last 10 years, I must have lived with 50 plus different people. No joke, yeah, I’ve lived with a lot of people over the years. And the last group of people I lived with, it was at one point like 10 of us. I don’t live with them anymore, but I invited them over and I did a Brazilian night. So I made feijoada. I made breaded chicken (frango à parmegiana). And I had batata palha, I tried to make farofa, but I couldn’t find the right “farinha” here. But they really liked it. And most recently, the last couple of times I have been here I’ve bought paçoca and got over there, and they really liked it.

I’m glad that this was well accepted, that they really enjoyed trying our most typical food. Speaking more in relation to the way we sound as native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, do you think that it’s possible for others to detect our accent even when we’re speaking in English? Do you think people can notice “ah, this person is from Brazil”, or is it not that obvious?

I recognize people when they’re Brazilian. But I think I do because I’m Brazilian. I think that English people would just be like, “okay, that’s not their first language, they’re not from Europe, but I don’t know where they’re from”. So, I don’t know if they will be able to tell specifically that the person is Brazilian. I don’t have much of an accent at all anymore when I’m speaking in English, so people don’t usually guess. They’ll sometimes go by how I look. I usually get Spanish or Italian or anything else.

So people think that you’re from a different nationality?

Yes, because there is a misconception that all Brazilian people are brown or black. And of course, the beauty of Brazil is that we are a massive melting pot, and we have ginger people, which is less common, but we do have it. We have blonde people. When I say that I have blonde friends that are Brazilian friends, they’re like, “No, you don’t.” I’m like, “Yes, I have! You don’t have like a template for what a Brazilian person looks like”. And so I think that’s why they don’t guess it.

And when did you move out to England, Sarah, and how long have you been living there?

I moved out to England when I was about 11 or 12, so about 15 years. I had visited England once or twice before because my mom lives out there, but not for very long, so I didn’t really speak too much English. I mean, I did English classes here, but I was still very young, and I still didn’t have too much to go by. I could say, “Yes, my name is Sarah, I like ice cream.” Not very useful.

That was your level of English at the time?

Yes. But also nobody’s talking to you that much, sadly, when you’re 11. The adults talked, which is good, because you hide behind your mom and she can speak. I was definitely a shy kid anyway, so that suited me fine. But when I moved to live, that was when it was scary because I didn’t know the level that you need for school, so school is tricky at first.

And so, was it only in high school that you felt like you were more comfortable communicating in English, or was it throughout school that you could see it?

Maybe in my third year there. In year nine, which is when you’re about 14, is when I felt I got comfortable. And I think it wasn’t so much the language because I could communicate fairly well before the three years, but in my school over there, each subject had three tiers: a bottom set, middle set, and top set. I was in bottom set for everything. Maybe some were because of my ability and some because I really didn’t have a grasp on the language. Like, math was hard. I could see the numbers and the equations, but I couldn’t process some things to be able to do the right math. And so that was really hard, but I started to move up.

And did you take long to adapt to the weather over there? What is the weather like in England, to begin with?

So, it’s rainy, and cold, and gray, but there are awesome beautiful summer days. The first time I visited, it was winter, and it was snowing. I had never seen snow, so I didn’t care about the cold. But where I live now is even colder than the South, and it’s really windy, so I’m not crazy about that. So, you need layers, all coats. That was one crazy thing that I noticed when I moved out there: anyone in Brazil who makes plans, cancels them if it rains. In England, you can’t wait for the rain to stop, otherwise you’re never going to do anything.

Could you briefly mention what you felt with Brexit having happened? Do you think that this has changed anything in your daily life?

So, I think the main things that I’ve noticed is an increased divide in society because it’s been a very divisive time just to decide on Brexit, and even now, post-decision, the UK is still very divided. Aside from that, financially is how I’ve noticed Brexit more immediately. Prices started to go up and now, sadly, with the Russian war, we are in an actual cost of living crisis. So, my gas and electric bills have tripled, my salary has not, and food is expensive.

And have you incorporated some of the English culture in all these years living there?

Yeah, I think humor, probably. The UK humor is very quick-witted, very sarcastic, and I like that a lot. I also think it’s a generational thing because I think our generation here, even in Brazil, is more sarcastic than the previous ones. I think that’s probably what I’ve incorporated the most of English culture, maybe.

And, is there anyone famous whose accent you admire? I don’t know, but many of the alpinists (our students) tell me they love the way Adele sounds, for example.

Oh yeah, Adele is very stereotypically London. She sounds great. I don’t think I have, like, a particular person. But the Irish accent is really nice. I think that’s a really soothing accent. You could maybe fall asleep listening to an Irish person.

And how about the Scottish accent?

That’s really relaxing too. One time I worked with two people that were Scottish, and I thought one of them told me they were from Glasgow, and then I heard the other one and, to me, it sounded very similar. So I was like, “Oh, you’re also from Glasgow.” And they’re like, “No, I’m not. I’m from Edinburgh.” But it was equally relaxing to listen to.

Nice! Moving on, what is your favorite food in England?

I think baked beans on toast. I don’t know if you guys have heard of that before. I’ll describe it. It won’t sound nice from my description, but trust me. So, it’s like little beans, but they’re white. It’s savory, but it’s kind of sweet, I guess. Tomato sauce. You have like two pieces of toast, put some butter on it. Then you can make your own beans, or you buy them from a tin, you put them in the microwave, and mix on top of the toast. I like it with cracked black pepper and cheddar cheese. It makes everything better. That’s a breakfast dish.

And you talked about school, but how about University in England? How was your experience in University over there?

In Floripa, you know, we have a university, so a lot of our friends who went to University went to that one and lived at home. So my mental image is that you still live at home when you go to uni. In England, you have to travel sometimes, which is what I did. I went to Leeds, five hours North. You know how when you’re playing a video game, you have a demo at the start when it teaches you how to jump, and how to grab? So, choosing a university is like that but for real life. I had to pay bills and all these things, but it felt within the comfort of being a student, like rehearsing.

How about dating and making friends in England versus Brazil? That is the question that everybody wants to ask.

I think I can probably speak more to making friends rather than dating. I actually haven’t dated a Brazilian person. But the thing that I see is that we are much more romantic in Brazil or Latin America, or maybe just the English aren’t as romantic. in terms of making friends, is that initial barrier of trying to get into a friendship group or being invited to things. Like I mentioned before, I think it takes a lot more work. Social circles feel more closed. I think it’s just the way they are.

Well, guys, this was a great honor, Sarah, to have you today with us. I hope that what Sarah mentioned today has not only encouraged you but also inspired you to keep learning despite the struggle, to keep challenging yourselves, to keep dreaming of achieving new heights whether in your personal life or professional life. Thank you, Sarah.

Transcribed by Teacher Alanis