Granville with his children Aurelien and Zoe
© Nicolas Thépot
The first time that Granville came to Paris was in the summer of 1983 at the age of 19, when he was in transit to the Ivory Coast to study for his junior year abroad. He spent six weeks in Paris studying at the Alliance Française, and was thrilled to be an “outside observer” of French culture as well as to have the opportunity to study French language and culture.
After finishing his undergraduate studies in economics at Georgetown University and obtaining a Master’s degree in agricultural economics from the University of Florida in 1986, Granville found himself at a crossroads with regard to choosing a career. Planning to visit Paris during the Christmas season that year, he went to the French consulate to apply for a visa (a requirement for U.S. citizens visiting France at that time). While waiting for his application to be processed, he happened to come across information about a position to teach English in Paris. The cultural attaché spoke with Granville during his wait at the visa application office. When he responded in his “African French,” she offered him the position on the spot.
Moving to Paris in September 1987 to fulfill the teaching contract, Granville also enrolled in a Masters program in international economics at Sciences Po – (a prestigious French political science institution). At the end of the year, he felt that living in Paris was “too good to give up,” so he extended his teaching contract and began to look for ways to stay longer. At the time, the job market was such that he was certain that he was not an ideal candidate for working in France, so he decided to continue studying.
Granville enrolled in an architecture program, pursued a degree in French literature, and studied for a year at one of France’s national interpreting schools, the École Supérieure d’Interprètation et de Traduction (ESIT). At the end of that year, he was told that he did not have what it took to become a conference interpreter. Following his training there, he took a position with a small group of French court interpreters who needed an English language interpreter to work with them. He began working extensively in the French court system, using the skills of consecutive interpreting (taking extensive notes, digesting what was said, and delivering the message) that he had learned during his year at ESIT. He worked in this arena, as well as in the private sector, for two years. Encouraged by his success in this “real world” environment, he enrolled in France’s private interpreting school, the Institut Supérieur d’Interprétation et de Traduction (ISIT), and finally earned a degree in bilingual English-French conference interpreting.
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Upon finishing the program, Granville worked as a conference interpreter and translator, and partnered with an American attorney in the early to mid-90s to do legal translations. He subsequently applied to the French courts to be a certified translator and interpreter (expert traducteur-inteprète assermenté), and his application was accepted in 1999.
As a traducteur assermenté, the volume of his legal work increased. He became increasingly dissatisfied with conference interpreting (simultaneous interpretation), and decided to start a company – Cabinet Fields – and to concentrate on attracting clients that needed legal translation and interpreting services. He was confident that he had sufficient experience and knowledge to develop a clientele that would support his company in this market.
Granville set up Cabinet Fields with an assistant in 2003 and opened his doors for business on January 2, 2004. His current clients continued to engage his services within the framework of his new company. His business grew quickly and he took on an administrator/translator and an information technology specialist almost immediately. Shortly after launching his business, Granville began the process of building his brand and putting administrative processes into place (IT, general processes for translations) that would allow his business to deliver efficient, quality service consistently.
Today, Granville is one of the world’s top bilingual French-English legal interpreters. His services are sought after for depositions, arbitration cases and various other legal proceedings.
Outside of his professional life, Granville is raising two beautiful children: Aurelien, 4; and Zoe, 1½. He made the decision to have children after he observed other single men growing older and becoming egocentric, and saw these same tendencies in himself. He felt that having children would force him to focus his attention on someone other than himself, and he assured me that the new responsibilities of parenthood did indeed change his focus! Though he was not “programmed” to be a parent, he finds child rearing a fascinating undertaking and loves it.
With his partner, Granville joined a gay and lesbian parenting group to obtain information on the options for becoming parents. The relationship with his partner subsequently dissolved, but Granville pressed ahead and eventually had his son, Aurelien. Because of the demands of his business, and because he is a single parent, he hired a nanny. After one and a half years, he decided to have Zoe so that Aurelien would have a sibling.
He says that being single and gay has not affected his life as a parent in any significant way. He does not feel the need to announce that he is a gay parent, but never avoids the topic when it comes up, and never denies it. When people find out that he is a gay parent, they are generally very respectful and tactful. He has never been made to feel uncomfortable, and feels that the issue is “in the background.” He finds that people who interact with his kids generally have the kids’ interest at heart, which is what he wants as well.
The language he and his children speak at home is English, though the nanny speaks French to the kids. Granville says that Aurelien separates the languages for the most part. Occasionally he will say French words when speaking English, or he will construct an English sentence using French grammar. He spends time in the U.S., so he hears English in environments other than home as well.
Regarding teaching Aurelien and Zoe about their African heritage, Granville wants them to learn about their relatives back in the States and about African Americans in general, and hopes that they will cherish this heritage. He personally accentuates the similarities among people of various races more so than the differences (this has been his life’s mission, to some extent), and wants to pass this legacy on to his children. He says that he is proud of his heritage, that it is extremely important to him, and that it informs everything that he does – particularly his work. However, he does not find that his daily life requires him to “assert” his African-American identity or to celebrate it. He says that he realizes the world that Aurelien and Zoe are growing up in is very different from the world that he grew up in, and that probably only some of what is important to him regarding African-American history and culture will be equally important to them.
Entrée to Black Paris!™ is a Discover Paris! blog.
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