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re: Cajuns are keen to preserve their identity.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:34 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:34 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
My grandparents spoke Cajun French but didn't teach their children or grandchildren because they used it to talk in front of the kids without any of us knowing what they were saying. It's a little disconcerting to hear your name spoken in the middle of a conversation you have no clue about.
1
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:39 pm to Jim Rockford
Is that chick trying make the Cajuns out as some poor oppressed minority ?
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:42 pm to ElderTiger
quote:
Is that chick trying make the Cajuns out as some poor oppressed minority ?
Currently oppressed? No.
Historically oppressed? Yes
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:48 pm to Baers Foot
I'm a good example of the headwinds of preserving the language. My dad and that entire side of my family is deeply cajun and spoke french. My uncle was very heavily involved in the preservation of the language. Without doxing myself, there are several books he authored on and many others dedicated to him regarding the language. He was involved in establishing French Immersion programs and dedicated his life to the language. My family was deeply aware of the importance of the language. Neither me, nor my brother, speak it.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:48 pm to RaginCajunz
quote:
Historically oppressed? Yes
Everybody can claim that !
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:49 pm to MSTiger33
quote:
Same. My parents and grandparents all spoke it. They were too lazy to teach us.
Wrong. My mother would tell us how if you were caught speaking french, you'd get the ruler to the hands.
They literally tried to beat the cajun french out of you.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:55 pm to TigerGman
Please. That was in the 40s and 50s. Maybe the 60s. I was born in the 70s. You started seeing the immersion programs appear in the late 80s and early 90s.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:58 pm to Pedro
quote:
I was just talking to someone I work with how it makes me sad that cajun french is almost nonexistent now
My mom's side of the family is 100% Cajun French and I can vividly remember as a kid listening to the women gathered around the kitchen table drinking cafe'au lait and speaking in Cajun French.
I thought it funny how they'd sprinkle a few English words in with their French.
This was back in the 50's as my earliest memories. We'd head out to the bayou country to visit extended family and that was all the spoke when they got together. All those folks were either trappers, hunters, trawlers, oystermen or a combination of the above.
I wanted to learn the language but NOBODY would take the time to teach me and at the time, speaking it was considered a sign of being less educated.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 4:58 pm to ElderTiger
quote:
Historically oppressed? Yes Everybody can claim that !
Outlawing a people’s language less than 100 years ago is still relevant.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:02 pm to TigerGman
quote:my great grandma only went to the second grade bc the school burned down and it wasn’t worth rebuilding for ‘those Cajuns’
They literally tried to beat the cajun french out of you.
This post was edited on 10/12/23 at 5:26 pm
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:04 pm to RaginCajunz
quote:
Outlawing a people’s language less than 100 years ago is still relevant.
seems like Ebonics is pretty mainstream
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:04 pm to real turf fan
My grand parents and parents all spoke fluent Cajun French. I learned to pick up on most key words and could basically understand most of the conversations. My grandmother on dads side couldn't even speak English. As others here have mentioned, my dad was spanked and punished if overheard speaking French at school. They berated them and told them they were stupid. So understandably my parents didn't go out of their way to teach us. My parents spoke it with their friends while visiting and of course with relatives. My parents spoke it when they didn't want my siblings and me to know what they were arguing or talking about. I've done my best to try to learn all I can as an adult but there just aren't a whole lot of resources available.
ETA- Louisiana Cajun/Creole accent, dialect,customs Oh and IWHI!!!
ETA- Louisiana Cajun/Creole accent, dialect,customs Oh and IWHI!!!
This post was edited on 10/12/23 at 5:10 pm
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:06 pm to Shanegolang
quote:
So understandably my parents didn't go out of their way to teach us.
weak
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:09 pm to real turf fan
An Alabama barner here, but just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed this thread. I had no idea of the history of being shunned for speaking French in Louisiana back in the day. Very interesting.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:12 pm to auwaterfowler
There's a renewed interest in it lately. Hopefully it will come back and prosper.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:15 pm to DownshiftAndFloorIt
quote:
There's a renewed interest in it lately
lately?? USL has had Cajun French continuing ed classes for at least forty years
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:22 pm to TigerDeacon
quote:
But why?
Because you’re a terrible person.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:24 pm to auwaterfowler
quote:
An Alabama barner here, but just wanted to say that I have really enjoyed this thread. I had no idea of the history of being shunned for speaking French in Louisiana back in the day. Very interesting.
Cajun French is still spoken in some parts of La., mostly rural areas. I never hear it anymore in the New Orleans area, and haven't for many years now.
As the older folks in my family died, so did the language, and me closing in on 71, there's not but a handful of relatives older than me still alive.
About 10 years ago I had a friend who was dealing with cancer and I went to visit him in the hospital in Houma, La., about 50 or so miles outside New Orleans.
My friends wife wanted to smoke a cigarette and we walked out to a common area outside the hospital and I heard several groups of people speaking Cajun French and it brought back so many memories. It was good to hear the language was still alive in some areas.
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:28 pm to gumbo2176
quote:
I never hear it anymore in the New Orleans area, and haven't for many years now.
Nawlins is not Cajun, I lived in Lafayette for years, which is the big city of Acadiana, as many or more of my friends and neighbors spoke Cajun French that didn’t, you get out of town and it was a lot more prevalent
Posted on 10/12/23 at 5:55 pm to MSTiger33
I was taking French classes in the late 70s. CODOFIL was already a thing.
My grandparents spoke English as a second language. My parents were bilingual. My Mom and I spent a lot of time at her parents' house when I was a kid.
They tell me I spoke French before I spoke English.
At home,my parents only spoke French when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about.
My grandparents spoke English as a second language. My parents were bilingual. My Mom and I spent a lot of time at her parents' house when I was a kid.
They tell me I spoke French before I spoke English.
At home,my parents only spoke French when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about.
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