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re: How French was almost decimated and efforts to save it in Louisiana
Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:50 am to sta4ever
Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:50 am to sta4ever
quote:
Good. When you come to English speaking America, you’re supposed to assimilate into the American culture and language.
You know, both can coexist at the same time. It’s not necessary to destroy one language simply for the other to be the main language people we use in business and the like. You can actually speak both. Other people do it. Matter of fact most of Europe does with their native language and English.
2
Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:52 am to Mike da Tigah
Sounds like buyers regret and laziness. Folks too lazy to make the effort to learn French, now wish they had, so they blame it on themselves, parents, etc., not being able to speak it at school. Guess what, you can still learn it, there are many great resources to help you.
I'm sure no one put listening devices in your MawMaw' maison to monitor if anyone was spreaking French.
I'm sure no one put listening devices in your MawMaw' maison to monitor if anyone was spreaking French.
This post was edited on 2/4/25 at 9:53 am
Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:53 am to Mike da Tigah
quote:
Matter of fact most of Europe does with their native language and English.
I find that most Europeans are multi-lingual, probably in part that country sizes in Europe are more like states to us, and partly because they seem more inclined to broaden their horizons a bit
Posted on 2/4/25 at 9:59 am to 777Tiger
quote:
lived in Lafayette a long time and had tons on Cajun French speaking friends, I never heard from any of them about it being "beaten out of them" at schools, hell, you could take courses in it at USL, I always got the impression they used it as sort of a patois to be able to talk in front of their kids without the kids knowing what they were saying
That's because you lived in Lafayette you heard lots of Cajun French. Metropolitan areas found it frowned upon and I can remember is being very discouraged in schools as a kid. I graduated high school in 70 and started school in the mid 50's.
Hell, my youngest sister was left handed and she was tormented by some teachers to change to her right hand for writing and using as her dominant hand. She never conformed and died still a leftie.
And yes, it was common knowledge that when my family members were speaking in Cajun French, it was to keep us kids from knowing who, or what they were talking about--------probably more the "who" than the what.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:00 am to sidewalkside
quote:
Believe it or not there are actually little Mexican kids in Texas who don't speak Spanish.
my best friend is Hispanic (Mother actually born in Mexico and father in Brownsville), and he only spoke a little bit of Spanish at home. Otherwise, he was not allowed, so he would not have an accent. He has now learned to speak Spanish because he owns a ranch in South Texas and all his ranch hands speak Spanish.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:05 am to sta4ever
quote:
Good. When you come to English speaking America, you’re supposed to assimilate into the American culture and language.
Nah. We're Cajun French. We've carved out out our own cultural identity here and should maintain it. Part of being an ethnic group is having your own language. Good on people for making a revival of our dialect. I want to do the same.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:11 am to sta4ever
quote:
Good. When you come to English speaking America, you’re supposed to assimilate into the American culture and language.
This is a blanket bullshite statement. I don't know of any Cajun speaking person I've ever been around who could not speak English and did so most of the time to communicate with people and businesses.
It's not like they only speak Cajun French and refuse to learn English.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:44 am to Mike da Tigah
My wife's grand parents still speak it regularly when they have someone to speak to who can understand it. my MIL can understand most of it but doesn't speak it well. i like to listen to the conversations even though i don't understand much of it.
wife's got a couple relatives that went to nova scotia to trace back their roots and he said they still speak cajun french there as well.
wife's got a couple relatives that went to nova scotia to trace back their roots and he said they still speak cajun french there as well.
This post was edited on 2/4/25 at 10:50 am
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:53 am to Mike da Tigah
My grandmother’s family moved from Assumption up to BR in the late 1920’s, presumably for more opportunities…their way of life down on the canal was already on its way out by then. In BR they wouldn’t let her go to school until she learned English. They’d get punished at school or publicly shamed if they spoke anything other than English.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 10:58 am to sta4ever
quote:
Good. When you come to English speaking America, you’re supposed to assimilate into the American culture and language.
Ugh, they were forced into uninhabited swamps back in the 1700's when they were expelled from Nova Scotia. Louisiana was a Spanish territory at that time.
Learn a little history.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 11:01 am to Mike da Tigah
My great grandmother spoke only French. She refused to speak “the king’s language.
I learned from spending time with her when I was young but have lost most of it bc no one my age spoke French.
I learned from spending time with her when I was young but have lost most of it bc no one my age spoke French.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:26 pm to lsu777
quote:It's funny how French is OK to the rabid "speak ENGLISH" crowd.
look im like 80% french/cajun french.....but there is no need to speak another language in this country and french is a useless language. no different than someone of mexican heritage getting mad because they feel not enough people speak spanish in texas.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:36 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
It's funny how French is OK to the rabid "speak ENGLISH" crowd.
always
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:37 pm to Mike da Tigah
French trappers and miners arrived in the Arcadia Valley of the Viceroyalty of New Spain (Missouri) before the Cajuns came to Louisiana, but there were not nearly as many of them. They spoke a dialect called Paw Paw French. It had a pronunciation closer to Canadian French and a vocabulary closer to Cajun French. There could not possibly be anyone left alive who can still speak it fluently other than maybe some college professors. Paw Paw French is a dead language.
Fete l'Automne
Fete l'Automne
This post was edited on 2/5/25 at 9:35 am
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:40 pm to Big Scrub TX
quote:
It's funny how French is OK to the rabid "speak ENGLISH" crowd.
I completely understand the need for everyone to be able to communicate in English, but what I don’t is the necessity to destroy other languages, peoples, or cultures in the process, or to make every place in America the same as the rest. Life becomes a very boring place to live.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:48 pm to gumbo2176
quote:
Hell, my youngest sister was left handed and she was tormented by some teachers to change to her right hand for writing and using as her dominant hand. She never conformed and died still a leftie.
The teachers killed her for being left handed?
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:49 pm to Havoc
quote:
The teachers killed her for being left handed?
those nuns are pretty strict
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:50 pm to Mike da Tigah
quote:
Most of us have stories or first hand accounts of family who were shamed for speaking French, and forced to not speak French in schools. I can remember as a kid visiting my grandmother and great grandmother regularly speaking French with one another over afternoon coffee, and my grandfather who owned a grocery store where conversing with local patrons in French was quite commonplace. To a lesser degree my mother and her siblings would speak it, until it had all been lost amongst my generation due to it simply not being spoken around us by a disappearing older French speaking generation. Poof gone. I feel pretty sure this is the same with most of us, save a very few who were fortunate enough to not be as affected by all of this.
I think this video does an outstanding job of explaining both the beginnings of the French language, evolution of it in the state, the deliberate attack on it being spoken, and hopefully the beginnings of it’s resurgence in Louisiana. Enjoy.
Simply put and to spare everyone time, Evangelicals.
That is the answer.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:51 pm to LSUGrrrl
quote:
My great grandmother spoke only French. She refused to speak “the king’s language.
I love her and I love her more for saying "The Kings Language"
We dont bow to a king. I like her mentality.
Posted on 2/4/25 at 12:51 pm to Mike da Tigah
quote:
French
I took German in school for several years. Now that's a real man's language. Too bad we didn't vote on German way back in the 1700s to give a giant finger to the British.
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