That was nice. Your reactions were very sweet. And you've rekindled my interest in learning French ... I'm really going to do it this time! Oh, and you should definitely visit New Orleans. And you should definitely not go alone!
Will definitely look it up as I'm québécois myself. On think you may find interesting is that Cajun is just slang for Acadien. When spoken in American English, Acadian can be pronounced "acadjun" many of them were originally deported from Acadie (new Brunswick) to the US colonies. They have, like some of my ancestors, an older fashion of speaking French. More akin to France of the 1600s and 1700s. Plus it's mixed it with English and Caribbean Creole now
@@CharlieBravoTango Where the Québecois pronounce "DZ", the Cajuns pronounce "J". Québec: "Ah'-kah-DZYEnH"; Louisiana: "Ah-kah-JJUnH". Similarly, where the Québecois pronounce "TS", the Cajuns pronounce "CH". Quebec "p'TSEETE"; Louisiana: 'cheete". Mind you, though, in Louisiana it is still "Nah-s'YOnH", not "Nah-CHyOnH" for "nation".
@@ralphtomlinson4520 I was referring to the Canadian English way of saying "Acadien" in French we'd say *a-ka-di-en* but the rest of Canada would say *a-ka-djun". Give it a century or so. "Cajun" ain't so farfetched
My Cajun accent was once so thick that when I entered Navy boot camp they couldn’t understand what I was saying and was forced to enunciate everything clearly. Because I was Cajun and because of my accent they thought i was an ignorant country boy. Imagine their surprised when they found out I was entering the Navy’s nuclear power program.
Hey there, fellow Nuke. Went through the program a long time ago and had a pretty strong southern accent. Got a fair bit of beef for it but it wasn't too bad mostly just fun ribbing. I did have some issues with people assuming negative things about my intelligence because of my accent. I was young and kind of trained it out of myself because I got tired of that experience.
@@adams565 because I’m Cajun they honestly thought this was my first time on dry land and wearing shoes. They thought I went to school by traveling through swamps on a raft. Entered Nuke school in 1990. Made it to Nuke Power school before I dropped out for stress from school and things happening back home. At least I wasn’t one of those trying to kill themselves over the stress. Several attempts but only one was successful. Instead of standing on the roof threatening to jump this guy stood on the side of a highway and waited for a big rig before stepping out in front of the rig.
One of the best and smartest engineering professors I ever had was Cajun. When I met him, he had lost most of his accent - or learned how to suppress it - but traces were still there. A thick accent does not imply ignorance or stupidity ... of course, it doesn't imply intelligence, either ...
My best friend is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and she is fluent in cajun french! When we graduated college we went on a trip to Europe and 3 of our stops were Paris, Marseille, and Nice. Whenever my best friend would be our translator she would get a lot of compliments about her thick accent and explaining her whole entire family history in Baton Rouge. One guy said to her "Ah you're from Louisiana! The lost province!" and a whole history discussion would come up. I think its so fascinating to see two languages be so different, but at the same time, understood! It's beautiful! Thank you for your reaction!
I’m surprised they were so polite I heard French people (specifically Paris) have a tendency to talk shit about people from other francophone countries, Parisians make fun of people from other regions of France lol
i"m so glad you had a good experience! I'm originally from Lafayette, and I speak conversational Cajun French, but my experience was different. People in Paris were actually kinda rude to me, so I ended up switching to English after a few days because it was just easier. (shout out to BR -- that's where my hubby is from!)
My 87 year old grandfather is Cajun French and spoke French as his first language. Years ago, he obtained a license to become a HAM radio operator and started talking to people from around the globe. One day he was telling me how he connected with another gentleman in Paris, France. I said it must of been exciting talking to another French speaker on the other side of the world. He then said that they had to speak English, because they couldn't comprehend one another's French. Oh well. 😆
@@JAlex-dg5mk The Québecois have very little trouble understanding the Cajuns and vice-versa. Both dialects are essentially seventeenth century French. For that reason, the archaisms are mostly the same. The disguised anglicisms also are mostly the same. Both have Algnquin words as the Cajun originated in what is now Nova Scotia. The Québecois does lack the Choctaw words that the Cajun has. Some examples are: "chaoui"="raton laveur"; "plaquemine"="kaki". The best known Choctaw word, however, is the Cajuns' home: "bayou".
@@ralphtomlinson4520 Dans la région de Lanaudière au Québec qui fût une terre d’accueil pour des Acadiens déportés dans des colonies américaines, le “J” est prononcé comme un « H » aspiré. Par exemple, les gens prononcent " Holiette " et non "Joliette "(nom d’une municipalité). Je sais qu’il y a quelques endroits en Louisiane où cette prononciation existe.
@@JAlex-dg5mk Ben ouais, y-y-a quelque endrette où qui on énonce la "j" comme la "h" anglais. Drette asteure, j'oublie les noms des paroisses où qui on l'énonce comme ça.
Awesome story! Ham here, can relate. I grew up with mostly English and maybe 5-10% French, picked most of it up on my own or from my grandpere. My French accent is alllllll sorts of fucked up but I've found that other Cajuns (and surprising to me) my friends from Quebec can understand me fine. The handful of times I've tried speaking to someone literally *from* France, completely hit or miss! Granted there's still some "sayings" that aren't understood (things like lagniappe or gris gris, great examples) due to being bastardizations of English/French/Spanish/etc over time. Linguistically speaking, it's all absolutely fascinating. C’est tout :)
As an French speaking Acadian from the Acadian part of Nova Scotia this makes my heart happy because this is our French to because we’re all the same your our family and I love you guys
I worked for a while with a guy who spoke Cajun French and another who spoke French he learned in Africa. They understood each other but would argue incessantly about the pronunciations of some words; each insisting his was the *correct* way.
I knew a Haitian Dude that spoke French Creole and Proper French, as well as English. e had no issues in Quebec and was quite popular with the Ladies(his words), but he said that in Quebec, his Creole was useless. I also knew a couple Spanish speakers. One was a native "Island" Spanish, as i was told. Then, another learned Mexican Spanish but was a Native English(American). I was told by the Mex Span about the subtle differences as much as they could, they werent fluent. But, the Native "Island" speaker was defensive about words and rather Gatekeepy about their dialect as they believed it was THE correct way to speak and such. Its all interesting, dialects and such, to me.
I thought the pronounciation/spelling dispute was a franco-french thing. What I find amusing is that the French learned in the schools of the former colonies has the reputation of being more elaborate than the one taught in France. I also think there is no correct way to speak a language, just the one that allows to be understood easily.
@@Zorglub1966 there are words that may belong to a language, but different ways to speak that language, and a form considered more proper for formal purposes such as writing. Kinda wish we’d figured that out earlier on
I would say that African Francophones have accents MUCH closer to Cajun Francophones than people from France, so I am a bit shocked that they would get into it, but I also think that African French speakers admire and aspire to be as the French, whereas the Cajuns just want to hold onto their own culture. Like I would bet that more Africans than French would be able to understand Cajun right off the bat.
FrenchTastic, the first gentleman you presented is speaking Louisiana Creole. He may identify as Cajun (and identify his language as "Cajun") but he is not speaking "Cajun" (Louisiana French) but rather Louisiana Creole. One big clue are the pronouns he uses. He uses "mo" instead of "je." He says, "mo gin in ti fiy" in Louisiana Creole. ("J'ai une petite fille" or "I have a little girl.") There are many self-identifying "Cajuns" who speak Louisiana Creole and there are many self-identifying Louisiana Creoles who speak not creole but Louisiana French. Lastly, Louisiana French is the better term to use because there are many groups who speak Louisiana French who do not identify as Cajun. Members of the Houma Nation come to mind first. They spoke French before Acadians arrived in Louisiana. It's not appropriate to call their language Cajun simply because Cajuns speak the same way. Louisiana French has always been spoken by a diverse group of people.
You hit the nail on the head! Even in our Louisiana culture, Cajun and Creole are so easily confused as one in the same, when they are two separate things. Thanks for enlightening folks!
The first guy was speaking creole, which was not so different from Haitian Creole, you can understand it better as a kreyol speaker than as a French speaker. Lots of people came to Louisiana after the Haitian revolution in 1804
I am from the literal middle of Cajun country in Acadia Parish and we're trying desperately to connect our old Cajun French speakers with our younger population in order to keep the traditional language alive. Even though pretty much everyone speaks English we should probably just be speaking Cajun French because our accents are so thick still it might as well be a whole other language at this point LOL
I was adopted at a young age but through learning I'm mostly Cajun and Irish. So, I've been learning about my culture and wanted to pick up the language since it gives me a sense of who I am as a person. If you heard my voice, you'd think I'm just country as I was raised in Tennessee and lived briefly in Louisiana for about six months to a year. Yet, I was young then. It's hard to for me to pick up not because I come across the languages harder than ordinary people, I got hearing problems so some pronunciations are harder for me to hear. I use cher as an endearment and mostly use the common slang a bunch but not fluent like I am in English and ASL.
My French teacher in the 8th grade was from France and came to the United States to Louisiana to study Cajun French for her Master's degree. I loved hearing her stories about what it was like learning Cajun French and learning the history of the Cajuns. She said to her it was like hearing French from hundreds of years ago spoken with a unique accent, because Cajun French had kept a lot of features from older dialects of French. It made me really want to learn French just so I could understand the difference and visit Louisiana myself!
That is a great story. Thanks for sharing! It kind of reminds me of my wanting to move to Galicia to learn how they speak Spanish with their thick Galician accents and certain words they use there that others in other parts of Spain don't use. Of course, in Galicia, many also speak the *language* Galician, which is another thing altogether. I wouldn't mind learning Galician, too
In fact, a quarter of the English vocabulary comes from Old French. For example, "état" in modern French was called "estate" in Old French. The English kept the S to say "state" (united state) while modern French did not.
As a Cajun, I try my best to get my friends to learn so we can speak together and keep it alive. My great grandpa is 88 and he speaks fluently. I take any opportunity to learn from him.
Back in the 80's I was privileged to meet an old lady who could not speak English at all in Lafayette, Louisiana. She used a French word for everything in her life, none of this English substitution that goes on today. Cajun or Cadien is good "rural" French, although a variety that is two hundred years old. My Grandfather spoke it to the French people in Normandy in WWII and they smiled calling his Louisiana French, "country French". Thanks for making this video :)
Reminds me of something I once heard about certain immigrants from Italy who brought their dialect with them to America, and now Italians hear it and think it sounds funny (things like pronouncing 'mozzarella' 'mutzadell')
As a 22 year old Cajun guy, I’m very embarrassed by just how little I know of my own language. I’m trying my best to pick it up when I have the time to, but there are those of us who have not forgotten how important it is to try and preserve it! I just hope there can be a more concrete and concerted effort to keep our language alive! C’est tres bon, cher!
Don't give up! I applaud your interest and initiative.... its a wonderful tradition, something to be proud of, and one day, you can pass it on to your own children ;-)
I'm a 37 year old Cajun who grew up in Pennsylvania (I feel Cajun because my mom influenced my life and so did my cousins who live in Lafayette and Breaux Bridge). I'm learning Cajun French just now, don't give up!! Last night i cooked Cajun/Creole food for the first time in my life, too. My Uncle Jimmy passed down the family recipes to me over the phone 3 nights ago, he's in his 80's and i'm sooooo glad i'm doing this and so is he
I pretty much only know curse words because that's what I would hear the most 😂 But in all seriousness I'm trying to learn more of the language as well
I went to college in a city in Louisiana called Lafayette (we are called the Ragin Cajuns) and we had a lot of French international students and faculty teaching French. We had guy from Paris, a guy from Hati, a bunch from the US, and several more from Canada. It's an interesting mix of cultures here
My friend is hardcore Québécois and I learnt French through him, and I studied Haitian Creole in high school so I feel really happy I can understand Cajun people 😁
I speak a little bit of Haitian Creole and I lost my fluency in Louisiana French because of lack of use. I’m having to relearn it but here in New Orleans it’s not spoken as much as it is further west of me
haaaaaaaaaaa, both my parents spoke cajun very well. but we kids born in southeast texas never learned it. we grew up listening to the Beatles and hard rock. we watched every step of the space race to man landing on the moon. so even though we are 100% french canadian by bloodline , we were never taught about the cajun language. from port rochelle to nova scotia to scott louisiana to southeast texas. it just so happen my kids are 100% cajun, and we dont understand the cajun language. thanks to my mom and dad.
I live in Lake Charles, LA(southwest LA) so I can relate to the East Texans very much and to your comment. Ha-Ha! I grew up in Louisiana but both parents are from New Mexico. So I’m definitely NOT Cajun.
I remember reading, years ago, that French linguists came to Louisiana to study Cajun French, because it was so close to the French spoken at the time their ancestors first came to North America.
when i was in high school in the early 1970s, i kinda remember someone on tv saying, the cajun language is a 13th-14th century dialect of france but broken. due to the cajun isolation and mixing with various other cultures, it evolved.
In fact in france had lot of regional language. Lot were french, anothers were breton alsacian basque. A parisian french didnt understand a normandy person then they spoke french . Now we speak practilly same language and same accent even if some old accent are again there.
@@bretagnejean2410 all you said is mostly untrue. Do you seriously believe they couldn't communicate between each other... at all? That would simply mean the end of the nation. No, they could understand each other since in the northern half of the country, all of the spoken patois were derived from Langue d'Oïl which came from a mix of Latin, Gaulish and Frankish. Granted, it wasn't the same patois but of course they could still understand each others. On the other hand, someone from say Britanny, Normandy, Île-de-France region, Burgundy or Picardy would have a hard time understanding patois from the southern half of France which were derived from Langue d'Oc, a mix of Occitan, Latin and Gaulish. But then again, they would still be able to communicate none the less.
@@Sir77Hill ils avaient probablement les memes problemes de comprehension que un francais et un cajun peuvent avoir. En bretagne je peux t assurer que la majeure parti de la population parlaient pas un mot de français mais en revanche pouvaient communiquer avec un anglais du sud ouest sans trop probleme. De meme les anglo normand qui parlaient une langue proche du français communiquaient tres bien avec les anglais mais moins facilement avec les patois parisiens.
@@bretagnejean2410 I read Peter Mayle's book from the 1980's called A Year in Provence. He said in that book that when they arrived the French the residents spoke seemed very different to that they had learned via cassettes and studying in England. Is the Provençal dialect harder to understand if one isn't originally from there?
OMG, that’s why my great-grandfather in Louisiana did not want us to speak French! He wanted us to not be looked down on and have educational opportunities. I now understand. My great-grandmother only spoke French and learned English because she was in love with him. Thank you for doing this video. I’ve been trying to understand why for so many years.
I'm from Louisiana and sadly it's a dying language. A lot of older people in Cajun country still speak it and try to pass it on. A friend of mine had a group he would meet with of younger people to try and keep it going.
Je suis français et c’est vraiment cool que tu mettes la Louisiane en avant en faisant une vidéo sur les Cajuns, c’est un sujet important, la preuve : 200k vues en 1 mois. C’est important pour nos frères en Louisiane de voir que l’on pense à eux pendant qu’ils luttent pour maintenir leur culture ! Merci pour eux et pour nous, français.🇫🇷⚜️
My mother is half Cajun, and my Grandmother was full Cajun out of Carencro. My grandmother and her twin sister would speak Cajun French to each other all the time. My uncle has tried to understand the language and bring it forward into the next generation. But the sad, horrible truth is that the Cajun people and their language are almost extinct. The food will always remain, but the culture and language were born out of adversity.
There has actually been a rise in speaker due to some colleges offering it here and people getting ancestor DNA kits to reconnect with their roots. UL has a cajun french language course
My mother is 70 years old. Her first language was French. She had to learn English to start school. Almost all the older generations spoke French but they got forced to only speak English. She definitely is French to the core💜
Im a Bayman from Bay Vert NFLD, I moved to NB when I was 5yrs, the Herring Chokers (NB'ers) kicked the Nufie out of me....been speaking Mainlander ever since.
You should take her to Canada either New Brunswick or Quebec one time think would be interesting experience for her to be around other native French speakers of this region who not from either Europe or Africa.
It is my understanding that the word "Cajun" is a shortened version and is derived from the word Acadia. Français Acadien -- so heavy French influence but a dialect that is unique to Louisiana. Love you Marie! Blessings!
Cajun french is made up of french, english, native, american and spanish and the accent is kind of the same way. It's also very different then creole french which is also spoken in louisiana. And yes it is an anglicized way of the way we say acadian (where cajun french originated) ah- kah- jien is the cajun french pronounciation.
The word Cajun is derived from the word Cadian, an abbreviation of Acadian. As in most Cajun words are merely abbreviations of the original words. Such as using T-Bob instead of saying Petite Bobby. .
The Québecois often pronounce "d" as a "dz" when it appears before "i" and sometimes before "e", although the latter less frequently. Where the Québecois pronounce "dz", the Cajuns often pronounce either "j"(English "j", that is) or "dy", although the "y" is barely strong enough for you to hear iy. This can, however, vary by parish or sometimes even by city or town. It is interesting to listen to the younger Cajuns who have been exposed to the Cajun dialect in the CODOFIL immersion programmes. In those programmes, the students first study français métropolitain. As a result, when they speak Cajun dialect, while they use the vocabulary and consonants of that dialect, their vowels are decidedly français métropolitain.
It's interesting. My wife, and my stepson, and my mother-in-law are all from China. We have been married 17 years and my wife and my step-son speak perfect English. My mother-in-law speaks no English. Yet our household language is Chinese which I don't speak. It doesn't bother me. My step-son was 8 years old when he came here and I'm happy that he speaks two languages fluently and is ready to graduate college. I hope that his kids, in the future, will also learn to be bilingual.
My house is somewhat similar My wife is from China and I am from New York we speak in Chinese. Our children can kind of understand it but they study French in high school
Was stationed four years in Louisiana with the US Air Force. Had several French speaking friends. Some were Louisiana French which had come over after the Napoleonic era. Some of their words were from old French (even going back to the time when the Song of Roland was composed). Other friends were Cajun from the marsh lands down around Cut Off, Point y Chain, etc... When I was there, many years ago, you could tell from listening to the older people that French/Cajun was their first language. Was a joy speaking with them in French. My French today is still mostly Parisian but mixed with a lot of Louisiana French/Cajun. Also speak north Walean (the Welsh dialect from north Wales) Crazy thing is, English is my first language, but when I speak French, I tend to think in Welsh. Felly, quand dwi isio deud quelque chose, mae'n tres bizarre. (So, when I want to say something, it's very strange)
My co-worker, fluent in Cajun French, was sent to France for further training on our equipment. During days off he went to the French countryside where he was pretty much greeted with enthusiasm because of shared interests, hunting and fishing. Parisians were too snobby for him, he said.
My favorite thing about English being the de facto universal language of earth, is that the English word for universal or common tongue is "Lingua Franca"
English is useful in europe and north america. Malay is more widespread as a lingua franca, covering trading from the antipodean, pacific, Indonesian, east india,south asia and Chinese markets.
@@hedgeandhue english could be useful in -northern Europe but not as important in France (other french speaking regions) and Spain where most of the people don't need to speak this language to be succesfull in life.
I see your point - Lingua Franca being Italian for "French Language" - haha! French is still a lingua franca in parts of Africa and the Pacific islands, but not as much as English in general
@@mikedaniel1771 My point was more related to the fact that 99% of the french will never have to speak english in their life, yet the rate of multilingualism is pretty high, the same in Spain and France. I also wanted to pinpoint the fact that north europeans overestimate the importance of english in the rest of europe because they are more connected to the anglo-saxon world.
J'espère que le français ne disparaitra pas en Louisiane. Je suis pour la diversité linguistique. La version louisianaise de la langue a autant de valeur que les autres variétés de français. Évidemment, on pourrait dire la même chose en ce qui concerne les différentes variétés d'anglais et d'espagnol. Merci pour la vidéo! Signé, un anglo-québécois! :)
meme chose avec anglais et espagnol. y a certain mots qui sont different, aussi la structure du langue peux etre different. mais apres tous, le fondation du langue est la meme.
My late grandfather was Cajun and spoke Cajun French as his household language; he didn't learn English until grade school. His time to shine, like many other Cajuns, was during World War II. Having enrolled in the Army Air Forces because he wanted to fly combat missions, he was instead ordered to act as an flight instructor for Free French trainees at a base in Alabama. The trainees were sent across the Atlantic so they could learn on Allied equipment before going back to join the fight in Europe and North Africa. Aside from some archaic vocabulary, the Cajun French speakers apparently were understood well enough by the trainees - and, according to my grandfather, better understood than the non-Cajun instructors, many of whom had learned French as a second language in school. I had to take his word for it because I don't know any Cajun French myself. The tale is all too common: grandpa moved to New Orleans to go to business school, met my non-French-speaking grandmother, and thus had no reason to speak the language around the house. My father didn't learn it at all; the only French I hear him use is a strained “Allons!” when trying to get us out the door to go somewhere. (My aunt wrote an article about the WW2 training program many years ago; google "french lessons janelle dupont" and it'll be the first result.)
One of my high school French teachers did his immersion year in Corsica. There he picked up a Corsican accent that he spent years getting rid of so that he could teach with a Parisian accent. He demonstrated in class one day what it sounded like, it was like listening to someone speaking English with a mississippi drawl. When new Orleans was flooded by a hurricane and some of the Louisiana people evacuated to our town, I heard a Cajun family speaking near me, I could understand about 1 word in 5.
There is also a creole language in Louisiana based on French, spoken in some areas colloquially, it's called kouri vini and it is not an example of Louisiana French
I'm a Cajun from Louisiana! Love this.. It's confusing to both English and European French speakers cuz it's a bit of a mix of both languages with some Cajun words mixed in..
It has changed thru the years. It didn’t used to be like that, my grandfather’s first language was French, and it was real Louisiana French, he didn’t speak a word of English, and had to learn it in school. Now days the language has changed and it’s now a mixture of Cajun and English. But for hundreds of years it was pure French.
Cajun French is 90% the same as standard French as a rule. I work as a French speaking guide and I speak with little or now problem to French speakers from around the world. Louisiana French varies from locale to locale. Creole French can mean the different dialects spoken by uppity people from New Orleans - few of them exist anymore, or the French spoken by black Creoles or areas influenced by Creoles such as St Martin Parish. Not sure what you mean by swamp. When people insult me and tell me I don't speak real French I ask them what kind of English they speak because they and probably you too do not speak like people from England.
They would be wrong then that’s Louisiana Creole (Kouri Vini). A lot of people that say they grew up speaking/hearing “Cajun” French (I put quotes around Cajun because calling Louisiana French “Cajun French” is a misnomer and lay terms for people that aren’t linguists and know the full context of the former colony of Louisiana) that describe it as such tend to be Louisiana Creole speakers. Louisiana French is just that…it’s French of the Québécois + Acadien + mainland France French. Btw the languages I mentioned above had no racial boundaries yes LC was created through the enslaved Africans creating the Creole to communicate with their enslavers but there were also multilingual white and black (enslaved and free) creoles in Louisiana that spoke both. Both sets of my great grandparents spoke LF and LC and my grandma spoke LF and LC but my Grandpa only spoke LC. I speak Louisiana Creole the man at 1:01 was speaking Louisiana Creole not Louisiana French.
Je suis de Baton Rouge et j'apprenais le français métropolitain a l'école, mais j'adore le français louisianais. Les cadiens sont trés passionnés par leur langue. Merci pour ton video!
I’m Cajun. My grandfather fought in France in WW2. My grandparents told us stories of being beaten in school if they spoke French in school. Some teachers were more violent than others. They impressed upon their children not to speak French in school so they had to speak French among friends where the teachers couldn’t hear. My generation lost most of the language. While in the US Navy traveling in Europe I was able to use what little French I knew to communicate in Italy, France, and Spain.
I’m from Texas but one of my friends in the navy was Cajun. I remember visiting France. He was very popular. All the French girls loved hearing him speak. I’ll never forget that port visit!
My grandfather said the teacher wouldn’t let the French kids go to the bathroom until they asked in English. He said many a kid wet their pants because they didn’t know English.
@@robwalsh9843 True but it was about assimilation, especially post-WWII when the Draft was still in place and people needed to be able to understand their commands.
Je commençais à apprendre le français en lycée parce que la famille de ma mère est cadienne. Pour moi, j'étais triste d'avoir perdu notre culture et je voulais la récupérer. Je peux pas parler le français couramment encore, mais je suis fière d'être cadienne et je suis contente que ma mère puisse apprendre le français de moi. Pour nous, c'était le moyen le plus important pour connecter avec notre culture. Même si je parle un français plus européen et pas louisianais, ça me rend heureuse. Je suis contente que vous ayez trouvé la Louisiane, ses cultures et ses langues. J'espère que vous avez la chance de visiter ! (Pardonnez mes erreurs ! Je suis un peu rouillée 😅)
@@safedreams6241 C'est vrai, nous Français on adore votre accent et surtout il nous fait beaucoup rire. Parfois on repère un mot ou des tournures ici ou là que nos grand-parents employaient car ce que vous parlez une sorte de vieux Français, mais c'est déjà bien que vous parlez même le Français de France : ça vous aidera pour vous faire comprendre des cadiens et améliorer votre cadien si cela peut se dire ainsi.
what I find interesting is that to me it sounds like a mix of france french and quebec french, and a lot like La Chanson de Roland and while quebec is more multicultural, both have direct descendants from the french that invaded centuries ago, because both are surrounded by english, which is pretty cool to me
Marie, I would be proud to have you as my granddaughter! You have a boundless energy about you and you are able to express the joy in your heart to others when you communicate with them. May God bless you in your future endeavors!
I had a student named Toby from Lafayette, La. who had an extremely thick Cajun accent. After some time passed a situation occurred where I asked Toby how he would translate a certain phrase in Cajun & he gave me a sheepish grin & said “I don’t know how to speak Cajun. My folks would speak it when they didn’t want us kids to know what they were saying”. I was stupified. “But your accent...”, I blurted out. “That’s how we speak English where I live”, he said.
Very cool post dear.many years ago i had a friend who was Cajun and i loved listening to him speak even though i only understood a little of what he said.congratulations on going over 40k subs👍👍👍👍😁😁
I'm not Cajun and I don't speak French. But one of my all-time favorite shows was Justin Wilson's Louisiana Cooking - Outdoors. The way he spoke was mesmerizing with the skillful mix of Cajun-French and English. His stories were great and I could almost smell the food through the TV. I could listen to him all day.
I loved his show when I was a kid too...but I don’t think he was actually Cajun. His shtick was a bit forced, you know. I’ve never heard anyone but him say that “Ga-Ron-tee” comme ca.
Love this one Marie. As someone who has visited Louisiana many times, I had a hard time to understand many Cajun's speaking English since they have a heavy accent. Great video and can't wait for the next video!
It seems ignorant and dumb to think just because someone doesn’t speak your language well that they’re dumb but I totally did, unconsciously. I remember I met a friend of a friend in collage and she was from mainland China. She practiced English in China and came to the US and was there like 3 months when I first met her. She was super cool but I definitely subconsciously underrated her intelligence bc her English wasn’t great. Flash forward like 6 months and she and I were super tight and talking way more and her English had improved a lot and I realized all of a sudden that she was a genius 😂😂😂 That was the last time I ever underestimated someone’s intelligence like that again. To anyone pushing themselves to speak in a language that isn’t their primary language and maybe isn’t fluent or advanced, good on you. You are badass and courageous ❤️
When you visit New Orleans you should check out the music scene. Not only are there a lot of great clubs, but the street musicians there are the best. You can walk down the street and hear jazz, blues, and many other types of music. New Orleans has a lot of brass bands playing a style of music you'll hear only in that city.
Having lived my entire life in New Orleans the music just blends in to the everyday sounds if the city. However, whenever I'm out of town every other place seems eerily quiet without the music.
@@ChrisHaar I love the Cat and Negril when I go there but the best I think I've ever heard there was across from the the French Market a bunch of young kids blasting away free form on some horns that looked like they pulled out of a dumpster. My girl and I just grab a drink and follow our ears,
mardi gras in port arthur texas about 10 years ago , i heard a marching band from new orleans. being a drummer for 45 years, i quickly noticed the accented notes and heavy syncopation. and the most beautiful extended harmonies. these guys where marching in a cold mist almost frozen northwind............. amazing
Congratulations on 40K, dear Marie! I loved this video, like I do all of them. I enjoyed the first man in the boat the most. I don't speak much French, but I got it immediately when he said, "It's a good business and look at my office!" Fantastic.😊
I am from Houston, Texas, close to Louisiana. My ancestors were Italian and came to the US through New Orleans, like the last guy's. That admixture of cultures is absolutely common. Then they migrated east, living in Franklin, LA and Beaumont, TX before ending up in Houston. I learned "standard" French in school, and until a few years ago, was completely oblivious to the French linguistic diversity at my back doorstep. I would love to become more knowledgeable about Cajun and Creole. There are even Spanish-speaking Louisianans who came from the Canary Islands, so add that into the mix. 😊
@mikedechant1 Yes, that's correct. In fact, it was the same ship or ships that left Spain, stopping first in the Canaries, then in Cuba, then in Louisiana, with some people disembarking in each place. Because of this, particular features of the Spanish from that original area of Spain can be observed in the Spanish of all 3 of those places.
Rode a ferry boat across the Mississippi river once years ago. The other people on the boat were Cajuns-couldn't understand a word but you have never seen a happier group.
I speak both French Canadian and French from France . I was born in Montreal, Canada . I can understand a little of Acadian French . But I love your video . I understand where your coming from ! 💜 Great job!!
As a french the french Cajun was quite easy to understand. Quite a journey as it sounds quite older than the current France french. Love the video very much.
A buddy of mine (with a degree in French, X number of years teaching French and experience traveling thru Francophone countries), & I were travelling through Lafayette, LA on a Friday night. We happened to catch the Cajun show on KBON 101, where everything was spoken in Cajun. He listened to everything they said with the concentration of someone being given instructions on how to defuse a bomb. After a few minutes I asked him if he understood anything? And without missing a beat he replied "Not A Word!!" 😂
Thank you for this. I am a St Piere. My mother and father spoke French, however, when we went to school it was frowned upon. I'm 72 years old and about once a month I visit my home town and where the old frech people lived I speak to each of them. It's likeI speaking to their Spirit. I find when I do this the French words begin to flow and I am able to converse with them. Those are memories I cherish and comfort me. Thanks for your interest in Cajun French. Your TH-cam video touches my heart Danny St Pierre
I speak European French, I lived in Montreal Canada for 7 years, and I also understand Haitian Creole. The interesting thing about Cajun French is that it is a mix of all those things. I can't understand them when they speak, however when you turned on the subtitles and I was able to read what he was saying, I understood completely the context of what he was saying, and I could clearly see the influence all those cultural expressions in his sentence structure. Now I'm fascinated!
I know Martinican creole and it’s so funny to find so many similarities... it’s the perfect illustration of where some creole words come from (like vous-autres = zot in Martinique, garçon = bougre = boug’ in Martinique etc.)
I enjoyed this video so much! I grew up in south Louisiana (Lafayette, I’ve seen a lot of other people commenting about it) and my dad always said his grandparents spoke mostly French and had heavy cajun accents when they spoke English. When my family imitated them I could barely understand what they were even saying in English but it was so fun to hear! It is such a unique dialect and you really can only find it in tiny little towns in south Louisiana, not New Orleans or Baton Rouge or any other big city that most people think. You were so right that it really depends on the person, I have some relatives with heavy cajun accents and some that just sound a little southern. Thank you for making this great video!!
This is interesting! I once had a French roommate, and I played he and another Frenchman a clip of some Cajuns speaking Cajun French. They claimed they understood every word-but they thought the accents were funny. They said the folks sounded like some American hicks speaking French.
In the first video, the man was speaking Creole mixed with more English. The older couple was speaking Cajun French. Many people do not realize that Louisiana has two separate Latin based languages. Creole is a separate language than Cajun French. I don't think she knows that from her reactions.
Thank you Marie, I learn so much watching your videos. Can't wait until you travel to the US and do videos from here. Your perspective on culture is unique and entertaining. Stay well and safe.
I’m from northwest Louisiana and Cajun wasn’t spoken up there. I was 14 when I heard the person with the Cajun accent speaking English. It’s amazing how language evolves and how popular Louisiana culture is now.
I really appreciate the work they put into learning French/Creole/Cajun - keeping alive those old traditions is just so cool! I'm from Texas, and I've always wished I could speak the Louisiana French :-)
Comme d’habitude, très bonne vidéo Marie. J’ai un ami à Bâton Rouge en Louisiane, mais je ne suis jamais y allée. Je pense que la culture Cajune serait plus étrangère à moi que la culture française, et j’habite aux États-Unis! C’est la première fois que j’ai remarqué ton oreille gauche si décorée des boucles d’oreille. Chouette alors! 🤛👍🌎⚾️⚽️🌸🎧🎸
My old momo was born in 1919 and her first language was Cajun French. She learned English from her kids who learned English from school. She use to tell me how ppl would get beat and arrested by the police. Also I laughed too hard at that comedian. You can definitely tell I'm Cajun lol
Marie, I am so proud of you. Your own English is improving with every passing week. Different Dialects in any language are tricky. Be well, God bless you...Kansas Grandpa.
Nous-autres en Louisiane, on est toujours icitte après parler français et créole (a.k.a. Kouri-Vini). Moi, j’parle français avec mon p’tit garçon. J’assaye d’mon mieux d’faire des vidéos dans les deux langues mais c’est des fois difficile. Oh et as far as the word "couillon" goes. I know it’s a lot worse in France, but in Louisiana, it’s much more mild. Depending on the context, the severity of the English equivalents ranges from "fool" to "dumbass." Mais je sais bien ce que ça veut dire en France! 😅 Merci pour avoir fait cette vidéo. 😊
Even when speaking English the Cajuns are the only American accent that normally comes with subtitles. I did have to look that word up, and the French definition made me think of Bastogne; "Nuts!" You can think of New Orleans as a French town but much more hot and humid. You will really like the food.
"Even when speaking English the Cajuns are the only American accent that normally comes with an accent." I'm trying to understand what you mean. Are you saying that most Americans speaking English don't have an accent? Because of course they do.
I do not speak any form of French, so the understanding of most of it was not there, but I was riveted to the screen by your passion and interest in learning and experiencing new cultures and traditions. This was really fun to watch.
I really like this video, Marie! I'm not Cajun but I'm so happy you're exploring the culture. It's in danger of dying out and it should be saved! It may interest you to know that most places in America are opening back up so if you can somehow get out of France then please visit Louisiana and tell us what you think!
My father, who speaks 5 languages fluently, Spanish, English, French, Vietnamese and Korean, wanted us to learn at least 3; English, Spanish and French, but we only learned English and Spanish fluently and a little French. I picked up German, but have always wanted to learn French and Italian. I have a couple of Cajun friends and they’ve tried to teach me some Cajun but I’m sure that they were just having fun with me. Great video.
As someone who grew up speaking both Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole and who is doing work in the community, I can tell you that we really don't use many english words in our french nor creole also Cajun french is just Louisiana French it is not specific to any group as when cajuns arrived in Louisiana they ended up integrating with the creole families that were already here since 1682. There are a lot of Cajuns who speak creole and say they speak French and there are a lot of Creoles who say they speak creole when they speak french and then there are many who speak both like me. Louisiana French is french, it's not a separate language just another dialect and this dialect has many many dialects throughout the state, but they are all perfectly understandable. One must not forget that it was only recently in 1921 when teaching in French was banned so they're many who can read and write in French but again there are many who can't. International french or normative french was used in Louisiana and still is used in Louisiana especially in New Orleans so you will hear people who speak more like people from France and now since we have a lot of teachers from Canada many of our immersion school kids have a mixed accent between Louisiana and Canada.
I was driving through Louisiana and went to Lafayette . When we got out to ask for directions, nobody spoke English and I had never heard of people in America not only speaking French but no English.
I was born and raised in Lafayette. We do speak English but we also do speak alot of cajun French as well because the cajun culture is very strong there
when i was in louisianna, (baton rouge, new orleans, and i cant remember the other places name) i dont recall a single person there speaking french other than the few in my class (it was a school music trip) who were in AP french and myself who has been bilingual since birth. none of them mentioned finding someone speaking french either, and it was pretty obvious that we were all canadian and our little group also spoke french with eachother so its not like we were hiding it. maybe we just wernt in the right parts of town.
@@Andrew17B I grew up in Lafayette Parish as well and we never really spoke French at school or work but when it was just friends or family we would switch to it, I don't really know why we did not speak it all the time but that's just how it was
@@Andrew17B You have to understand that Louisiana designates a cultural region called Acadiana which comprises 21 or so parishes that speak French. New Orleans isn't apart of this because, even historically, New Orléans was not a place inhabited by Acadians, but many other types of Frenchmen and Créoles. French is very rare in New Orleans, but very expressive in the culture of the city. Not Acadian French culture though.
As an English only speaker, I lived in Lafayette Louisiana for 2 years, working as a physician in very small nearby communities. Some of my older patients had family that would translate, as they spoke no English. They are the sweetest people I have ever met. They came before the French revolution or world wars. I would love for you to meet them, an isolated/protected French colony. They are still what France used to be. Very lovely people.
Marie,l have friends from Trinidad. They speak English officially. But, the common language they speak is called Trint English. It took me 3 days, hanging around them to understand what they were saying. I have also family from eastern Kentucky, Appalachia. You would have to struggle to understand what they are saying as well..
Cajun French has a long history of development. The Acadians first settled in what is now Nova Scotia in 1604, long before the Mayflower set sail. France had a multitude of dialects and most of the Acadians came from the Brittany region of France. the Ferry Law of 1881 made school in France mandatory and the more sophisticated metropolitan French spoken mainly among the upper class in Paris became the standard across France. By then the Acadian were already expelled from their Canadian home in 1755, began immigrating to the Spanish colony of Louisiana, and became Americans through a real estate transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase. Through centuries of isolation, the Cajun language evolved through contact with Native Americans, Spanish, Africans, etc. Certain terms used in the Cajun language reflect their connection to the sea in Brittany, the Bay of Fundy, and the bayous of Louisiana. The noun "vous" does not exist because that type of formality is a luxury of the rich, not farmers and fishermen. If a Cajun addresses you using "vous," it means you need to get off your high horse. And another fact is that not all French descendants in Louisiana are the same. The earliest are the creole, which is a term applied to someone born in the colonies. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. There were French and Spanish creoles living around New Orleans since its founding in 1718. The Cajuns arrived starting in 1760 and there were another mass immigration during the mid-1800s when Europe was engulfed in wars. Those new arrivals were called French Nationals, but found more in common with the Creoles than the Acadians. Those groups kept their distance from each other and for a Creole/French National to marry an Acadian was considered improper. I am Cajun on my mother's side and Creole/French National on my father's side. I was told that my great grandmother would have been upset with my parents marriage if she were still alive. My father's mother, a creole, would get upset when my mother would imply that she was Cajun. It wasn't that the groups hated each other, but they resisted blending until well into the 20th century. So the bottom line is, Acadian and Creole French are not corruptions of French, but dialects separated from the mother country for centuries and evolved in their new environments.
I took four years of French in public school back in the 1990's. Two of the only sentences I remember are: "Je suis une grenouille en caoutchouc." et "Votre grand-mère a mangé mes bagages." I feel that those are words to live by. ;)
Durant mon voyage à Louisiane j’ai pu parler en français avec eux. Je vis à Montréal et je suis parfaitement bilingue c’est pour cela que j’ai pas eu de problème à les comprendre. Du bon monde!
Àyoù vous avez été en Louisiane? Lafayette ou quoi? Moi, j’viens du Bayou Lafourche dans sud-est d’l’état, dans un p’tit village àyoù tous les vieux parlent français comme langue maternelle. Mes grands-parents sont nés francophones monolingues mais eux-autres a appris l’anglais à l’école. Leurs parents (mes arrières-grands-parents) faisaient partie d’la dernière génération d’avoir passé toute leur vie seulement en français (ils sont morts dans les années 1980 sans avoir appris l’anglais). Et pis mon père est né bilingue. Moi, j’sus né pis élevé comme anglophone monolingue, malheureusement, mais là, j’ai appris la langue de mes grands-parents plus tard dans ma vie. Anyway, moi, j’ai pris beaucoup d’inspiration de l’histoire du Québec et la manière que vous-autres a battu si fort pour protéger vos droits linguistiques! (J’ai p’t’être écouté/ergardé trop de discours de René Lévesque, par exemple. 😏)
@@Louisianish c’est sûr que les plus âgés parlent plus le français que les jeunes. Mais ils en reste encore qui le parle est c’est des moment magique quand ont partage une conversation avec les cajuns. Je me rappelle d’une femme serveuse dans une resto qui m’expliquer en Français qu’elles à « bûcher » pour apprendre le Français et elle étais fière de le parler.....ahh vous me ramener de bon et beau souvenir de chez vous .. Stay safe! Regards from Montréal Quebec....
Enjoyed this video. If you go to New Orleans try to stay in or near the French Quarter to get a real feel for one of the most unique cities in America. 😎
I'm from Paraguay... However, something I like about the Cajun culture of American Louisiana, and it is its excellent traditional music, with that accordion so beautiful that they know how to play like no other. _Muchas gracias por el video sobre los cajunes franceses._
Bonjour Marie je suis un Québécois qui ne parle pas l'anglais, quand même assez rare maintenant au Québec. Je n'utilise même pas d'expression en anglais dans la vie de tous les jours. Le premier des vidéos que tu as partagé sur son embarcation était très difficile à comprendre pour un francophone comme moi. J'en profite pour te remercier des réactions que tu fais sur la prodigieuse Diana Ankudinova. J'espère que tu vas en faire d'autres sur cette artiste hors norme!
@@no_rubbernecking Créole ou Acadien importe peu. Il utilisait des mots anglais dans ses phrases en français et articulait peu. Sa syntaxe ou ses mots en français sont parfaitement compréhensibles.
That's awesome! You should check out some videos on Chiac like "Wikitongues": Jacques and Yvette speaking chiac They're from the canadian maratimes and are Acadians and this is how we speak in southern New Brunswick. J'ai toujours été dit que mon français n'étais pas le bon français, mais le Chiac est spéciale pour moi. J'adore tout les accents et dialectes français parce que à la base j'peut comprendre assez pour une belle conversation!
I find most Americans can understand most American accents but struggle Cajun, it's the Welch of American, and when they go from English Cajun to French Cajun, nobody understands them.
I’ve been learning French since 6th grade (now in 10th) and I’ve always thought about how far across the world I’d like to travel. To leave the U.S., visit France, visit Canada, meet so many French speakers everywhere else, but I never stopped to appreciate the beauty of Louisiana French and how there’s been such unique culture and variation of the language I love so much near home. French is just, unexplainably fascinating and I just have to hear it all! 😭
Kouri-Vini, although there is heavy French influence, is not French. Cajun French IS French. The tune IKO. IKO, which was a hit for the Dixie Cups in the 1950s (although the tune is much older than that) is in Kouri-Vini. If you listen to that tune, you can hear the French influence on the language. The only Kouri-Vini word that I am aware that you will find in both Québec and Cajun French is "bouboune", which is a derogatory term for a lesbian. In Kouri-Vini, it is a vulgar word for something a girl has that a boy doesn't.
I grew up in Louisiana as the first generation to do so (from a family that is from Ohio, very northern American). Throughout my life french has been so important to me, even though my family is not of any kind of french or cajun origan. Now i am in college and its my minor because although its not big in my family or my heritage, because i grew up here it became important to me. Whats funny is that recently ive lost hope in my french, and felt somewhat lost. I saw this video on my youtube and decided to click on it. Youve made me want to work hard to speak this language better. I hope you can visit here, Its amazing and beautiful, but please be sure to educate yourself on cities. Many (such as New Orleans) can be very dangerous, but if you are informed and prepared, it is such a great place!
Both sides of my family are from southern Louisiana. My grandfather's first language was Louisiana Creole, like the Cajun French speakers English was emphasized and they didn't want the kids speaking French in school. A lot of the Louisiana Creole speakers are dying out and there aren't as many speakers anymore, I'm trying to learn myself to keep the tradition going.
I am Cajun French. My grandmother had to learn English. She got in trouble for speaking French in school. I am working to improve my French, because you are right it is dying out here in Louisiana. The older generations don't speak it to the younger and the younger don't care. I don't want it to die with me. My children hate it when I say French words to them. I try to tell them it is their culture, and it is so special. We are the only state in the continental United States to have our own unique culture that no other state practices from the French language to our own cuisine, music, and traditions. We even have our own folklore legends of the Rougaroo( a werewolf creature who lives on the Bayou).
My grandmother moved to New Orleans from France in the 50s or 60s. She always gave up within 10 minutes of speaking with a Cajun out of frustration haha
We live in Lafayette, Louisiana, and my son works with the scouts as a trek leader at Swamp Base. He has all the kids call him couillon. Down here couillon means a fool, but often couillons are a lot of fun to be around. 🤣
My Canadian grandmother always told the story that one of our ancestors had helped smuggle some of the first Canadians to Louisiana back in the day, so I've always felt a connection to Cajuns although I don think I've ever met one
I'm in tourism and mostly learnt french by ear in europe. Being lazy, I throw in random verb forms and am understood surprisingly well. I still find it difficult to keep up with native French speakers. But I could understand the cajun guy perfectly! I suspect my French is like his.... 😀
As requested, Quebecois VS French Speaker! th-cam.com/video/NuhoACVr2Jo/w-d-xo.html 😃
That was nice. Your reactions were very sweet. And you've rekindled my interest in learning French ... I'm really going to do it this time! Oh, and you should definitely visit New Orleans. And you should definitely not go alone!
Will definitely look it up as I'm québécois myself. On think you may find interesting is that Cajun is just slang for Acadien. When spoken in American English, Acadian can be pronounced "acadjun" many of them were originally deported from Acadie (new Brunswick) to the US colonies. They have, like some of my ancestors, an older fashion of speaking French. More akin to France of the 1600s and 1700s. Plus it's mixed it with English and Caribbean Creole now
@@CharlieBravoTango Where the Québecois pronounce "DZ", the Cajuns pronounce "J". Québec: "Ah'-kah-DZYEnH"; Louisiana: "Ah-kah-JJUnH". Similarly, where the Québecois pronounce "TS", the Cajuns pronounce "CH". Quebec "p'TSEETE"; Louisiana: 'cheete". Mind you, though, in Louisiana it is still "Nah-s'YOnH", not "Nah-CHyOnH" for "nation".
You should do a reaction video of Acadian Franophones from eastern Canada which are related Cajuns from Louisiana.
@@ralphtomlinson4520 I was referring to the Canadian English way of saying "Acadien" in French we'd say *a-ka-di-en* but the rest of Canada would say *a-ka-djun". Give it a century or so. "Cajun" ain't so farfetched
My Cajun accent was once so thick that when I entered Navy boot camp they couldn’t understand what I was saying and was forced to enunciate everything clearly. Because I was Cajun and because of my accent they thought i was an ignorant country boy. Imagine their surprised when they found out I was entering the Navy’s nuclear power program.
Let’s just hope if there’s ever an issue, it doesn’t come down to a phone call
Hey there, fellow Nuke. Went through the program a long time ago and had a pretty strong southern accent. Got a fair bit of beef for it but it wasn't too bad mostly just fun ribbing. I did have some issues with people assuming negative things about my intelligence because of my accent. I was young and kind of trained it out of myself because I got tired of that experience.
@@adams565 because I’m Cajun they honestly thought this was my first time on dry land and wearing shoes. They thought I went to school by traveling through swamps on a raft. Entered Nuke school in 1990. Made it to Nuke Power school before I dropped out for stress from school and things happening back home. At least I wasn’t one of those trying to kill themselves over the stress. Several attempts but only one was successful. Instead of standing on the roof threatening to jump this guy stood on the side of a highway and waited for a big rig before stepping out in front of the rig.
My great uncle Jimmy Black had the thickest Cajun accent I ever heard. I asked my mom if he had a speech impediment.
One of the best and smartest engineering professors I ever had was Cajun. When I met him, he had lost most of his accent - or learned how to suppress it - but traces were still there. A thick accent does not imply ignorance or stupidity ... of course, it doesn't imply intelligence, either ...
My best friend is from Baton Rouge, Louisiana and she is fluent in cajun french! When we graduated college we went on a trip to Europe and 3 of our stops were Paris, Marseille, and Nice. Whenever my best friend would be our translator she would get a lot of compliments about her thick accent and explaining her whole entire family history in Baton Rouge. One guy said to her "Ah you're from Louisiana! The lost province!" and a whole history discussion would come up. I think its so fascinating to see two languages be so different, but at the same time, understood! It's beautiful! Thank you for your reaction!
"The lost province". That's so cute. Thanks for sharing your experience. Sounds like you guys had a nice time (:
I’m surprised they were so polite I heard French people (specifically Paris) have a tendency to talk shit about people from other francophone countries, Parisians make fun of people from other regions of France lol
@@Danheron2 Je suis du sud mais non on est pas comme ça. Si on se " moque" de toi , soit c'est un malentendu , soit c'est de l'ironie 🤭
@@Lostouille ya I guess that was a generalization people are all different this is mostly from hear say so it’s nice to know I’m mostly wrong
i"m so glad you had a good experience! I'm originally from Lafayette, and I speak conversational Cajun French, but my experience was different. People in Paris were actually kinda rude to me, so I ended up switching to English after a few days because it was just easier. (shout out to BR -- that's where my hubby is from!)
My 87 year old grandfather is Cajun French and spoke French as his first language.
Years ago, he obtained a license to become a HAM radio operator and started talking to people from around the globe.
One day he was telling me how he connected with another gentleman in Paris, France.
I said it must of been exciting talking to another French speaker on the other side of the world. He then said that they had to speak English, because they couldn't comprehend one another's French.
Oh well. 😆
Could have been a different story in Poitou or, for a Québécois, in Normandie or Bretagne.
@@JAlex-dg5mk The Québecois have very little trouble understanding the Cajuns and vice-versa. Both dialects are essentially seventeenth century French. For that reason, the archaisms are mostly the same. The disguised anglicisms also are mostly the same. Both have Algnquin words as the Cajun originated in what is now Nova Scotia. The Québecois does lack the Choctaw words that the Cajun has. Some examples are: "chaoui"="raton laveur"; "plaquemine"="kaki". The best known Choctaw word, however, is the Cajuns' home: "bayou".
@@ralphtomlinson4520 Dans la région de Lanaudière au Québec qui fût une terre d’accueil pour des Acadiens déportés dans des colonies américaines, le “J” est prononcé comme un « H » aspiré. Par exemple, les gens prononcent " Holiette " et non "Joliette "(nom d’une municipalité). Je sais qu’il y a quelques endroits en Louisiane où cette prononciation existe.
@@JAlex-dg5mk Ben ouais, y-y-a quelque endrette où qui on énonce la "j" comme la "h" anglais. Drette asteure, j'oublie les noms des paroisses où qui on l'énonce comme ça.
Awesome story! Ham here, can relate. I grew up with mostly English and maybe 5-10% French, picked most of it up on my own or from my grandpere. My French accent is alllllll sorts of fucked up but I've found that other Cajuns (and surprising to me) my friends from Quebec can understand me fine. The handful of times I've tried speaking to someone literally *from* France, completely hit or miss! Granted there's still some "sayings" that aren't understood (things like lagniappe or gris gris, great examples) due to being bastardizations of English/French/Spanish/etc over time. Linguistically speaking, it's all absolutely fascinating. C’est tout :)
As an French speaking Acadian from the Acadian part of Nova Scotia this makes my heart happy because this is our French to because we’re all the same your our family and I love you guys
I worked for a while with a guy who spoke Cajun French and another who spoke French he learned in Africa. They understood each other but would argue incessantly about the pronunciations of some words; each insisting his was the *correct* way.
I knew a Haitian Dude that spoke French Creole and Proper French, as well as English. e had no issues in Quebec and was quite popular with the Ladies(his words), but he said that in Quebec, his Creole was useless.
I also knew a couple Spanish speakers. One was a native "Island" Spanish, as i was told. Then, another learned Mexican Spanish but was a Native English(American). I was told by the Mex Span about the subtle differences as much as they could, they werent fluent. But, the Native "Island" speaker was defensive about words and rather Gatekeepy about their dialect as they believed it was THE correct way to speak and such. Its all interesting, dialects and such, to me.
I thought the pronounciation/spelling dispute was a franco-french thing. What I find amusing is that the French learned in the schools of the former colonies has the reputation of being more elaborate than the one taught in France. I also think there is no correct way to speak a language, just the one that allows to be understood easily.
@@Zorglub1966 there are words that may belong to a language, but different ways to speak that language, and a form considered more proper for formal purposes such as writing. Kinda wish we’d figured that out earlier on
I would say that African Francophones have accents MUCH closer to Cajun Francophones than people from France, so I am a bit shocked that they would get into it, but I also think that African French speakers admire and aspire to be as the French, whereas the Cajuns just want to hold onto their own culture. Like I would bet that more Africans than French would be able to understand Cajun right off the bat.
Excellent 🙂🙂🙂
Thank you for making me realize I speak Cajun French in my head.
DAMON I LOVE YOU
Damon if you're in Louisiana or other parts where they speak another form of French I'd love to see you do a video about that lol.
No such language as Cajun French it's Louisiana-French
Im french canadian from Québec i support those lousianan french i understood every words he said
@@ninpobudo3876 it’s french spoken by Cajuns, therefore it’s Cajun French.
FrenchTastic, the first gentleman you presented is speaking Louisiana Creole. He may identify as Cajun (and identify his language as "Cajun") but he is not speaking "Cajun" (Louisiana French) but rather Louisiana Creole. One big clue are the pronouns he uses. He uses "mo" instead of "je."
He says, "mo gin in ti fiy" in Louisiana Creole.
("J'ai une petite fille" or "I have a little girl.")
There are many self-identifying "Cajuns" who speak Louisiana Creole and there are many self-identifying Louisiana Creoles who speak not creole but Louisiana French.
Lastly, Louisiana French is the better term to use because there are many groups who speak Louisiana French who do not identify as Cajun. Members of the Houma Nation come to mind first. They spoke French before Acadians arrived in Louisiana. It's not appropriate to call their language Cajun simply because Cajuns speak the same way. Louisiana French has always been spoken by a diverse group of people.
You hit the nail on the head! Even in our Louisiana culture, Cajun and Creole are so easily confused as one in the same, when they are two separate things. Thanks for enlightening folks!
The first guy was speaking creole, which was not so different from Haitian Creole, you can understand it better as a kreyol speaker than as a French speaker. Lots of people came to Louisiana after the Haitian revolution in 1804
Mo gin in to fy = Moi j'ai une petite fille. Il as donc bien utilisé le « moi » en début de phrase
@@mattvincent4175 I totally heard the similarities with Haitian Kréyol!
that explains everything on why she is frowning at a lot at everytime he says a sentence. that is very informative, thanks
I am from the literal middle of Cajun country in Acadia Parish and we're trying desperately to connect our old Cajun French speakers with our younger population in order to keep the traditional language alive. Even though pretty much everyone speaks English we should probably just be speaking Cajun French because our accents are so thick still it might as well be a whole other language at this point LOL
Gotta get political
@@jpchits1185 That's exactly my plan, I'm eyeballing our school board and hoping we can make some change soon and save our language!
Im french canadian from Québec and understood everything support à vous les cousins
Merci beaucoup... my pawpaw spoke French fluently, Parisian French but also Cajun dialects. It was beaten out of him. I want to relearn
I was adopted at a young age but through learning I'm mostly Cajun and Irish. So, I've been learning about my culture and wanted to pick up the language since it gives me a sense of who I am as a person. If you heard my voice, you'd think I'm just country as I was raised in Tennessee and lived briefly in Louisiana for about six months to a year. Yet, I was young then. It's hard to for me to pick up not because I come across the languages harder than ordinary people, I got hearing problems so some pronunciations are harder for me to hear. I use cher as an endearment and mostly use the common slang a bunch but not fluent like I am in English and ASL.
My French teacher in the 8th grade was from France and came to the United States to Louisiana to study Cajun French for her Master's degree. I loved hearing her stories about what it was like learning Cajun French and learning the history of the Cajuns. She said to her it was like hearing French from hundreds of years ago spoken with a unique accent, because Cajun French had kept a lot of features from older dialects of French. It made me really want to learn French just so I could understand the difference and visit Louisiana myself!
That is a great story. Thanks for sharing! It kind of reminds me of my wanting to move to Galicia to learn how they speak Spanish with their thick Galician accents and certain words they use there that others in other parts of Spain don't use. Of course, in Galicia, many also speak the *language* Galician, which is another thing altogether. I wouldn't mind learning Galician, too
In fact, a quarter of the English vocabulary comes from Old French.
For example, "état" in modern French was called "estate" in Old French. The English kept the S to say "state" (united state) while modern French did not.
As a Cajun, I try my best to get my friends to learn so we can speak together and keep it alive. My great grandpa is 88 and he speaks fluently. I take any opportunity to learn from him.
Back in the 80's I was privileged to meet an old lady who could not speak English at all in Lafayette, Louisiana. She used a French word for everything in her life, none of this English substitution that goes on today. Cajun or Cadien is good "rural" French, although a variety that is two hundred years old. My Grandfather spoke it to the French people in Normandy in WWII and they smiled calling his Louisiana French, "country French". Thanks for making this video :)
That’s great you know some of your family history . Can you imagine fighting in Normandy . These men just did it .
Its an eternal patois. Like there used To be hundred
Reminds me of something I once heard about certain immigrants from Italy who brought their dialect with them to America, and now Italians hear it and think it sounds funny (things like pronouncing 'mozzarella' 'mutzadell')
Lafayette was an eye opener for this kid from Alabama. The French culture is huge there.
Your grandfather is a hero.
As a 22 year old Cajun guy, I’m very embarrassed by just how little I know of my own language. I’m trying my best to pick it up when I have the time to, but there are those of us who have not forgotten how important it is to try and preserve it! I just hope there can be a more concrete and concerted effort to keep our language alive! C’est tres bon, cher!
Don't give up! I applaud your interest and initiative.... its a wonderful tradition, something to be proud of, and one day, you can pass it on to your own children ;-)
Tu devrais parler avec des français sur internet pour ne pas oublier ta langue !
I'm a 37 year old Cajun who grew up in Pennsylvania (I feel Cajun because my mom influenced my life and so did my cousins who live in Lafayette and Breaux Bridge).
I'm learning Cajun French just now, don't give up!! Last night i cooked Cajun/Creole food for the first time in my life, too. My Uncle Jimmy passed down the family recipes to me over the phone 3 nights ago, he's in his 80's and i'm sooooo glad i'm doing this and so is he
La langue est très amusant parler
I pretty much only know curse words because that's what I would hear the most 😂
But in all seriousness I'm trying to learn more of the language as well
I went to college in a city in Louisiana called Lafayette (we are called the Ragin Cajuns) and we had a lot of French international students and faculty teaching French. We had guy from Paris, a guy from Hati, a bunch from the US, and several more from Canada. It's an interesting mix of cultures here
Hello from Maurice! I grew up in Lafayette and still call it home, it's only a 20 minute drive from me.
It's really funny to hear people talk this way about where I live lol
Lol Lafayette is about 30 minutes from my home. Raised here. Small world.
ULL is a nice school but Geaux Tigers!!
i live near lafayette too
My friend is hardcore Québécois and I learnt French through him, and I studied Haitian Creole in high school so I feel really happy I can understand Cajun people 😁
I speak a little bit of Haitian Creole and I lost my fluency in Louisiana French because of lack of use. I’m having to relearn it but here in New Orleans it’s not spoken as much as it is further west of me
Bon bagay !!!
I really want Cajuns to keep their French, it is what we love about them. I love the Cajun culture (and the food, yum).
Me too. Fascinating culture.
I'm from east Texas, and to be fair, we only understand every other thing Cajuns say when they speak English too. ☺
From Texas as well.. can confirm. ;)
haaaaaaaaaaa, both my parents spoke cajun very well. but we kids born in southeast texas never learned it. we grew up listening to the Beatles and hard rock. we watched every step of the space race to man landing on the moon. so even though we are 100% french canadian by bloodline , we were never taught about the cajun language. from port rochelle to nova scotia to scott louisiana to southeast texas. it just so happen my kids are 100% cajun, and we dont understand the cajun language. thanks to my mom and dad.
@@jodyguilbeaux8225 Cajun are only Louisiana lol
I live in Lake Charles, LA(southwest LA) so I can relate to the East Texans very much and to your comment. Ha-Ha! I grew up in Louisiana but both parents are from New Mexico. So I’m definitely NOT Cajun.
I remember reading, years ago, that French linguists came to Louisiana to study Cajun French, because it was so close to the French spoken at the time their ancestors first came to North America.
when i was in high school in the early 1970s, i kinda remember someone on tv saying, the cajun language is a 13th-14th century dialect of france but broken. due to the cajun isolation and mixing with various other cultures, it evolved.
In fact in france had lot of regional language. Lot were french, anothers were breton alsacian basque. A parisian french didnt understand a normandy person then they spoke french .
Now we speak practilly same language and same accent even if some old accent are again there.
@@bretagnejean2410 all you said is mostly untrue. Do you seriously believe they couldn't communicate between each other... at all? That would simply mean the end of the nation. No, they could understand each other since in the northern half of the country, all of the spoken patois were derived from Langue d'Oïl which came from a mix of Latin, Gaulish and Frankish. Granted, it wasn't the same patois but of course they could still understand each others.
On the other hand, someone from say Britanny, Normandy, Île-de-France region, Burgundy or Picardy would have a hard time understanding patois from the southern half of France which were derived from Langue d'Oc, a mix of Occitan, Latin and Gaulish. But then again, they would still be able to communicate none the less.
@@Sir77Hill ils avaient probablement les memes problemes de comprehension que un francais et un cajun peuvent avoir.
En bretagne je peux t assurer que la majeure parti de la population parlaient pas un mot de français mais en revanche pouvaient communiquer avec un anglais du sud ouest sans trop probleme.
De meme les anglo normand qui parlaient une langue proche du français communiquaient tres bien avec les anglais mais moins facilement avec les patois parisiens.
@@bretagnejean2410 I read Peter Mayle's book from the 1980's called A Year in Provence. He said in that book that when they arrived the French the residents spoke seemed very different to that they had learned via cassettes and studying in England. Is the Provençal dialect harder to understand if one isn't originally from there?
OMG, that’s why my great-grandfather in Louisiana did not want us to speak French! He wanted us to not be looked down on and have educational opportunities. I now understand. My great-grandmother only spoke French and learned English because she was in love with him. Thank you for doing this video. I’ve been trying to understand why for so many years.
I'm from Louisiana and sadly it's a dying language. A lot of older people in Cajun country still speak it and try to pass it on. A friend of mine had a group he would meet with of younger people to try and keep it going.
Similar to Texas German, the older generation are really the last of the speakers
Je suis français et c’est vraiment cool que tu mettes la Louisiane en avant en faisant une vidéo sur les Cajuns, c’est un sujet important, la preuve : 200k vues en 1 mois.
C’est important pour nos frères en Louisiane de voir que l’on pense à eux pendant qu’ils luttent pour maintenir leur culture !
Merci pour eux et pour nous, français.🇫🇷⚜️
My mother is half Cajun, and my Grandmother was full Cajun out of Carencro. My grandmother and her twin sister would speak Cajun French to each other all the time. My uncle has tried to understand the language and bring it forward into the next generation. But the sad, horrible truth is that the Cajun people and their language are almost extinct. The food will always remain, but the culture and language were born out of adversity.
As a Quebecer I can understand the words, however the accent may be a bit difficult. It's not entirely different from Quebecois Franglais.
The amount of speakers have been raising steadily with people trying to rediscover their roots
Rip acadians
There has actually been a rise in speaker due to some colleges offering it here and people getting ancestor DNA kits to reconnect with their roots. UL has a cajun french language course
@@SuperFriendBFG That makes sense. I think Cajun comes from the Accadians. So it would've been french speaking Canadians moving down there.
My mother is 70 years old. Her first language was French. She had to learn English to start school. Almost all the older generations spoke French but they got forced to only speak English. She definitely is French to the core💜
Im a Bayman from Bay Vert NFLD, I moved to NB when I was 5yrs, the Herring Chokers (NB'ers) kicked the Nufie out of me....been speaking Mainlander ever since.
You should take her to Canada either New Brunswick or Quebec one time think would be interesting experience for her to be around other native French speakers of this region who not from either Europe or Africa.
Bless her!
right, my mom said the teacher would physically punish them if they spoke french.
@@jodyguilbeaux8225this is true. My mother would not allow French to be spoken.
It is my understanding that the word "Cajun" is a shortened version and is derived from the word Acadia. Français Acadien -- so heavy French influence but a dialect that is unique to Louisiana. Love you Marie! Blessings!
Cajun french is made up of french, english, native, american and spanish and the accent is kind of the same way. It's also very different then creole french which is also spoken in louisiana. And yes it is an anglicized way of the way we say acadian (where cajun french originated) ah- kah- jien is the cajun french pronounciation.
The word Cajun is derived from the word Cadian, an abbreviation of Acadian. As in most Cajun words are merely abbreviations of the original words. Such as using T-Bob instead of saying Petite Bobby. .
The Québecois often pronounce "d" as a "dz" when it appears before "i" and sometimes before "e", although the latter less frequently. Where the Québecois pronounce "dz", the Cajuns often pronounce either "j"(English "j", that is) or "dy", although the "y" is barely strong enough for you to hear iy. This can, however, vary by parish or sometimes even by city or town.
It is interesting to listen to the younger Cajuns who have been exposed to the Cajun dialect in the CODOFIL immersion programmes. In those programmes, the students first study français métropolitain. As a result, when they speak Cajun dialect, while they use the vocabulary and consonants of that dialect, their vowels are decidedly français métropolitain.
Acadjien, cadjien, cajun
It is not French influenced, it is French
I just want to say I think you are a very kind person. Just lovely. I so appreciate kindness in the world these days. Merci.
It's interesting. My wife, and my stepson, and my mother-in-law are all from China. We have been married 17 years and my wife and my step-son speak perfect English. My mother-in-law speaks no English. Yet our household language is Chinese which I don't speak. It doesn't bother me. My step-son was 8 years old when he came here and I'm happy that he speaks two languages fluently and is ready to graduate college. I hope that his kids, in the future, will also learn to be bilingual.
My house is somewhat similar
My wife is from China and I am from New York we speak in Chinese. Our children can kind of understand it but they study French in high school
Was stationed four years in Louisiana with the US Air Force. Had several French speaking friends. Some were Louisiana French which had come over after the Napoleonic era. Some of their words were from old French (even going back to the time when the Song of Roland was composed). Other friends were Cajun from the marsh lands down around Cut Off, Point y Chain, etc... When I was there, many years ago, you could tell from listening to the older people that French/Cajun was their first language. Was a joy speaking with them in French.
My French today is still mostly Parisian but mixed with a lot of Louisiana French/Cajun. Also speak north Walean (the Welsh dialect from north Wales) Crazy thing is, English is my first language, but when I speak French, I tend to think in Welsh. Felly, quand dwi isio deud quelque chose, mae'n tres bizarre. (So, when I want to say something, it's very strange)
I live in the heart of Cajun country. Lawtell, Louisiana. All of my relatives speak Cajun French.
Bonjour
Im in larose
Plaissance here, mine too including myself but it’s been fading over the years.
My co-worker, fluent in Cajun French, was sent to France for further training on our equipment. During days off he went to the French countryside where he was pretty much greeted with enthusiasm because of shared interests, hunting and fishing. Parisians were too snobby for him, he said.
For a non native English speaker your English is superb. I have no trouble understanding you.
Oh jeez.
@@musical_lolu4811 l0000l i don't know what for but this make me laugh
My favorite thing about English being the de facto universal language of earth, is that the English word for universal or common tongue is "Lingua Franca"
English is useful in europe and north america. Malay is more widespread as a lingua franca, covering trading from the antipodean, pacific, Indonesian, east india,south asia and Chinese markets.
@@hedgeandhue english could be useful in -northern Europe but not as important in France (other french speaking regions) and Spain where most of the people don't need to speak this language to be succesfull in life.
@@hedgeandhue was a more widely used lingua franca, most Malay based creoles are on the verge of going extinct outside of the "Malay Archipelago".
I see your point - Lingua Franca being Italian for "French Language" - haha! French is still a lingua franca in parts of Africa and the Pacific islands, but not as much as English in general
@@mikedaniel1771 My point was more related to the fact that 99% of the french will never have to speak english in their life, yet the rate of multilingualism is pretty high, the same in Spain and France. I also wanted to pinpoint the fact that north europeans overestimate the importance of english in the rest of europe because they are more connected to the anglo-saxon world.
J'espère que le français ne disparaitra pas en Louisiane. Je suis pour la diversité linguistique. La version louisianaise de la langue a autant de valeur que les autres variétés de français. Évidemment, on pourrait dire la même chose en ce qui concerne les différentes variétés d'anglais et d'espagnol.
Merci pour la vidéo! Signé, un anglo-québécois! :)
La langue se forme et se déforme mais la base est la même. Demander de répéter lorsque pas comprise, c'est un intérêt envers une langue, That's it.
meme chose avec anglais et espagnol. y a certain mots qui sont different, aussi la structure du langue peux etre different. mais apres tous, le fondation du langue est la meme.
Zachary Richard est là pour vous.
Je n’ai pas pratiqué mon français depuis l’été dernière, mais je peux comprendre une bonne quantité de tes mots 😂. Désolé si mon grammar est mal!
@@scienceguy6918 in fact your grammary was totally good before your last sentence where u are sorry about your grammary lol.
My late grandfather was Cajun and spoke Cajun French as his household language; he didn't learn English until grade school. His time to shine, like many other Cajuns, was during World War II. Having enrolled in the Army Air Forces because he wanted to fly combat missions, he was instead ordered to act as an flight instructor for Free French trainees at a base in Alabama. The trainees were sent across the Atlantic so they could learn on Allied equipment before going back to join the fight in Europe and North Africa.
Aside from some archaic vocabulary, the Cajun French speakers apparently were understood well enough by the trainees - and, according to my grandfather, better understood than the non-Cajun instructors, many of whom had learned French as a second language in school.
I had to take his word for it because I don't know any Cajun French myself. The tale is all too common: grandpa moved to New Orleans to go to business school, met my non-French-speaking grandmother, and thus had no reason to speak the language around the house. My father didn't learn it at all; the only French I hear him use is a strained “Allons!” when trying to get us out the door to go somewhere.
(My aunt wrote an article about the WW2 training program many years ago; google "french lessons janelle dupont" and it'll be the first result.)
Thank you for recommending this article--I looked it up and really enjoyed it!
One of my high school French teachers did his immersion year in Corsica. There he picked up a Corsican accent that he spent years getting rid of so that he could teach with a Parisian accent. He demonstrated in class one day what it sounded like, it was like listening to someone speaking English with a mississippi drawl. When new Orleans was flooded by a hurricane and some of the Louisiana people evacuated to our town, I heard a Cajun family speaking near me, I could understand about 1 word in 5.
There is also a creole language in Louisiana based on French, spoken in some areas colloquially, it's called kouri vini and it is not an example of Louisiana French
I'm a Cajun from Louisiana! Love this.. It's confusing to both English and European French speakers cuz it's a bit of a mix of both languages with some Cajun words mixed in..
It has changed thru the years. It didn’t used to be like that, my grandfather’s first language was French, and it was real Louisiana French, he didn’t speak a word of English, and had to learn it in school. Now days the language has changed and it’s now a mixture of Cajun and English. But for hundreds of years it was pure French.
I heard someone once say , "Cajun is a combination of English, French, and Swamp." Maybe Spanish too. I'm not sure about the swamp.
They were wrong, it’s just a dialect of French
I suspect the alligators have a bit to do with it too.
Possibly some Seminole and African too.
Loving that erasure, yay 🙄
Cajun French is 90% the same as standard French as a rule. I work as a French speaking guide and I speak with little or now problem to French speakers from around the world. Louisiana French varies from locale to locale. Creole French can mean the different dialects spoken by uppity people from New Orleans - few of them exist anymore, or the French spoken by black Creoles or areas influenced by Creoles such as St Martin Parish. Not sure what you mean by swamp. When people insult me and tell me I don't speak real French I ask them what kind of English they speak because they and probably you too do not speak like people from England.
A Cajun told me that Cajun French is a trade language. It’s predominantly French but has Spanish, English, and Choctaw in it as well.
They would be wrong then that’s Louisiana Creole (Kouri Vini). A lot of people that say they grew up speaking/hearing “Cajun” French (I put quotes around Cajun because calling Louisiana French “Cajun French” is a misnomer and lay terms for people that aren’t linguists and know the full context of the former colony of Louisiana) that describe it as such tend to be Louisiana Creole speakers. Louisiana French is just that…it’s French of the Québécois + Acadien + mainland France French. Btw the languages I mentioned above had no racial boundaries yes LC was created through the enslaved Africans creating the Creole to communicate with their enslavers but there were also multilingual white and black (enslaved and free) creoles in Louisiana that spoke both. Both sets of my great grandparents spoke LF and LC and my grandma spoke LF and LC but my Grandpa only spoke LC. I speak Louisiana Creole the man at 1:01 was speaking Louisiana Creole not Louisiana French.
Je suis de Baton Rouge et j'apprenais le français métropolitain a l'école, mais j'adore le français louisianais. Les cadiens sont trés passionnés par leur langue. Merci pour ton video!
Bouctouche nb on est acadian ses vraiment sad a l ecole nous apprenion francais qui fait pa d allure
My grandparents sounded like the older couple, but all of my mom's aunt's and cousins sound more like the first man.
I’m Cajun. My grandfather fought in France in WW2. My grandparents told us stories of being beaten in school if they spoke French in school. Some teachers were more violent than others. They impressed upon their children not to speak French in school so they had to speak French among friends where the teachers couldn’t hear. My generation lost most of the language. While in the US Navy traveling in Europe I was able to use what little French I knew to communicate in Italy, France, and Spain.
Same in Acadia in Maine.
I’m from Texas but one of my friends in the navy was Cajun. I remember visiting France. He was very popular. All the French girls loved hearing him speak. I’ll never forget that port visit!
My grandfather said the teacher wouldn’t let the French kids go to the bathroom until they asked in English. He said many a kid wet their pants because they didn’t know English.
That's so unfortunate. There are plenty of American populations with their own languages. They shouldn't have it beaten out of them!
@@robwalsh9843 True but it was about assimilation, especially post-WWII when the Draft was still in place and people needed to be able to understand their commands.
Gambit brought me here
Je commençais à apprendre le français en lycée parce que la famille de ma mère est cadienne. Pour moi, j'étais triste d'avoir perdu notre culture et je voulais la récupérer. Je peux pas parler le français couramment encore, mais je suis fière d'être cadienne et je suis contente que ma mère puisse apprendre le français de moi. Pour nous, c'était le moyen le plus important pour connecter avec notre culture. Même si je parle un français plus européen et pas louisianais, ça me rend heureuse. Je suis contente que vous ayez trouvé la Louisiane, ses cultures et ses langues. J'espère que vous avez la chance de visiter ! (Pardonnez mes erreurs ! Je suis un peu rouillée 😅)
franchement , c'est très bien écrit, tu as utilisé des tournures de phrase complexes, pas de fautes d'orthographe , impressionnant! continue comme ça!
@@backintimealwyn5736 Merci beaucoup !
Malheureusement, et c’est triste à dire, mais tu écris mieux qu’au moins 1/3 des français 🤣
@@safedreams6241 C'est vrai, nous Français on adore votre accent et surtout il nous fait beaucoup rire. Parfois on repère un mot ou des tournures ici ou là
que nos grand-parents employaient car ce que vous parlez une sorte de vieux Français, mais c'est déjà bien que vous parlez même le Français de France : ça vous aidera pour vous faire comprendre des cadiens et améliorer votre cadien si cela peut se dire ainsi.
@@safedreams6241 Je confirme!😆
what I find interesting is that to me it sounds like a mix of france french and quebec french, and a lot like La Chanson de Roland and while quebec is more multicultural, both have direct descendants from the french that invaded centuries ago, because both are surrounded by english, which is pretty cool to me
Marie, I would be proud to have you as my granddaughter! You have a boundless energy about you and you are able to express the joy in your heart to others when you communicate with them. May God bless you in your future endeavors!
The man she loves is truly fortunate.
I had a student named Toby from Lafayette, La. who had an extremely thick Cajun accent. After some time passed a situation occurred where I asked Toby how he would translate a certain phrase in Cajun & he gave me a sheepish grin & said “I don’t know how to speak Cajun. My folks would speak it when they didn’t want us kids to know what they were saying”. I was stupified. “But your accent...”, I blurted out. “That’s how we speak English where I live”, he said.
Very cool post dear.many years ago i had a friend who was Cajun and i loved listening to him speak even though i only understood a little of what he said.congratulations on going over 40k subs👍👍👍👍😁😁
I'm not Cajun and I don't speak French. But one of my all-time favorite shows was Justin Wilson's Louisiana Cooking - Outdoors. The way he spoke was mesmerizing with the skillful mix of Cajun-French and English. His stories were great and I could almost smell the food through the TV. I could listen to him all day.
I used to watch him with my grandmother. I loved his accent.
I Ga-ron-tee!
@@pgl7950 oui!
Look for the YT channel that played those shows, it might still be up and running.
I loved his show when I was a kid too...but I don’t think he was actually Cajun. His shtick was a bit forced, you know. I’ve never heard anyone but him say that “Ga-Ron-tee” comme ca.
Love this one Marie. As someone who has visited Louisiana many times, I had a hard time to understand many Cajun's speaking English since they have a heavy accent. Great video and can't wait for the next video!
It seems ignorant and dumb to think just because someone doesn’t speak your language well that they’re dumb but I totally did, unconsciously. I remember I met a friend of a friend in collage and she was from mainland China. She practiced English in China and came to the US and was there like 3 months when I first met her. She was super cool but I definitely subconsciously underrated her intelligence bc her English wasn’t great. Flash forward like 6 months and she and I were super tight and talking way more and her English had improved a lot and I realized all of a sudden that she was a genius 😂😂😂 That was the last time I ever underestimated someone’s intelligence like that again. To anyone pushing themselves to speak in a language that isn’t their primary language and maybe isn’t fluent or advanced, good on you. You are badass and courageous ❤️
When you visit New Orleans you should check out the music scene. Not only are there a lot of great clubs, but the street musicians there are the best. You can walk down the street and hear jazz, blues, and many other types of music. New Orleans has a lot of brass bands playing a style of music you'll hear only in that city.
Having lived my entire life in New Orleans the music just blends in to the everyday sounds if the city. However, whenever I'm out of town every other place seems eerily quiet without the music.
@@ChrisHaar I love the Cat and Negril when I go there but the best I think I've ever heard there was across from the the French Market a bunch of young kids blasting away free form on some horns that looked like they pulled out of a dumpster. My girl and I just grab a drink and follow our ears,
mardi gras in port arthur texas about 10 years ago , i heard a marching band from new orleans. being a drummer for 45 years, i quickly noticed the accented notes and heavy syncopation. and the most beautiful extended harmonies. these guys where marching in a cold mist almost frozen northwind............. amazing
The Cajun culture had existed in almost total isolation for 200 years. Of course the language changed.
Congratulations on 40K, dear Marie! I loved this video, like I do all of them. I enjoyed the first man in the boat the most. I don't speak much French, but I got it immediately when he said, "It's a good business and look at my office!" Fantastic.😊
I am from Houston, Texas, close to Louisiana. My ancestors were Italian and came to the US through New Orleans, like the last guy's. That admixture of cultures is absolutely common. Then they migrated east, living in Franklin, LA and Beaumont, TX before ending up in Houston. I learned "standard" French in school, and until a few years ago, was completely oblivious to the French linguistic diversity at my back doorstep. I would love to become more knowledgeable about Cajun and Creole. There are even Spanish-speaking Louisianans who came from the Canary Islands, so add that into the mix. 😊
That's interesting. I've read that many of the immigrants that settled Texas during the Spanish colonial era were from the Canary islands as well.
@mikedechant1 Yes, that's correct. In fact, it was the same ship or ships that left Spain, stopping first in the Canaries, then in Cuba, then in Louisiana, with some people disembarking in each place. Because of this, particular features of the Spanish from that original area of Spain can be observed in the Spanish of all 3 of those places.
Rode a ferry boat across the Mississippi river once years ago. The other people on the boat were Cajuns-couldn't understand a word but you have never seen a happier group.
I speak both French Canadian and French from France .
I was born in Montreal, Canada .
I can understand a little of Acadian French .
But I love your video . I understand where your coming from ! 💜
Great job!!
As a french the french Cajun was quite easy to understand. Quite a journey as it sounds quite older than the current France french. Love the video very much.
A buddy of mine (with a degree in French, X number of years teaching French and experience traveling thru Francophone countries), & I were travelling through Lafayette, LA on a Friday night. We happened to catch the Cajun show on KBON 101, where everything was spoken in Cajun. He listened to everything they said with the concentration of someone being given instructions on how to defuse a bomb. After a few minutes I asked him if he understood anything? And without missing a beat he replied "Not A Word!!" 😂
Being a (western) french-Canadian, we tend to mix our french and english a lot too. I had a hell of a time understanding this guy, LOL
he didnt seem very fluent
Because it was Creole. Not Cajun. Big difference
Thank you for this. I am a St Piere. My mother and father spoke French, however, when we went to school it was frowned upon. I'm 72 years old and about once a month I visit my home town and where the old frech people lived I speak to each of them. It's likeI speaking to their Spirit. I find when I do this the French words begin to flow and I am able to converse with them. Those are memories I cherish and comfort me.
Thanks for your interest in Cajun French. Your TH-cam video touches my heart
Danny St Pierre
I speak European French, I lived in Montreal Canada for 7 years, and I also understand Haitian Creole. The interesting thing about Cajun French is that it is a mix of all those things. I can't understand them when they speak, however when you turned on the subtitles and I was able to read what he was saying, I understood completely the context of what he was saying, and I could clearly see the influence all those cultural expressions in his sentence structure. Now I'm fascinated!
I know Martinican creole and it’s so funny to find so many similarities... it’s the perfect illustration of where some creole words come from (like vous-autres = zot in Martinique, garçon = bougre = boug’ in Martinique etc.)
I enjoyed this video so much! I grew up in south Louisiana (Lafayette, I’ve seen a lot of other people commenting about it) and my dad always said his grandparents spoke mostly French and had heavy cajun accents when they spoke English. When my family imitated them I could barely understand what they were even saying in English but it was so fun to hear! It is such a unique dialect and you really can only find it in tiny little towns in south Louisiana, not New Orleans or Baton Rouge or any other big city that most people think. You were so right that it really depends on the person, I have some relatives with heavy cajun accents and some that just sound a little southern. Thank you for making this great video!!
This is interesting! I once had a French roommate, and I played he and another Frenchman a clip of some Cajuns speaking Cajun French. They claimed they understood every word-but they thought the accents were funny. They said the folks sounded like some American hicks speaking French.
It's an old French. It's 18th century...
In the first video, the man was speaking Creole mixed with more English. The older couple was speaking Cajun French. Many people do not realize that Louisiana has two separate Latin based languages. Creole is a separate language than Cajun French. I don't think she knows that from her reactions.
The first time I went to New York City, I asked my dad if the people were speaking English. It sounded like English, but it didn't make sense to me.
At 5:05, I think that's Louis Michot from the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Fantastic band! And this is a fantastic video.
Thank you Marie, I learn so much watching your videos. Can't wait until you travel to the US and do videos from here. Your perspective on culture is unique and entertaining. Stay well and safe.
New Orleans has a strong Italian heritage most people don't know about. The New Orleans accent sounds a lot like the New York accent because of this.
I’m from northwest Louisiana and Cajun wasn’t spoken up there. I was 14 when I heard the person with the Cajun accent speaking English. It’s amazing how language evolves and how popular Louisiana culture is now.
I really appreciate the work they put into learning French/Creole/Cajun - keeping alive those old traditions is just so cool! I'm from Texas, and I've always wished I could speak the Louisiana French :-)
Comme d’habitude, très bonne vidéo Marie. J’ai un ami à Bâton Rouge en Louisiane, mais je ne suis jamais y allée. Je pense que la culture Cajune serait plus étrangère à moi que la culture française, et j’habite aux États-Unis! C’est la première fois que j’ai remarqué ton oreille gauche si décorée des boucles d’oreille. Chouette alors! 🤛👍🌎⚾️⚽️🌸🎧🎸
My old momo was born in 1919 and her first language was Cajun French. She learned English from her kids who learned English from school. She use to tell me how ppl would get beat and arrested by the police. Also I laughed too hard at that comedian. You can definitely tell I'm Cajun lol
Marie, I am so proud of you. Your own English is improving with every passing week. Different Dialects in any language are tricky. Be well, God bless you...Kansas Grandpa.
Nous-autres en Louisiane, on est toujours icitte après parler français et créole (a.k.a. Kouri-Vini). Moi, j’parle français avec mon p’tit garçon. J’assaye d’mon mieux d’faire des vidéos dans les deux langues mais c’est des fois difficile.
Oh et as far as the word "couillon" goes. I know it’s a lot worse in France, but in Louisiana, it’s much more mild. Depending on the context, the severity of the English equivalents ranges from "fool" to "dumbass." Mais je sais bien ce que ça veut dire en France! 😅
Merci pour avoir fait cette vidéo. 😊
Even when speaking English the Cajuns are the only American accent that normally comes with subtitles. I did have to look that word up, and the French definition made me think of Bastogne; "Nuts!" You can think of New Orleans as a French town but much more hot and humid. You will really like the food.
I live in New Orleans, and I'd say it's more like the French Caribbean than France.
"Even when speaking English the Cajuns are the only American accent that normally comes with an accent."
I'm trying to understand what you mean. Are you saying that most Americans speaking English don't have an accent? Because of course they do.
@@devenscience8894 nasty typo sorry I fixed it. What i meant was that this accent will have subtitles.
@@chipparmley I don't think you changed it.
@@Gambit771 take 2
I do not speak any form of French, so the understanding of most of it was not there, but I was riveted to the screen by your passion and interest in learning and experiencing new cultures and traditions. This was really fun to watch.
I really like this video, Marie! I'm not Cajun but I'm so happy you're exploring the culture. It's in danger of dying out and it should be saved! It may interest you to know that most places in America are opening back up so if you can somehow get out of France then please visit Louisiana and tell us what you think!
Send them back to Québec/Acadien (Eastern Canada) chalice du Tabernac!
My father, who speaks 5 languages fluently, Spanish, English, French, Vietnamese and Korean, wanted us to learn at least 3; English, Spanish and French, but we only learned English and Spanish fluently and a little French. I picked up German, but have always wanted to learn French and Italian. I have a couple of Cajun friends and they’ve tried to teach me some Cajun but I’m sure that they were just having fun with me. Great video.
As someone who grew up speaking both Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole and who is doing work in the community, I can tell you that we really don't use many english words in our french nor creole also Cajun french is just Louisiana French it is not specific to any group as when cajuns arrived in Louisiana they ended up integrating with the creole families that were already here since 1682. There are a lot of Cajuns who speak creole and say they speak French and there are a lot of Creoles who say they speak creole when they speak french and then there are many who speak both like me. Louisiana French is french, it's not a separate language just another dialect and this dialect has many many dialects throughout the state, but they are all perfectly understandable. One must not forget that it was only recently in 1921 when teaching in French was banned so they're many who can read and write in French but again there are many who can't. International french or normative french was used in Louisiana and still is used in Louisiana especially in New Orleans so you will hear people who speak more like people from France and now since we have a lot of teachers from Canada many of our immersion school kids have a mixed accent between Louisiana and Canada.
Thank you! Finally, a non-colonial attitude about French spoken outside of France, as if it were an inferior version.
Just noticed all your MN merch! Love it mdr merci beaucoup
I was driving through Louisiana and went to Lafayette . When we got out to ask for directions, nobody spoke English and I had never heard of people in America not only speaking French but no English.
I was born and raised in Lafayette. We do speak English but we also do speak alot of cajun French as well because the cajun culture is very strong there
@@krewsoccer2513 Thanks! This makes me want to visit Lafayette, and also to learn more about this part of American history.👍
when i was in louisianna, (baton rouge, new orleans, and i cant remember the other places name) i dont recall a single person there speaking french other than the few in my class (it was a school music trip) who were in AP french and myself who has been bilingual since birth. none of them mentioned finding someone speaking french either, and it was pretty obvious that we were all canadian and our little group also spoke french with eachother so its not like we were hiding it. maybe we just wernt in the right parts of town.
@@Andrew17B I grew up in Lafayette Parish as well and we never really spoke French at school or work but when it was just friends or family we would switch to it, I don't really know why we did not speak it all the time but that's just how it was
@@Andrew17B You have to understand that Louisiana designates a cultural region called Acadiana which comprises 21 or so parishes that speak French. New Orleans isn't apart of this because, even historically, New Orléans was not a place inhabited by Acadians, but many other types of Frenchmen and Créoles. French is very rare in New Orleans, but very expressive in the culture of the city. Not Acadian French culture though.
As an English only speaker, I lived in Lafayette Louisiana for 2 years, working as a physician in very small nearby communities. Some of my older patients had family that would translate, as they spoke no English.
They are the sweetest people I have ever met. They came before the French revolution or world wars. I would love for you to meet them, an isolated/protected French colony. They are still what France used to be. Very lovely people.
Marie,l have friends from Trinidad. They speak English officially. But, the common language they speak is called Trint English. It took me 3 days, hanging around them to understand what they were saying. I have also family from eastern Kentucky, Appalachia. You would have to struggle to understand what they are saying as well..
Try coming from Newfoundland to the tender mercies of the cruel Mainlanders, they kicked the Nufie out of me quicker'n a rabbit has foreplay.
Cajun French has a long history of development. The Acadians first settled in what is now Nova Scotia in 1604, long before the Mayflower set sail. France had a multitude of dialects and most of the Acadians came from the Brittany region of France. the Ferry Law of 1881 made school in France mandatory and the more sophisticated metropolitan French spoken mainly among the upper class in Paris became the standard across France. By then the Acadian were already expelled from their Canadian home in 1755, began immigrating to the Spanish colony of Louisiana, and became Americans through a real estate transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase. Through centuries of isolation, the Cajun language evolved through contact with Native Americans, Spanish, Africans, etc. Certain terms used in the Cajun language reflect their connection to the sea in Brittany, the Bay of Fundy, and the bayous of Louisiana. The noun "vous" does not exist because that type of formality is a luxury of the rich, not farmers and fishermen. If a Cajun addresses you using "vous," it means you need to get off your high horse. And another fact is that not all French descendants in Louisiana are the same. The earliest are the creole, which is a term applied to someone born in the colonies. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity. There were French and Spanish creoles living around New Orleans since its founding in 1718. The Cajuns arrived starting in 1760 and there were another mass immigration during the mid-1800s when Europe was engulfed in wars. Those new arrivals were called French Nationals, but found more in common with the Creoles than the Acadians. Those groups kept their distance from each other and for a Creole/French National to marry an Acadian was considered improper. I am Cajun on my mother's side and Creole/French National on my father's side. I was told that my great grandmother would have been upset with my parents marriage if she were still alive. My father's mother, a creole, would get upset when my mother would imply that she was Cajun. It wasn't that the groups hated each other, but they resisted blending until well into the 20th century. So the bottom line is, Acadian and Creole French are not corruptions of French, but dialects separated from the mother country for centuries and evolved in their new environments.
I took four years of French in public school back in the 1990's. Two of the only sentences I remember are:
"Je suis une grenouille en caoutchouc." et "Votre grand-mère a mangé mes bagages." I feel that those are words to live by. ;)
Your grandmother is eating my luggage?
Lol never have I seen so strange sentences to remember 😂
Wow utter nonsense.
Durant mon voyage à Louisiane j’ai pu parler en français avec eux. Je vis à Montréal et je suis parfaitement bilingue c’est pour cela que j’ai pas eu de problème à les comprendre. Du bon monde!
Àyoù vous avez été en Louisiane? Lafayette ou quoi? Moi, j’viens du Bayou Lafourche dans sud-est d’l’état, dans un p’tit village àyoù tous les vieux parlent français comme langue maternelle. Mes grands-parents sont nés francophones monolingues mais eux-autres a appris l’anglais à l’école. Leurs parents (mes arrières-grands-parents) faisaient partie d’la dernière génération d’avoir passé toute leur vie seulement en français (ils sont morts dans les années 1980 sans avoir appris l’anglais). Et pis mon père est né bilingue. Moi, j’sus né pis élevé comme anglophone monolingue, malheureusement, mais là, j’ai appris la langue de mes grands-parents plus tard dans ma vie.
Anyway, moi, j’ai pris beaucoup d’inspiration de l’histoire du Québec et la manière que vous-autres a battu si fort pour protéger vos droits linguistiques! (J’ai p’t’être écouté/ergardé trop de discours de René Lévesque, par exemple. 😏)
@@Louisianish that french made me suicidal
@@bigpeenerpeen Il est préférable de garder ses pensées pour soi des fois.
@@Louisianish c’est sûr que les plus âgés parlent plus le français que les jeunes. Mais ils en reste encore qui le parle est c’est des moment magique quand ont partage une conversation avec les cajuns. Je me rappelle d’une femme serveuse dans une resto qui m’expliquer en Français qu’elles à « bûcher » pour apprendre le Français et elle étais fière de le parler.....ahh vous me ramener de bon et beau souvenir de chez vous .. Stay safe! Regards from Montréal Quebec....
@@Louisianish tu écris très bien le français !
Enjoyed this video. If you go to New Orleans try to stay in or near the French Quarter to get a real feel for one of the most unique cities in America. 😎
I'm from Paraguay... However, something I like about the Cajun culture of American Louisiana, and it is its excellent traditional music, with that accordion so beautiful that they know how to play like no other. _Muchas gracias por el video sobre los cajunes franceses._
Bonjour Marie je suis un Québécois qui ne parle pas l'anglais, quand même assez rare maintenant au Québec. Je n'utilise même pas d'expression en anglais dans la vie de tous les jours. Le premier des vidéos que tu as partagé sur son embarcation était très difficile à comprendre pour un francophone comme moi. J'en profite pour te remercier des réactions que tu fais sur la prodigieuse Diana Ankudinova. J'espère que tu vas en faire d'autres sur cette artiste hors norme!
Bonsoir, le premier était la créole et pas le français Acadien, mais il parait que Marie n'a pas vraiment compris ce fait à ce moment-là.
@@no_rubbernecking Créole ou Acadien importe peu. Il utilisait des mots anglais dans ses phrases en français et articulait peu. Sa syntaxe ou ses mots en français sont parfaitement compréhensibles.
@@romain6275 Exactement, ça était la vraie problème.
That's awesome! You should check out some videos on Chiac like "Wikitongues": Jacques and Yvette speaking chiac
They're from the canadian maratimes and are Acadians and this is how we speak in southern New Brunswick. J'ai toujours été dit que mon français n'étais pas le bon français, mais le Chiac est spéciale pour moi. J'adore tout les accents et dialectes français parce que à la base j'peut comprendre assez pour une belle conversation!
I find most Americans can understand most American accents but struggle Cajun, it's the Welch of American, and when they go from English Cajun to French Cajun, nobody understands them.
I’ve been learning French since 6th grade (now in 10th) and I’ve always thought about how far across the world I’d like to travel. To leave the U.S., visit France, visit Canada, meet so many French speakers everywhere else, but I never stopped to appreciate the beauty of Louisiana French and how there’s been such unique culture and variation of the language I love so much near home. French is just, unexplainably fascinating and I just have to hear it all! 😭
Don't forget, a creole is not the same as a dialect. Both French Creole and the Cajun French dialect exist in Louisiana, but they are not the same.
Kouri-Vini, although there is heavy French influence, is not French. Cajun French IS French. The tune IKO. IKO, which was a hit for the Dixie Cups in the 1950s (although the tune is much older than that) is in Kouri-Vini. If you listen to that tune, you can hear the French influence on the language. The only Kouri-Vini word that I am aware that you will find in both Québec and Cajun French is "bouboune", which is a derogatory term for a lesbian. In Kouri-Vini, it is a vulgar word for something a girl has that a boy doesn't.
I grew up in Louisiana as the first generation to do so (from a family that is from Ohio, very northern American). Throughout my life french has been so important to me, even though my family is not of any kind of french or cajun origan. Now i am in college and its my minor because although its not big in my family or my heritage, because i grew up here it became important to me.
Whats funny is that recently ive lost hope in my french, and felt somewhat lost. I saw this video on my youtube and decided to click on it. Youve made me want to work hard to speak this language better.
I hope you can visit here, Its amazing and beautiful, but please be sure to educate yourself on cities. Many (such as New Orleans) can be very dangerous, but if you are informed and prepared, it is such a great place!
Both sides of my family are from southern Louisiana. My grandfather's first language was Louisiana Creole, like the Cajun French speakers English was emphasized and they didn't want the kids speaking French in school. A lot of the Louisiana Creole speakers are dying out and there aren't as many speakers anymore, I'm trying to learn myself to keep the tradition going.
I am Cajun French. My grandmother had to learn English. She got in trouble for speaking French in school. I am working to improve my French, because you are right it is dying out here in Louisiana. The older generations don't speak it to the younger and the younger don't care. I don't want it to die with me. My children hate it when I say French words to them. I try to tell them it is their culture, and it is so special. We are the only state in the continental United States to have our own unique culture that no other state practices from the French language to our own cuisine, music, and traditions. We even have our own folklore legends of the Rougaroo( a werewolf creature who lives on the Bayou).
My grandmother moved to New Orleans from France in the 50s or 60s. She always gave up within 10 minutes of speaking with a Cajun out of frustration haha
We live in Lafayette, Louisiana, and my son works with the scouts as a trek leader at Swamp Base. He has all the kids call him couillon. Down here couillon means a fool, but often couillons are a lot of fun to be around. 🤣
as an Acadian (from NB Canada) I understood everything they said. Many similarities between Cajun and southern NB Acadians ( NS Acadians as well)
My Canadian grandmother always told the story that one of our ancestors had helped smuggle some of the first Canadians to Louisiana back in the day, so I've always felt a connection to Cajuns although I don think I've ever met one
I'm in tourism and mostly learnt french by ear in europe. Being lazy, I throw in random verb forms and am understood surprisingly well. I still find it difficult to keep up with native French speakers. But I could understand the cajun guy perfectly! I suspect my French is like his.... 😀